Tehran hunts missing U.S. pilot

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2026-04-04 13:01

Weekend Briefing

From Reuters Daily Briefing

By Robert MacMillan, Reuters.com Weekend Editor

Welcome to the Weekend Briefing. Before leaping into the day’s news from Iran, I recommend this Bollywood item number about Indian cinema’s embrace of artificial intelligence. Our space reporter Joey Roulette joins the On Assignment podcast to talk about the Artemis II voyage to the moon. And in our latest edition of Culture Current, Russian artist Pavel Otdelnov reflects on his exile from Moscow and the inspiration he receives from London’s fragile urban utopias.

Tehran hunts missing U.S. pilot

Majid Asgaripour/WANA

The latest: Iranian forces were hunting for a missing U.S. pilot from one of two warplanes downed over Iran and the Gulf, while two airmen were rescued. President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth say U.S. forces have control of the skies.
On the run: The prospect of a U.S. service person alive in Iran raises the stakes for Washington in a conflict with low public support among Americans and no sign of a quick end. The Iran war might prompt a broader cabinet shake-up after Trump fired Pam Bondi as attorney general. Sources floated intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as candidates for the plank.

Palestinians fear death without due process

Default sentence: Palestinians in the occupied West Bank fear that their jailed relatives could be hanged without due process if they are convicted of lethal attacks. The new law, which experts said Israel’s Supreme Court likely will strike down, applies to Israelis as well, but its language ensures that it likely never will be used against Jewish Israeli citizens.
And in Ukraine: Russia’s state oil and gas companies Rosneft and Gazprom supported wartime camps where more than 2,000 Ukrainian children were taken, Yale University research says. Ukraine lawmakers expect to vote next week on legislation to avert a funding crisis, help fight the war against Russia and enact changes required to join the EU. Rheinmetall’s CEO dismissed Ukraine’s drones as tech put together by housewives. A hashtag inevitably surfaced.

Inspection finds problems at migrant detention camp

El Paso: ICE’s office of detention oversight found 49 deficiencies at the Texas facility, including nearly two dozen related to “use of force and restraints.” A Mexican immigrant died in Los Angeles in March, bringing the number of deaths in ICE custody to at least 14 this year. Customs and Border Protection officials violated a court order on warrantless arrests, the judge said. Local officials ruled the death of a nearly blind Myanmar refugee in New York as a homicide.
Quirky: That was the word Chief Justice John Roberts used while quizzing a government lawyer over the Trump administration’s argument against birthright citizenship. Most of the Supreme Court justices seemed unwilling to let Trump proceed with his attempt to deny the right to the hundreds of thousands of babies born each year on U.S. soil.

Europe warns of aviation risks during wartime

Elbow room: The Middle East war and other conflicts are creating problems in the form of drones and straitened flight corridors, Europe’s top aviation regulator said. One of the tight spots includes routes over Azerbaijan and central Asia because of fighting in Ukraine as well as between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Transportation: Absences among U.S. airport-security officers fell sharply after they started drawing pay again following six weeks of congressional wrangling over spending. A U.S. appeals court refused to stand in the way of the Justice Dept.’s dismissal of a case against Boeing that stemmed from two fatal 737 MAX plane crashes.

Unilever-McCormick deal causes some dyspepsia

Too much spice: The $65 billion deal’s structure, timeline and potential for antitrust scrutiny are not sitting well with investors. McCormick’s CEO said flavor will matter more to customers in the long run as people cook more often at home and use more protein and produce as they consume fewer calories.
Needs must: U.S. restaurants and bars are changing their menus and wine lists to drop some of their traditional staples, including champagnes and crémants, because of Trump’s tariffs. Climate change could cut 20% of the suitable land for growing Arabica coffee beans by 2050, a report says. Brazilian researchers are using genetics to try to toughen them up.

Before I forget…

The Cook Islands and New Zealand signed a new defense agreement as they try to ease tension after the Islands strengthened ties with China.
Irish nationalists likely were behind the hijacking and placing of an explosive device in a food-delivery vehicle, Northern Ireland police said.
A funeral director in Hull, England pleaded guilty to deceiving families over cremations and stealing from mourners’ donations to charities. Robert Bush gave some families ashes that were not those of their loved ones, including four fetuses.
Taiwan is investigating 11 Chinese firms for alleged illegal poaching of tech talent.
Italians have long worried about population decline and incoming migrants. It turns out that migrants are the reason the country’s population stabilized for the first time in 12 years.
Mark Carney has a military plan for Canada’s far north. Residents say they’d like Ottawa to meet more urgent needs, like somewhere for women to deliver babies that doesn’t require flying by plane for several hours.
Romance in outer space doesn’t quite constitute birth control, but it does throw a sperm’s navigation ability off target.

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