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Fact check: Viral photos of White House dinner shooter's alleged Indian wife and her passport are fake

Multiple accounts on social media platform X have been sharing images since Sunday, allegedly showing White House dinner shooter Cole Tomas Allen with his Indian wife and her Indian passport. However, both images are AI-generated. A lone gunman fired shots in the hotel hosting the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday, causing United States President Donald Trump and his cabinet to be rushed out before the suspect was taken into custody. The suspect arrested in the shooting was identified by a law enforcement official as Cole Tomas Allen, a Los Angeles-area man who appears from social media sites to be a Caltech graduate working as a part-time teacher and game developer. The official said Allen, approximately 31 years of age, was a resident of Torrance, California. How it started On Sunday, a person, who appeared to be sharing anti-India content in the past, shared two images on X showing the shooter with his alleged Indian wife, Priyanka Rao, and her Indian passpo...
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Suspect in shooting at Trump press dinner to appear in court

A California man accused of storming a gala dinner attended by US President Donald Trump was set to appear in court on Monday over a shooting that marks the latest spasm of political violence in a deeply divided America. Administration officials said the suspect in Saturday night’s attack appeared to have aimed to kill Trump and senior officials at the press dinner in a Washington hotel, in what would be the third attempt on the president’s life in two years. Trump, who was rushed out of the ballroom by Secret Service agents, posted surveillance footage showing the gunman attempting to sprint past a checkpoint one floor above the room where the dinner was held. After a brief exchange of gunfire with agents, the suspect was detained at the scene. Trump shared images of the suspect handcuffed on the hotel floor, lying shirtless and face down. In an interview aired Sunday on CBS programme 60 Minutes, Trump said he was not concerned about casualties as the chaotic scene unfolded. “I wasn’t...

King Charles jets to US for trip overshadowed by Iran quarrel and shooting

Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla arrive in the United States later on Monday for a four-day trip, a tour ​which has taken on even greater prominence after the White House Correspondents' dinner shooting and amid acrimony between the close allies. The state ‌visit, by far the most high-profile and consequential of Charles's reign, marks the 250th anniversary of the US declaration of independence from British rule, and is the first visit to the country by a British monarch for two decades. It begins with a private meeting with self-proclaimed royal fan US President Donald Trump, and includes an address to Congress and a lavish dinner at ​the White House. Press dinner shooting just days before visit But the long-planned trip has become enmeshed in the political spat between the two ​countries over the US-Israeli war on Iran, which led Trump to voice deep displeasure with the British government for failing to support ⁠the offensive. The shooting on Saturday at the White...

Thuds, an eerie silence, then chaos at Trump dinner with White House journalists

The first indications that something had gone wrong at the 2026 White House Correspondents' Association dinner came around 8:35pm on ​Saturday from a series of audible but mysterious thuds. Dinner chatter paused. The silence was broken when the doors crashed open to the ‌giant ballroom at the Washington Hilton, where some 2,600 journalists and their guests - dressed with rare pomp in tuxedos and gowns - had just sat down for the salad courses and glasses of wine. President Donald Trump was seated with first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other dignitaries at a long head table. Elegantly uniformed waiters soon charged down the ​middle aisle. Agents hustled Vance and several others off the stage. Plainclothes officers sprang from their seats and pushed to the ground ​several cabinet members, who had been seated moments earlier at tables among the journalists, then rolled the administration officials beneath ⁠tables. Read: Despite US–Iran deadlock, Trump again praises...

Who is Cole Allen, the suspect in the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting?

The suspect arrested in the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting on Saturday was identified by a law enforcement official as Cole Tomas Allen, a Los Angeles-area man who appears from social media sites to be a Caltech graduate working as a part-time teacher and game developer. The official said Allen, approximately 31 years of age, is a resident of Torrance, California, a coastal town that is part of the South Bay area adjacent to Los Angeles abutting Santa Monica Bay. US President Donald Trump, who called the suspect “a very sick person”, said he was thought to have acted alone. Trump, along with the first lady and several top Cabinet members, was escorted out of the Washington Hilton ballroom, where the event was taking place, by the Secret Service. Shortly afterwards, he said the suspect had been "apprehended" and shared photos of him on the ground, shirtless, along with blurry security footage of what appeared to be a figure darting past security agents. Read: ...

Palestinian local elections give some Gazans first chance to vote in years

Palestinians voted in local elections on Saturday that, for the ​first time in two decades, include Gaza and will gauge the political mood as Israel's government seeks to destroy any future for a Palestinian ‌state. The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) hopes the symbolic inclusion of the Gaza city of Deir al-Balah will reinforce its claim to authority over the territory from which it was ousted by Hamas in 2007. Gazans, who are struggling to meet their basic needs in the devastated enclave, welcomed the opportunity to vote. "As a Palestinian and a son of the Gaza Strip, I feel proud that after ​this war the democratic process is returning," said voter Mamdouh al-Bhaisi, 52, at the Deir al-Balah polling station. Israel has extended control over Gaza and West Bank Since ​a US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza between Hamas and Israel took effect in October, intermittent talks led by the United States have made little ⁠progress towards a settlement that envisages internat...

Iran says it has hanged agent working for Israel over sabotage in protests

Iran said it had hanged an ​Iranian working for ‌Israeli intelligence on Saturday for vandalism and ​violence during nationwide ​protests this year, the ⁠semi-official Tasnim news ​agency reported. It said Erfan ​Kiani, a “hired thug of Mossad,” had engaged in ​the destruction and ​arson of public and private ‌property, ⁠spreading fear and terror across the central city of ​Isfahan, and ​wielding ⁠a machete. He was hanged ​early in the ​morning ⁠after his sentence was confirmed by ⁠the ​Supreme Court ​and following legal procedures, Tasnim ​said. Read: Iran says dual national held for espionage is Swedish Iran executed a man in December 2025 on charges of spying for Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad. This brings the number of convicts Iran has executed on espionage charges since June this year to 10. The executed man had been identified as Aghil Keshavarz, a 27-year-old architecture student. Keshavarz was arrested by soldiers earlier this year in the northwestern city of Urmia, ...