AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized direct negotiations with Lebanon after facing mounting pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration.

On Wednesday, Israel launched a renewed offensive against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, which has been firing rockets into the north of the country.

The Israeli military said the airstrikes over Beirut hit 100 targets in less than 10 minutes, including the Hezbollah headquarters and command-and-control centers. Additionally, the Israeli Defense Forces confirmed that Ali Yusuf Harshi, the nephew and personal secretary to Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem, had been killed in the strikes.

Hezbollah violated a ceasefire on March 2 that had been in place since November 2024, resuming its attacks on Israel shortly after the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran.

As of Thursday afternoon, according to Lebanon’s health minister, the death toll from Wednesday’s strikes surpassed 200 people.

As confusion abounds regarding the exact terms of the U.S. ceasefire with Iran, Netanyahu and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt have both said a pause in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah was not part of its terms.

Iran, on the other hand, has called the strikes a ceasefire violation, and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf took to X to warn of “STRONG responses.”

“1- Lebanon and the entire Resistance Axis, as Iran’s allies, form an inseparable part of the ceasefire (Point 1, 10-point proposal),” he wrote. “2 – PM Shehbaz Sharif publicly and clearly stressed the Lebanon issue; there is no room for denial and backtracking. 3 – Ceasefire violations carry explicit costs and STRONG responses. Extinguish the fire immediately.”

In a phone call on Wednesday, Trump and White House envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly encouraged Netanyahu to scale back Israel’s strikes on Lebanon for the sake of preserving the negotiations with Iran.

While Netanyahu declared Israel would continue striking Hezbollah “with force, precision and determination” as early as Thursday morning, he pivoted within hours and announced that he had authorized “open direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as possible.”

“The negotiations will focus on disarming Hezbollah and establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon,” he said in a statement.

The post Israel to Hold Direct Talks with Lebanon After Facing Pressure from Trump Administration first appeared on Mediaite.

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My wife and I live in an urban area where outdoor space is at a premium, so I consider our home's second floor roof deck one of its standout features. It’s sunny and relatively private—and, crucially, it’s outdoor space in a city where a Juliet balcony is often the best you can do.

There are two downsides to the space, however. One is that it is plagued by bugs, especially since one of our neighbors began hosting the dreaded spotted lanternfly like they were protecting an endangered species. The other is that our cats love being on the deck, but also love launching themselves over the fence to explore the neighborhood. (Did I mention this deck is on the second floor? You haven’t lived until you’ve hunted down a lost cat across your neighbors' roofs.)

The solution, for us, was to screen in the deck. First, I built a simple frame to extend the railings up a few feet, and created a pergola-like set of rafters going across to support a screen. Here’s what it looked like at that point:

Framing on my deck. Credit: Jeff Somers

But how to actually enclose it? I could have just stapled screen to the framing, but that would lead to a problem in the winter, when the "roof" would be laden with snow. I’m pretty good with a power drill and some pressure-treated 2x4s, but I don’t think my screen-roof would've held several feet of New Jersey snow, so my screen needed to be easily removable (and replaceable).

The solution was a DIY screen-in kit from Screeneze

SCREENEZE No-Spline Screened in Porch Kit - 96-in, 5 PK (Bronze) - SCREENEZE Aluminum Base & Vinyl Caps - Porch Screening System for Mesh Screen Patio Enclosure Panels

$189.99 at Amazon

Shop Now

Shop Now

$189.99 at Amazon

After some research, I found the solutions: A screened-in porch kit from Screeneze. It’s a simple concept: You attach an aluminum base to the perimeter of whatever opening you’re screening in, stretch your screen over the base, and lightly hammer a vinyl cap on top to secure the screen in place without staples. When you need to, you can easily pry off the caps with a flathead screwdriver and remove or replace the screen.

Once installed, the base of the kit looks like this:

Closeup of SCREENEZE base. Credit: Jeff Somers

and the caps look like this:

Close up of SCREENEZE cap. Credit: Jeff Somers

The aluminum base is easy to cut to size using a hacksaw or metal snippers, and the caps can be cut with a utility knife or even a decent pair of scissors, so you can customize the size of your screened area. They come in four basic colors (bronze, sand, white, and clay).

The installation process was also pretty simple: I measured the perimeter, bought the necessary number of base and caps, and cut my bases to the correct lengths. You don’t have to make them exactly as long as the space you’re screening—you can cut them into smaller, more manageable lengths and attach them end-to-end, making sure you line them up so the caps can go across seams if necessary. This is especially helpful for the caps, as I found trying to hold them in place so I could hammer them home was a challenge, as they are quite bendy. Cutting them into shorter lengths made them a lot easier to work with.

Phifer BetterVue High-Visibility Mesh Screen for Patio Porch, Screen Door Mesh, & Balcony - High Transparency Window Screening for Porches Roll - (48 in x 100 ft) - DIY Replacement & Repair

at Amazon

Shop Now

Shop Now

at Amazon

The kit comes with all the self-tapping screws you’ll need, so you can slap the aluminum base up pretty fast. Then you just need some screen—I bought an enormous roll of the stuff from Phifer BetterVue, because it’s proved to be durable, attractive, and easy to work with.

My rumpled supply of screen. Credit: Jeff Somers

I cut lengths to cover the horizontal openings, and attached the screen to the top base first. That made it easy to go back, stretch the screen down, and attach the bottom and side caps, giving me a nice, tight screen that won’t block the view (or the sun). Next, I cut two large sections of screen to cover half of the “roof,” attached them to the sides using the caps, stretched them to the center, and attached them to the front and back of the deck (it was hard to stretch the top screen tightly, especially because there’s no base or cap running down the center line, so it remains a little loose, but it still does the job.

Here’s what it looks like fully installed:

The finished screen. Credit: Jeff Somers

Screening in the deck made it the ideal outdoor space

So how’d it turn out? Terrific. Screening in the porch means:

• There are no bugs. Every once in a very long while, a winged insect makes its way into the deck area, but it’s very rare. And I haven’t seen a spotted lanternfly back there in a loooong time (though I still see them everywhere else, because, again, one of the neighbors seems determined to be a refuge for them).

• Pets can hang out there. I no longer have to worry about cats escaping into the neighborhood, and I don’t have to feel guilty about preventing the furry idiots from enjoying our outdoor space. They can lounge around as much as they like—they enjoy climbing the screen like spidercat, too. Maybe a bit too much.

• The screen doesn’t block the sun, so it’s still a bright, pleasant place to hang out, grill, or do whatever else.

• It's easy to remove and reinstall. When the weather turns, I can pry off the caps and roll back the screen in about ten minutes, so I don’t have to worry about snow loads destroying everything. And when the screen gets torn, I just undo that section and pop in a fresh screen, a process that takes five minutes at most.

The Screeneze kit has lasted years, through some pretty gnarly weather, and it’s still in almost-new shape. If you’ve got a deck, pergola, or porch, screening it in can make a more enjoyable and more useful space, and this kit will make doing that a fairly simple job.

WhatsApp is finally getting a long-awaited privacy feature that allows you to display a username rather than your phone number, which will remain hidden from other users. This feature has been in the works for more than a year, with few details released as to its functionality and ETA. While it's still not rolling out to all users just yet, we now know a little bit more about how it will work.

According to WABetaInfo (and as reported by 9to5Google), WhatsApp is set to launch usernames to a very limited number of accounts as part of a phased rollout. This means that you may not have access to this update now—but you should consider the switch as soon as it becomes available to you.

How to add a username to WhatsApp

Once the username feature is widely available, you should see the option in your WhatsApp profile settings (go to Settings and tap your profile name and photo). On the pop-up, you can choose to create a WhatsApp username or select your existing Facebook or Instagram username instead. According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp has a handful of rules for new usernames:

• Usernames can contain only lowercase letters, numerals, periods, and underscores.

• Usernames must include at least one letter.

• Usernames cannot start with "www." or end in a domain (such as .com).

• Usernames must be be 3–35 characters in length.

Usernames on WhatsApp must also be unclaimed across other Meta platforms—so even if a username appears available on WhatsApp, you won't be able to choose it if someone else is using it on Facebook or Instagram. If you have an existing username on either of the latter, consider the potential privacy implications of making your accounts easy to identify across platforms before linking that same name to WhatsApp.

Along with a WhatsApp username, you'll also be able to set up a four-digit code, which other users will need to enter when they message you for the first time. Username keys allow you to limit communication to trusted contacts.

Former ABC News political director Mark Halperin insisted on Wednesday that there was still time for President Donald Trump to “fix the problems by the midterms,” praising the president’s “great sense of instincts” and “great sense of timing.”

During a conversation with Halperin on The Megyn Kelly Show, host Megyn Kelly observed that things weren’t looking good for Trump and the Republican Party in the 2026 midterms following his war against Iran.

“He is down significantly with every constituency that put him in office,” she noted. “He’s gone up with the very small contingent that includes the massively hawkish neocon right, but with every other contingent, he’s gone down.”

Kelly then questioned, “So what do you think his mindset is here coming out of that? Now even that small contingent is unhappy with him, but they’ll get over it because they’re very grateful for the war, but he has so much work to do in regaining the support of the other groups.”

Halperin replied, “Well, he’s not up for re-election, and so where his support stands doesn’t directly affect him. I think that there’s time, although the clock ticks, for him to fix the problems by the midterms, not just by ending the war, but by doing some of the other things Republicans are talking about.”

“He’s got a great sense of instincts and a great sense of timing normally, but this is a complicated one, and I think we don’t know yet how this has gone as compared to his greatest hopes and worst nightmares,” he continued. “As PT Barnum, he’s always going to sell this as a big success, but he has a chance to succeed having done a difficult thing.”

Halperin concluded, “But there’s no doubt that China and Russia must look at this and say, ‘Huh, nice try. If this was meant to intimidate us, it didn’t work.’ And even if gas prices, as he said, they will come down now, it’s still not clear if the goal was to make the American people feel like he accomplished something. He’s far short of that right now.”

Watch above via The Megyn Kelly Show.

The post Mark Halperin Insists There’s Time for Trump ‘to Fix the Problems by the Midterms’ as Popularity Craters: ‘He’s Got a Great Sense of Instincts’ first appeared on Mediaite.

Stephen Colbert seized on President Donald Trump’s claim that the U.S. had “met and exceeded” its objectives on Wednesday in Iran, conceding that the president has met one core goal: stopping coverage of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

The Late Show host opened his show reflecting on how, after his incendiary threats to destroy Iran if his conditions were not met before his imposed deadline, the president had announced a last-minute deal.

“You’ll remember Trump had threatened to kill a 5,000-year-old civilization at 8:00 p.m. Eastern,” Colbert began. “But a little more than 1 hour before that deadline, Trump agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran.”

“Finally, the war was over for a bit,” he joked.

The comedian quipped that Trump “realized” Beatles icon John Lennon’s “dream” before running back a clip of his famous anti-war song “Give Peace a Chance” – changing the lyrics to: “All we are saying, is peace for two weeks.”

As the audience applauded and laughed, Colbert then pivoted to the president’s Truth Social post announcing the “double-sided ceasefire.”

“Aren’t all peace deals double-sided? I believe there’s a word for a single-sided ceasefire, and it’s murder,” he said.

Rounding on Trump’s explanation for ending the conflict, claiming that the U.S. had “already met and exceeded all Military objectives”, the comedian set up to needle the president – once again – on the topic he won’t drop.

“It’s true, this war reached all of its objectives,” the host quipped, before adding: “It’s been weeks since anyone mentioned the Epstein files.”

Watch above via CBS.

The post Stephen Colbert Jokes That Trump Achieved One Key Objective With Iran War first appeared on Mediaite.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump lashed out at The New York Times and CNN late on Wednesday, accusing the outlets of spreading a “totally FAKE TEN POINT PLAN” outlining Iran’s peace proposal as competing accounts of a potential deal emerge.

In a post to Truth Social, the president railed against the outlets as “EVIL LOSERS” who had circulated a “HOAX” framework that risked derailing diplomatic efforts. He wrote:

​​The Failing New York Times and Fake News CNN each reported a totally FAKE TEN POINT PLAN on the Iran negotiations which was meant to discredit the people involved in the peace process. All ten points were a made up HOAX – EVIL LOSERS!!! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN

The outburst followed reports referencing a ten-point proposal attributed to Tehran reportedly sent to the White House via Pakistani mediators and outlining the regime’s alleged terms for a long-term deal with the U.S. The same list was later published by Iran’s state news agency, then reported by CNN and The Times.

Among the provisions were references to the “acceptance of [nuclear] enrichment,” continuing Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. withdrawal from the Middle East.

When calling the ceasefire, Trump referred to having received a plan from Tehran that he called a “workable basis on which to negotiate,” but during a presser on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Iran’s initial 10-point “wish list” had been “literally thrown in the garbage” by the president. Tehran reportedly later sent a revised plan. She likewise called the reporting “inaccurate.”

The reported framework differs sharply from a separate 15-point proposal put forward by U.S. negotiators in earlier talks. Trump has previously claimed that many elements of the American plan “have already been agreed to.”

Mediaite has reached out to CNN and The New York Times for comment.

The post ‘EVIL LOSERS!!!’ Trump Lashes Out at NY Times, CNN for Reporting Iran’s ‘FAKE TEN POINT PLAN’ first appeared on Mediaite.

CNN anchor Pamela Brown pushed back on Sen. Ed Markey’s (D-MA) push to remove President Donald Trump from office over his apocalyptic threat against Iran by noting that Trump “did not kill an entire civilization last night.”

Just hours before the president’s deadline to destroy the “whole civilization” of Iran at 8 PM Tuesday night, conflicting announcements of a two-week ceasefire emerged.

Earlier on Tuesday, Senator Markey responded to Trump’s threat with a scathing social media video demanding his removal as a “war criminal”:

Trump is clearly a war-hungry madman at odds with the American people. Impeachment is the top priority. No more war criminal in the White House.

On Wednesday’s edition of CNN’s The Situation Room, Brown grilled Markey about the demand, first floating the threat as a “negotiating tactic” and then asking if impeachment was appropriate given the fact that no civilizations were actually destroyed the night before:

CNN ANCHOR PAMELA BROWN: You called for President Trump to be removed from office for threatening war crimes. What is your reaction to those comments from Secretary Hegseth, and are you willing to consider this was just a negotiating tactic on the president’s part?

SENATOR ED MARKEY (D-MA): What Trump and Hegseth were planning was a war crime uh, it was a a a promise to destroy a civilization. To commit a genocide. To uh to wipe out the capacity for that country, its civilians, to be able to operate.

It was a war crime that had been planned, and it was about to be perpetrated.

And Hegseth is saying that they were ready to push the button to do it. That is a morally bankrupt policy that Trump was seeking to put in place.

We had already lost 13 service persons, a hundred Iranian students had been killed, but yet on top of that, they were planning an actual genocide, an actual destruction of a civilization.

That’s why Trump should be impeached. That’s why Democrats should file impeachment articles against Trump. That’s why the 25th amendment to remove him should be invoked.

CNN ANCHOR PAMELA BROWN: Obviously, Senator, the president did not kill an entire civilization last night.

Is impeachment really a productive or even feasible tool at this point with Republicans in control of Congress?

SENATOR ED MARKEY (D-MA): Democrats must proceed with the filing of the impeachment articles.

We need to work as hard as we can to put the Republican Party, which is morally bankrupt, which is spineless, which wants to be in a witness protection program even as moral atrocities are being planned in their name.

We must proceed towards the goal of removing Donald Trump from office. And we must do this now. And that has to be the Democratic agenda.

Watch above via CNN’s The Situation Room.

The post CNN Anchor Notes Trump ‘Did Not Kill An Entire Civilization Last Night’ To Push Back on Dem Over Impeachment first appeared on Mediaite.