Iran has destroyed $1bn worth of MQ-9 Reaper Drones, or roughly 20 percent of the US’s pre-war inventory of the sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a report by Bloomberg on Friday.
The report said that many of the drones were downed by Iran in flight, but that others had been destroyed on the ground when Iran targeted US military bases in the Gulf.
The MQ-9 is both a surveillance drone and capable of carrying a payload, typically Hellfire missiles or Joint Direct Attack Munition guided bombs.
Bloomberg reported that the US may have lost up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones in the war, a higher number than the 24 that a report released this month by the Congressional Research Service noted.
The $1bn price tag adds to the cost of the war on Iran, which a senior official at the Pentagon told Reuters in May reached up to $29bn. The MQ-9 Reaper drone is being gradually phased out by the US military, although General Atomics continues to produce it for foreign customers.
Iran destroyed 20 percent of US's MQ-9 Reaper drone fleet: Report
Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy sounds warning after Russia strikes Kyiv with Oreshnik missile
Ukraine’s capital Kyiv was hit by a massive strike of missiles and drones early on Sunday, shortly after its air force warned Russia might launch a hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile. Explosions reverberated through the city shortly after 1am after the air force announced a threat of an Oreshnik launch on its Telegram channel.
At least three people were injured and several residential buildings damaged across the city, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. “The capital has come under a mass ballistic missile attack,” Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, said. “There are currently reports of at least four locations affected by the attack: Shevchenkivsky, Dniprovsky and Podilsky districts. Fires and damage to residential buildings are preliminarily reported.” Debris was on fire on the premises of a school in the city centre, Klitschko said.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the use of such weapons as the Oreshnik missile “sets a global precedent for other potential aggressors”. He added in a social media post: “If Russia is allowed to destroy lives on such a scale, then no agreement will restrain other similar hatred-based regimes from aggression and strikes.
We count on a response from the world – and on a response that is not post factum, but preventive. Pressure must be put on Moscow so that it does not expand the war.”
US temporarily bans green-card holders from entering country from African nations
US authorities have temporarily banned green-card holders from entering the country if they have traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda or South Sudan in the last 21 days.
The order issued on Friday is part of an expanding attempt to prevent Ebola from entering US borders. A previously announced travel restriction blocked only people without US passports who had visited those countries from entering but exempted US citizens and lawful permanent residents.
“HHS [the Department of Health and Human Services] and CDC [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] have determined that permitting the director of CDC or other secretarial delegate the discretion to prohibit entry of certain lawful permanent residents is reasonably required in the interest of public health,” the order reads.
The order added that green-card holders may maintain stronger ties to families and communities outside the US than US citizens and nationals, “such that prohibiting their entry is comparatively less burdensome”.
US citizens returning from the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan now have a second point of entry to the US, the CDC said, in addition to Washington’s Dulles airport. The agency said on Saturday it is expanding its enhanced Ebola screening to include the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport.
Three dead and 18 first responders sickened by apparent fentanyl exposure in New Mexico
Three people died and 18 first responders were sickened by exposure to fentanyl in a rural New Mexico home this week, New Mexico state police said.
Police initially found four people unconscious at the home in Mountainair, 90 miles (145km) east of Albuquerque. Two were declared dead at the scene and a third died at a hospital.
During the response, authorities said, first responders were exposed to the substance and began experiencing symptoms including nausea and dizziness. Eighteen were hospitalized and then decontaminated.
Preliminary findings suggest multiple powdered opioids contributed to the deaths of three residents, including fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl (also known as P4 fentanyl), and methamphetamine.
Officials identified the deceased as 51-year-old Mika Rascon and 49-year-old Georgia Rascon. The identity of the third person has not been released by the medical examiner.
GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham, Roger Wicker blast reports of 60-day ceasefire deal with Iran
Key Senate Republicans are raising concerns about a reported peace deal being negotiated with Iran, arguing it would be a disaster for the United States that would make meaningless the war launched by President Trump nearly three months ago.
“The rumored 60-day ceasefire — with the belief that Iran will ever engage in good faith — would be a disaster,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote in a post on social platform X.
He said the effects of the joint military operation between the U.S. and Israel titled “Operation Epic Fury” would “be for naught” if the deal as he understood it went forward.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close ally of President Trump who for years has pushed for U.S. military action against the Iranian regime, said a premature deal could fundamentally shift the balance of power in the Middle East in Iran’s favor.
Florida Biologist Fired Over Charlie Kirk Post Wins $485K Settlement
A former Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist who was fired in September over sharing a post from another account that referenced slain conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk was awarded a $485,000 settlement from the state on Thursday.
“All I wanted was my job back. I see no leaders amongst FWC ‘leadership,’ but that’s to be expected when a state agency becomes the governor’s personal puppet show,” biologist Brittney Brown wrote in a statement shared by the ACLU of Florida.
Brown was fired over sharing a post that originally came from a comedic whale-themed account, which she shared on her private Instagram account on Sept. 10, 2026, according to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU’s Florida affiliate.
“The whales are deeply saddened to learn of the shooting of charlie kirk, haha just kidding, they care exactly as much as charlie kirk cared about children being shot in their classrooms, which is to say, not at all,” the post read.
France bans Israel’s Ben-Gvir from entering country, urges EU sanctions
France has banned Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from entering French territory, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Saturday, citing what he described as the minister’s “unacceptable actions” toward French and European citizens aboard the Global Sumud flotilla.
“As of this day, Itamar Ben-Gvir is banned from accessing French territory,” Barrot said in a statement.
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This comes after the Israeli minister posted a video mocking detained activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla kneeling with their hands tieThe French minister said Paris disapproved of the flotilla’s approach, saying it “produces no useful effect and burdens diplomatic and consular services.” He also praised the professionalism and dedication of French diplomatic staff involved in the matter.
However, Barrot said France could not tolerate French nationals being “threatened, intimidated, or brutalized in this way, especially by a public official.”
FBI responding to multiple gunshots heard at White House: Live updates
The FBI and U.S. Secret Service are responding to reports of gunfire near the White House on the evening of Saturday, May 23, according to a statement posted to social media.
FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X that the FBI was assisting in the response and will provide further updates.
"FBI is on the scene and supporting Secret Service responding to shots fired near White House grounds - we will update the public as we’re able," according to the post.
CNN reporters on the scene said they heard what appeared to be dozens of gunshots near the White House complex. CBS News reported approximately 20 shots were heard just after 6 p.m. EDT, with reporters saying the sounds appeared to come from the side of the White House complex containing the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Israel Is on a Killing Spree of Paramedics and Rescue Workers in Lebanon
An excavator stood on top of what used to be a house in Deir Qanoun Al-Nahr, in southern Lebanon, moving broken concrete from one side of the crater to the other. Rescue workers in fluorescent vests pried away the rubble with their hands. Ahmed Hariri, a paramedic and photojournalist was among them.
Dust rose from the ruins as the men dug hurriedly for any sign of life—or death. “There’s something here,” one of them shouted. He pulled a bloodstained piece of concrete from the wreckage. The others rushed toward him and began to dig faster. Somewhere beneath the flattened family home lay the remains of three people still missing on Wednesday after an Israeli airstrike a day earlier killed 14 people, including four children, in one of the single deadliest attacks in Lebanon in weeks. Ten of the dead belonged to three generations of the same family. A Syrian family of four was killed alongside them.
Barely two days later, Ahmed Hariri was killed along with another paramedic in another Israeli airstrike on Deir Qanoun Al-Nahr on Friday that left a total of six people dead. That airstrike had followed the killing overnight on Thursday of four paramedics and wounding of five more in an Israeli attack on Hannawiyah that destroyed both the town’s main Health Authority center and a newly established ambulance station in Tyre.
Israel’s wanton killing of rescue workers and targeting of medical infrastructure in Lebanon has been one of this war’s most brazen features. For the past five weeks, the relentless Israeli aerial and ground assault has continued despite a nominal ceasefire being announced by President Donald Trump on April 16. Last week, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 45-day extension of the “ceasefire” after holding their third round of direct talks in Washington, of which Hezbollah is not a part. The declaration of a ceasefire has not stopped the Israeli military from continuing its bombardment of Lebanon, mostly in the south and the eastern Bekka Valley. Since March 2, Israel has killed more than 3,100 people across the country and wounded more than 9,400, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health, over 900 of them since the so-called ceasefire went into effect.
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