Trump threatens to bomb US ally Oman if it 'gets in the way' over Iran deal

President Trump has threatened military action against Oman if the country, quote, gets in the way of negotiations with Iran. The threat comes as a sixty-day window for peace talks expired earlier today.

Oman has been conducting its own talks with Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil shipping route connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.

Which is central to Mediterranean shipping, making Oman's position critical for European trade routes.

The State Department has not commented on the president's remarks. Oman's foreign ministry called the threat, quote, regrettable.

Also tonight, President Trump says the United States will reduce the size and frequency of military exercises with South Korea. The president cited what he called his, quote, very good relationship with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un.

The decision comes after South Korea declined to participate in joint operations during recent tensions in the Persian Gulf.

South Korea's defense ministry says it was not consulted before the announcement.

The annual exercises have been conducted for more than six decades.

In Washington, the Supreme Court has declined for a second time to hear President Trump's appeal in the E. Jean Carroll case. The president has already paid the writer more than five million dollars in damages.

A jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation in twenty twenty-three. The court offered no comment on today's decision.

And in Australia, Erin Patterson has filed an appeal of her conviction. Patterson was found guilty in March of poisoning three family members with death cap mushrooms at a lunch she hosted in rural Victoria.

Three people died. A fourth survived after multiple organ transplants. Patterson's defense team is arguing procedural errors in the original trial.

The appeal is expected to be heard later this year.

A warehouse in San Leandro, California is the subject of an unusual theft investigation tonight. Authorities say suspects entered a robotics facility operated by former SpaceX engineers and attempted to dismantle industrial equipment worth an estimated two hundred thousand dollars.

Police say the suspects brought tools appropriate for furniture assembly, not industrial robotics. Officers arrived to find three individuals attempting to remove a welding arm with a Phillips-head screwdriver.

Police say the suspects are persons of interest in at least two other industrial thefts across the Bay Area.

In New Hampshire, a driver faces criminal operating under the influence charges after leading state police on a chase that ended in Waterville. Troopers say the pursuit began on Interstate Ninety-Five and reached speeds exceeding ninety miles per hour.

The driver was taken into custody without incident. No injuries were reported.

A federal court decision in Texas has allowed a portion of the National Firearms Act to lapse. Legal analysts say the ruling affects registration requirements for certain weapons manufactured before nineteen eighty-six.

The Department of Justice has not yet indicated whether it will appeal. The ruling is expected to face immediate legal challenges from multiple state attorneys general.

And the Centers for Disease Control reports vaccination rates have declined for the third consecutive year as exemption requests continue to rise in forty-two states.

The data was published online without an accompanying full report, which is a departure from previous CDC practice. Public health officials say the trend may affect herd immunity thresholds in communities where exemption rates exceed fifteen percent.

Punch the capuchin monkey, who has been followed by four million people across six platforms since his rescue three years ago, has accepted his first piece of fruit from a human hand.

The sanctuary posted video this morning. He took a grape, held it for six seconds, and ate half.

Staff say it is the first time he has accepted food directly since arriving from illegal captivity.

A red panda cub born at Scotland's Highland Wildlife Park has been named Sprocket after a public vote that drew fourteen thousand responses.

The cub was born in July, weighed less than half a pound at birth, and has now reached full mobility.

Red pandas are classified as endangered. Fewer than ten thousand remain in the wild.

The park says Sprocket's birth is part of a coordinated European breeding program aimed at species recovery.

Also tonight, researchers in Indonesia have documented a wild orangutan applying medicinal plant paste to an open facial wound.

Scientists observed the adult male selecting leaves from a plant known locally for anti-inflammatory properties, chewing them into a poultice, and holding the mixture against the injury for several minutes.

The wound healed completely within two weeks. Researchers say it is the first recorded instance of a wild animal treating an injury with a biologically active plant.

And closer to home, a golden retriever in Wexler County has been certified as the state's youngest therapy dog after completing all requirements at eighteen months old.

The dog, named Maple, will begin visits to Fairmont Regional Hospital next week.

ESPN has released its Future Power Rankings for the next three seasons. The Rams are fifth.

Fifth is a comfortable position. You avoid the pressure of being number one, which historically causes underperformance, and you still have upward mobility.

Fifth is also what you are when four teams are better.

The methodology accounts for roster construction, front office capability, coaching stability, and projected cap space through twenty-twenty-eight. The Chiefs are first, which tracks given two Super Bowl wins in three years.

The Lions are second.

The Lions at second is the surprise story here, given their historical performance metrics dating back to their last championship in nineteen fifty-seven.

The Lakers' Buss family intends to sell the team, removing Jeanie Buss from her role as governor. Sources say the sale is expected to close in the next fiscal quarter, ending four decades of family ownership.

That is the end of an era in Los Angeles. The Buss family purchased the Lakers in nineteen seventy-nine for sixty-seven and a half million dollars. The franchise is now valued at over five billion.

Dr. Jerry Buss bought the team, the Forum, and a ranch, all in the same deal. Jeanie Buss has been controlling owner since twenty-thirteen.

Max Holloway has questioned why Islam Makhachev walks around with two belts when one of them is not an actual championship. Makhachev responded by saying the second belt represents his pound-for-pound ranking.

The pound-for-pound ranking is theoretical. There is no official belt for it.

The UFC has presented fighters with commemorative belts in the past for milestone achievements. It is not unprecedented, Deb.

It is also not a championship.

Holloway holds the featherweight belt and is himself ranked in the top five pound-for-pound, so this reads as professional gamesmanship ahead of a potential matchup.