News

The Department of War has a bone to pick with how the media’s covering the U.S. conflict with Iran ... and Pete Hegseth let it fly during a Pentagon press briefing.

Speaking Friday, the Secretary of War accused some reporters of missing the point ... adding he knows how the game works -- since the former Fox News anchor used to be in the business -- saying headlines are often written with misleading intention.

Things are getting so tense in the U.S.-Iran conflict, even Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent got yanked mid-interview to speak to President Trump!

The whole thing played out on camera -- Bessent was chatting with Sky News' Wilfred Frost for "The Master Investor Podcast" Thursday inside the Treasury Department’s Cash Room ... when an aide suddenly stepped in and summoned him to the White House Situation Room.

It quickly turned into a drop-everything moment -- his mic getting pulled off his jacket as he rushed out -- while Frost sat there looking stunned, insisting it was no problem. Not that it mattered either way.

Donald Trump is ramping up his threats against Iran ... calling its leaders “deranged scumbags” and warning them to brace for what's coming today.

Trump fired off the message in the early hours of Friday morning ... declaring the U.S. is "totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran" -- militarily, economically, and more.

He touts, "Iran’s Navy is gone, their Air Force is no longer, missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated," and brags the country's leaders have been "wiped from the face of the earth."

Andrea Constand -- who sent Bill Cosby to prison with her testimony about how he drugged and sexually assaulted her -- is now reportedly helping out a new victim of the disgraced actor-comedian.

Constand once again took the witness stand to give testimony on Thursday, but this time it was for a civil case filed by 84-year-old Cosby accuser, Donna Motsinger, according to The New York Times. Motsinger, a former waitress, claims she was 31 when Cosby drugged and raped her in 1972 after he brought her to one of his comedy shows.

Constand and two other women are being called as witnesses in the civil case because their stories are similar to Motsinger's. During hours of testimony in L.A. Superior Court, Constand described her horrific experience with Cosby in 2004 when she was the director of operations for the women’s basketball program at Temple University. Cosby was her mentor, who was an important alumnus at the college.

It looks like the White House is treating the war with Iran like a video game ... at least based on how they're presenting military footage on social media.

Check out this X post from the official White House account ... it's a mashup of Wii sports and Iran bombings.

We've seen some of this same footage before, with no games being played ... but now the White House look like they're ready to poke fun at war.

Other White House social media posts on the war have drawn ire from actors and singers, like Ben Stiller and Kesha, for using snippets of movies and music.

Popular food influencer Ben Wood has died ... and the tragedy occurred while he was attempting to rescue someone drowning in Chile.

According to reports ... Wood, his partner, and his father saw a woman struggling in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile, and they rushed to save her. Both men and women were swept out to sea during the rescue attempt and drowned. The bodies were recovered by the Chilean Navy. The unidentified woman's partner, who also rushed in, survived.

Wood was a popular food vlogger from Connecticut who lived in Chile with his family ... and he was known for sharing fun videos of himself tasting local Chilean drinks and cuisine.

A survivor of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse says she can't remember all of the horrors he inflicted on her ... because her traumatized brain blocked the memories out.

We spoke to Marina Lacerda -- known as "Minor Victim-1" in legal documents, who revealed her identity back in September -- and asked her about a turning point in her association with the convicted pedophile.

Marina tells a story about gathering with other survivors of Epstein in recent years ... and, she says she was shocked to hear other survivors talk about Epstein raping them.

Vice President J.D. Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance were just like any other couple out Wednesday in Washington, D.C. ... except with a Secret Service detail and their own commemorative coins!

That's right ... the current residents of Number One Observatory Circle stepped out at popular Italian restaurant Divino yesterday, and we got some exclusive details on their quiet night on the town.

Restaurant owner Luca Giovannini tells TMZ ... J.D. and Usha showed up with friends and dined on pizza, filet mignon, short rib pappardelle, tagliatelle bolognese, house-made focaccia, tiramisu, chocolate mousse and more signature dishes among other guests.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is blasting a report from ABC News claiming Iran wants to attack California as retaliation for the new war in the Middle East ... she says no such threat exists.

Leavitt went scorched-earth on ABC News in a blistering post Thursday on X ... quote-tweeting the ABC News report and writing, "This post and story should be immediately retracted by ABC News for providing false information to intentionally alarm the American people."

She ripped ABC News for what she sees as some shoddy journalism, adding ... "They wrote this based on one email that was sent to local law enforcement in California about a single, unverified tip. The email even states the tip was based on *unverified* intelligence. Yet ABC News left out this critical fact in their story! WHY?"

11:24 AM PT -- Federal law enforcement tells CNN the suspect is dead.

Cops are responding to reports of an active shooter at a synagogue in the Detroit area.

Local outlet WXYZ-TV reports Temple Israel in West Bloomfield is being surrounded by a heavy police presence, and all schools and places of worship in the area have been advised to shelter in place.

According to WDIV-TV, police sources believe someone intentionally drove a truck into the building, which caught fire.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard gave an update ... "It appears at least one individual came to the temple, security saw him, engaged him in gunfire. ... We’re looking to see if there’s more than one person."

The Jewish Federation of Detroit issued a statement to WXYZ, saying, "We are aware of a security incident at Temple Israel. We are advising all Jewish organizations to go into lockout protocol -- nobody in or out of your building."

Schools in the area were locked down during the investigation.

West Bloomfield Township is located about 25 miles northwest of Detroit.

Two people were injured and a gunman is dead after a shooting at Old Dominion University in Virginia on Thursday morning.

The university said a shooter "opened fire" a little before 11 AM at Constant Hall on the Norfolk campus.

School officials said the two injured people were taken to a local hospital, and WVEC-TV reported the hospital said the wounded were listed in critical condition.

The university issued an alert ... “Shortly before 10:49 a.m., a gunman in Constant Hall opened fire. Two people were injured. Old Dominion University Police, Norfolk Police, and emergency personnel responded immediately. The gunman is now deceased. The injured were transported to a local hospital.”

A student described the chaos to ABC News, saying ... "All of a sudden we heard a commotion. A lot of people rumbling, starting to get up. The guy next to me, we looked at each other, we started running, and that's when we heard, you know, gunshots."

It was unclear how the shooting suspect died.

A nonverbal 7-year-old girl with autism was found dead in a retention pond near her Texas home this week ... and authorities do not suspect foul play, and they expect to close the case shortly.

Pearland PD spokesman Chad Rogers tells TMZ … the death of Skylar Hopson has been determined to be a "tragic accident" -- and unless today's autopsy tells anything different, police will conclude their investigation as far as any criminal component.

Police believe the child left her Pearland home on foot Wednesday, carrying an iPad ... her mother called 911 ... the child's body was located hours later in a nearby retention pond.

Carolina Reyes -- known to her hundreds of thousands of followers as Carol the Warrior -- has died.

The influencer's family announced her passing in an Instagram post Wednesday, writing, "It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of our warrior."

An attack on two Iraqi oil tankers prompted the country's authorities to suspend all oil terminal operations ... as the oil market is experiencing a historic level of disruption across the globe.

According to The New York Times, Iran claimed responsibility for attacking one of the vessels, which is owned by an American company. The outlet reports the other tanker is also believed to have been hit by Iran.

These attacks come after the International Energy Agency announced the world is in the middle of the "largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market." Adding to the crisis ... Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the new Supreme Leader of Iran, announced the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed as a "tool of pressure."

"The Happiest Place on Earth" was the scene of a scary incident Wednesday evening ... when a fleet of police vehicles rushed to Disneyland in Anaheim, California after receiving a flood of bogus calls claiming there was an active mass shooting at the theme park.

According to KTLA-TV, dozens of patrol cruisers descended on the grounds of the theme park ... only to determine the calls to be another instance of "swatting."

"Swatting" is the term commonly used to describe a criminal hoax in which callers report false emergencies that prompt a response from a police department's SWAT Teams.

A nonverbal 7-year-old girl with autism was found dead in a retention pond near her Texas home Wednesday ... just hours after her mom reported her missing.

People reports Skylar Hopson is believed to have left her Pearland home on foot Wednesday, carrying an iPad. It's unclear who was home at the time of Skylar's disappearance or how she got out, but her mother reportedly called police at approximately 9:40 AM.

Police launched a massive search for the girl, with drones, K-9s and search teams. Hours later, the Pearland Police Department -- with help from the Houston Police Department dive team -- recovered Skylar's body from a nearby pond ... she was declared dead at the scene.