United News of Bangladesh

The United States eavesdropped on conversations of the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other UN officials, according to a report by The Washington Post citing leaked classified intelligence documents the newspaper obtained. Guterres expressed to UN officials and world leaders his "outrage" over being denied an opportunity to visit Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region, The Post said in a Monday report, citing four documents, two of them previously unreported. Guterres, according to one dated Feb. 17 and seen by The Post, wanted to confront Ethiopian UN Representative Taye Atske Selassie Amde as the country's foreign minister, Demeke Mekonnen, sent Guterres a letter rejecting his planned visit to Tigray amid peace negotiations. Another document obtained by The Post revealed that Guterres was "not happy" about having to travel to Kiev to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in early March. While the document didn't provide a reason for the secretary general's unwillingness, The Post cited a UN diplomat as saying weeks of tiring international travels on commercial flights was the cause. The trove of leaked classified documents, numbering hundreds of pages and resulting in the arrest of a U.S. air national guardsman on charges of disclosing classified national defense information without authorization, has seen the United States scramble to assess the damage and restrict access to classified information for certain employees at the Department of Defense. Other documents recently reported by U.S. media showed the United States has also been spying on allies such as South Korea, Israel and Ukraine. Asked by Xinhua at a Brookings Institution event on Monday to comment on allegations of U.S. spying efforts and on how Washington should soothe the concerns expressed by its allies, Democratic House Representative Abigail Spanberger refused to comment on "anything specifically that was leaked." The congresswoman, who prior to becoming a lawmaker worked as an operations officer at the Central Intelligence Agency, praised the U.S. administration's "commitment to safeguarding the information that we collect and our commitment to safeguarding the information (U.S. allies) collect and provide to us."   

Jurors are set to get their first look Tuesday at a voting machine company's $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News in a trial that will test First Amendment protections and expose the network's role in spreading the lie of a stolen 2020 presidential election. The trial began with the judge conferring with attorneys on both sides after he granted a one-day delay that offered time to see if they could work out a settlement. Jury selection and opening statements had been scheduled for Monday in Dominion Voting Systems' lawsuit. The Denver-based company aims to hold Fox accountable for airing false allegations of election fraud that continue to roil U.S. politics. Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis gave no explanation for the brief delay. But he suggested the companies try to mediate their dispute, according to a person close to Fox who was not authorized to speak publicly about the lawsuit's status and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The case will put under scrutiny the libel standard that has guided U.S. media outlets for nearly six decades, reveal behind-the-scenes activity at Fox News in the weeks after the 2020 election and shed light on the flow of misinformation that turned into a tidal wave after the election, which then-President Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden. Fox News stars such as Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, as well as company founder Rupert Murdoch, are expected to testify during the six-week trial, but it's unclear whether any witnesses would be called Tuesday. Dominion claims New York-based Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp., essentially bulldozed the voting company's business and subjected employees to threats by falsely implicating it in a bogus conspiracy to rig the election against Trump. In the weeks after Election Day, prominent Fox News hosts brought on Trump allies who falsely claimed that Dominion's machines were programmed to snatch votes away from the Republican incumbent and pad the Democratic challenger's total. Many of Fox's hosts and executives didn't believe the claims but allowed them to be aired nevertheless. "Fox spread and endorsed one of the most damaging lies in this country's history," Dominion's lawyers wrote in a court filing. Pointing to communications among Fox figures, from executives to fact-checkers, Dominion argues that the network knowingly amplified falsehoods for the sake of ratings. Fox says it simply reported on Trump's challenges to the election results and let viewers hear from his lawyers and allies. "Dominion's lawsuit is a political crusade in search of a financial windfall, but the real cost would be cherished First Amendment rights," the network said in a statement last week. Fox said its hosts sometimes alluded to a need for evidence to back up the allegations and noted that Dominion denied the claims. Federal and state election officials, exhaustive reviews in battleground states and Trump's own attorney general found no widespread fraud that could have changed the election outcome. Nor did they turn up any credible evidence that the vote was tainted. Dozens of courts, some with Trump-appointed judges, also rejected his fraud allegations. In the Dominion case, Davis declared it was "CRYSTAL clear" that the claims about the voting machine company weren't true. A key question for the jury is whether Fox News acted with "actual malice," a legal standard that applies when public figures sue news outlets for defamation. The standard, derived from a 1964 Supreme Court case, means knowingly publishing or airing something false or operating with "reckless disregard" for whether it's true. Dominion has pointed to text and email messages in which Fox insiders discounted and sometimes overtly mocked the vote manipulation claims. One Fox Corp. vice president called them "MIND BLOWINGLY NUTS." Carlson, Fox News' biggest star, even expressed scorn for Trump, whose supporters formed the core of the network's viewers. Text exchanges revealed as part of the lawsuit show Carlson declaring, "I hate him passionately," and saying that "we are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights." Murdoch, the Fox News founder and Fox Corp. chairman, found the election claims "really crazy," according to an email he sent while watching a news conference that Trump lawyers gave on Nov. 19, 2020. "Terrible stuff damaging everybody, I fear. Probably hurting us too," Murdoch told Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott in another email that day. Yet talk of the alleged conspiracy continued to air on Fox for weeks after the voting. In his deposition for the case, Murdoch acknowledged the 2020 presidential election was fair while also acknowledging that some of Fox's hosts seemed to endorse the bogus election claims. The network maintains that Dominion cherry-picked from private messages and broadcast transcripts and depositions of various Fox players, while brushing past other comments and context more favorable to Fox. The network also maintains that Dominion's claims of lost business are massively inflated. Fox found itself in hot water with the judge as the trial neared. Davis rapped the network last week for what he saw as "misrepresentations" and belated disclosures of some information in the case. On Friday, a Fox attorney apologized in a letter to the judge for what the attorney described as a misunderstanding about the disclosure of Murdoch's formal role at Fox News.  

Alabama law enforcement officers Sunday were imploring people to come forward with information about a shooting that killed four people and injured 28 others during a teenager's birthday party. Among those killed was a high school senior who planned to play college football and was celebrating his sister's 16th birthday. The shooting erupted Saturday night at a dance studio in downtown Dadeville. During two news conferences Sunday, Sgt. Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency did not take questions. He did not say if a suspect was in custody or if investigators knew about any motivation. He did not provide the names of those killed. “We’ve got to have information from the community,” Burkett said during a Sunday evening news conference. Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell, a Dadeville High School senior who had committed to Jacksonville State University, was celebrating at his sister Alexis' party before he was shot to death, his grandmother Annette Allen told the Montgomery Advertiser. “He was a very, very humble child. Never messed with anybody. Always had a smile on his face,” Allen told the newspaper, calling it “a million-dollar smile.” Dowdell’s mother was among those hurt in the shooting. “Everybody’s grieving,” Allen said. Burkett said the shooting occurred about 10:30 p.m. Saturday. "There were four lives tragically lost in this incident," he said. The shootings rocked the city of 3,200 residents, which is about 57 miles (92 kilometers) northeast of Montgomery, Alabama. Keenan Cooper, the DJ at the party, told WBMA-TV that the party was stopped briefly when attendees heard someone had a gun. He said people with guns were asked to leave, but no one left. Cooper said when the shooting began some time later, some people took shelter under a table where he was standing, and others ran out. Pastor Jason Whetstone, who leads the Christian Faith Fellowship, said the granddaughter of one of his church members was shot in the foot and underwent surgery Sunday. “All of our hearts are hurting right now. We’re just trying to pull together to find strength and comfort,” Whetstone said before an interfaith vigil in the parking lot of First Baptist Church. “We are a loving community,” he said. “We’re pulling together in every aspect to comfort each and every one of these children, the teachers, all of the community.” Dadeville’s compact downtown is centered around a courthouse square with one- and two-story brick buildings. The town’s busiest commercial district is a few blocks north of the square, off a bustling four-lane highway that runs between Birmingham and Auburn. Dadeville is close to Lake Martin, a popular recreational area. Investigators on Sunday continued filing in and out of the Mahogany Masterpiece dance studio, denoted by a banner hanging on the outside of a one-story brick building just off the square. At least five bullet holes were visible in the studio's front windows. Less than a block away, the American and Alabama flags were lowered to half staff outside the Tallapoosa County Courthouse. Dadeville Mayor Frank Goodman said he was in bed asleep when a council member called him just before 11 p.m. Saturday. He said he went to Lake Martin Community Hospital in Dadeville, where some of the people who had been shot were taken. “It was chaotic,” Goodman said. “There were people running around. They were crying and screaming. There were police cars everywhere, there were ambulances everywhere. People were trying to find out about their loved ones. That was a scene, where we never had anything like this happen in our city before.” Pastor Ben Hayes, who serves as chaplain for the Dadeville Police Department and for the local high school football team, said most of the victims are teenagers. Dowdell was within weeks of graduation and faced a bright future, Hayes told The Associated Press. “He was a strong competitor on the field," Hayes said. “You didn’t want to try to tackle him or get tackled by him. But when he came off the field, he was one of the nicest young men that you could ever meet, very respectful and well-respected by his peers.” Antojuan Woody, from the neighboring town of Camp Hill, was a senior and fellow wide receiver with Dowdell on a Dadeville Tigers football team that went undefeated before losing in the second round of the playoffs last year. He said he and Dowdell had been best friends for all of their lives. “It hurts,” Woody said as a steady stream of friends and teammates walked over to hug him during Sunday's prayer vigil. “It’s unreal. I can’t believe it.” Woody said he and Dowdell had a special relationship on the football field. “Us being friends forever like that, our chemistry was spot on. We always celebrated together on the field," he said. He described the victims “as great people who didn’t deserve what happened to them.” Hayes, the pastor, said worried families swarmed the local hospital Saturday night trying to find the condition of their children. He said serious crime is rare in Dadeville, and the small city is “sad, traumatized, in shock." Jacksonville State football coach Rich Rodriguez said in a statement Sunday: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Philstavious Dowdell and the other victims of the senseless tragedy last night. He was a great young man with a bright future.” Dowdell also recently won medals at a high school track meet at Troy University. Counseling will be available for students at Tallapoosa County schools Monday, said the school district superintendent, Raymond C. Porter. “This morning, I grieve with the people of Dadeville and my fellow Alabamians. Violent crime has NO place in our state, and we are staying closely updated by law enforcement as details emerge,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said on social media. President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting, the White House said, adding that it is closely monitoring the situation and has been in touch with local officials and law enforcement to offer support. “What has our nation come to when children cannot attend a birthday party without fear? When parents have to worry every time their kids walk out the door to school, to the movie theater, or to the park?” Biden said in a statement Sunday. “Guns are the leading killer of children in America, and the numbers are rising – not declining. This is outrageous and unacceptable.” Biden called on Congress to “require safe storage of firearms, require background checks for all gun sales, eliminate gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability, and ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.” The mayor said Dowdell was “a great young man." He also said he is concerned about those wounded and psychologically traumatized by the shooting. “We are praying for them,” Goodman said. "We ask God, if it’s his will, to bring them back to their parents safe, so they can mend.” Goodman said guns and violence are not a frequent presence in Dadeville. He said trying to control guns would prove as futile as trying to control illegal drugs. Dadeville High School had 485 students in grades 6-12 in 2022, according to Alabama state data. It serves Dadeville and nearby parts of Tallapoosa County. Like the rest of Dadeville, it’s tucked away just out of view off a busy highway that runs from Birmingham to Auburn. Dadeville High’s head football coach Roger McDonald said he would try his best to support grieving students. “There’s not a playbook for something like this,” he said. “So the best you’ve got to do is just love on your kids, let them all know how much you care about them, be there for them.” McDonald said Dowdell had something special. “He was a leader, and as far as his ability, an electrifying player,” the coach said. Michael Taylor, an assistant coach, said he met Dowdell when the boy was 9 and coached him in youth football. Taylor said the team was invited to Atlanta to play in the stadium used by the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. “He did some amazing things there, and he never stopped doing them since then,” he said. “He was the No. 1 athlete in the school.” Taylor said he last heard from Dowdell on Friday, when Dowdell was seeking video of his athletic exploits. Taylor said he drove to the shooting scene Saturday night from his home in nearby Camp Hill. “Man, I couldn’t get close,” Taylor said. “So once I found out what’s going on, I really I just had to leave because it was going to be all night.” Taylor said he returned Sunday to see Dowdle’s body carried out from the dance studio. He said he’s not sure what he will tell other athletes Monday. “The first thing we’ve got to do is we’ve got to pray our way out of this," Taylor said Sunday. "There ain’t no other way. And then I can tell you, they’re all real close like family at the high school.” This is at least the second time in recent years that multiple people were shot in Dadeville. Five people were wounded in July 2016 during a shooting at an American Legion hall, and a man was later charged with five counts of attempted murder, news outlets reported.

National Public Radio is quitting Twitter after the social media platform owned by Elon Musk stamped NPR's account with labels the news organization says are intended to undermine its credibility. Twitter labeled NPR's main account last week as "state-affiliated media, " a term also used to identify media outlets controlled or heavily influenced by authoritarian governments, such as Russia and China. Twitter later changed the label to "government-funded media," but to NPR — which relies on the government for a tiny fraction of its funding — it's still misleading. NPR said in a statement Wednesday that it "will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent." "Defund @NPR," was Musk's tweeted response. His latest tiff with a news organization reflects a gamble for the social media platform he bought last year. Twitter, more than any of its rivals, has said its users come to it to keep track of current events. That made it an attractive place for news outlets to share their stories and reinforced Twitter's moves to combat the spread of misinformation. But Musk has long expressed disdain for professional journalists and said he wants to elevate the views and expertise of the "average citizen." The Public Broadcasting Service said Wednesday it has also stopped tweeting from its main account and that the public TV organization has no plans to resume because "Twitter's simplistic label leaves the inaccurate impression that PBS is wholly funded by the federal government." Media analysts say growing friction between Twitter and news organizations since Musk bought the platform is bad for Twitter, and bad for the public. "It's a shame to have proceeded in a direction where, intentionally or otherwise, Twitter is categorizing Russian propaganda outlets in a similar way to very legitimate news sources that get a very modest amount of funding from the U.S. government," said Paul Barrett, deputy director of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. This is just the latest example of Musk tangling with mainstream news organizations. He abruptly suspended the accounts of individual journalists who wrote about Twitter late last year, claiming some were trying to reveal his location. Twitter earlier in April removed the verification check mark on the main account of The New York Times, singling out the newspaper and disparaging its reporting after it said it would not pay Twitter for verification of its institutional accounts. Twitter used to tag journalists and other high-profile accounts with blue check marks to verify their identity and distinguish them from impostors. But Musk has derided the marks as an undeserved status symbol and plans to take them away from anyone not buying a premium subscription. Those cost as little as $8 a month for individuals and a minimum of $1,000 a month for organizations. Barrett said Musk appears to be intent on "insulting and antagonizing individuals and organizations that he considers to be too liberal for his taste." But by driving away legitimate news outlets, Twitter is only harming itself, he said. "The drift is in an unfortunate direction," Barrett said. "You want to encourage sources of reliable, well-reported news to be present and prolific on your platform." NPR's main account, which joined Twitter in 2007, had not tweeted since April 4. On Wednesday, it sent a series of tweets listing other places to find its journalism. NPR spokesperson Isabel Lara said its journalists, employees and member stations can decide on their own if they want to keep using the platform. NPR journalists have not been given the "government-funded" label, at least not yet. NPR does receive U.S. government funding through grants from federal agencies and departments, along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The company has said it accounts for less than 1% of NPR's annual operating budget. Much of its funding comes from sponsorships and dues from its member stations around the U.S., which in turn get revenue from a range of funders including public institutions, corporate donors and listeners. Twitter's new labels have often appeared arbitrarily assigned. For example, Twitter hasn't added the "government-funded" label for many other public broadcasting organizations, such as those in Canada and Australia. It also has changed some labels without explanation, such as when it removed a "United Arab Emirates state-affiliated media" tag from the profile of Abu Dhabi's The National newspaper earlier this year. In an interview Tuesday with a BBC technology reporter at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters, Musk acknowledged that the British organization "is not thrilled" about the label it received and asked the reporter for feedback. "Our goal was simply to be as truthful and accurate as possible," Musk said. "So I think we're adjusting the label to be 'publicly funded,' which I think is perhaps not too objectionable. We're trying to be accurate." The BBC said Wednesday it would welcome being described as publicly funded instead of government-funded. Hours later, BBC got its "publicly funded media" label, but not NPR or PBS. The literary organization PEN America said news organizations are making understandable responses to Twitter's "unpredictable and capricious" policy decisions but the loss to consumers will be significant. Liz Woolery, PEN America's digital policy leader, said "Musk's approach to managing Twitter has come at the expense of information integrity and user trust, and it has only made it harder for users to sift through the maelstrom of online content to find what is credible."  

Leaked U.S. intelligence documents suggesting Washington spied on South Korea have put the country's president in a delicate situation ahead of a state visit to the U.S., the first such trip by a South Korean leader in 12 years. The documents contain purportedly private conversations between senior South Korean officials about Ukraine, indicating that Washington may have conducted surveillance on a key Asian ally even as the two nations publicly vowed to reinforce their alliance. Since taking office last year, conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol has put a bolstered military partnership with the United States at the heart of his foreign policy to address intensifying North Korean nuclear threats and other challenges. The April 26 summit with President Joe Biden is seen as crucial to winning a stronger U.S. security commitment and resolving grievances over the Biden administration's economic and technology policies. The leaked documents were posted online as part of a major U.S. intelligence breach. The papers viewed by The Associated Press indicate that South Korea's National Security Council "grappled" with the U.S. in early March over an American request to provide artillery ammunition to Ukraine. The documents, which cited a signals intelligence report, said then-NSC Director Kim Sung-han suggested the possibility of selling the 330,000 rounds of 155 mm munitions to Poland, since getting the ammunition to Ukraine quickly was the United States' ultimate goal. South Korea, a growing arms exporter, has a policy of not supplying weapons to countries at war. It has not provided arms directly to Ukraine, although it has shipped humanitarian aid and joined U.S.-led economic sanctions against Russia. Yoon's government said it discussed the leaked papers with the United States, and they agreed that "a considerable number" of the documents were fabricated. The South Korean government avoided any public complaints about the U.S. and did not specify which documents were faked. "There's no indication that the U.S., which is our ally, conducted (eavesdropping) on us with malicious intent," Kim Tae-hyo, Seoul's deputy national security director, told reporters Tuesday at Dulles Airport near Washington at the start of a trip aimed at preparing for the summit. Senior Biden administration have discussed the leaks with allies at high levels and sought to reassure them of the U.S. government's commitment to safe-guarding intelligence. The administration also sought to downplay the impact the leak would have on Yoon's upcoming visit. "Our commitment to the Republic of Korea remains ironclad, and President Biden looks forward to welcoming President Yoon to the White House for the upcoming state visit to discuss their shared commitment for a strong and deeply integrated U.S.-ROK Alliance that maintains peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond," the White House National Security Council said in a statement, using South Korea's official name. The Yoon government's stance invited criticism from liberal rivals, who called on the government to lodge strong protests with the U.S. They also suspected what they call Yoon's hasty relocation of his presidential office to a Defense Ministry compound in central Seoul may have left the office vulnerable to wiretapping. "As a sovereign nation, we must sternly respond to the spying of state secrets, even if it was committed by an ally with whom (South Korea) has bonded over blood," said Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party. In an official statement, Yoon's office said it maintains tight security, including anti-eavesdropping systems. It called the opposition party's attempts to link the office relocation to the spying allegation "diplomatic suicidal acts" that shake South Korea's national interests and its alliance with the U.S. The situation is unlikely to threaten the country's alliance with the U.S. that was forged during the 1950-53 Korean War, many experts say. "No big damage is expected on the Korea-U.S. alliance as it seems both governments share the view that they would focus on the alliance, more concretely on a successful state visit by Yoon," said Bong Young-shik, an expert at Seoul's Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies. If Yoon returns with some achievements, Koreans will conclude that he put up with the spying allegations "because bigger matters were at stake," Bong said. But if the visit amounts to "a pomp-only trip," people could question whether South Korea "made lots of concessions." One possible achievement for Yoon would be if South Korea takes on a role in the management of U.S. nuclear weapons in the face of North Korea's advancing nuclear arsenal. Other wins would be securing U.S. benefits for major South Korean businesses involved in the making of electric vehicles and easing U.S. restrictions on technology exports to China, which has been a major manufacturing base for South Korean chipmakers. If the U.S. intends to help Yoon, "the latest incident on the documents could end up strengthening the Korea-U.S. alliance and helping South Korea win something from the U.S," said Kim Yeol Soo, an expert at South Korea's Korea Institute for Military Affairs. Kim Tae-hyung, a professor at Seoul's Soongsil University, said the exposure of possible U.S. spying could help Seoul maintain its existing policy of not supplying weapons to Ukraine. But it's also possible that the Yoon government reconsiders that policy now that the U.S. demands are public, Kim said. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, South Korea has agreed to provide billions of dollars' worth of tanks, howitzers, fighter jets and other weapons to Poland, a NATO member. An American official said in November that the United States had agreed to buy 100,000 artillery rounds from South Korean manufacturers to provide to Ukraine, although South Korean officials have maintained that the munitions were meant to refill depleted U.S. stocks. Choi Jin, director of the Seoul-based Institute of Presidential Leadership, said it's also no secret that allies spy on each other, as well as their adversaries. The U.S. wiretapping activities "are something that everyone already knows," although it becomes a more sensitive matter when the practice is made public, Choi said. "I think South Koreans also try to wiretap (U.S. officials) as well," Choi said. "People feel animosity toward the word 'wiretapping.' But in other words, it's called intelligence gathering."  

It’s been less than a week since news of highly classified military documents on the Ukraine war surfaced, sending the Pentagon into full-speed damage control to assure allies and assess the scope of the leak. The information on scores of slides has publicized potential vulnerabilities in Ukraine's air defense capabilities and exposed private assessments by allies on an array of intelligence matters, raising questions about whether the leak will erode allies' trust in sharing information with the U.S. or impact Ukraine's plans to intensify the fight against Russia this spring. Overall, the leaked documents present a "very serious risk to national security," a top Pentagon spokesman told reporters Monday. This is a look at what the documents are, what is known about how they surfaced, and their potential impact. Also Read: Leaked US intel: Russia operatives claimed new ties with UAE WHAT ARE THEY? The classified documents — which have not been individually authenticated by U.S. officials — range from briefing slides mapping out Ukrainian military positions to assessments of international support for Ukraine and other sensitive topics, including under what circumstances Russian President Vladimir Putin might use nuclear weapons. There's no clear answer on how many documents were leaked. The Associated Press has viewed approximately 50 documents; some estimates put the total number in the hundreds. WHERE DID THEY COME FROM? No one knows for sure, not even the Pentagon chief. “They were somewhere in the web, and where exactly, and who had access at that point, we don’t know. We simply don’t know,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a press conference Tuesday. “We will continue to investigate and turn over every rock until we find the source of this and the extent of it.” It's possible the leak may have started on a site called Discord. Discord is a social media platform popular with people playing online games. The Discord site hosts real-time voice, video and text chats for groups and describes itself as a place “where you can belong to a school club, a gaming group, or a worldwide art community." In one of those forums, originally created to talk about a range of topics, members would debate the war in Ukraine. According to one member of the chat, an unidentified poster shared documents that the poster claimed were classified, first typing them out with the poster’s own thoughts, then, as of a few months ago, uploading images of folded papers. The person who said he was a member of the forum told The Associated Press that another person, identified online only as “Lucca,” shared the documents in a different Discord chat. From there, they appear to have been spread until they were picked up by the media. Many details of the story can't be immediately verified. And top U.S. officials acknowledge publicly that they're still trying to find answers. Also Read: US investigating whether Ukraine war documents were leaked WHAT'S BEEN REVEALED The leaks have highlighted how closely the U.S. monitors how its allies and friends interact with Russia and China. Officials in several countries have denied or rejected allegations from the leaked records. The AP has reported on U.S. intelligence picking up claims from Russian operatives that they were building a closer relationship with the United Arab Emirates, the oil-rich Middle Eastern nation that hosts important American military installations. The UAE rejected the allegations, calling them “categorically false.” The Washington Post reported Monday that Egypt's president ordered subordinates to secretly prepare to ship up to 40,000 rockets to Russia as it wages war in Ukraine. A spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry said Egypt was maintaining “noninvolvement in this crisis and committing to maintain equal distance with both sides.” Other leaks have concerned allegations that South Korean leaders were hesitant to ship artillery shells to Ukraine and that Israel's Mossad spy service opposed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposed overhaul of the judiciary. Funded at $90 billion annually, the U.S. intelligence agencies have sweeping powers to tap electronic communications, run spies and monitor with satellites. The results of those powers are rarely seen in public, even in limited form. U.S. RESPONSE The Pentagon has begun an internal review to assess the leak's impact on national security. The review is being led by Milancy D. Harris, the deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security, a defense official said in a statement to AP. The team includes representatives from the offices of legislative affairs, public affairs, policy, legal counsel and the joint staff, the official said. The Pentagon was also quickly taking steps to reduce the number of people who have access to briefings, a second defense official said. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. Pentagon officials are also closely monitoring where the leaked slides are “being posted and amplified,” said Chris Meagher, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs. Separately, the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into how the slides were obtained and leaked. CIA Director William Burns on Tuesday called the leak “deeply unfortunate.” “It’s something that the U.S. government takes extremely seriously," he said in remarks at Rice University. “The Pentagon and the Department of Justice have now launched a quite intense investigation to get to the bottom of this.” WHAT'S THE IMPACT? Senior military leaders have been contacting allies to address the fallout. That includes calls “at a high level to reassure them of our commitment to safeguarding intelligence and fidelity to our security partnerships. Those conversations began over the weekend and are ongoing,” Meagher said. U.S. officials are likely to face more questions when they travel to Germany next week for the next contact group meeting, where representatives of more than 50 nations gather to coordinate weapons and aid support for Ukraine. But the document leak is not expected to affect that meeting or allies' willingness to continue to provide military assistance to Ukraine, a senior defense official told The Associated Press, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. “I think a lot of the allies will probably be more curious about why it happened," said Chris Skaluba, director of the Atlantic Council's transatlantic security initiative. Given the high-level security clearance needed to access the information in the first place, the leak raises questions as to who “would have that much of an agenda to put it out there,” and whether the intent was to undermine support for Ukraine, Skaluba said. Austin on Tuesday contacted his South Korean counterpart, Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, to discuss the leaked documents, several of which were particularly sensitive to Seoul because they described U.S. surveillance of its ally and detailed South Korean reservations about providing munitions directly to Ukraine. The two defense chiefs agreed that a “considerable number” of the leaked documents were fabricated, Kim Tae-hyo, a deputy national security director, told reporters. He said the alliance between the two countries wouldn't be affected by the leak and South Korea would seek to further strengthen cooperation with the United States. And both Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken reached out to their counterparts in Ukraine. Austin suggested Tuesday the leaks would not have much of an impact on Ukraine's plans for a spring offensive. Ukraine’s strategy will "not be driven by a specific plan. They have a great plan to start and but only President Zelenskyy and his leadership really know the full details of that plan,” Austin said. For other sensitive issues highlighted in the leaked slides, such as Ukraine's shortage of air defense munitions, the shortage itself has been known and is one of the reasons U.S. military leaders have been pressing allies to supply whatever systems they can, such as the Iris-T systems pledged from Germany and the U.S.-manufactured Hawk air defense systems provided by Spain. “Publicizing an apparent shortage of anti-aircraft missiles may give comfort to Russia. But if it energizes Ukraine’s partners to accelerate delivery of missiles and other air defense capabilities, Kyiv will be grateful. The bigger ‘known unknown’ is the extent to which these leaks influence U.S. political support for Ukraine,” said Ben Barry, senior fellow for land warfare at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

An electric bicycle powered by a lithium ion battery is being blamed for a fatal fire on Monday in New York City that killed two children, marking the latest in a string of e-bike-related fires in the city. FDNY Chief of Department John Hodgens said it took his firefighters only three minutes to arrive at the Astoria, Queens home. However, with the fast-moving nature of e-bike fires and the fact the bike was being charged near the front entrance of the multi-family building, the victims “didn't have a chance to get out of the building” given the intense fire that quickly traveled up the stairs to a second-floor apartment. “So we got here very quickly. And if this was not a bike fire, most likely we would have been able to put this fire out without incident. But the way these fires occur, it’s like an explosion of fire,” he told reporters outside the burned home. “It’s an ongoing problem. We implore everybody to please be very careful and aware of the danger of these devices.” With Monday's fire, there have been five fire-related deaths so far this year in New York City where officials have said the cause of the blaze was an e-bike. So far, there have been 59 e-bike-related fires this year. Last year there were six e-bike-related fatalities. Fire department officials said a father and his five children were inside the second-story apartment just before 2 p.m. when the fire occurred. The father and three of his children were able to jump from a window to safety. The mother was not at home at the time of the fire. Hodgens said it appears an extension cord was running from the upper apartment down to what fire officials believe was an after-market charger for the bike, which was parked in the vestibule of the building. Hodgens said while the bike was being charged in this case, there have been other fires involving bikes not being charged at the time. Electric bikes have become popular, non-gasoline-burning ways to make deliveries, commute and zip around a city that has promoted cycling in recent decades. New York City Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh urged residents to follow all manufacturer safety guidelines and recommendations for e-bikes. “We are also calling on our federal, state and local partners to move quickly on regulations that will help ensure tragedies like today’s fire are prevented,” she said in a statement. “We are heartbroken for the family of these victims.”

A Louisville bank employee armed with a rifle opened fire at his workplace Monday morning, killing five people — including a close friend of Kentucky's governor — while livestreaming the attack on Instagram, authorities said. Police arrived as shots were still being fired inside Old National Bank and killed the shooter in an exchange of gunfire, Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said. The city's mayor, Craig Greenberg, called the attack "an evil act of targeted violence.” The shooting, the 15th mass killing in the country this year, comes just two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) to the south. That state's governor and his wife also had friends killed in that shooting. In Louisville, the chief identified the shooter as 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, who she said was livestreaming during the attack. “That’s tragic to know that that incident was out there and captured," she said. Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, said in a statement that it had “quickly removed the livestream of this tragic incident this morning.” Social media companies have imposed tougher rules over the past few years to prohibit violent and extremist content. They have set up systems to remove posts and streams that violate those restrictions, but shocking material like the Louisville shooting continues to slip through the cracks, prompting lawmakers and other critics to lash out at the technology industry for slipshod safeguards and moderation policies. Nine people, including two police officers, were treated for injuries from the Louisville shooting, University of Louisville Hospital spokeswoman Heather Fountaine said in an email. One of the wounded, identified as 57-year-old Deana Eckert, later died, police said Monday night. One of the wounded officers, 26-year-old Nickolas Wilt, graduated from the police academy on March 31. He was in critical condition after being shot in the head and having surgery, the police chief said. At least three patients had been discharged. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he lost one of his closest friends in the shooting — Tommy Elliott — in the building not far from the minor league ballpark Louisville Slugger Field and Waterfront Park. “Tommy Elliott helped me build my law career, helped me become governor, gave me advice on being a good dad," said Beshear, his voice shaking with emotion. "He's one of the people I talked to most in the world, and very rarely were we talking about my job. He was an incredible friend.” Also killed in the shooting were Josh Barrick, Jim Tutt and Juliana Farmer, police said. “These are irreplaceable, amazing individuals that a terrible act of violence tore from all of us,” the governor said. It was the second time that Beshear was personally touched by a mass tragedy since becoming governor. In late 2021, one of the towns devastated by tornadoes that tore through Kentucky was Dawson Springs, the hometown of Beshear’s father, former two-term Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear. Andy Beshear frequently visited Dawson Springs as a boy and has talked emotionally about his father’s hometown. Beshear spoke as the investigation in Louisville continued and police searched for a motive. Crime scene investigators could be seen marking and photographing numerous bullet holes in the windows near the bank’s front door. As part of the investigation, police descended on the neighborhood where the suspect lived, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of the downtown shooting. The street was blocked as federal and local officers talked to residents. One home was cordoned off with caution tape. Kami Cooper, who lives in the neighborhood, said she didn’t recall ever meeting the suspect but said it’s an unnerving feeling to have lived on the same street as someone who could do such a thing. “I’m almost speechless. You see it on the news but not at home,” Cooper said. “It’s unbelievable, it could happen here, somebody on my street.” A man who fled the building during the shooting told WHAS-TV that the shooter opened fire with a long rifle in a conference room in the back of the building's first floor. “Whoever was next to me got shot — blood is on me from it,” he told the news station, pointing to his shirt. He said he fled to a break room and shut the door. Deputy Police Chief Paul Humphrey said the actions of responding police officers undoubtedly saved lives. “This is a tragic event,” he said. “But it was the heroic response of officers that made sure that no more people were more seriously injured than what happened.” Just a few hours later and blocks away, an unrelated shooting killed one man and wounded a woman outside a community college, police said. The 15 mass shootings this year are the most during the first 100 days of a calendar year since 2009, when 16 had occurred by April 10, according to a mass killings database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. Going back to 2006, the first year for which data has been compiled, the years with the most mass killings were 2019 and 2022, with 45 and 42 mass killings recorded during the entire calendar year. The pace in 2009 slowed later in the year, with 32 mass killings recorded that year.

A shooting at a bank in downtown Louisville killed at least four people and wounded at least eight others Monday, police said. The suspected shooter was also dead. The shooting, the 15th mass killing in the country this year, comes just two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, about 160 mile (260 kilometers) to the south. Police arrived as gunshots were still being fired inside the Old National Bank and exchanged fire with the shooter, Louisville Metro Police Department Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey said at a news conference. It wasn't clear whether the shooter killed himself or was shot by officers. "We believe this is a lone gunman involved in this that did have a connection to the bank. We're trying to establish what that connection was to the business, but it appears he was a previous employee," Humphrey said. Humphrey said that at least eight people were being treated at a hospital for wounds, including two police officers, one of whom was in critical condition. An emotional Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he lost friends in the shooting in the building on East Main Street not far from the Louisville Slugger Field and Waterfront Park. "This is awful," he said. "I have a very close friend who didn't make it today. And I have another close friend who didn't, either. And one who's at the hospital that I hope is going to make it through." It was the second time that Beshear was personally touched by a mass tragedy since becoming governor. In late 2021, one of the towns devastated by tornadoes that tore through Kentucky was Dawson Springs, the hometown of Beshear's father, former two-term Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear. Andy Beshear frequently visited Dawson Springs as a boy and has talked emotionally about his father's hometown. Humphrey, the deputy chief, said the actions of responding police officers in Louisville on Monday morning had undoubtedly saved lives. "This is a tragic event," he said. "But it was the heroic response of officers that made sure that no more people were more seriously injured than what happened." This year's 15 mass shootings is the most during the first 100 days of a calendar year since 2009, when 16 incidents had occurred by April 10, according to a mass killings database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. Going back to 2006, the first year for which data has been compiled, the years with the most mass killings were 2019 and 2022, with 45 and 42 mass killings recorded during the entire calendar year. The pace in 2009 slowed later in the year, with 32 mass killings recorded that year.  

The nation's top health official said Sunday that a court ruling threatening the availability of a main drug used in medication abortion was “not America" and he did not rule out defying the judge's order if necessary. “We want the courts to overturn this reckless decision,” Xavier Becerra, President Joe Biden's health secretary, told CNN's “State of the Union.” “We want, yes, that women continue to have access to a drug that’s proven itself safe. Millions of women have used this drug around the world.” He stressed that for now, women do have access to the abortion medication mifepristone after a federal judge in Texas, Donald Trump-appointee Matthew Kacsmaryk, put his ruling from Friday on hold for a week so federal officials could file a challenge. The drug was approved in 2000 by the Food and Drug Administration, which is overseen by the Health and Human Services Department headed by Becerra. “For America's sake and for women's sake, we have to prevail in this,” he said. Biden has said his administration would fight the Texas ruling. Kacsmaryk's 67-page order gave the government seven days to appeal. “We intend to do everything to make sure it’s available to them not just in a week, but moving forward, period, because mifepristone is one of the safest and most effective medicines that we have seen over the last 20 years to help women with their health care, especially abortion care,” Becerra said. Asked whether he might recommend that the FDA ignore a ban, Becerra said, “Everything is on the table." There is uncertainty about access to the most commonly used method of abortion in the United States following two separate and conflicting court rulings in Texas and Washington over the legality of mifepristone. Kacsmaryk's decision ordering a hold on federal approval of mifepristone overruled decades of scientific approval. But a ruling at nearly the same time in Washington state from that U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice, a Barack Obama appointee, directed U.S. authorities not to make any changes that would restrict access to the drug in at least 17 states where Democrats sued in an effort to protect availability. Becerra said Kacsmaryk's order could have dire ramifications for the legality of any FDA-approved drug, such as vaccines, insulin or new Alzheimer's drugs coming onto the market because it seeks to “turn upside down” the entire FDA approval process. The former California attorney general acknowledged a “good chance” that the case will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court, which last year overturned Roe v. Wade and curtailed access to abortion across the country. “If a judge decides to substitute his preference, his personal opinion for that of scientists and medical professionals, what drug isn’t subject to some kind of legal challenge? So we have to go to court,” he said. Alluding to Kacsmaryk, the Cabinet secretary said: “What you saw by that one judge in that one court, in that one state, that’s not America. America goes by the evidence. America does what’s fair. America does what is transparent and we can show that what we do is for the right reasons.” Appearing after Becerra on CNN, Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, said “it’s important that we take care of women” and have “real discussions on women’s health care” but “get off the abortion conversation. Women have a whole lot more other issues than just abortion. ... Let's talk about the other things that are happening in this world.”