President Trump made waves Tuesday with a bold claim that Canada might soon join the United States as its 51st state in return for inclusion in the American “Golden Dome” missile defense initiative.
The announcement came not long after King Charles III made subtle remarks during a speech to Canada’s parliament that appeared to push back against Trump’s ambitions to absorb the country into the U.S.
“I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation, but will cost ZERO DOLLARS if they become our cherished 51st State,” Trump, 78, wrote on Truth Social.
“They are considering the offer!”

A second cryptocurrency investor surrendered to police Tuesday in the alleged kidnapping of a man who said he was tortured for weeks inside an upscale Manhattan townhouse by captors seeking the password to access his Bitcoin account. William Duplessie, 32, faces charges of kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon, according to police. His arrest comes four days after the alleged victim — a 28-year-old Italian national — escaped, bloodied and barefoot, from a lavish townhouse where he said he had been severely beaten, drugged, shocked and threatened with death for nearly three weeks. On Friday evening, hours after the man’s escape, the crypto investor John Woeltz was taken into custody and charged in the alleged kidnapping scheme.

CAROLINA BEACH, N.C.

A huge explosion rocked a chemical plant in China’s eastern Shandong province around noon Tuesday, killing at least five people and injuring 19, according to state broadcaster CCTV. An additional six people remain missing. The blast was powerful enough to knock out the windows at a storage warehouse more than two miles (three kilometers) away from the factory, according to a video shared by a local resident, who declined to give his name out of concern for retaliation. His home shook from the blast, he said. As he went to the window to see what was wrong, he saw a tall column of smoke from the site, more than seven kilometers (4.3 miles) away. The explosion happened at the Gaomi Youdao Chemical Co., which is located in an industrial park in the city of Weifang.

Fifteen members of Israel’s Knesset have formally appealed to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, urging her to pursue capital punishment for the man accused of carrying out last week’s antisemitic double homicide at the Jewish Museum located near Washington, D.C., where two Israeli Embassy staffers were killed, according to a report from the Jewish News Syndicate.
The appeal was made in a letter sent to Bondi on May 22, just one day after the attack took place. In the message, the lawmakers wrote, “In light of the gravity of the crime—its premeditated nature, the likely ideological motivation, and the victims’ diplomatic status—we believe it would be appropriate for you to seek the death penalty for its perpetrator.”

Melania Trump firmly denied a widely circulated online claim on Tuesday that her son, Barron, had sought admission to Harvard University and been turned down. A representative for the first lady dismissed the story as entirely fabricated.
“Barron did not apply to Harvard, and any assertion that he, or that anyone on his behalf, applied is completely false,” said Nicholas Clemens, the communications director for the first lady.
The 19-year-old’s college application journey has been a hot topic on various social media platforms, particularly as his father has continued to criticize the Ivy League university and has cut off significant streams of federal funding to the institution.

Americans’ views of the economy improved in May after five straight months of declines sent consumer confidence to the lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, largely driven by anxiety over the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose 12.3 points in May to 98, up from April’s 85.7, its lowest reading since May 2020. A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market jumped 17.4 points to 72.8, but remained below 80, which can signal a recession ahead. The proportion of consumers surveyed saying they think a U.S. recession is coming in the next 12 months also declined from April. (AP)

JD Vance visited the Israeli Embassy in Washington today, in order to pay tribute to Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, the two embassy staffers who were gunned down last week by a Palestinian supporter outside of the Capital Jewish Museum in D.C.