President Donald Trump said Monday he thinks the U.S. blockade in the Strait of Hormuz "was more impactful than dropping bombs" in Iran.

During an executive order signing in the Oval Office, Trump said the strait, a crucial waterway for the transport of oil, is totally open despite ongoing negotiations with Iran about a peace deal. Iran had said over the weekend that the strait was closed again due to violations of an agreed-upon ceasefire.

Trump's war of choice proved how powerful a tool it is for Iran to close the strait.

Singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo announced on Monday a new all-female music festival is set to take place later this summer in Southern California.

The Daisy Chain Fields festival on Aug. 29 in Irvine, California, will feature an all-women lineup including Stevie Nicks, Chappell Roan and girl group KATSEYE.

"The lineup is truly insane and full of my heroes and friends," Rodrigo wrote in a social media announcement. "I firmly believe that joy, community, and music can be the drivers of meaningful change and I’m hopeful this festival will be just that."

All net proceeds from the performances will go to non-profit organizations that advocate for girls and women, such as Planned Parenthood, Center for Reproductive Rights and the National Women's Law Center.

Presale tickets for the festival will be available beginning Wednesday morning, according to the event's website.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America endorsed Graham Platner for the U.S. Senate in Maine, despite allegations of demeaning behavior towards women.

"President Trump and his allies are using every lever of power at their disposal to make it harder for people to get the care they need, including by attempting to permanently 'defund' Planned Parenthood. Mainers deserve a senator they can trust to have their backs at every turn. It is clear that is not Susan Collins," Alexis McGill Johnson, PPFA president and CEO, said in a Monday statement.

"We know we can count on Graham Platner to fight for everyone to get the essential, life-saving care they need as part of a pro-reproductive rights Senate majority. With care on the line for millions of people, Planned Parenthood Action Fund is endorsing Graham’s candidacy for Senate."

Platner has been accused by three women of being volatile and "toxic" in romantic relationships, including accusations of infidelity and physical intimidation. Following the allegations published in the New York Times, Platner told HuffPost that he was in “a dark place” when he dated the women and that he “was a far from perfect boyfriend.”

Susan Collins (R), the current senator from Maine, was the deciding vote in 2018 to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in spite of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. Kavanaugh's confirmation also offered the Supreme Court a key conservative majority that led to the repeal of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Between 200 to 400 more pedestrians a year would survive motor vehicle crashes if vehicle sizes hadn’t swelled in the last 25 years, a New York Times investigation has found.

The study attempted to determine why pedestrian deaths in the U.S. have soared since 2009 while other similar countries have seen no such rise, and concluded America’s bigger vehicles are to blame. Specifically, taller hoods and larger blind spots.

A 2002 Toyota Corolla, for example, had a hood 26 inches off the ground, allowing for better visibility and less injurious pedestrian encounters. Swap that out for a 2022 Chevrolet Silverado, with a hood that’s 47 inches off the ground, and bad things happen.

Read more:

Argentina's Lionel Messi on Monday became the World Cup's all-time top scorer as he netted for the 17th time at the tournament.

The soccer legend's goal against Austria at Dallas Stadium — his fourth during World Cup 2026 — means he overtakes Germany's Miroslav Klose.

His record-breaker came after missing a penalty earlier in the game.

Amid reports that acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte is considering firing hundreds of employees, two Democrats are asking him to "refrain" from making such a drastic move.

Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.) and Sen. Mark Warner (Va.) wrote a letter to Pulte, published by the New York Times on Monday, saying Pulte's actions as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency demonstrate "a willingness to misuse your position." They also noted his lack of experience with national intelligence and asked him to "refrain from" firing anyone, especially without consulting Congress.

A new poll conducted by Politico and Public First, an independent polling company, found a plurality of U.S. adults think betting on election outcomes should be illegal.

Of a sample of 1,667 adults who showed some understanding of how prediction markets like Kalshi and PolyMarket work, 44% said they think betting on elections should be banned, per the poll.

A similar percentage also said it should be illegal to bet on what the president and other prominent figures will say, and said betting on presidential pardons should be similarly banned.

The real-time gambling markets have recently come under increased scrutiny for unethical and illegal insider trading. In April, for instance, bettors on Polymarket were allowed to put money on the fate of one of two American pilots shot down over Iran. President Donald Trump’s son, Trump Jr., is a high-level investor in Polymarket. (The company took the wager down amid fierce outcry.)

And in June, the DOJ announced it was investigating disgraced former Congressman George Santos over allegations he placed a bet on whether he would attend Trump’s State of the Union Address.

Stock in Elon Musk’s space and artificial intelligence company opened down Monday, with shares losing more than 10% of their value by mid-day at around $165. Shares are now trading around 20% lower than their high last week, when the company briefly eclipsed $200 a share.

As a result, CNBC notes, the average investor who bought SpaceX shortly after its $135 IPO price has likely seen all of their gains disappear. Shares are still about 37% higher than its IPO, but not far off the roughly $150 per share it commanded when it began trading freely on the open market on June 12.

Musk holds 82% of SpaceX’s voting power and has signaled a clear intention to maintain singular control of the company. In 2025, SpaceX had a net loss of $4.9 billion, and it lost nearly as much in the first quarter of this year alone.

A lengthy investigation by the Washington Post shows the extent to which Tulsi Gabbard appears to have been (and still could be) under the influence of a breakaway Hare Krishna group and its eccentric leader, Chris Butler, with troubling takeaways for national security and vetting in the Trump administration, given Gabbard’s recent role overseeing the nation’s intelligence gathering efforts.

Reporter Jon Swaine reviewed more than 25,000 pages of emails, memos and other messages shared with Gabbard by senior leaders of the group, seemingly on behalf of Butler. The documents were shared with Swaine by a former member of the group after a falling out.

Swaine found “unmistakable parallels” between the directives sent by the group and Gabbard’s political decisions, from specific lines Gabbard used in appearances on national media to legislation she introduced in the House.

Read more:

Clive Davis, the legendary record executive and four-time Grammy-winning producer who helped launch and shape the careers of Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Janis Joplin, Aerosmith, Alicia Keys, Carrie Underwood and countless other superstars, has died at age 94.

His family confirmed the death, The New York Times reported. Davis was hospitalized in May for a respiratory infection.

Read more here:

ABC's "The View" is enlisting its audience to get political and tell the Federal Communications Commission how they feel about the government agency trying to "control" who can appear on the daytime talk show.

"'The View' has welcomed your favorite guests and covered the issues you care about for nearly 30 years," the narrator of a new ad says. "Now, the FCC wants to control who is allowed to appear on the show."

The ad, which will appear during commercial breaks of "The View," urges viewers to scan a QR code that appears in the ad and let the FCC know how they feel about the government agency enforcing equal-time election laws, which states that shows must give equal time to all political candidates across all party lines. The FCC questioned whether the show was violating that rule earlier this year.

President Donald Trump on Monday raged over the failure of his vanity project at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, warning that any saboteurs could be put in prison for a decade.

At Trump's direction, the Interior Department spent $14 million draining the pool and coating it in a blue substance. Algae turned the pool green as soon as it was refilled, and then the blue stuff started peeling off the bottom.

Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social the new surface "has been given a 300 foot long gash" and that "chemicals have been illegally placed in the water."

"Please remember that there is a 10 year prison sentence for the destruction, or even the attempted destruction, of such things - Which will be fully enforced!" the president wrote.

Park Police officers arrested a cyclist who said he merely touched the loose blue lining on Friday.

The Supreme Court on Monday reinstated a murder conviction in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz.

The justices, by a 6-3 vote, granted an appeal from New York prosecutors who had urged them to undo a federal appeals court decision that overturned the verdict. The three liberal justices dissented.

Read more here:

Tony Dokoupil, anchor of "CBS Evening News," addressed several recent controversies in a new profile from the Wall Street Journal, including when the show featured a cushy story on Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Dokoupil ended with, "Marco Rubio, we salute you, you’re the ultimate Florida man."

Dokoupil told the Wall Street Journal the sign-off was simply a joke, but that he won't do it again.

Bari Weiss, who took over CBS News in late 2025, also defended her work, saying any talk of "editorial interference" is just part of being an editor-in-chief.

Read more at the Wall Street Journal:

Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, has been sworn in as a lawmaker in the House of Commons less than a week after he won a special election in Makerfield.

Burnham is widely expected to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer as Labour Party leader — and as prime minister — without a leadership contest, as no other Labour lawmakers have expressed interest in taking Starmer's job as of Monday.

After taking the oath of office, Burnham went on to take a picture with his fellow Labour MPs — a standard practice for any special election winner in parliament.

Vice President JD Vance said President Donald Trump’s inflammatory statements over the weekend did not disrupt talks between the U.S. and Iran, while acknowledging that there were some tense moments over the course of the negotiations.

“No, they didn’t throw a wrench in the system,” Vance said of Trump’s words. “The thing with the Iranians, yes, they did threaten to walk out, or at least there were social media threats that they would walk out, but we were negotiating well past one in the morning yesterday, so they didn’t walk out.”

Trump issued several threats aimed at Iran’s leadership, telling Fox News he had warned Tehran it would face consequences if it disrupted the traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

“You close it, and you won’t have a country. You won’t even make it back to your f**king country,” Trump claimed to have told Iranian leaders.

Vance said that despite some tension, the two sides made good progress.

“Yes, there was a little bit of threatening,” Vance continued. “There was a little bit of whining, but at the end of the day, the talks continued, and we made great progress.”

Vice President JD Vance said U.S.-Iran negotiations have paved the way for a "successful final deal" between the two countries, as the preliminary agreement signed by President Donald Trump last week has garnered widespread criticism.

"We laid a very good foundation for a successful final deal," Vance said. "The final deal is the house. We set the foundation. We haven't built the house, but we've laid a successful foundation to get to a good place for the American people."

Despite the progress Vance touted, he said there's still more work to do between the two countries.

Alan Greenspan, the world-renowned economist who led the U.S. Federal Reserve's Board of Governors for 19 years under four different presidents, died Monday at the age of 100.

His wife, NBC journalist Andrea Mitchell, announced his death via a statement on Monday.

Read more here:

Vice President JD Vance on Monday claimed that the Iranians have agreed to allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country as part of negotiations with the United States.

“This is probably what we’re most excited about as Americans, the Iranians have agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country,” Vance said. “That is a major milestone for the American people.”

Speaking to reporters in Switzerland on Monday, Vice President JD Vance said a lot of "good progress" was made in the U.S.-Iran talks over the weekend.

"Yesterday was a very, very good day. We made a lot of good progress," he said.

You can watch his remarks here.

Former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said he will join a Labour leadership contest to succeed outgoing party leader and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who announced his resignation on Monday.

Starmer said he will stay on as prime minister until his successor is chosen.

"Keir has given huge service to our country and I want to thank him for his leadership and dedication during such a challenging period. His decision marks the beginning of a transition and it is important that this process is conducted in an orderly and responsible way. I will put myself forward as part of this process," Burnham wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

"The country expects stability, seriousness and a continued focus on the issues that matter most and that is what it will get," he added.

Burnham is the clear favorite to succeed Starmer after defeating a Reform UK candidate in a special election in Makerfield last week.

Wes Streeting, who recently resigned as U.K. health minister and had previously said he would join a potential leadership contest, declared he is throwing his support behind Burnham.

"We could spend the summer exaggerating small differences, or we can roll up our sleeves and help him to deliver the change our Party and our country needs. That is the choice that I am making and I hope that everyone else will back Andy, too," Streeting wrote.

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