标签： North America

A developing security incident has sent the White House press corps scrambling for cover Wednesday, after multiple journalists on site reported hearing what sounded like gunfire erupt near the presidential compound.

Video captured by ABC News senior correspondent Selina Wang shows the journalist taking shelter amid a rapid series of loud bangs that echoed across the White House North Lawn. In a post on X following the incident, Wang confirmed that reporting teams were ordered to run immediately to the White House press briefing room, where they remained sheltered as authorities assessed the situation.

As of the latest update, law enforcement officials have not confirmed the source of the reported gunshots, nor have they verified whether an active threat to the White House or those inside remains. The United States Secret Service, which is the federal agency tasked with protecting the president and the White House complex, confirmed in an official statement to CBS News — the U.S. partner of the BBC — that agents were responding to reports of shots fired at the intersection of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, a block adjacent to the White House grounds.

Spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi stated the agency was working alongside on-site personnel to cross-verify details of the reports. Visual footage from the scene captured by Agence France-Presse via Getty Images shows uniformed police officers sprinting across the area near the White House as the response unfolded. The BBC confirmed it had reached out to the Secret Service, White House officials, and local Washington D.C. police for additional comment and further details on the incident.

This is an active breaking news story that is being updated in real time as new information becomes available from law enforcement and on-site correspondents. Readers can access instant updates on the incident via the BBC News mobile app for smartphones and tablets, or by following the official @BBCBreaking account on X for real-time alerts.

After weeks of shifting tensions and a months-long temporary ceasefire, both the United States and Iran have acknowledged tentative progress in diplomatic talks, even as key sticking points remain unresolved and economic pressure on Tehran continues.

On a Friday ceremony held in the White House East Room, Kevin Warsh officially took office as the 17th Chair of the United States Federal Reserve, marking the start of his four-year term at the helm of the world’s most influential central bank. The oath of office was administered by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, with the event hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump. Attendees included a roster of high-profile guests: senior White House administration officials, sitting members of Congress, sitting Supreme Court justices, and leading figures from the American business community.

In remarks ahead of the swearing-in, Trump emphasized his expectation that Warsh would maintain full institutional independence from the executive branch. “I want Kevin to be totally independent. I want him to be independent and just do a great job,” Trump told the assembled audience. “Don’t look at me, don’t look at anybody. Just do your own thing and do a great job, okay?” Per CNBC reporting, this White House swearing-in marks the first time a Fed chair has taken office at the presidential residence since Alan Greenspan’s 1987 inauguration, a break from recent tradition that has drawn attention from political and financial observers.

At 56, Warsh succeeds Jerome Powell, who led the Federal Reserve through post-pandemic recovery and a historic inflation surge starting in 2018. Powell, who will retain his seat on the Fed’s Board of Governors after stepping down from the chair role, has already signaled he will remain active in central bank governance.

In his first public remarks as chair, Warsh reaffirmed the Federal Reserve’s core statutory mandates: fostering stable prices and maximizing sustainable employment. “When we pursue those aims with wisdom and clarity, independence and resolve, inflation can be lower, growth stronger, real take home pay higher and America can be more prosperous. And no less important, America’s place in the world is more secure,” Warsh stated. Outlining his policy and institutional agenda, he committed to leading what he called a “reform-oriented Federal Reserve,” saying the body would draw lessons from both past successes and missteps, move beyond rigid, outdated analytical frameworks and models, and uphold strict standards of integrity and accountability in all its operations.

Warsh brings deep prior experience at the central bank: he served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011, and after leaving the institution, he held academic appointments at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the conservative think tank the Hoover Institution.

Warsh’s inauguration comes amid a period of heightened tension between the Trump White House and the Federal Reserve, with the administration pushing repeatedly for looser monetary policy to pair with its signature policy agenda of tax cuts and broad financial deregulation designed to accelerate U.S. economic growth. Over the past 12 months, the Trump administration has moved repeatedly to exert greater political influence over the central bank’s decisions. Most notably, Trump attempted to remove Biden-appointed Board member Lisa Cook over unproven fraud allegations, and directed the U.S. Department of Justice to open an investigation into outgoing chair Jerome Powell connected to a Fed headquarters building renovation project. A federal judge later ruled that the investigation was an explicit attempt to pressure Powell into cutting interest rates or resigning from his post.

That investigation was ultimately halted after Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina threatened to block Warsh’s Senate confirmation vote unless the probe was dropped, clearing the path for Warsh’s appointment.

Going into his term, Warsh has positioned himself as an advocate for institutional change at the Fed, publicly calling for “regime change” that would overhaul how the central bank measures and communicates economic data to markets and the public. He has also signaled openness to lowering interest rates, while pushing back against claims he would defer to the White House on monetary policy. Warsh has repeatedly stated he will rely on his own independent judgment when setting policy, and will not take direct instructions from the executive branch.

The new chair takes office at a critical moment for U.S. monetary policy. As of April 2026, the Federal Open Market Committee has held its benchmark federal funds rate steady at a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, keeping borrowing costs elevated to pull persistent inflation back down to the central bank’s longstanding 2% target. However, recent economic data has upended market expectations for imminent rate cuts. A U.S. Labor Department report released earlier this week showed annual consumer price inflation hit 3.8% in April, the highest reading recorded since May 2023. The sharp rise in price pressures has been fueled in large part by global energy market disruptions: tanker traffic disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, sparked by the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran, have driven sharp increases in global crude oil and retail gasoline prices, creating new headwinds for the Fed’s inflation fight.

Against the backdrop of heightened geopolitical tension and a global energy crunch sparked by the ongoing Iran war, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio touched down in India on Saturday, kicking off a four-day trip that will tackle a packed agenda spanning energy cooperation, trade negotiations, and regional security alignment. Rubio landed first in Kolkata, the bustling eastern Indian metropolis formerly known as Calcutta, in local morning hours, with subsequent stops scheduled for the national capital New Delhi, the northern cultural hub Jaipur, and the historic tourist landmark Agra. His highest-profile engagement will be a sit-down with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where energy security is widely expected to top the list of priority discussions.

The current energy crisis traces back to the confrontation that erupted after U.S. and Israeli military strikes on Iran in February, which turned the Strait of Hormuz — the world’s most critical chokepoint for global oil shipments — into a dangerous flashpoint. Commercial energy traffic through the strait has now effectively halted, with Iran leveraging the closure as a key bargaining chip during fragile ongoing peace talks with Washington. For India, which relies on imported energy to meet more than 80% of its total demand, the shutdown has hit particularly hard. With a population of over 1.4 billion depending on foreign supplies of everything from cooking gas to transportation fuel to power daily life, the supply gap has created urgent pressure on New Delhi to secure alternative import sources.

Rubio has openly acknowledged the severe challenges facing Asia’s third-largest economy, and has positioned the U.S. as a reliable alternative energy supplier. “We want to sell them [India] as much energy as they’ll buy. And obviously, you’ve seen, I think, we’re at historic levels of US production and US export,” he stated ahead of the visit. For Washington, expanded Indian energy imports would also address a longstanding irritant in bilateral relations: the expanding U.S. trade deficit with India, which swelled 27.1% year-over-year to hit $58.2 billion in 2025, a figure that has consistently drawn criticism from President Donald Trump.

Despite the mutual incentives, however, a rapid shift to U.S. energy supplies faces major practical hurdles. Shipping energy from the U.S. to India requires far longer, costlier trade routes than established supply chains from the Middle East, and analysts widely agree that U.S. shipments cannot logically close India’s current import shortfall in the near term. Beyond energy, trade relations between the two powers have seen tentative progress after months of stalemate, though major questions remain unresolved. Earlier this year, Trump cut reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods from 50% to 18% following a 10-month impasse, a move that was widely welcomed in New Delhi. After a U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down parts of Trump’s original sweeping tariff scheme, levies were further reduced to 10%, easing pressure on Indian exporters. The tariff cuts came in exchange for India’s commitment under a February interim trade deal to purchase $500 billion worth of U.S. goods across energy, aircraft, technology, and agricultural sectors.

Negotiations are still ongoing to finalize a broader comprehensive bilateral trade agreement, but details of the final text remain sparse, and trade analysts have expressed skepticism about the ambitious $500 billion purchase target. India’s total annual trade with the U.S. currently amounts to only a small fraction of that figure, and New Delhi has yet to put forward concrete, verifiable investment commitments to back up the public pledge. Most notably, Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani has remained publicly uncommitted to Trump’s announcement that Ambani’s firm Reliance Industries would back a $300 billion new oil refinery project in Brownsville, Texas — the first new major refinery built in the U.S. in half a century.

Even amid that uncertainty, Indian export data tells a cautiously positive story: Indian shipments to the U.S. held steady at $87.3 billion in the 12-month period ending March 2026, posting a 0.9% year-over-year increase even during the period of steep tariffs between May 2025 and February 2026. After tariffs were lowered, exports picked up further, hitting $8.5 billion in April 2026 alone. Indian research firm Crisil Research noted that this growth reflects the “continued positive impact of the lowered tariffs,” but added that lingering uncertainty over future tariff policy means export trajectory will require close monitoring. To hedge against ongoing trade risks with the U.S., New Delhi has accelerated efforts to liberalize its historically protectionist trade policy, concluding advanced free trade agreements with a range of partners including the United Kingdom, European Union, Australia, and Oman in recent months. HSBC economist Pranjul Bhandari noted that while Trump has demanded India eliminate all tariff and non-tariff barriers on U.S. goods, these new FTAs allow India to preserve protection for key sensitive sectors. Even after a final U.S.-India trade deal is signed, she added, sectors like domestic agriculture and dairy are almost certain to remain protected.

The visit also unfolds against a backdrop of lingering bilateral friction beyond trade. Tensions have persisted for months over conflicting narratives surrounding last year’s brief India-Pakistan border conflict: Trump has repeatedly claimed he brokered the ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, a claim New Delhi has consistently rejected, citing its longstanding policy of opposing third-party mediation in bilateral disputes with Pakistan. Trump’s public praise for Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir — whom the U.S. president has called his “favorite field marshal” — has also rankled Indian officials, and recent Pakistani mediation efforts between Washington and Tehran have drawn bilateral ties between the U.S. and Pakistan even closer. Indian analyst Vineet Prakash, an associate professor of U.S. studies at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, noted that Pakistan’s proximity to Iran makes its strategic value to Washington unsurprising, but added that any discussion of Pakistan during Rubio’s trip will almost certainly take place behind closed doors, with no public statements expected.

On energy security, Prakash noted that the Iran crisis is unlikely to be resolved quickly, so the issue will remain the core priority of Rubio’s visit. While the U.S. has already granted India a waiver to continue purchasing Russian oil, Prakash expects Indian officials will push for additional concessions during talks. Another longstanding point of contention that will be addressed is India’s reluctance to comply with Trump’s calls for nations to deploy military assets to the Strait of Hormuz to guarantee free navigation. New Delhi has made clear it will only participate in diplomatic efforts to resolve the standoff, so observers will be watching closely to see what public stance Rubio takes on India’s position during the visit.

The final key item on Rubio’s agenda is the upcoming Quad Foreign Ministers meeting, scheduled for May 26 in New Delhi. The Quad, a regional security grouping comprising the U.S., India, Australia, and Japan, was framed by Trump in his first term as a counterweight to growing Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific. A planned Quad leaders summit was delayed last year due to a perceived lukewarm commitment from Trump, leading some analysts to question the grouping’s future viability. To date, there is still no confirmation that Trump will attend the rescheduled summit planned for later this year in New Delhi, or even that the summit will proceed as planned. Prakash argued that the uncertainty reflects a shift in Trump’s approach, as the administration has come to recognize that China cannot be easily pressured, leading to a reevaluation of the Quad’s purpose. For India, hosting a successful Quad leaders summit is a key priority to reinforce its growing status as a major geopolitical power, so New Delhi is eager to see the event go forward. Indian officials will wait to hear Rubio’s remarks on the grouping before committing to a public stance on the summit’s future.

The future of the Quad also intersects with another major Indian diplomatic event on the horizon: New Delhi is scheduled to host a BRICS summit in September, an expanded grouping that now includes China, Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia alongside Brazil and South Africa. The balance India strikes between its engagements with the Quad and BRICS will be closely watched by global observers, as it will signal New Delhi’s broader geopolitical alignment amid growing great power competition. With multiple high-stakes issues on the table, Rubio’s visit is set to shape the trajectory of U.S.-India relations and regional security in the Indo-Pacific for months to come.

The Trump administration has rolled out a major new immigration policy that will significantly raise barriers for immigrants already residing in the United States seeking to obtain permanent residency via a green card.

In an official policy memo released Friday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed that most applicants seeking a change of immigration status to permanent residency will now be required to complete consular processing from outside the United States, with only very narrow exceptions granted for extraordinary circumstances. This regulatory change closes a longstanding loophole that previously allowed temporary visa holders, including tourists, students, and seasonal workers already present in the country, to submit green card applications without leaving U.S. territory.

Administration officials frame the policy as a long-overdue correction of immigration system abuse. USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler explained that the new rule aligns with the original text of U.S. immigration law, eliminating incentives for individuals to exploit regulatory gaps by using temporary visits as a backdoor to permanent residency. By shifting most green card application processing to U.S. consulates overseas, agency leaders argue the policy will free up limited USCIS resources to focus on high-priority cases, including visa applications for victims of violent crime and human trafficking, citizenship naturalization requests, and other core agency responsibilities.

“When aliens apply from their home country, it reduces the need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the U.S. illegally after being denied residency,” a USCIS statement read. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees USCIS, echoed this sentiment in a post on X, declaring that “the era of abusing our nation’s immigration system is over.” Officials added that the new rule aligns with existing immigration statute and decades of immigration court precedent, and officers will evaluate eligibility for extraordinary circumstance exemptions on a case-by-case basis.

Critics, however, have warned that the policy will have devastating, far-reaching consequences for hundreds of thousands of immigrant families and U.S. employers annually. The change ends a longstanding system that allowed families to remain together during the green card application process, which can stretch from several months to multiple years. Opponents also note that applicants forced to return to their home countries for processing face extreme uncertainty: leaving the U.S. can result in multi-year delays, and those who overstayed their temporary visas prior to applying face lengthy re-entry bans or deportation if their application is denied.

Michael Valverde, a former senior USCIS official who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations before leaving the agency in 2025, called the move largely unprecedented. Speaking to CBS News, the BBC’s U.S. media partner, Valverde warned that the policy “will limit lawful immigration to the US greatly” and added that “people who followed the rules faithfully now face tremendous uncertainty.”

According to data from the Cato Institute’s director of immigration studies, more than one million legal immigrants are currently waiting for approval of their adjustment of status green card applications, many of whom will now be affected by the sudden regulatory change. This new policy is just the latest in a series of restrictive immigration actions taken by the Trump administration, which has already implemented entry bans or travel restrictions for citizens of nearly 40 countries, and paused all immigrant visa issuances for applicants from 75 countries earlier this year.