‘Squad’ members vote against resolution declaring Iran world’s largest terror sponsor
Dozens of Democrats have voted against a nonbinding resolution in the House that reaffirms Iran as the “largest state sponsor of terrorism.”
The resolution, put forward by Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., passed by a 372-53 vote on Thursday, with all those voting no being Democrats. Two Democrats also voted present.
Among those who voted against the measure were all the members of the “Squad,” such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.
The resolution said the Islamic Republic of Iran “remains the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism and provides substantial financial and military support to groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.”
It added that Iran “poses a direct and persistent threat to the United States and is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American citizens,” citing the Pentagon as saying that “Iranian-backed proxy militias are responsible for the deaths of at least 603 U.S. service members in Iraq — roughly one in every six American combat fatalities.”
It also said, “according to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafeal Grossi, Iran has amassed a large stockpile of enriched uranium and continues to block access to undeclared sites in Iran affiliated with their ‘big, ambitious nuclear weapons program.’”
READ THE RESOLUTION – APP USERS, CLICK HERE:
The resolution concludes by saying, “That the House of Representatives declares it is the policy of the United States… that Iran continues to be the largest state sponsor of terrorism.”
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California Democratic Rep. Lateefah Simon, who voted no, claimed the resolution “contains inaccuracies and is designed to justify the President’s actions in Iran.”
“Republicans in Congress are not only surrendering their constitutional duties – they are also playing politics with a resolution reaffirming Iran as a leading state sponsor of terrorism,” Simon wrote on Facebook. “That is already U.S. policy.”
“I have been clear about my opposition to the brutal and devastating actions of the Iranian regime against those protesting for freedom,” Simon continued. “This resolution does nothing to advance their freedom and instead, puts Congress on record as giving the Administration further pretext for a war that should not have been started in the first place.”
Rep. Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., who voted in favor of the resolution, said in a statement that, “This week’s bipartisan classified briefing with Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, John Ratcliffe, and General Dan Caine underscored the significance of the threat we face from an Iran intent on developing nuclear weapons behind a curtain of impenetrable ballistic weapons.”
“Standing with our allies and confronting state-sponsored terrorism is essential to protecting Americans and advancing stability around the world,” she added. “This resolution sends a strong message that we will not ignore or excuse the regime’s extremist actions.”
Rep. Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington state who also voted in favor of the resolution, said, “I agree with the principal assertion of this resolution that Iran is a bad actor.
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“Iran’s malign and destabilizing actions in the region and treatment of its own citizens should be denounced. I have never contested this. What I do contest is that going to war is the reasonable response to this assertion,” he continued. “I support this resolution. I do not support the president’s war of choice with Iran.”
Full list of 53 House Democrats who voted no:
Here are the full names of the Democratic House lawmakers listed alphabetically by last name:
- Donald S. Beyer Jr.
- Suzanne Bonamici
- André Carson
- Greg Casar
- Joaquin Castro
- Yvette D. Clarke
- Steve Cohen
- Danny K. Davis
- Maxine Dexter
- Lloyd Doggett
- Dwight Evans
- Lizzie Fletcher
- Valerie Foushee
- Maxwell Alejandro Frost
- Robert Garcia
- Jesús “Chuy” García
- Al Green
- Raúl M. Grijalva
- Val Hoyle
- Jared Huffman
- Sara Jacobs
- Pramila Jayapal
- Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr.
- Robin Kelly
- Ro Khanna
- Raja Krishnamoorthi
- Summer Lee
- Sarah McBride
- Morgan McGarvey
- James P. McGovern
- LaMonica McIver
- Christian D. Menefee
- Robert Jacobsen “Rob” Menendez Jr.
- Gwen Moore
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
- Ilhan Omar
- Chellie Pingree
- Mark Pocan
- Ayanna Pressley
- Delia Ramirez
- Emily Randall
- Luz Rivas
- Linda T. Sánchez
- Janice D. “Jan” Schakowsky
- Lateefah Simon
- Mark Takano
- Rashida Tlaib
- Lori Trahan
- Lauren Underwood
- Nydia M. Velázquez
- Maxine Waters
- Bonnie Watson Coleman
- Nikema Williams.
Israel strikes Hezbollah as Lebanese government signals shift on Iran militia
Amid the ongoing conflict with Iran, analysts say the Trump administration should pressure Lebanon to fulfill its commitments to disarm the Iran-backed terrorist group as it drags the country into another war with Israel.
David Schenker, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs who oversaw Lebanon’s policy during the first Trump administration and now directs the Program on Arab Politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said: “The U.S. should make clear to Lebanon that it is time for the state to honor its ceasefire commitment to disarm Hezbollah,” he told Fox News Digital. Schenker warned if Beirut “doesn’t pursue disarmament, it will remain a failed state.”
The warning comes as the IDF attacked multiple Hezbollah targets Friday in response to the terror group’s launching of rockets and drones toward Israel on March 2, its first attack since a November 2024 ceasefire ended the previous round of fighting.
Since the first day of the renewed fighting, the IDF has carried out over 200 strikes across Lebanon targeting Hezbollah’s military, media and financial infrastructure, as well as operatives from the group and affiliated networks, according to a March 5 analysis by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Long War Journal. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also threatened Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem.
The renewed fighting has exposed deep tensions inside Lebanon’s government, which in recent days called on Hezbollah to disarm and ordered security agencies to prevent attacks on Israel from Lebanese territory.
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Schenker says the move reflects frustration in Beirut rather than a fundamental policy shift. “The Government of Lebanon’s latest cabinet vote on Hezbollah disarmament is nothing new,” Schenker said. “It is a reiteration of the cabinet decision last August mandating the disarmament of Hezbollah. The language is perhaps more strident, but the message is the same.”
“It is a reflection of the Government’s frustration and desperation over Hezbollah dragging Lebanon into yet another war with Israel,” he added. “It also reflects the Lebanese Armed Forces’ failure to date to take its mission of disarmament seriously.”
Hezbollah’s latest attacks appear to have caught Lebanese officials off guard. Reports suggest the group had previously assured officials it would not intervene in a broader regional conflict tied to Iran.
Schenker said the episode underscores a longstanding reality in Lebanon’s political system. “The government of Lebanon has never tried to control Hezbollah,” he said. “The few months that the LAF devoted to disarmament in south Lebanon was performed with Hezbollah’s consent and coordinated with the militia.”
Still, public frustration inside Lebanon may be shifting the political environment. “Given the population’s growing anger toward Hezbollah now, the political environment should be more conducive for the LAF to confront Hezbollah,” Schenker said.
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“The fear of ‘civil war’—i.e., Hezbollah perpetrating violence against the Government—remains,” he added. “But increasingly, Lebanese prefer taking that risk and possibly gaining sovereignty than being in a state of perpetual war with Israel.”
In a clip posted on X by the Center for Peace Communications, Lebanese people angrily responded to Hezbollah’s actions with one man telling Jusoor News: “If Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem wants to commit suicide, let him go do it in Tehran, not Lebanon.”
According to David Daoud, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Hezbollah’s decision to attack Israel despite the ceasefire reflects the group’s willingness to escalate the conflict even as Lebanon’s government seeks to avoid another war.
The crisis has also drawn international attention. French President Emmanuel Macron called for urgent steps to prevent Lebanon from sliding deeper into war.
“Everything must be done to prevent this country, so close to France, from once again being drawn into war,” Macron wrote in a statement posted on X on March 5 after speaking with Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese leaders.
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Macron said Hezbollah “must immediately cease its fire toward Israel,” while urging Israel to avoid expanding military operations inside Lebanon.
For now, analysts say the outcome may depend on whether Lebanon’s government is willing to confront Hezbollah directly or continue to tolerate Iran’s terror proxy that has long operated outside the control of the government’s control.
California voter ID petition blows past signature threshold with 1.3M names
A petition to require voter ID and allow only U.S. citizens to vote has gained momentum in California and surpassed the required 875,000-signature threshold to qualify for the November ballot, the group leading the effort said.
According to Reform California, a nonpartisan political activism group, organizers submitted the “California Voter ID Initiative” petition to county authorities with 1.3 million signatures. The group says the petition has garnered bipartisan support, with signatures from Californians representing all walks of life and political persuasions across all 58 of the state’s counties.
Reform California believes the measure has a solid path to passage in November, citing polls showing 71% of Californians favor the initiative. If passed, the measure would bypass the Democratic legislative supermajority and amend the state constitution to require voter ID when casting a ballot, require election officials to verify the citizenship of registered voters and require the state to maintain accurate voter rolls.
“Polling overwhelmingly shows a supermajority consensus for voter ID requirements,” said state Assembly Member Carl DeMaio, a Republican who serves as chair of Reform California.
“It’s common sense,” DeMaio said. “If you need an ID to board an airplane or buy a pack of cigarettes or buy a case of beer, you should make it pretty easy to use an ID to vote in an election. This is not hard, it’s not rocket science, it’s quite simple.”
In a press release announcing the signatures would be submitted, DeMaio framed the California Voter ID Initiative as “a common-sense and bipartisan way to restore the trust and confidence all voters should have in our election system.”
He said that nearly half of the 1.35 million signatures came from Democrats and independents. Despite this, DeMaio predicted that “divisive politicians with partisan agendas will try to politicize this effort.”
“Our measure simply holds government officials accountable to maintain accurate voter lists and verify the identity of individuals casting ballots in our elections,” he went on, noting that “other states that have implemented voter ID programs have seen an increase in participation in their elections — including an increase in minority voting.”
Opponents, however, claim the initiative is designed to suppress voters.
Julia Gomez, senior staff attorney for ACLU of Southern California, said the initiative “is about advancing Trump’s agenda to sow chaos in our elections and keep eligible Californians from voting.”
ACLU of Northern California Executive Director Abdi Soltani said, “This initiative isn’t about election security, it’s about erecting barriers that will keep eligible Californians from exercising their fundamental right to vote.”
Under current California law, U.S. citizenship is required to vote. However, the state relies on registrants to simply attest that they are citizens. The state allows individuals without a California license or social security number to register by providing them with identifier codes.
According to an information sheet by the California secretary of state’s office, “California does not generally require voters to show identification at the polls.”
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Though the sheet states that voters do not need to show identification “in most cases,” it notes that “you may need to show ID only if ALL the following apply: You’re voting for the first time in a federal election; You registered by mail or online, AND You did not provide your CA ID or SSN when registering.”
The secretary of state sheet says that voters are notified in advance if they will be required to show ID and that poll workers “may only request an ID if the voter list clearly indicates it’s required.”
Among the acceptable forms of ID listed by the office are official mail from a government agency, a paycheck or government check, a utility bill or a bank statement.
In 2024, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, a rumored top contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, signed a bill banning local jurisdictions from requiring identification to vote. He signed the bill after a majority of voters in Huntington County, California, approved a measure allowing officials to require voters to show ID to participate in municipal elections.
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Newsom recently took heat for his criticism of the SAVE Act, which was passed by the House of Representatives and would require individuals to provide proof of U.S. citizenship to vote, while speaking on a February episode of his podcast “This is Gavin Newsom.”
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The governor said that aspects of the SAVE Act “go well beyond ID … which is also part of Jim Crow, the history, and that is, when it comes to registration, you got to find your birth certificate, if you know where yours is, I have no clue where mine is or you have to have a passport and two-thirds of African Americans don’t have a passport.”
Before the initiative can be added to the ballot, county officials will have to verify the signatures and then report to the California secretary of state’s office.
The Supreme Court sent woke school boards a loud wake-up call nationwide
The United States Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that should strike fear into woke school boards across America. In Mirabelli v. Bonta, the Court held that a California law preventing schools from disclosing to parents their child’s claimed “gender identity” at school violated parents’ free exercise rights under the Constitution’s First Amendment and their substantive due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.
The Supreme Court determined that California’s policy of socially transitioning children to a different gender at school without parental consent likely violates the free exercise rights of those who have “sincere religious beliefs about sex and gender, and feel a religious obligation to raise their children in accordance with those beliefs.” The court went on to note that this “unconsented facilitation of a child’s gender transition is greater than the indoctrination of LGBTQ story books” that the court addressed last summer in Mahmoud v. Taylor The court similarly found in Mahmoudthat Montgomery County Public Schools violated the rights of objecting parents. That school district paid out $1.5 million to settle the case.
The court also made clear that California’s policy requiring schools to keep a student’s “gender identity” secret from parents likely violated their well-established “rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children” and that the denial of these rights “constitutes irreparable harm.”
The importance of this decision for parents cannot be overstated. Schools across America must now request parental consent before facilitating a child’s social transition to a different sex. In other words, if a student wants to be addressed at school by pronouns of the opposite sex or use the bathroom or locker room of the opposite sex, the school must get parental consent. Schools can no longer hide or abet the facilitation of a student’s gender transition from parents and pretend it is lawful.
Anyone who has been paying attention to what has been going on in America’s public schools over the last five years knows that California is not the only place where K-12 school districts have been actively hiding a student’s social transition from parents. For example, in Virginia, Loudoun County Public Schools’ Regulation 8040 states that “[a] student’s gender identity or transgender status should not be shared without the student’s consent.” The district’s teacher training documents state that “privacy and confidentiality are critical for transgender students who have family that do not support or affirm their gender identity,” and that when students “do not want their parents to know about their gender identity [] schools should address this on a case-by-case basis.”
Applying the Supreme Court’s holding in Mirabelli to those policies leads to only one conclusion — they are blatantly unconstitutional. School boards that continue to maintain these policies will do so at their own peril, which arguably could include school board members and other officials being sued in their individual capacity and for punitive damages. And to be clear, the risk of litigation is not limited to parents whose children have been socially transitioned at school. Rather, as the court made clear, “parents who object to the challenged policies or seek religious exemptions” have standing to sue “because they are objects of the challenged policy.” That means that any parent whose school district has a policy like Loudoun’s can sue, either individually or as part of a class action, for deprivation of their free exercise and substantive due process rights.
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The Mirabelli decision provides robust rights for parents to demand that schools seek parental consent before their own child is referred to by opposite-sex pronouns, a different name, or uses a bathroom or locker room of the opposite sex. And, it doesn’t require a huge leap to argue that parents’ free exercise and substantive due process rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children can also be violated when someone else’s child begins using locker rooms or common restrooms of the opposite sex.
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Consider a boy who is allowed to use a girls’ locker room as part of his social transition at school. Parents of the girls using that locker room may very well have religious, philosophical or safety objections to their daughters changing with members of the opposite sex. Unless the school informs parents that their daughters will be exposed to a male student in their locker room before it happens, the girls’ parents are denied the ability to take action they deem necessary to direct the upbringing and education of their children. That is exactly what happens in Loudoun County.
Unfortunately, even with the United States Supreme Court’s clear ruling, some of America’s woke school boards and administrators will likely continue violating the Constitution. They need to be hauled into court and forced to stop and then pay serious money for their intransigence. The Supreme Court’s ruling re-affirms what the Constitution states and legal precedent has affirmed: parents have a Constitutional right to parent their children. Parents have the legal authority and power to do exactly this — and they should use it.
NFL star says singer girlfriend ‘changed my life forever’ in touching birthday post
Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert gushed over 27-year-old singer Madison Beer in a heartfelt birthday tribute on social media, offering fans a rare glimpse into the couple’s relationship.
The two-time Pro Bowl quarterback, who normally shies away from the public eye, posted a series of photos to his Instagram Stories on Thursday.
“Happy birthday to my favorite person of all time,” Herbert wrote in a post that showed the couple on the sidelines of one of his NFL games. “I love you so much. You’ve changed my life forever.”
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In another photo appearing to show the couple out to dinner, Herbert wrote, “I am the luckiest guy alive…”
Herbert, who turns 28 later this month, shared another photo of the “Make You Mine” artist petting goats and captioned the photo, “My goats.”
The couple was first linked together in August when they were spotted together on the set of one of Beer’s music videos in Los Angeles. Herbert and Beer were photographed in October on the sidelines of a Chargers game at SoFi Stadium, seemingly confirming the dating rumors.
The same month, Herbert went viral after blocking a rogue basketball from hitting Beer when the two sat courtside at a Los Angeles Lakers game.
Herbert signed a five-year, $262.5 million extension with the Chargers in July 2023. Despite proving himself to be one of the elite young quarterbacks in the NFL, Los Angeles’ offensive struggles have seen the team fall short in back-to-back playoff appearances.
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The team’s offensive coordinator, Greg Roman, was fired in January and replaced with former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, who is regarded as one of the top offensive minds in football.
Cook County launches permanent guaranteed income after pilot success
The president of the Mayors for a Guaranteed Income tells Fox News Digital that working-class Americans need something simple: cash.
“I think everybody in this country understands we live in a country that’s unaffordable for working people,” Michael D. Tubbs told Fox News Digital.
Mayors for a Guaranteed Income touted in February that more than 60 bills that would implement cash-based policies similar to guaranteed income have been floated in 15 states.
Tubbs also founded the Counties for a Guaranteed Income and Legislators for a Guaranteed Income. He served as mayor of Stockton, Calif., from 2017 to 2021.
Legislators for a Guaranteed Income reported more than 20 bills in 11 states being proposed to establish some form of statewide guaranteed income program.
The affordability crisis has plagued many Americans amid rising costs of groceries, housing, and healthcare. The House passed legislation — showing a rare display of bipartisanship last month with a 390-9 vote — to deliver policies aimed at growing the supply of affordable housing in the U.S.
“I see the overarching strategy is that we know we’re in the affordability crisis. We know that people are looking for solutions to put money in their pockets. We know people want to be able to afford rent and childcare and food in the U.S.,” Tubbs said.
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Guaranteed basic income programs have become a trend across the U.S. in recent years, with more than 100 pilot programs launched since 2018. Mayors for a Guaranteed Income grew into a coalition of over 150 mayors pushing pilot programs, offering low-income participants up to $1,000 a month with no strings attached. The group has pushed pilot programs that have been adopted by municipalities across the country.
Most notably, Cook County, Ill., the second-largest county in the U.S., established a permanent guaranteed basic income program after the success of a previous pilot version. The program launched in 2022 with the aid of federal COVID-19 relief funds.
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Tubbs, a Democrat, wants the federal government to follow suit by providing guaranteed income programs or something similar to provide cash assistance.
“We have wars in Iran, regime change in Venezuela. We get it, the healthcare system and the big, ugly bill,” he said. “So people are saying that social safety is being frayed.”
“That wealth is further being taken from the many and given to the few, and there has to be a government solution because this is a government-caused problem… inflation, unaffordability, this is all a direct result of government policy,” Tubbs told Fox News Digital.
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The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
President Donald Trump took a shot at Democrats over affordability issues in the country during his State of the Union address last month, saying they had brought about inflation and open borders.
“Now the same people in this chamber who voted for those disasters suddenly use the word ‘affordability,'” he said. “A word, they just used it. Somebody gave it to them, knowing full well that they caused and created the increased prices that all of our citizens had to endure. You caused that problem.”
Haunting note found on hotel door before mother and daughter found dead in Vegas
Newly released dispatch records show authorities were alerted to a possible suicide attempt after a note was found on the door of a Las Vegas hotel room — shortly before an 11-year-old girl and her mother were found shot to death inside.
Addilyn “Addi” Smith, 11, and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, were found dead inside a room at the Rio Hotel & Casino on Feb. 15 after hotel personnel conducted a welfare check, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Police were first called to the hotel around 10:45 a.m. local time after the pair failed to show up at a cheerleading competition. Addi’s coach requested a welfare check when she did not arrive, according to 911 call records obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Officers knocked on the door and called into the room for 15 to 20 minutes but received no response. With no immediate signs of danger, police cleared the call.
Over the next several hours, hotel personnel received additional requests for a welfare check. At approximately 2:26 p.m., fire officials advised dispatchers that a note had been found on a door and that there may have been a possible suicide attempt, the Review-Journal reported. Hotel staff entered the room one minute later.
By 2:35 p.m., ambulance officials told dispatchers they had located an adult woman and a child deceased, according to the outlet.
“The mother shot her daughter and then shot herself,” LVMPD Homicide Lt. Robert Price said at a previous news conference. He confirmed a note was left behind but declined to discuss its contents. Authorities have not publicly identified a motive, and the investigation remains ongoing.
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The Clark County coroner ruled McGeehan’s cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head and listed the manner of death as suicide. Addi’s cause and manner of death remain pending.
Although police have not formally identified the victims, court documents and family members have identified them as McGeehan and Addi.
Court filings reviewed by Fox News Digital show McGeehan and Addi’s father, Brad Smith, were locked in a contentious custody battle for nearly a decade following their 2015 divorce. Judges imposed detailed exchange protocols governing how and where the parents could hand off their daughter. Records show McGeehan temporarily lost custody of Addi in 2017 but was granted joint custody in 2020.
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McGeehan had also recently been receiving “mean” text messages from other parents on her daughter’s Utah Xtreme Cheer team, the New York Post reported.
Connie McGeehan, Tawnia’s mother, told the outlet her daughter had been having issues with “one or two” other mothers on the team and that tensions escalated about a month before the tragedy.
“In the last comp they had, another girl got dropped and some of the moms were saying it was because of Addi,” Connie McGeehan told The Post. “They were texting [Tawnia] mean stuff and blaming Addi.”
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The Post cited a source close to the team who said there had been a recent “confrontation” between McGeehan and another mother in a waiting room. Utah Xtreme Cheer owner Kory Uyetake acknowledged to the outlet that there had been “comments back and forth” between McGeehan and some other parents but said everything appeared normal when the team traveled to Las Vegas.
One of the other cheer moms who spoke with Fox News Digital confirmed tensions among some parents but said the focus now is on the children grieving. She said her daughter has struggled with the loss but plans to launch a mental health awareness and suicide prevention program at her school next year in honor of her friend.
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Valerie Krystine Muniz, who identified herself on social media as Addi’s aunt and the sister of her father, urged the public to stop speculating as the family grieves.
“We already see so much speculation going around so please help in just spreading love and prayers while my brother tries to pick up the pieces of what has happened,” Muniz wrote.
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“I have never known a man to love and fight for his daughter like he has done all of Addi’s life,” she added. “The system failed him and her.”
Muniz did not elaborate.
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James Watts, who represented McGeehan, confirmed to PEOPLE that he is aware of the note but has not seen it.
“I do not know what the content is,” Watts told the outlet. “It is the family’s hope at some point, when it’s no longer required by law enforcement, that it will be returned to [McGeehan’s] mother, [who] would like to know what was being said at the time.”
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Watts for additional information.
Authorities have not released further details about a possible motive. When contacted, Metro Police said they do not have any new updates.
Stomach virus spreads on popular cruise line, sickening scores of passengers
Nearly 80 people fell ill with a suspected norovirus outbreak on a major cruise ship in February.
On March 1, The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) boarded Holland America’s Westerdam ship to investigate a massive outbreak in Hong Kong.
Among the approximately 2,800 passengers on board, 65 guests and 11 crew members developed symptoms of acute gastroenteritis. Symptoms included diarrhea, vomiting and fever.
“During the previous voyage of Westerdam from Yokohama, Japan to Hong Kong, a number of guests reported symptoms of gastrointestinal illness,” Holland America told Fox News Digital in a shared statement.
“The cases were mostly mild and quickly resolving,” the statement continued.
“As a precaution and consistent with our standard protocols, we implemented enhanced sanitation procedures and conducted additional deep cleaning when the ship completed its sailing in Hong Kong,” the cruise line added.
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The ship had calls at ports including Japan, Busan in Korea and Shanghai on the Chinese Mainland.
Testing by the ship’s lab found that stool samples from seven patients tested positive for norovirus. The CHP planned to conduct additional testing.
“We implemented enhanced sanitation procedures and conducted additional deep cleaning when the ship completed its sailing.”
“The two passengers who fell ill first boarded the cruise ship in Japan on Feb. 15 and developed symptoms on the same day,” according to a press release from the Hong Kong government.
“Subsequently, other individuals were affected.”
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Dr. Edwin Tsui, controller of the CHP, said in the release, “After inspecting the cruise ship, the CHP personnel briefed the affected individuals and the operator on health advice and necessary infection control measures, including thorough disinfection … and attention to personal and environmental hygiene.”
The CHP suggested the Holland America ship enhance training for the cleaning staff. Passengers and crew members who were confirmed in good health were allowed to disembark.
Once authorities made sure the vessel had undergone detailed cleaning and disinfection, and the hygiene conditions were viewed as satisfactory, new passengers and crew were allowed to board the cruise ship. That ship then departed Hong Kong for the Philippines.
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“Given the current high activity levels of norovirus … I urge cross-border cruise passengers and operators to pay special attention to personal, food and environmental hygiene to safeguard individual health and public health,” Tsui added.
Another Holland America cruise ship was also ravaged by a virus in 2026.
The Holland America Line was hit with a norovirus outbreak that sickened nearly 90 passengers and crew during its Dec. 28 – Jan. 9 voyage, as Fox News Digital previously reported.
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The outbreak spread on the cruise line’s Rotterdam ship.
That vessel departed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with stops in Curaçao, Colombia, Costa Rica, Jamaica and other destinations, according to CruiseMapper.
Eighty-one passengers plus eight crew members reported diarrhea and vomiting, the CDC’s data shows.
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Over 2,593 passengers, plus 1,005 crew members, were on board at the time.
Major automaker recalls more than 615K vehicles over multiple safety defects
Ford is recalling more than 615,000 vehicles in the U.S. over two separate safety defects involving windshield wiper motors and driveshaft components, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The larger recall covers 604,533 vehicles because a front windshield wiper motor defect could cause the wipers to operate intermittently or fail entirely, reducing visibility and increasing the risk of a crash, NHTSA filings show.
The recall includes certain 2020–2022 Ford Explorer and Escape models, along with 2020–2022 Lincoln Aviator and Lincoln Corsair vehicles built between July 6, 2020, and Dec. 15, 2021.
According to the Part 573 safety report, the issue stems from a condition in which the motor’s cover terminal may have been misaligned with the brush card terminal during assembly, potentially creating a poor electrical connection that can lead to a loss of electrical continuity over time. Front wiper functionality may be intermittent before progressing to complete inoperability.
FORD RECALLS MORE THAN 412,000 VEHICLES OVER SUSPENSION ISSUE
Ford has identified 1,374 warranty claims related to inoperative or intermittent windshield wiper motors within the affected population as of Feb. 18, 2026, but said it is not aware of any reports of crashes or injuries tied to the condition. The estimated defect rate is about 1% of the recalled population.
The recall is listed under NHTSA Campaign Number 26V117, and Ford’s internal recall number is 26S14.
Dealers will inspect and replace the front wiper motors as necessary, free of charge. Dealer notification began March 4, 2026, and interim owner notification letters are expected to be mailed between March 9 and March 13, 2026. A second notice will be sent once a final remedy is available, anticipated between May 11 and May 15, 2026.
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Ford has instructed dealers not to demonstrate or deliver new in-stock vehicles covered by the recall until repairs are completed. Federal law requires recall repairs to be completed before delivery to buyers.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
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| F | FORD MOTOR CO. | 12.34 | -0.47 | -3.67% |
Owners can contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332 or check their vehicle identification number on NHTSA.gov, where affected VINs became searchable on March 4, 2026.
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Separately, Ford is also recalling 11,431 US vehicles because the driveshaft’s friction weld may fail, which could result in rear driveshaft separation and a sudden loss of drive power, NHTSA said. Dealers will repair that issue at no cost to owners.