💬 Iran and the United States have reached an agreement in principle on the lifting of most sanctions against individuals and institutions, including the country's oil and banking sectors, the Fars News Agency reports, citing comments made by Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Iran's top nuclear negotiator

🐦 More than 800 birds were found at a home in the Santa Barbara County community of Montecito. They were trapped in the chimney, but firefighters managed to rescue the birds.

Hitchcock's nightmare come true?

The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed a measure to grant DC statehood, repeating the passage of a similar bill in June 2020.

Joe Manchin, the senator from West Virginia known for often bucking his own party’s legislation, slapped down the White House-supported legislation, saying that the issue of statehood for DC had been studied by previous Justice Departments, and that “they all came to the same conclusion: If Congress wants to make DC a state, it should propose a constitutional amendment…and let the people of America vote.”

With friends like these... ?

🖍 Federal agents were investigating two possible 'attacks' on US soil involving the use of 'directed-energy' weapons, including one near the White House last November, and a separate incident in 2019 in a Virginia suburb.

Invisible 'energy attacks', like the one that purportedly caused debilitating symptoms among US government personnel in Havana, Cuba, and elsewhere around the world are believed to be on the rise again, according to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Is 'Havana Syndrome' on the rise?

⚖️ Prisoners convicted of violent crimes will now be eligible to get out of prison early. Newsom had called for closing several prisons even before the pandemic devastated the state’s budget, once calling it a “core value” of his administration.

Republican state Sen. Jim Nielsen, who once headed the state parole board, criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration for the move: “He’s doing it on his own authority, instead of the will of the people through their elected representatives or directly through their own votes.”

🌴 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have almost doubled their land holding on a Hawaiian island. The couple purchased three more plots totalling 595.4 acres for a cool $53 million.

This land is my land... and this land is my land

Caitlyn Jenner, who recently announced a California gubernatorial run, on Saturday came out against allowing transgender athletes who were born male to compete on girls' sports teams: "This is a question of fairness, that's why I oppose biological boys who are trans competing in girls sports in school," Jenner told TMZ. "It just isn't fair, and we have to protect girls sports in our schools."

#LIVE | SpaceX Crew Dragon 'resilience' undocks from ISS, starts motion towards Earth

https://youtu.be/zEUAlEXc18w

🤨 A Texas Democratic Party official Gary O’Connor faced with calls to resign after his Twitt to Sen. Tim Scott : “little more than an oreo with no real principles.” Gov. Greg Abbott demanded the resignation of O’Connor and said that the Texas Democratic Party should “censure him” for the racial slur against Mr. Scott, who is Black

🧑‍🚀 US space agency NASA announced the suspension of a contract for the creation of a lunar module with the American private company SpaceX worth about $2.9 billion due to protests from competitors at the Government Accountability Office

#URGENT | Shooting reported at Casino in Wisconsin, gunman arrested - reports

UPDATE | At least seven people have been injured in a shooting at the Oneida Casino in Green Bay, Wisconsin

North Korea warned that the United States would face a “very serious situation” because President Biden “made a big mistake” in his recent speech, calling the DPRK a security threat and disclosing his intention to pursue a hostile policy towards it

❗️ US may reportedly un-freeze $7 billion worth of Iranian assets

Catch up on our latest updates:

▪️ Eleven people have been hospitalised, two of them in critical condition, after a deck collapsed at a restaurant in Tennessee.

▪️ American actress Olympia Dukakis has passed away at the age of 89 in New York City.

▪️ Wisconsin police fatally shot a gunman who opened fire at the Oneida Casino overnight, killing two and injuring another.

▪️ Senator Mitt Romney was booed by an audience at the Utah GOP convention on Saturday.

▪️ Portland authorities declared a riot on Saturday night following protests in the downtown area.

😡 Senator Mitt Romney was booed and called a “traitor” during a Utah Republican Party convention in West Valley City.

“Aren't you embarrassed?”, the Utah senator said in response, describing himself as a man “who says what he means”.

The booing only stopped after outgoing party chair Derek Brown called on delegates to “show respect” for the senator, who in turn urged party members to “come together in strength and unity”.

❗️UPDATE: U.S. State Department denies reports of prisoner swap with Iran

🚨 The US Border Patrol has detained a number of gang members who attempted to enter the country via a southern border checkpoint in Texas as part of the migrant flows.

Laredo Sector Chief Patrol Agent Matthew Hudak tweeted earlier this week about nabbing “5 gang members in 7 days”, including those from the international gang MS-13 and the 18th Street criminal group.

🤔 In McCarthy’s footsteps?

Ahead of Saturday's worldwide International Workers' Day celebrations, Biden called on citizens to mark 1 May as… Loyalty Day.

"This Loyalty Day, I call upon the people of the United States to join in this national observance, display the United States flag and pledge allegiance to the Republic for which it stands", the statement reads.

Anti-communist Loyalty Day was first established in 1921 as “Americanisation Day” during the first “Red Scare” over Bolshevism. It was re-founded by Congress in 1955, near the end of the post-Second World War period of anti-communism and blacklisting led by Senator Joseph McCarthy.

🖌 Donald Trump’s success during the 2016 presidential election has inspired more celebrities to run for political office in the United States, said John Brabender, a Republican strategist.

"In a strange and odd way, Trump sort of broke some barriers and shattered some glass ceilings ... and showed there are alternate paths", Brabender told The Hill

Imagine swimming calmly in a river and suddenly you come across a mammoth bone, which could be about 100,000 years old, what would your reaction be?

Derek Demeter and Henry Sadler found a four-foot, 50-pound bone in the Peace River near Acadia, calling it an "amazing" discovery