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A US-Israeli strike targeted the B1 bridge in Karaj, west of Tehran, killing at least two people and injuring several others, according to Iranian authorities. The major highway link, described as the tallest bridge in the Middle East, was scheduled to be inaugurated soon and sustained significant damage in the strike.
Published On 2 Apr 2026
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FIRST ON FOX: The anti-fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance revealed a staggering increase in California hospice and healthcare providers that were suspended as a result of the task force’s crackdown on fraud.
Fox News Digital is told a total of 221 providers in Los Angeles have been suspended so far due to suspected fraud, including a number of providers who were raided by federal authorities early Thursday morning.
The latest number of suspensions marks a more than 215% increase from the 70 providers initially suspended in Los Angeles last week as a result of the task force.
“The Administration’s War on Fraud once again yields results as more suspensions take place and fraudsters face justice for ripping off hard-working Americans and stealing their tax dollars and social services,” a Vance spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “The Vice President and his task force are proud of these latest figures and expect to see this number continue to grow dramatically.”
COMER TO SAY TIM WALZ ‘ENABLED FRAUD,’ FAILED WHISTLEBLOWERS IN BOMBSHELL MINNESOTA HEARING
Sources within the administration tell Fox News Digital that the number of hospice and home health providers that will be suspended is expected to dramatically increase.
Authorities in Los Angeles have suspended 221 providers — a more than 200% jump in just one week — while federal raids and arrests target large-scale fraud schemes. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images / Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
“We expect this number to grow much, much higher in the coming weeks,” a senior Trump administration official said.
The California Post reported that the FBI and SWAT teams arrested a number of individuals in California Thursday morning as part of a blitz on fraudulent businesses in the Los Angeles area.
That included the arrests of two individuals behind an alleged $7 million in fraud.
Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks beside Vice President JD Vance during a news conference on efforts to combat fraud, in the Old Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Tom Brenner/AP)
“In 10 weeks we’re getting close to what Governor Newsom did in four years,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz told the California Post.
DEPUTY AG TODD BLANCHE SHEDS LIGHT ON NEW DOJ FRAUD DIVISION TO ADDRESS ‘INSANE’ PROBLEM
“Our task force isn’t wasting any time cracking down on fraud. This morning in the LA area, federal law enforcement is taking down fraudsters who stole $50M+ from Americans by defrauding our healthcare and hospice systems,” Vance posted to X on Thursday.
“In coordination with the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, federal law enforcement executed several arrests and search warrants in the Los Angeles area this morning targeting hospice and health care fraud,” first assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted to X. “Operation Never Say Die involves 11 defendants who engaged in fraud totaling more than $50 million. Those arrested today will appear in federal court this afternoon.”
The targeting of California providers fraudulently receiving federal funding has been alluded to by Vance and the Trump administration for several weeks.
In early January, President Donald Trump posted that California “is more corrupt than Minnesota” when detailing his intentions to root out fraud.
Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom has consistently denied claims that fraud is not appropriately handled and addressed in his state. In March, a Newsom spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the governor had blocked $125 billion in fraud, and made a number of arrests.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has pushed back on the fraud allegations, saying his administration has already blocked billions in fraudulent activity and arguing that many of the programs in question are run by the federal government, not the state. (Marijan Murat/picture alliance via Getty Images)
“Gavin Newsom runs a state,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Donald Trump runs his mouth. Again and again, we’ve shown that the programs they are attempting to call out are programs the federal government is administering, not the state. We suggest they get their house in order.”
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Vance responded to a question about the anti-fraud task force posed by Fox News Digital at an event in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, earlier this month, saying that at least “$19 billion” has been uncovered in Minnesota and that the task force’s sights would also be set on California.
In February, Vance and Oz revealed that $259.5 million in Medicaid funding would be withheld from Minnesota due to fraud concerns that had recently affected the state. The announcement came shortly before Gov. Tim Walz — former running mate of Kamala Harris — said he would not pursue a third term.
Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston
The House has failed to hold a vote on the Senate bill, while US President Trump says he will sign an order to pay ‘all’ DHS employees.
A partial government shutdown in the United States is set to stretch on, despite the Senate passing a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
On Thursday, the House of Representatives did not take up the funding bill passed by the Senate, meaning the partial shutdown that began on February 14 will continue until at least Monday, when the lower chamber reconvenes.
The stalemate centres on whether DHS should reform its immigration procedures, following criticism of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation push.
Democrats have refused to pass funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) without reforms to their practices. Republicans, meanwhile, have called the Democrats’ demands non-starters.
The deadlock has had several knock-on effects. DHS, for example, is in charge of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and its airport security agents have gone without pay for the last six weeks.
With agents calling out sick or leaving their jobs altogether, US airports have reported long lines and widespread travel delays.
The bill passed by the Senate last Wednesday would finance TSA and other arms of the DHS, but would not provide further funding to ICE or CBP, which already received major windfalls in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
But while Senate Republicans backed the measure last week, Republican leadership in the House has refused to bring the bill to a vote.
On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer accused House Republicans of being in disarray.
“House Republicans own the longest government shutdown in history,” he wrote. “The deep division and dysfunction among House Republicans is needlessly extending the DHS shutdown and hurting federal workers who are missing another paycheck.”
The decision not to vote on the Senate bill came despite House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune jointly announcing a plan on Wednesday to fully fund the DHS.
The pair presented a two-track approach, with the first step being to pass a bill to fund the department, save for ICE and CBP. The second step would involve funding ICE and CBP through separate spending legislation.
President Trump has endorsed that plan, writing on Truth Social on Thursday that “Republicans are UNIFIED, and moving forward on a plan that will reload funding for our FANTASTIC Border Patrol and Immigration Enforcement Officers”.
He charged Democrats were pursuing a “Radical Left Policy” in their opposition to funding ICE and CBP.
Trump deployed ICE agents to airports last week and signed an executive order to bypass Congress and pay TSA agents.
The funding is slated to come from last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump’s sweeping tax-and-spending law, although the White House has not clarified which funding would be diverted to pay the employees.
On Thursday, Trump went further, writing on Truth Social that he would soon sign an executive order “to pay ALL of the incredible employees at the Department of Homeland Security”. He did not provide further details.
Government shutdowns of any kind remain politically unpopular in the US. Unions and transportation safety groups have roundly slammed the latest funding impasse, criticising the strain it has placed on workers and airport security.
Democrats, however, have sought to leverage the funding bill as a means of pressing for changes to Trump’s immigration policy, particularly in the wake of the killing of two US citizens by federal agents in Minnesota in January.
They have called for DHS to make all immigration agents clearly identifiable and for an end to racial profiling in immigration stops. Other demands include safeguards like the consistent use of agent body cameras.
Public opinion polls have shown that disapproval for Trump’s immigration raids surged after the January killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Analysts believe the backlash may affect the midterm elections in November.
Republicans, meanwhile, have sought to lay the blame for the shutdown at the feet of Democrats, accusing them of putting Americans’ livelihoods in jeopardy for political gains.
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A week after President Donald Trump urged Sydney Gruters to run for an open GOP-held congressional seat in Florida, the former executive director of the state’s New College Foundation and wife of Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Joe Gruters declared her candidacy.
“As a working mother of three, I see firsthand how much pressure rising prices are putting on families across Southwest Florida,” Sydney Gruters said as she launched her campaign on Thursday. “From groceries and gas to housing and insurance, too many families, seniors, and veterans are being stretched thin. I’m running for Congress to protect our conservative values and fight for the people of this district and give them a strong voice in Washington.”
With Trump’s support, Gruters is considered the clear front-runner to succeed retiring longtime GOP Rep. Vern Buchanan, her former boss, in Florida’s right-leaning 16th Congressional District, which stretches from Tampa’s eastern suburbs south to Bradenton. Republicans currently control the House 218-214 and will be defending their fragile majority in this year’s midterm elections.
Trump, in a social media post on March 24, emphasized that Gruters would “fight tirelessly.”
RNC CHAIR BETS ON ‘SECRET WEAPON’ TO DEFY MIDTERM HISTORY, PROTECT GOP MAJORITIES
Now-President Donald Trump is joined by Sydney Gruters at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2022. (Sydney Gruters campaign)
“Should she decide to enter this Race, Sydney Gruters has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, SYDNEY, RUN!” the president declared.
While her husband, a Florida state senator and top Trump supporter in the Sunshine State, is well known nationally as he steers the RNC, the 44-year-old Sydney Gruters is well known in her district and very familiar with Congress.
SCOOP: HOUSE GOP CAMPAIGN ARM LAUNCHES ‘MAGA MAJORITY’ PROGRAM TO BOOST TRUMP-ALIGNED CANDIDATES
Gruters served as Buchanan’s operation director for a decade (2007-2017) and later as district director to GOP Rep. Greg Steube (2019-2023) in the neighboring 17th Congressional District.
Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla, seen attending a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, is retiring instead of seeking re-election in the 2026 midterms. (Bill Clark/Getty Images)
In-between her two congressional stints, she served in Trump’s first administration as state director for Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Department of Agriculture.
Prior to launching her congressional campaign, Gruters finished up her tenure as Vice President of Advancement and Executive Director of the New College Foundation.
Gruters took her position at the smaller liberal arts state college in Sarasota soon after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis installed a conservative board of trustees at the school. The one-time progressive-minded college subsequently created a classical education curriculum, which emphasizes liberal arts and western teachings. Last autumn, the college was among the first to sign on to Trump’s education compact, which offers schools federal funding for backing his education priorities.
Newly elected Republican National Committee chair Joe Gruters is interviewed by Fox News Digital at the RNC summer meeting, on Aug. 22, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia (Paul Steinhauser / Fox News )
As she launches her congressional bid, Gruters is also backed by Maggie’s List, a political group that works to elect conservative women to Congress.
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Three other Republicans, as well as three Democrats, are also running to succeed Buchanan.
Trump won 57% of the vote in the district in his 2024 presidential election victory. And Buchanan grabbed nearly 60% of the vote as he won re-election. But the seat may be refigured ahead of this year’s midterms, as the GOP-dominated Florida legislature meets in a special session later this month to deal with congressional redistricting in the red-leaning state.
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A software toolkit built for DARPA to test and validate covert communication networks is now open source, and it could help orgs who want to experiment with new kinds of secure, anonymous communications tools.
Defense contractor RTX, formerly Raytheon Technologies, said on Wednesday that its BBN research arm had released Maude-HCS under the Apache 2.0 license on GitHub for anyone who wishes to try it. Built using the Maude programming language, as you might’ve guessed from the name, it’s one of the first generalized and modular tools for experimenting with the design of hidden communication systems (HCS) at practical scales, the team says.
HCS, for those unfamiliar with the term, are systems that hide particular network traffic amid the flood of other network activity. Per a paper [PDF] the RTX team published on Maude-HCS alongside the news, HCS techniques can include protocol tunneling, mimicry, obfuscation, reflection/refraction, cloud fronting, proxying, steganography, and the like.
“An important property common to these systems is how they balance performance with risk of detection,” the team wrote in the paper. “Both performance and risk of detection by the adversary are of paramount importance to the HCS user, whose needs are generally driven by mission requirements.”
In other words, this is the sort of thing that people sneaking messages out of warzones, or leaking sensitive information to the press, are thinking about when trying to decide the best course of action in a given situation. This was traditionally the realm of trial-and-error testing, weeks of research, and possibly just hoping a chosen design would work once deployed. That’s where Maude-HCS comes in, with RTX claiming it makes finding the right design for a given situation just a matter of tweaking software settings.
HCS designers using Maude-HCS need only “specify protocol behavior, adversary observables, and environmental assumptions,” and Maude-HCS will generate results based on a range of scenarios that “can be used to audit claims of undetectability,” the team said.
According to RTX, Maude-HCS is able to predict latency, data rate, and how long a system can operate without detection, with a 1 percent to 9 percent error rate when compared with physical experiments. RTX added that the same analysis can be completed in hours rather than weeks.
Beyond the national security community, the open-source release could also give universities, industry partners, and other researchers a way to test hidden communication designs outside classified environments.
Either way, the team hopes next to invert the process developed with Maude-HCS, using it to design an HCS system that can then be tested, fine-tuned, and generated automatically based on the model’s suggestions.
Maude-HCS was developed as part of DARPA’s Provably Weird Network Deployment and Detection (PWND2) program, which was designed to support internet freedom as well as protecting US forces operating in hostile areas. ®
UN experts say Israel ’emboldened by impunity’ for previous journalist killings in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank.
Published On 2 Apr 2026
Three United Nations experts have called for an independent and thorough investigation into Israel’s recent killing of three journalists in Lebanon, denouncing the deadly incident as “another egregious attack on press freedom by Israeli forces”.
UN special rapporteurs Irene Khan, Morris Tidball-Binz and Ben Saul on Thursday noted that “journalists carrying out their professional duties in armed conflict are civilians and must not be targeted or made the object of attack”.
“The deliberate killing of journalists not directly participating in hostilities constitutes a serious violation of international human rights and humanitarian law and a war crime,” they said in a statement.
The Israeli military killed Al Mayadeen journalist Fatima Ftouni, her brother, freelance photojournalist Mohamad Ftouni, and Al-Manar’s Ali Shoaib in a targeted strike on their car in southern Lebanon on March 28.
Al Mayadeen and Al-Manar are pro-Hezbollah media outlets, and Israel accused Shoaib – without presenting any evidence – of being a fighter with the Lebanese armed group.
That claim was rejected by Shoaib’s colleagues as well as by the UN experts, who on Thursday also stressed that working for media outlets affiliated with an armed group does not mean journalists are directly participating in hostilities under international law.
“Israeli officials know this, yet they choose to ignore it – emboldened by impunity for their previous killings of journalists in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank,” they said.
In February, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that Israel was responsible for two-thirds of all killings of journalists in 2024 and 2025.
More than 60 percent of the 86 members of the press killed by Israeli fire last year were Palestinian journalists reporting from the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s genocidal war in the coastal enclave, the advocacy group found.
After the killings in southern Lebanon last week, CPJ’s Middle East director Sara Qudah also warned that Lebanon is becoming “an increasingly deadly zone for journalists, despite their status as civilians who must not be targeted”.
“We have seen a disturbing pattern in this war and in the decades prior of Israel accusing journalists of being active combatants and terrorists without providing credible evidence,” Qudah said in a statement.
“Journalists are not legitimate targets, regardless of the outlet they work for.”
The UN experts also warned that Israel’s killing of Lebanese journalists is part of “an abominable push … to silence reporting on Israel’s current military action in Lebanon, and shut down news coverage of war crimes committed, just as it did in Gaza”.
At least 1,345 people have been killed and 4,040 wounded in intensified Israeli attacks across Lebanon since early March, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
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More than a dozen Democratic-led states are accusing the Trump administration of violating a federal court order by sharing Medicaid data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, asking a judge to enforce the ruling.
The states’ complaint asks the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to enforce its existing injunction blocking HHS from sharing Medicaid data with ICE.
“The Trump Administration appears to be defying a direct court order blocking it from sharing the personal, sensitive data of individuals including U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. It’s invasive — and deeply troubling,” said California Attorney General Bonta, who led the coalition of 22 states. “When Californians signed up for Medi-Cal, they did so with the understanding that their data would not be used for purposes unrelated to administering this program. I urge the court to enforce its earlier order and make clear that these guardrails exist for anyone who is lawfully residing in the United States.”
The complaint stems from a lawsuit spearheaded by California in July 2025 against the Trump administration. The lawsuit accused Health and Human Services of violating federal law through its “mass transfer of sensitive Medicaid data” of both lawful permanent and temporary residents. The lawsuit also argued that the sharing of the personal information will likely create a “chilling effect on individuals’ willingness to enroll in Medicaid programs” for which they are legally eligible.
SECOND FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS IRS FROM SHARING ADDRESSES WITH ICE
A split image shows Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents patrolling Terminal C at LaGuardia Airport on March 24, 2026, in New York City (L), and U.S. President Donald Trump arriving at Miami International Airport on March 27, 2026, in Miami, Florida (R). President Trump deployed ICE agents to airports amid TSA staffing shortages, with border czar Tom Homan overseeing the effort. (Michael M. Santiago and Nathan Howard / Getty Images)
A federal judge ruled last December that the Trump administration is not allowed to collect the personal information of lawful permanent residents or citizens, but that it can continue to collect basic information from individuals such as addresses, birthdates and immigration status for residents with temporary status. However, the scope of data that can be collected is limited and cannot include sensitive health information.
The attorneys general accuse Health and Human Services of sharing “a large and complex” set of data on Medicaid recipients with ICE, which is in violation of a federal court ruling allowing the exchange of limited personal information but excluding the information of legal permanent residents. The complaint also accuses the Trump administration of failing to share its criteria for determining if a resident is being “lawfully present.”
CATO Institute Senior Legal Fellow Dan Greenberg told Fox News Digital there is “a strong possibility” that HHS and ICE violated the district court’s order.
LETITIA JAMES SUES HHS OVER TYING FEDERAL FUNDS TO TRANSGENDER POLICY
ICE agents stand at the scene where a woman was shot and killed earlier in the day during an enforcement operation on Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Christopher Juhn/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“The reason this is a strong possibility is that DHHS communications apparently indicate that it shared a ‘large and complex’ dataset of Medicaid recipients with ICE,” Greenberg said. “That phrase suggests that the dataset that was shared with ICE may have included information that is outside the scope of the court order. That is a question of fact: that is why the states are now asking the court to compel the federal government to explain just what was shared and how it is now being used.”
Greenberg also pointed out that the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System database does not “appear to have any simple or direct way to identify/single out immigrants who are undocumented,” making “information-sharing that complies with that court order difficult or impossible.”
“The TMSIS identifies people who are only eligible for emergency Medicaid services, but the problem is that this class of people includes both undocumented and lawfully present immigrants,” Greenberg said. “In short, it is as if the court order said that only some of the information in one particular file should be disclosed, but there is reason to believe that DHHS decided that — because they can’t figure out how to separate out this particular type of information – they may have handed over the whole filing cabinet.”
The US Department of Health and Human Services building is shown in Washington, D.C. (Saul Loeb/AFP)
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In addition to California, attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the governor of Kentucky signed on to the complaint.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Health and Human Services for comment.
After nearly a decade at Liverpool, Mohamed Salah hasn’t just become one of the club’s greatest players, he’s challenged stereotypes about Muslims and become a role model across Britain. Samantha Johnson looks at how Salah’s impact goes far beyond the football pitch.
Published On 2 Apr 2026
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California was dealt another blow in a lawsuit over gender secrecy policies in schools when a federal judge ordered the state this week to pay the plaintiffs in the case $4.5 million in taxpayer-funded legal fees.
Judge Roger Benitez, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, scolded state lawyers in his order for what he said was an “unusual” spree of court motions that forced the parents and teachers who brought the lawsuit to respond to California’s “litigation intransigence.”
The lawsuit challenged California’s SAFETY Act, which blocked schools from requiring staff to notify parents if a student sought to change their gender identity or pronouns. The Supreme Court rejected the policy in March and jurisdictions with similar policies have subsequently been hit with legal threats to repeal them.
Benitez also tacked on added financial penalties, in addition to the legal fees reimbursement, to reach the $4.5 million figure because the case concerned a “very important subject,” he said.
NJ SCHOOL DISTRICT’S SECRETIVE TRANSGENDER POLICY FACES LEGAL THREAT FOR BUCKING SUPREME COURT
California Attorney General Rob Bonta (Reuters/Fred Greaves/File Photo)
“State public education policies impinged on families’ right to the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment. The policies also rejected and subverted the federal constitutional rights of California parents to guide the health and well-being of their school-age children,” Benitez wrote. “Such concerns intrude among the most important areas of family life in America’s history and tradition.”
The lawsuit, brought against California Attorney General Rob Bonta, had argued that the state imposed an unconstitutional policy on schools that blocked teachers and staff from informing parents if their child wanted to change their gender.
CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICT LETS STUDENTS CHANGE NAMES AND GENDER IDENTITY IN SECRET FROM PARENTS
Protesters gather outside the Supreme Court as it hears arguments over state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)
The Supreme Court sided with the parents in a 6-3 emergency order, saying California’s policy, which blocked what critics described as schools’ “forced outing” of students, was likely unconstitutional.
The Thomas More Society, a conservative legal group, represented the plaintiffs in the case and recently warned a school district in New Jersey that it would begin legal action if the school district did not repeal a similar policy on transgender students.
The Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. ( Pete Kiehart/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“This is just the beginning,” Peter Breen, Thomas More Society executive vice president, told Fox News Digital of its warning to the Westwood Regional School Board. “This is not an end, but a beginning, our big win in the Supreme Court. We are already fielding requests from other parents across the country, and we anticipate sending a lot more demand letters, unfortunately.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Bonta’s office for comment.
