“As Attorney General, you are directly responsible for overseeing the Department’s collection, review, and determinations regarding the release of files pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and the Committee therefore believes that you possess valuable insight into these efforts,” Comer said of Bondi last month.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — There are faster ways to get from Chicago to Los Angeles, but none have the allure or cultural cachet of Route 66.

To John Steinbeck, it was the Mother Road that led poor farmers from Dust Bowl desperation to sunny California. To Native Americans along the route, it was an economic boon that also left scars. To Black travelers, it offered sanctuary during segregation. And to music fans, it was the place to get their kicks.

Route 66 marks its 100th anniversary this year. Despite losing its status decades ago as one of the nation’s main arteries, people from around the world still flock to it to take perhaps the quintessential American road trip and soak in its neon lights, kitschy motels and attractions, and culinary offerings.

Each town has its own history and magic, said Sebastiaan de Boorder, a Dutch entrepreneur who, with his wife, breathed new life into The Aztec Motel in Seligman, Arizona.

“It’s an essential part of American culture and history,” he said of the highway. “The historical aspect is just a very big important part of American culture, with its influence and its character.”

The dream

Route 66, which runs for roughly 2,400 miles (3,860 kilometers) from Chicago through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona before ending in Santa Monica, California, was stitched together a century ago from a collection of Native American trading routes and old dirt roads with the goal of linking the industrial Midwest to the Pacific coast.

Oklahoma businessman Cyrus Avery, known as the Father of Route 66, saw it as more than just a way to cross the country efficiently. It was a chance to connect rural America and create new pockets of commerce.

Avery knew the number 66 would be ripe for marketing and could be seared into drivers’ minds, and he was right: Route 66 has been immortalized in movies, books, including Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” and Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” and songs such as Bobby Troup’s “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66,” which served as an anthem for post-World War II optimism and mobility.

Waves of migration

Since its November 1926 designation as one of the nation’s original numbered highways, the onetime Main Street of America has embodied the promise of prosperity.

It became a literal path of hope for migrants escaping drought-ravaged farms and poverty during the 1930s Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. And during World War II, it was used to move troops, equipment and workers out West.

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At Laguna Pueblo west of Albuquerque, restaurants and service stations sprang up, some operated by military veterans from the pueblo who were masters at fixing everything from flat tires to busted radiators.

Pueblo women adapted too, turning utilitarian pottery vessels into works of art coveted by tourists. Homemade bread and pies sealed the deal.

Laguna leaders have long considered the road — or he-ya-nhee’ in the tribe’s language of Keres — as “the corridor of commerce,” said businessman and tribal member Ron Solimon. Capitalizing on that potential, the tribe has built a multimillion-dollar empire of casinos, burger stands and other businesses.

There were also dangers along the route, particularly during the Jim Crow era, when Black travelers had to rely on guides like the Green Book to find safe lodging and services.

“Especially for long-distance travel, segregation was a fact of life,” said Matthew Pearce, state historian for the Oklahoma Historical Society. “And so Black motorists needed to know a safe place to go.”

The Threatt Filling Station near the central Oklahoma community of Luther wasn’t listed in the Green Book, but it did serve as a safe haven between two sundown towns, where people who weren’t white needed to leave by sunset. The station offered barbecue and even baseball.

Edward Threatt, whose grandparents opened the station around 1933, recalled a TV program about travelers getting their kicks on 66. “By and large, the Black traveler didn’t get a lot of kicks on Route 66,” he said. “And if they got some kicks, it wasn’t the kind you would think of.”

A new direction

President Dwight Eisenhower’s vision for a modern interstate highway system eventually led to Route 66 being decommissioned as a federal highway in 1985. Some towns along the route died, and it fell to local governments, state historical societies, and private businesses to preserve their sections of the famed road.

A driving force was Angel Delgadillo, a barber who lobbied the Arizona Legislature to designate the road as a historic highway. He saved Seligman from turning into a ghost town and set the bar for preservation elsewhere.

In New Mexico, original sketches for neon signs have been preserved, Route 66-themed murals abound and developers in Albuquerque have restored motor lodges along the longest urban stretch of the road still intact.

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Vice President JD Vance has used an analogy about second lady Usha Vance to explain issues with the Iran war ceasefire.

After more than five weeks of fighting between the U.S. and Iran, the two countries agreed to a two-week ceasefire as the sides attempt to negotiate an end to the deadly conflict in the Middle East.

President Donald Trump had said since the start of the war that his goal was to prevent Iran from ever having a nuclear weapon.

Before Israel and then the U.S. began striking Iran’s nuclear sites last summer, Iran had enlarged its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, according to a confidential report by the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency obtained by the Associated Press.

While speaking to the press about the U.S.-Iran ceasefire on the tarmac in Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, a reporter asked Vance, “Do you see a scenario in which the administration may be willing to agree to allow Iran to continue enriching uranium for civilian nuclear purposes?”

Nuclear energy isn’t just used for weapons-making, but can also generate electricity, provide drinkable water through seawater desalination, and is used in medical treatments.

“What the president has said is that we don’t want Iran to have the capacity to build a nuclear weapon. The president has also said that we don’t want Iran enriching towards a nuclear weapon and we want Iran to give up the nuclear fuel. Those are going to be our demands during the negotiation,” Vance said.

The vice president later mentioned that Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, noted that his country’s 10-point proposal to end the war included “Iran’s right to enrichment.”

“I thought to myself, you know what? My wife has the right to skydive, but she doesn’t jump out of an airplane because she and I have an agreement that she’s not going to do that because I don’t want my wife jumping out of an airplane,” Vance said in reaction to Ghalibaf’s comment.

“We don’t really concern ourselves with what they claim they have the right to do. We concern ourselves with what they actually do,” the vice president said.

Ghalibaf’s comment was part of a larger statement accusing the U.S. of violating parts of its peace plan, which the speaker said Trump had called a “workable basis on which to negotiate.”

A White House official told The New York Times Iran’s published plan does not match the framework Trump was referring to.

When asked for comment about Trump’s views on Iran’s proposal, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told The Independent, “As the White House has said, these are ongoing discussions and the United States will not negotiate through the press.

“President Trump believes that the current plan is a workable document that can lead to lasting peace in the Middle East.”

Vance will lead the U.S. negotiating team in peace talks in Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad starting Saturday, the White House has announced.

Tanner Horner made a chilling confession to police when he was first apprehended for the murder of Athena Strand, seven, who was discovered dead near Fort Worth, Texas

A FedEx driver who murdered a seven-year-old girl told police he “kind of tossed her” into the woods when he was first detained.

Bodycam footage captured Tanner Horner, 34, make the harrowing confession during his arrest on suspicion of Athena Strand’s murder. This video was played in court on Wednesday after Horner admitted one charge of capital murder and one count of aggravated kidnapping.

The killer will appear in court later this month where he will either face the death penalty or life in prison. The prosecution had blasted his deceit, slamming his “lie upon lie, upon lie, upon lie”.

And the newly released bodycam footage shows police search Horner’s home for signs of Athena before demanding he tell them where she was. He told the officers: “‘I can show you.” One cop asks him: “Is she alive?” Horner responded: “She wasn’t alive when I put her in the truck.”

READ MORE: Young man stabbed to death outside Peckham nightclub ‘had gone back to help friend’READ MORE: Teenage killer is caught out after his ‘thoughtless act’ at crime scene

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Horner had strangled the girl after delivering Christmas presents at her home in Fort Worth, Texas, in November 2022. Athena’s body was found two days later approximately seven miles from her home, beside a country road.

Initially, Horner told authorities he had accidentally struck the youngster with his truck, and then strangled her in a fit of panic. He continued to deny murder until the first day of his trial in Dallas, Texas, this week.

Proceedings heard grim details about Horner’s crimes, including how he told police he “just kind of tossed” Athena into the woods after she had died. He was, though, unable to identify the exact location of the youngster’s body.

The court was also shown a disturbing picture of Athena stood behind Horner in the vehicle as he drove her to her death. The nightmarish image was the girl’s final moments as, just minutes later, Horner attacked the child.

Addressing the jury, Wise County District Attorney James Stainton said: “You are going to hear what a 250lb man can do to a 67lb child. And when I say it’s horrible, I mean it… I’m going to put you as close as you can be without actually being there that day. We have video of it and we’re going to show it now.”

Jurors watched video and listening to audio files during the hearing on Wednesday. They were warned they would be faced with gruesome evidence, including horrific audio of Athena’s killing, during the proceedings.

Diarra Niang was wearing blue Nike hooded jumper and a pair of light coloured Uggs.

A frantic search has been launched in an effort to trace a teen who has been reported missing in Edinburgh. Diarra Niang, 15, vanished in Portobello on Tuesday, April 7.

The teen lives in Kirkliston but has not been seen in the last 24 hours and Police Scotland are growing concerned for her welfare. She is described as a black female of slim build and has long black braided hair.

When she was last seen Diarra was wearing black flared trousers, blue Nike hooded jumper, and pair of light coloured Uggs. The teen has links to the wider area of the city and her home village in Kirkliston.

Police Scotland urge anyone with information on Diarra’s whereabouts to come forward. A spokesperson for the force said: “Anyone who may have seen Diarra since this time, or who has any information on her whereabouts, is urged to contact Police Scotland via 101 quoting incident number 2590 04/04/2026.”

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BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli strikes hit busy commercial and residential areas in central Beirut without warning on Wednesday, hours after a ceasefire was announced in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Lebanon said at least 182 people were killed and hundreds were wounded, making it the deadliest day in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.

U.S. President Donald Trump told PBS News Hour that Lebanon was not included in the deal because of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. When asked about Israel’s latest strikes, he said, “That’s a separate skirmish.” Israel had said the agreement does not extend to its war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah, although Iran and mediator Pakistan said it does.

The fleeting sense of relief among Lebanese after the ceasefire announcement turned into panic with what Israel’s military called its largest coordinated strike in the current war, saying it had hit more than 100 Hezbollah targets within 10 minutes in Beirut, southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley.

Black smoke towered over several parts of the seaside capital, where a huge number of people displaced by war have taken shelter. Explosions interrupted the honking of traffic on what had been a bustling, blue-sky afternoon. Ambulances raced toward open flames. Apartment buildings were struck.

As the smoke rose Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem that “his turn will come.” In 2024, Israel killed Hezbollah’s previous leader, Hassan Nasrallah, with an airstrike.

Katz called Wednesday’s strikes the largest blow against Hezbollah since the attack that caused pagers used by hundreds of its members to explode almost simultaneously in September 2024.

Before the new strikes, a Hezbollah official told the AP that the group was giving a chance for mediators to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon, but “we have not announced our adherence to the ceasefire since the Israelis are not adhering to it.” He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.

The Hezbollah official said the group will not accept a return to the pre-March 2 status quo, when Israel carried out near-daily strikes in Lebanon despite a ceasefire being nominally in place since the last full-blown Israel-Hezbollah war ended in November 2024.

“We will not accept for the Israelis to continue behaving as they did before this war with regards to attacks,” he said.

Hezbollah had fired missiles across the border days after the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, sparking a regional war. Israel responded with widespread bombardment of Lebanon and a ground invasion.

The Israeli military chief of staff, Lt Gen. Eyal Zamir, said the attacks are to protect Israel’s northern residents, who have come under heavy fire.

The Israeli military has said it has killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters. More than 1 million people have been displaced in Lebanon.

Early Wednesday, after the Iran ceasefire was announced and before Israel struck, many displaced people sleeping in tents on the streets of Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon had begun packing their belongings in preparation to return home.

Families at a sprawling displacement camp on Beirut’s waterfront later expressed confusion and despair.

“We can’t take this anymore, sleeping in a tent, not showering, the uncertainty,” said Fadi Zaydan, 35. He and his parents had prepared to head back to the southern city of Nabatieh. Instead, they decided to wait things out in Sidon, a bit closer to home.

___

Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre and AP journalists Hussein Mallah and Fadi Tawil in Beirut, Michelle Price in Washington and Melanie Lidman in Eilat, Israel, contributed to this report.

A fuel protest in several locations around Northern Ireland is due to take place on April 14

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A Northern Ireland fuel protest will take place in several locations across the region at 2pm on April 14 after prices at the pump increased due to recent military action.

A post on Facebook has called for everyone from HGV drivers to farmers to take part in the day of action.

The post reads: “Join us as we bring the country to a stop and make our voices be heard.”

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The protest will take place at several locations including Larne, Westlink, Lisburn, Nutts Corner, Mallusk, Ballygawley and Omagh.

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A PSNI spokesman said: “Police are aware of posters online calling for protests at various locations across Northern Ireland and we will be monitoring the situation.”

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Nationwide Building Society has issued a warning to people who use cash, urging them to look out for counterfeit notes with ‘for props only’ stickers

Nationwide Building Society has issued a warning to anyone who uses cash in their daily life, urging people to remain vigilant when handling banknotes. The warning comes following concerns raised by an MP who had recently visited their local branch.

Dr Luke Evans, MP for Hinckley and Bosworth, paid a visit to the Nationwide branch in Earl Shilton, where staff alerted him to a troubling pattern of counterfeit cash being used in transactions.

Taking to social media following his visit, Dr Evans said: “One of the concerns they wanted people to be aware of is the amount of counterfeit notes in circulation.”

In response to the growing concern, Nationwide was approached for comment. A Nationwide spokesperson said: “We are aware of a rise in scammers using fake banking notes to pay people for goods and would urge consumers to always check.

“Suspected counterfeits should be reported to the police, and guidance is available on the Bank of England website.” The building society also provided guidance on how to identify fraudulent notes, reports the Express.

One of the most telling indicators is that these notes frequently feature a thick plastic sticker placed over the hologram, which if removed may bear the words ‘for props only’. Nationwide also noted that another indicator of a counterfeit banknote is if some of the UV numbers can be scratched off with ease. Genuine banknotes feature a number corresponding to the denomination, which will appear under 365nm UV light.

A further piece of advice, should you receive a banknote you are uncertain about, is to verify that features such as the hologram and colour-shifting inks are all present and correct.

When asked to comment on his visit, Dr Evans said: “It’s always concerning to hear of scams operating in your area. While anyone can fall victim to a scam, I’m always acutely aware of the impact on some of the more vulnerable people in our communities.

“It’s a reminder to always be alert, especially when interacting with people who are demanding cash, or saying that payment has to be made in a certain way – particularly when buying or selling over social media. At the end of the day, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

He added that the reports of counterfeit currency highlight the continued importance of in-person banking services in local communities. The Conservative MP said: “This certainly makes a case for face-to-face interactions and dealing with your bank in person.

“During my visit to Nationwide, I was struck to hear the team talk about the personal relationships they have developed with local customers, and how people would travel from neighbouring cities because they have trust in a specific cashier.”

Nationwide has previously committed to maintaining all of its UK branches until at least 2030. This stands in stark contrast to numerous high street banking institutions which are closing additional branches this year.