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Trump evacuated after shots fired at White House correspondents’ dinner – what we know

Secret Service says US president and first lady are safe and suspect is in custody after shooting incident in DC

The White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday night was upended by gunshots, prompting the immediate evacuation of Donald and Melania Trump.

Hundreds of guest including many senior government officials and journalists at the Washington Hilton ballroom hid under tables as US Secret Service agents with guns drawn rushed White House pool reporters out of the room and mentioned “shots fired”.

Jeff Carroll, the interim chief of police of the Metropolitan police department, said a suspect “charged a US Secret Service checkpoint” at the Washington Hilton armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives. He appeared to have been a “lone” gunman, he said

Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser said the suspect was taken to a local hospital where he was being “evaluated”. “We have no reason to believe at this time that anyone else was involved,” she said.

Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said the defendant has been charged with felony firearms and assault charges.

A law enforcement official told the Associated Press that an officer was shot in a bullet-resistant vest, but is expected to be OK. Carroll, the DC police chief, said the investigation was “preliminary” but that investigators believed the suspect did fire a shot. Carroll said the suspect was not shot.

Trump rescheduled the dinner, posting on Truth Social later on Saturday: “The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition. We will be speaking to you in a half an hour. I have spoken with all the representatives in charge of the event, and we will be rescheduling within 30 days.”

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer said he was within a few feet of the shooter, and called into CNN to describe his observations. Blitzer said he saw “a very, very serious weapon. He starts shooting, and I happened to have been a few feet away from him. As he was shooting, of course, the first thing that went through my mind: is he trying to shoot me? And I don’t think he was trying to shoot me, but I was very close to him as the gunshots were fired and he was very very scary. But I’m OK, now.”

2026-04-26 03:59:18

‘We went under the table screaming’: guests recount commotion from White House correspondents’ dinner

Lawmakers and reporters in shock after Washington press event abruptly ends following gunshots

Lawmakers and journalists were in shock after a Washington media tradition turned violent on Saturday night, halting the White House correspondents’ dinner while the first course of burrata and greens sat on their plates.

“We thought that some of the plates for the dinner fell, and next thing you know, we all went under the table screaming,” said Jamie Raskin, a Maryland congressman who was among the 2,000 attendees gathered to celebrate press freedom. It was the first time that Donald Trump chose to attend the annual Washington event.

2026-04-26 03:08:32

Chaos as Trump whisked from Washington press dinner after shots fired – in pictures

Attendees took cover under table as agents swiftly evacuated the president, first lady and other senior officials from the event

2026-04-26 02:55:51

The moment gunshots were heard during White House correspondents' dinner – video

The White House correspondents’ dinner was upended by gunshots on Saturday night, prompting the immediate evacuation of Donald Trump and Melania Trump. Journalists and guests hid under tables as the US Secret Service rushed into the room

2026-04-26 02:40:22

Suspected shooter apprehended after Donald Trump evacuated from White House correspondents’ dinner – live

President and other top leaders evacuated from the annual dinner after an unspecified threat

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer said he was within a few feet of the shooter, and called into CNN to describe his observations.

Blitzer said he saw “a very, very serious weapon. He starts shooting, and I happened to have been a few feet away from him. As he was shooting, of course, the first thing that went through my mind: is he trying to shoot me? And I don’t think he was trying to shoot me, but I was very close to him as the gunshots were fired and he was very, very scary. But I’m OK, now.”

2026-04-26 02:38:42

Wel.nl

Minder lezen, Meer weten.

Meerdere doden door bomaanslag in Colombia

CAJIBÍO (ANP/AFP/RTR) - Bij een bomaanslag in het zuidwesten van Colombia zijn zaterdag 14 mensen om het leven gekomen. Zeventien anderen raakten gewond.

"Er werd een explosief tot ontploffing gebracht op een weg", aldus gouverneur van de regio Cauca Octavio Guzmán op X. "Het is een tragedie die ons als departement verscheurt en onze families diep treft in hun rouw. Er zijn niet genoeg woorden voor de pijn die we vandaag voelen."

In een video die Guzmán bij zijn bericht plaatste, zijn slachtoffers te zien en vernielde voertuigen na de bomaanslag. Volgens getuigen was de ontploffing zo krachtig dat zij enkele meters naar achteren werden geslingerd.

Sinds vrijdag zijn er verschillende aanslagen gemeld in Colombia, die de autoriteiten toeschrijven aan dissidenten van de ontbonden guerrillagroep FARC.

Een aantal van de overgebleven strijders van FARC die in 2016 een vredesakkoord met de regering verwierpen, is actief bezig de vastgelopen vredesgesprekken met de huidige president, de linkse Gustavo Petro, te verstoren. Een bomaanslag op een militaire basis in Cali vrijdag leidde tot twee gewonden.

Het geweld verhoogt de spanningen in Colombia in aanloop naar de presidentsverkiezingen van 31 mei, waarbij veiligheid een van de centrale thema's is.

De linkse senator Ivan Cepeda, een architect van Petro's controversiële beleid om te onderhandelen met gewapende groepen, staat voorop in de peilingen, gevolgd door de rechtse kandidaten Abelardo de la Espriella en Paloma Valencia.

Alle drie hebben gemeld doodsbedreigingen te hebben ontvangen en voeren campagne onder zware beveiliging.

2026-04-26 03:47:03

Trump plaatst video van verdachte online, man had meerdere wapens

WASHINGTON (ANP/RTR/AFP) - De Amerikaanse president Donald Trump heeft op zijn sociale mediaplatform Truth Social video's en foto's gedeeld van de verdachte. Op een video van een bewakingscamera is te zien hoe de verdachte langs de beveiligingscontrole voor het evenement probeert te stormen.

Trump stond de pers na het incident te woord tijdens een persconferentie in het Witte Huis. Volgens de president had de man "meerdere wapens" bij zich en was hij gekleed in een kogelvrij vest. Het zou gaan om een 30-jarige man uit Californië.

De verdachte viel de beveiligingspost aan in zijn poging de zaal van het Correspondents' Dinner van het Witte Huis binnen te komen. Daarbij raakte een politieagent gewond, aldus Trump. Hij werd geraakt in zijn kogelvrije vest en is naar het ziekenhuis gebracht. Volgens de president gaat het goed met de agent.

"We hebben alle omstandigheden bekeken die zich vanavond hebben voorgedaan, en ik moet zeggen, weet je, het is niet bepaald een veilig gebouw", voegde de Amerikaanse leider eraan toe.

Op de vraag of Trump denkt dat hij het doelwit van de verdachte was, antwoordde Trump: "Ik denk het". De president liet weten dat hij onder de indruk was dat de verdachte "een eenling was die op eigen houtje handelde".

FBI-directeur Kash Patel heeft een oproep gedaan om "alle informatie die ook maar enigszins verband houdt met dit incident" te delen. De FBI onderzoekt ballistisch bewijs en een wapen van de plaats delict en spreekt met getuigen, aldus Patel.

"Geen enkele informatie is te klein, geen enkele informatie is ontoereikend", zei hij. Hij voegde eraan toe dat onderzoekers de achtergrond van de verdachte "grondig" zullen uitzoeken.

2026-04-26 03:15:22

Trump geëvacueerd van podium Correspondents' Dinner Witte Huis

WASHINGTON (ANP/AFP/RTR) - De Amerikaanse president Donald Trump is door agenten van de Secret Service van het podium geëvacueerd tijdens het Correspondents' Dinner van het Witte Huis, zo toonden beelden van de locatie. Dat gebeurde nadat er een hard ongeïdentificeerd geluid te horen was. CNN meldt dat de president veilig is.

Ook andere functionarissen van de Trump-regering die het diner bijwoonden, werden geëvacueerd. Veel van de 2600 aanwezigen zochten dekking.

Volgens meerdere journalisten die tijdens het diner aanwezig waren, waren er schoten te horen. Een verdachte zou zijn aangehouden.

2026-04-26 03:13:23

Slashdot

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Trump Fires All 24 Members of America's National Science Board

America's National Science Board (NSB) "was established in 1950 to guide the governance of the National Science Foundation," writes the Washington Post, "in an unusual structure within the federal government that echoes the setup of a company board in the private sector. It helps guide an agency that operates Antarctic research stations, telescopes, a fleet of research vessels and supports basic science research in laboratories across the United States." (NSF research has helped evolve the technology used in MRIs, cellphones and LASIK eye surgery.)

But yesterday President Trump fired all 24 members of the National Science Board (NSB), the body that oversees the National Science Foundation (NSF), reports Science magazine:

In addition to advising the administration and Congress on national science policy, it has statutory authority to oversee the actions of the $9-billion NSF, setting policy and approving large expenditures.
Its presidentially appointed members, typically prominent academics and industry leaders, serve 6-year terms, with eight members chosen every 2 years....

Keivan Stassun, one of the dismissed board members, says the mass firing is the latest indication that the White House is ignoring the board's authority and dictating policies at NSF, which has been without a permanent director since Sethuraman Panchanathan resigned exactly one year ago. Stassun, an astrophysicist at Vanderbilt University who was appointed to the board in 2022, thinks the board's public criticism in May 2025 of Trump's proposed 55% cut to NSF's current budget — which Congress ultimately ignored — antagonized the administration. "Maybe one way to say it from the administration's perspective," Stassun says, "is that this group of presidential appointees was advising the Congress to not follow the president's wishes."

The Washington Post adds that "The White House did not immediately respond to inquiries about why the members were terminated."

Australia's Teen Social Media Ban Isn't Working. Half Their Teens Still Have Access, Survey Finds

After Australia banned social media for users younger than 16, teenagers "immediately worked to circumvent the restrictions," reports Fortune:

14-year-old in New South Wales, told
The Washington Post in December 2025, just
before the implementation of the ban, she planned to use her mother's
face ID to log in to Snapchat
and .
In a Reddit thread on ways to bypass the ban, one user suggested
using a printed mesh face mask from Temu to outsmart apps'
facial recognition tools. Others still have tried VPNs that obscure
their locations.

A new report
suggests these efforts are working. In a survey of 1,050 Australians ages 12 to 15 conducted last month, the
UK-based suicide prevention organization the Molly Rose Foundation
found more than 60% of teens who had social media accounts before the
ban still had access to at least one of those platforms. Social media
sites including TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, have retained more than half of their users under 16.
About two-thirds of young users say these platforms have taken "no
action" to remove or reactive accounts that existed before the
restrictions.

The survey comes at the heels of the Australian internet regulator
calling
for an investigation into the five largest social media platforms
over potential breaches of the ban.

The article points out that "Greece, France, Indonesia, Austria, Spain, and the UK have or are considering similar action, and eight U.S. states are weighing legislation that would put guardrails or ban social media use for minors.

Beautiful Japan Pool

Monet’ Garden in Kitagawa Village 北川村「モネの庭」

banzainetsurfer has added a photo to the pool:

Kitagawa, Aki District, Kochi Prefecture, Shikoku, Japan
日本四国地方高知県安芸郡北川村

Looks like a painting, I know, but it was actually taken wth my iPhone. Truly amazing to see.

"All the way from France, Claude Monet’s only garden outside his home country has now been replicated in Kitagawa Village, Kochi, Japan. Impressionist artist Claude Monet devoted his heart and soul into planting attractive and exquisite plants and flowers. And he created many impressionistic style paintings, using his garden as a living canvas.
It is well-known that Claude Monet loved and treasured Japan’s ukiyo-e wood-block prints produced in the Edo period.
Monet’ Garden in Kitagawa Village consists of three gardens of Flower Garden, Water Garden and Garden of Bordighera. Strolling Flower Garden and Water Garden makes you understand Monet’s deep interest in Japanese artworks and culture. Garden of Bordighera was created by the inspiration through the works painted by Monet fascinated by the lignt and colors at the Mediterranean."
Source: www.kjmonet.jp/english/

2026-04-26 03:24:51

Monet’ Garden in Kitagawa Village 北川村「モネの庭」

banzainetsurfer has added a photo to the pool:

Kitagawa, Aki District, Kochi Prefecture, Shikoku, Japan
日本四国地方高知県安芸郡北川村

Looks like a painting, I know, but it was actually taken wth my iPhone. Truly amazing to see.

"All the way from France, Claude Monet’s only garden outside his home country has now been replicated in Kitagawa Village, Kochi, Japan. Impressionist artist Claude Monet devoted his heart and soul into planting attractive and exquisite plants and flowers. And he created many impressionistic style paintings, using his garden as a living canvas.
It is well-known that Claude Monet loved and treasured Japan’s ukiyo-e wood-block prints produced in the Edo period.
Monet’ Garden in Kitagawa Village consists of three gardens of Flower Garden, Water Garden and Garden of Bordighera. Strolling Flower Garden and Water Garden makes you understand Monet’s deep interest in Japanese artworks and culture. Garden of Bordighera was created by the inspiration through the works painted by Monet fascinated by the lignt and colors at the Mediterranean."
Source: www.kjmonet.jp/english/