Republicans are rushing to blame former President Joe Biden for the return of a brutal flesh-eating parasite called New World screwworm, despite having killed the screwworm monitoring program in March 2025.

Appearing on CNBC Monday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins zeroed in on a familiar, and imaginary, foe: immigrants. The screwworm, claimed Rollins, has returned decades after it was eradicated because Biden had an “open borders policy.”

Biden did not have an open borders policy.

“Under the last administration with the massive movement under the open borders policy, the cartels, etc., border security, that’s when [screwworm] began to make its way back up toward America, hitting Mexico in early 2023, moving its way up through Mexico in 2024,” Rollins said.

“And when we walked in the door last year — I was sworn in on Feb. 13 of 2025 — they laid this all out for me and I said, well, where are the sterile flies, right? I mean, we’ve beaten it before, we’ve got to beat it again, and obviously not much had been done to, uh, push back.”

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), who sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee, echoed Rollins’ talking points in an interview with Newsmax.

“This is another thing we can thank Joe Biden for,” Marshall claimed. “Millions of people came out of Central America. They brought this screwworm with them, it was on their pets and maybe on their flesh as well."

Screwworm infestations primarily affect livestock.

The screwworm monitoring program was abruptly terminated in March 2025, after Rollins took over. So, too, were 5,300 other grants and programs killed by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, when the Elon Musk-led bureau gutted the United States Agency for International Development.

At the time, Musk called USAID a “crazy waste of money” and “a radical-left political psy op.”

Peyton Schuman, senior director of government relations for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, told KXAN Austin a screwworm outbreak could cost Texas $1.8 billion a year, with cattle producers bearing the brunt of more than $700 million in annual losses.

In launching renewed strikes on Iran on Monday in apparent open defiance of Donald Trump, Israel has tried to make its case to have a say at the peace negotiating table, where it has so far been kept at arm’s length by the U.S. president.

Despite Trump publicly calling for Israel to hold fire, it struck targets in Iran for the first time since a ceasefire in April, after Iran fired missiles at Israel in what Tehran said was retaliation for Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s capital.

Read more from Reuters:

From Pink doing her thing to history being made, the 2026 Tony Awards had everything that Broadway fans could've wanted.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is single-mindedly focusing on his pet projects — like fighting vaccines, pesticides and promoting food recommendations — rather than broader public health concerns and policy issues, The New York Times reported, citing multiple colleagues who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Kennedy surrounds himself with a close circle of handpicked advisers, receives few briefings about the deadly Ebola outbreak, which has been declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization, and has shown little interest in managing the details of his department work, fellow health department employees told the outlet.

Several described him as "checked out" and often scrolling on his phone when he does attend a weekly department meeting, which is typically once a month.

Read more at The New York Times:

The Justice Department has not implemented the steps it's previously taken to monitor and tackle issues that are expected to arise around Election Day this year, NOTUS reported on Monday.

The department normally establishes a round-the-clock "command center" team at the FBI to address anticipated issues that threaten election integrity, such as voter intimidation and disinformation. But that hasn't happened this time, three sources close to the situation told the outlet.

With five months left until the midterms and the DOJ already having rolled back other election integrity initiatives, current and former prosecutors claim the top law enforcement agency isn't prepared to protect the election.

Read more from NOTUS:

Ken Paxton's impeachment lawyer is endorsing Paxton's opponent in the Texas Senate race, Democrat James Talarico, according to a statement provided to HuffPost.

Dan Cogdell, an attorney based in Houston, represented the Texas attorney general during Paxton's 2023 impeachment trial but told NOTUS that the Republican Senate nominee "has lost sight of his core mission, which is to represent the people of Texas."

"Texas doesn't need another senator who reports to Washington," Cogdell said in a statement. "We need one who reports to Texans. James Talarico works for this state. Ken Paxton works for Donald Trump — and he'll tell you so himself. Indeed, the first person he thanked after the runoff was Trump. He should be thanking Texans, not Trump."

An American doctor who tested positive for Ebola while working as a medical missionary in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been released from a hospital in Germany after successfully undergoing antiviral treatment and supportive care, the hospital announced Saturday.

Dr. Peter Stafford, with the Christian aid group Serge, was released after testing negative for the virus and no longer showing symptoms. It follows him undergoing experimental therapies that are currently being trialed for this type of Ebola virus, he said in a statement from Berlin’s Charité University Hospital.

"Our thoughts remain with the people in the Congo who do not have access to such care," he said.

Stafford was admitted to a specialized isolation unit at Charité on May 20 after falling severely ill. His family with him, who had been classified as high-risk contacts, were also quarantined for observation but never showed symptoms or tested positive for the virus, Serge said.

His wife said his condition "initially declined rapidly" after his diagnosis and he could not stand on his own.

"While Peter improves, our hearts remain with the Congolese medical community, its doctors, nurses, and frontline workers, who continue to risk their lives daily to care for the sick. They are our heroes,” she said in a statement released by Serge.

Jury selection is slated to begin today in the federal arson trial of a man accused of starting last year’s deadly Palisades Fire in California.

Jonathan Rinderknecht is accused of “maliciously” igniting what ultimately became one of the most destructive wildfires in California history on Jan. 1, 2025.

Rinderknecht was linked to the blaze through witness statements, video surveillance, cellphone data, and analysis of fire dynamics and patterns at the scene, federal prosecutors said.

He faces at least five years behind bars if convicted of three separate counts of destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and timber set afire.

As the war with Iran hits 100 days, HuffPost takes a look back at every time Donald Trump said the conflict was nearing its end.

Israel has reportedly agreed to temporarily halt military strikes against Iran after a request from President Donald Trump, Israeli news outlet Channel 12 reported Monday, citing a senior Israeli official.

The official warned that if Hezbollah resumes attacks on Israeli towns, Israel will attack the southern suburbs of Beirut. Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon are planned to continue in full force in the coming days, they added.

There did not appear to be any immediate announcements from Israel, Iran or Trump confirming Channel 12's report.

Iran’s military earlier announced that it has concluded its first wave of attacks on Israel since a ceasefire was declared in April. It warned that strikes could continue, Reuters reported, if Israel continued its attacks on Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump spoke by phone on Monday, Reuters reported, citing an Israeli official.

The call took place before Trump posted on TruthSocial that Israel and Iran are planning an immediate ceasefire, though one that’s “subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way.”

Additional details about the call were not immediately released.

Trump earlier told The Financial Times that Netanyahu “won’t have any choice” but to accept whatever deal the U.S. negotiates with Iran.

He told the outlet in an interview published Sunday, “I call the shots. I call all the shots.”

Iran announced on Monday the end of its military operations against Israel, the unified command of armed forces said, but warned of harsher attacks if Israel continues strikes on Lebanon.

Ron Klain, a onetime chief of staff in former President Joe Biden's White House, has been advising Rep. Ro Khanna (R-Calif.) as he mulls a potential 2028 presidential bid, Politico Playbook reported on Monday.

Khanna is not the only Democrat Klain, Airbnb's chief legal officer, has been advising in his free time, the outlet said, noting that he's been helping Xavier Becerra with his California gubernatorial bid and had also previously agreed to assist Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner prepare for a possible debate with Gov. Janet Mills that never happened.

Read more at Playbook.

In a Monday post on his Truth Social platform, President Donald Trump claimed that Israel and Iran "are looking to do an immediate CEASEFIRE" despite the latest round of attacks the two countries exchanged.

"Both sides, Israel and Iran, are looking to do an immediate CEASEFIRE! Final negotiations on 'Peace' are proceeding, subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way," he wrote.

Trump added that the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports will continue until a deal is reached to permanently end the conflict.

"Things should move quickly," he added.

The death toll from the earthquake that rocked the southern Philippines on Monday has risen to 32 people, according to The Associated Press.

Veteran correspondent Lesley Stahl said she was deeply saddened by the recent turmoil at CBS' "60 Minutes," adding that the past few weeks have been "the hardest chapter of my career" in an interview with Puck published Sunday.

"It’s just been obviously the hardest chapter of my career, and it’s been a long career. It’s been over 50 years. This was by far the worst experience I’ve been involved in, or even witnessed," she told the outlet.

Stahl also recalled that segment producer Guy Campanile was fired while he was on his way to Madrid for a story the two were meant to be covering in the Spanish capital for the show's next season.

Stahl said CBS management abruptly "fired everybody" around former executive producer Tanya Simon.

"We don’t know why," she added.

Stahl is among the three correspondents who chose to stay at the show despite the recent string of firings.

Read more at Puck.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday morning, President Donald Trump called for an end to the renewed strikes between Israel and Iran.

"Israel and Iran must immediately stop 'shooting,'" Trump wrote.

This marks the president's first public statement on the conflict since this latest round of attacks began.

Tropical Storm Boris formed Monday and is expected to bring heavy rain and possible flooding to parts of southern Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm was located about 85 miles (135 kilometers) southeast of Acapulco or 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Punta Maldonado, according to the Miami-based weather center. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was moving northeast at 5 mph (7 kph).

NATO fighter jets on Monday shot down a drone that entered Latvian airspace from Russia, the Baltic nation's army said, the latest in a series of such security incidents along Europe's eastern border regions.

The drone's origin was not immediately known.

Ukraine has in recent months stepped up its long-range drone attacks on Russia, including in the Baltic Sea area, where several Ukrainian military drones have strayed into the airspace of Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

"Allied fighter jets successfully shoot down a drone flying into Latvian airspace!," Latvia's army said in a post on social media X.

Authorities earlier on Monday warned people in the eastern Latvian regions to seek shelter indoors due to the threat. The alert ended when the drone was shot down, the army said.

Military drones straying into the airspace of Russia's neighbors have been stoking concerns that the war in Ukraine is spilling over into NATO's northern borders.

Last month a NATO military jet shot down a suspected Ukrainian drone over Estonia.

An offshore magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked the southern Philippines Monday, killing at least 19 people, injuring more than 200 others mostly in damaged buildings and sending a 1-meter (3-foot) tsunami into nearby coasts.

A few buildings collapsed and key infrastructure sustained quake damage in the city of General Santos, and tsunami damage was reported in at least one coastal village. Smaller waves were measured in Indonesia and Palau and as far away as southern Japan.

"It’s a major earthquake," Teresito Bacolcol, the director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said, warning people to seek advise before returning to damaged buildings and houses which could collapse due to aftershocks.

Read more at The Associated Press:

Israel and Iran traded fire early Monday in retaliatory strikes that threatened to drag the Middle East back into a full-scale regional war, while Yemen’s Houthi rebels also fired at Israel and warned they would target Israel-affiliated ships in the Red Sea, further escalating tension.

Israel launched strikes on central and western Iran early Monday in response to missile fire from Tehran, and Iran retaliated with waves of attacks. It was the first exchange of fire since an April 8 ceasefire was reached. Explosions could be heard in central Israel as air defenses sought to intercept incoming Iranian fire. Sirens also sounded across neighboring Jordan.

Read more at The Associated Press:

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