FBI Extends 2020 US Presidential Election Probe to Arizona

DORAL, FLORIDA - MARCH 09: US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference at Trump National Doral Miami on March 9, 2026 in Doral, Florida. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images/AFP
DORAL, FLORIDA - MARCH 09: US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference at Trump National Doral Miami on March 9, 2026 in Doral, Florida. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images/AFP
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FBI Extends 2020 US Presidential Election Probe to Arizona

DORAL, FLORIDA - MARCH 09: US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference at Trump National Doral Miami on March 9, 2026 in Doral, Florida. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images/AFP
DORAL, FLORIDA - MARCH 09: US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference at Trump National Doral Miami on March 9, 2026 in Doral, Florida. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images/AFP

The FBI has extended its investigation of the 2020 US election, which President Donald Trump falsely claims to have won, to Arizona, state officials said Monday.

The move comes six weeks after the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized 2020 election ballots in Fulton County, Georgia, as part of a probe into alleged "electoral impropriety”, reported AFP.

Warren Petersen, Republican president of the Arizona Senate, said he had complied last week with a federal grand subpoena for records related to the state senate's audit of 2020 voting in Maricopa County, Arizona's largest.

"The FBI has the records," Petersen said on X.

Trump on Monday posted a link on his Truth Social platform to an article on the right-wing news outlet Just the News about the Arizona records seizure, calling it "Great!!!"

Arizona and Georgia were among the states that Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

- 'Weaponization' -

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, said the 2020 election in the state had been "exhaustively reviewed."

"The election results were certified, litigated, and affirmed," Mayes said in a statement.

"Multiple audits, court proceedings, and independent investigations -- including those pursued by members of the same political party of the President -- found no evidence of fraud sufficient to alter the outcome," she said.

"What the Trump administration appears to be pursuing now is not a legitimate law enforcement inquiry," Mayes said. "It is the weaponization of federal law enforcement in service of crackpots and lies."

FBI agents had raided election offices in Georgia's Fulton County, which includes the heavily Democratic capital Atlanta, in late January, removing hundreds of boxes of ballots and other materials related to the 2020 vote.

According to the search warrant affidavit used to justify the seizure, the FBI investigation originated from a referral sent by Kurt Olsen, the "Presidentially appointed Director of Election Security and Integrity."

Olsen was among the members of Trump's 2020 legal team who filed dozens of lawsuits contesting the election results that were tossed out by courts around the country.

The Republican president and others were charged in Georgia over their alleged efforts to subvert the election, but the prosecutor became embroiled in scandal and the case was ultimately dismissed in November 2025.

Trump also faced federal charges over his alleged election subversion efforts that led to the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol by his supporters.

Those charges were dropped after Trump was elected in November 2024.



Israel Says Haifa Residential Building Suffers Direct Hit in Iran Attack

 Israeli security forces and rescue teams work amid the rubble of a residential building struck by an Iranian missile in Haifa, Israel, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP)
Israeli security forces and rescue teams work amid the rubble of a residential building struck by an Iranian missile in Haifa, Israel, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP)
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Israel Says Haifa Residential Building Suffers Direct Hit in Iran Attack

 Israeli security forces and rescue teams work amid the rubble of a residential building struck by an Iranian missile in Haifa, Israel, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP)
Israeli security forces and rescue teams work amid the rubble of a residential building struck by an Iranian missile in Haifa, Israel, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP)

The Israeli military and medics said on Sunday that a missile fired from Iran hit a residential building in the northern city of Haifa, injuring four people.

The building was hit by a "direct impact of a missile", the military told AFP. When asked if it was a missile fired from Iran, it said: "Yes."

The strike occurred minutes after the military warned it had detected a new round of missiles fired from Iran.

In a separate statement, Israel's emergency service, Magen David Adom, said four people were wounded when a seven-storey building sustained a direct hit.

Images and footage published by MDA show smoke rising from the remains of a flattened building in a densely populated area, and stretchers laid on the road by rescuers for casualties.

The injured included an 82-year-old man, MDA said, adding that he was in a "serious condition".

He was "wounded by a heavy object and the blast", the MDA said, adding that the other three suffered shrapnel and blast injuries.

MDA paramedic Shevach Rothenshtrych quoted residents saying that there were casualties trapped under the rubble on the lower floors, and the 82-year-old was rescued after first responders "managed to move large pieces of concrete with our hands".

His colleague Tal Shustak said that when emergency calls were received, "we were dispatched in large forces to the scene and saw extensive destruction, including glass, smoke and concrete scattered across the ground".


China Ready to Cooperate With Russia to Ease Middle East Tension, Foreign Minister Says

 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty following their meeting in Moscow, Russia April 3, 2026. (Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via Reuters)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty following their meeting in Moscow, Russia April 3, 2026. (Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via Reuters)
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China Ready to Cooperate With Russia to Ease Middle East Tension, Foreign Minister Says

 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty following their meeting in Moscow, Russia April 3, 2026. (Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via Reuters)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty following their meeting in Moscow, Russia April 3, 2026. (Pavel Bednyakov/Pool via Reuters)

China is willing to continue to cooperate with Russia at the UN Security Council and make efforts to cool down the Middle East situation, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a phone call on Sunday. 

Wang said the fundamental way to resolve navigation issues in the Strait of Hormuz is to achieve a ‌ceasefire as soon ‌as possible, adding that China has ‌always ⁠advocated political settlement of ⁠hotspot issues through dialogue and negotiation. 

The foreign ministers' call came ahead of a UN Security Council vote next week on a Bahraini resolution to protect commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz. 

As permanent ⁠UNSC members, China and Russia ‌should "adopt an objective and balanced ‌approach and seek to win greater understanding and ‌support from the international community," Wang told Lavrov, ‌according to a statement from his ministry. 

A Russian Foreign Ministry statement said the ministers discussed ways to achieve a rapid ceasefire and "launch a political-diplomatic dialogue." 

"Satisfaction ‌was expressed at the coincidence in Russia's and China's approaches on most ⁠issues ⁠on the global agenda, including the situation around Iran, related to the unprovoked aggression of the US and Israel against that country," it said. 

China has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in the Gulf region and Middle East, urging an end to the fighting that has run for more than a month and largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping artery for oil and gas. 


Migrants Missing after Mediterranean Capsize: NGOs

Hellenic coast guard performs SAR operation, following migrant's boat collision with coast guard off the Aegean island of Chios, near Mersinidi, Greece, February 4, 2026. REUTERS
Hellenic coast guard performs SAR operation, following migrant's boat collision with coast guard off the Aegean island of Chios, near Mersinidi, Greece, February 4, 2026. REUTERS
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Migrants Missing after Mediterranean Capsize: NGOs

Hellenic coast guard performs SAR operation, following migrant's boat collision with coast guard off the Aegean island of Chios, near Mersinidi, Greece, February 4, 2026. REUTERS
Hellenic coast guard performs SAR operation, following migrant's boat collision with coast guard off the Aegean island of Chios, near Mersinidi, Greece, February 4, 2026. REUTERS

Dozens of people are missing after a migrant boat capsized in the central Mediterranean, the NGOs Mediterranea Saving Humans and Sea-Watch said Sunday on social media.

Two people died and 32 were rescued from the boat, which had left Libya on Saturday afternoon with around 105 people on board, according to Mediterranea Saving Humans, AFP reported.

"Tragic Easter shipwreck. 32 survivors, two bodies recovered and more than 70 people missing," the NGO wrote on X, adding that the boat capsized in a search-and-rescue zone handled by Libyan authorities.

Sea-Watch said two commercial ships saved the survivors and took them to the Italian island of Lampedusa.

An aerial video it posted showed two men clinging to the hull of the capsized vessel, and the approach of one of the commercial ships.

Mediterranea Saving Humans said the accident was "the consequence of policies by European governments that refuse to open safe and legal pathways" for migrants.

Lampedusa is a key entry point for migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe.

Since the start of 2026, at least 683 migrants have lost their lives or gone missing on attempts to cross the sea, according to the UN's migration agency IOM.

According to the Italian government, 6,175 migrants arrived on Italian territory over the same period.