Iran’s foreign minister has held indirect talks with the U.S. on a diplomatic proposal to end seven months of fighting. On Monday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he’d discussed a plan with Qatari mediators that would see a phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz within seven days, in exchange for an end to all hostilities in Iran and Lebanon, the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade of Iran, the unfreezing of billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian assets and an end to sanctions on Iranian oil.

The indirect talks came as Iran defended its strikes on U.S. bases across the Mideast as self-defense, warning neighboring countries would come under further attack if they continue to host U.S. forces. Iranian diplomat Nasser Assadi Nazari delivered the warning in an address to the U.N. General Assembly Monday.

Nasser Assadi Nazari: “The missiles that killed 168 children at the primary school in Minab and struck the Lamerd sports complex during the U.S.-Israel regime’s joint aggression against Iran were launched from neighboring territory. … These are only two of many such examples.”

In the U.K., the five men who were arrested on suspicion of terrorism after they allegedly approached the RAF Fairford military base carrying explosives have been released on bail. All five are British nationals. The U.K. has allowed U.S. warplanes to launch long-range strikes on Iran from RAF Fairford since March 1, fueling speculation that Iran was behind a plot to attack the base. This is Tristan Wilkinson, the councillor for the Cotswold district.

Tristan Wilkinson: “So, there was a specific threat about six weeks ago from the Iranians on this base. At the time, there was an increased surveillance around the area. This is an operational base. It’s no secret that, you know, we have American bombers here that are taking part in what’s happening in the Middle East at the moment. So, there’s always the risk.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the incident at RAF Fairford “clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor.” Iran’s Embassy in London responded that it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns the recent unfounded and malicious speculations.”

In Ukraine, a wave of Russian drone and missile strikes has killed nine people and left 80 others wounded. Among Russia’s targets was Ukraine’s Academy of Sciences in Kyiv, where two people were killed by a Russian drone that struck during the workday Monday. Survivors said the attack came without a sound and without warning.

Svitlana Solianyk: “I don’t understand this senseless war. I don’t understand any of what’s going on. I don’t know how to resolve this issue. But what’s happening is not right, and it’s ordinary people who are suffering.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky said 80 of the 120 drones fired at Ukraine were a newer, jet-powered model, making them harder to shoot down.

Elsewhere, officials in eastern Poland scrambled fighter jets and ordered residents to shelter in place after a Russian drone crashed near the Polish-Ukrainian border Monday.

Meanwhile, Ukraine claimed long-range attacks on two Russian factories and an oil facility far from the frontlines.

The Trump administration issued new fuel economy rules on Monday that loosen the limits automakers must meet on pollution from gas-powered cars and light trucks. Rules set under the Biden administration called for vehicles to average about 50 miles per gallon by 2031. The Trump rules cut the target to just under 35 miles per gallon. Dave Cooke, the senior vehicles analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Clean Transportation Program, said, “The federal government’s decision to gut fuel economy standards is a handout to automakers and oil companies that will strap American consumers already struggling with an affordability crisis.”

The White House is defending its decision to run campaign-style ads promoting President Trump during NFL games and network news broadcasts. The 30-second spots include the tagline “paid for by the U.S. Government.” The White House calls them public service announcements, but Democratic lawmakers and former ethics officials argue they are political ads and violate federal appropriations laws and the Hatch Act. One 30-second ad, titled “Final Battle,” is nearly identical to a campaign video Trump posted to Truth Social in 2024. In the ad, Trump promises to expel “the warmongers,” “globalists” and “deep state” actors from government. More than $300,000 has been spent on the ad.

President Donald Trump: “We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all.”

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters, “It’s a great message. I like the message. But it shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars.”

In Texas, state election officials have sent tens of thousands of delayed voter registration applications to county election officials after discovering an error. Some of the applications had languished for over a year. The backlog sparked a scramble by counties to process the applications with just weeks left before November’s midterm elections.

In more news from Texas, a Black woman who was sentenced to five years in prison for casting a provisional ballot in the 2016 presidential election has overturned her conviction on appeal, capping a nearly decadelong legal battle. The 5-4 decision by Texas’s highest criminal court ends the case against Crystal Mason, whose provisional ballot wasn’t even counted since she was disqualified from voting at the time due to a past felony conviction for tax fraud. Click here to see our coverage of Crystal Mason’s case.

A top FBI official said Monday he’s stepping down about a year after he was nominated by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate. Andrew Bailey served as co-deputy director of the FBI in an unusual arrangement with right-wing podcaster Dan Bongino, before Bongino left the FBI in January after clashing with former Attorney General Pam Bondi over the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files. Bailey had been tasked with overseeing some of the investigations into President Trump’s debunked claims that the 2020 election was rigged.

Meanwhile, the FBI has confirmed that hackers accessed a trove of personal data on potentially tens of thousands of current and former FBI employees, including their names, addresses, phone numbers, and details on their spouses.

OpenAI is scrapping the release of its latest AI model, known as GPT-6.1 Astra, over safety concerns. This comes after OpenAI agents interfered with websites run by the U.S. Education Department, the Commerce Department and the SEC, without the company’s knowledge. In an interview, the OpenAI head of safety said the latest model had scored poorly on its ability to align with humans and showed higher levels of deception.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports Anthropic’s prospectus for an initial public offering details how the company lost $42 billion in 2025, while warning investors that advanced AI could pose “catastrophic or existential risks to humanity.”

This comes as chipmaker Nvidia announced the largest-ever stock buyback increase in U.S. corporate history, valued at $150 billion. Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang has gone on record saying that he rejects warnings that AI could make humans extinct. Nvidia is among the companies profiting most from the rapid buildout of AI data centers, which has drawn protests across the country.

The Trump administration announced Monday it had reversed a Biden-era policy that broadened the federal ban on sex discrimination in schools to cover LGBTQ people. Shiwali Patel of the National Women’s Law Center responded, “Sexual harassment and assault continue to be pervasive in schools and, to the fullest extent possible, we should be working to enforce the laws that protect student survivors of sexual violence. Yet Education Secretary Linda McMahon and the Trump administration have decided to ignore what survivors need, instead weaponizing Title IX to attack trans students.”

A New York prosecutor has reopened a sexual assault investigation at Cornell University after a woman alleged she’d been drugged, assaulted and gang raped by seven former and current members of the Chi Phi fraternity in 2024 when she was a 20-year-old undergraduate student. The allegations came in a lawsuit filed this month by a woman identified only as “Jane Doe,” who says campus officials and law enforcement failed to take her accusations seriously. On Monday, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten defended his initial decision not to seek charges, writing, “Seeking justice sometimes requires us to reconsider or reopen cases when we are provided with additional evidence.” A lawyer for the plaintiff says his client’s claims have not materially changed since she filed a police report in the weeks after the alleged assault.

On Sunday, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addressed the controversy at a “Students vs. Billionaires” event in Ithaca.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “I want to be clear that the culture of rape, sexual assault and pedophilia is protected in elite institutions across the United States, and including Cornell University in this instance. The fact that Jane Doe, that survivor, lost her education because you can’t stay in school when something like that happens to you. Rape is often used as an act of war. It is one of the most horrifying violations that can — that a human being can endure. It’s a form of torture. You can’t stay in school. The fact that she had to lose her education, and those men were protected by an institution and granted an Ivy League degree as a reward? Never again. Never Again.”