5 Big News Stories Overnight - Saturday, April 25, 2026

U.S.: Rubio Stays at Home

The New York Times reports:

When President Barack Obama negotiated a nuclear deal with Iran more than a decade ago, his point man was Secretary of State John Kerry. Over 20 months of talks, Mr. Kerry met with his Iranian counterpart on at least 18 different days, often several times per day.

High-level nuclear diplomacy was a natural role for the top U.S. diplomat. Secretaries of state traditionally take the lead on the country’s biggest diplomatic tasks, from arms control treaties to Israeli-Palestinian agreements.

But as President Trump prepares to send a delegation to the latest round of U.S.-Iran talks in Pakistan this weekend, his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will remain where he often does: at home.

Mr. Rubio did not attend the last U.S. meeting with Iran earlier this month. Nor did he join several meetings held over the past year in Geneva and Doha. Mr. Rubio has also been absent from U.S. delegations abroad working to settle the war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza. Despite a long period of crisis and war in the region, he has not visited the Middle East since a brief stop in Israel last October.

SPAIN: Sanchez brushes off reported Pentagon email mulling suspending Spain's NATO membership

France 24 reports: 

Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday refused to be drawn into a dispute with the United States over reports that the Pentagon is weighing options to punish members of NATO that refuse to support American military operations in the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The options discussed in the email include potentially suspending Spain from the military alliance and withdrawing US recognition of the UK's claim to the Falkland Islands off the coast of Argentina, a US official told Reuters.

Madrid has refused to allow US forces involved in the war to use bases on its territory or airspace, saying that the US-Israeli war against Iran contravenes international law. The US has two important military bases in Spain: Naval Station Rota and Moron Air Base.

UK-US: US won’t give unredacted Epstein documents to UK police without formal request

The Guardian reports:

British police investigating the former prince Andrew and Peter Mandelson are preparing to start interviewing witnesses in royal and government circles.

It comes as police fear that prosecutors will be “reluctant” to bring charges unless the Trump administration agrees to hand over the original documents from the Epstein files.

The two police forces that have launched full criminal investigations as a result of revelations in the Epstein files have been in discussions with the special crime division of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which authorises criminal charges in England and Wales.

Thames Valley police is investigating Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, King Charles’s brother, for misconduct in public office, over claims sensitive material was passed to Jeffrey Epstein while Mountbatten-Windsor was serving as a UK trade envoy.

Russia

The Telegraph reports:

A Ukrainian soldier crashed a military recruitment event at a Russian university, telling students he would be forced to kill them if they joined the army.

In the viral clip, the masked soldier appears on a conference call during what seems to be a military outreach session at the Kuban State Agrarian University in Krasnodar, southern Russia.

Clad in a balaclava, camouflage colours and dark sunglasses, he first poses as a member of Russia’s elite Rubicon drone unit and embarks on an anecdote about “heroic Russian drone operators”, before suddenly dropping the pretence and revealing himself as Ukrainian, vowing to kill any enlistees.

PHOTO: Ukraine Defense Ministry

Middle East: US envoys Witkoff, Kushner to depart Saturday for Iran talks in Pakistan — White House

Times of Israel reports:

US President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will depart on Saturday for Pakistan where they will hold direct talks with Iranian negotiators, the White House announced on Friday.

“Special Envoy Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be off to Pakistan again tomorrow morning to engage in direct talks intermediated by the Pakistanis… with representatives from the Iranian delegation,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Fox interview.

“The Iranians reached out… and asked for this in-person conversation. The President is dispatching Steve and Jared to go hear what they have to say, and we’re hopeful that it will be a productive conversation and hopefully move the ball forward towards a deal,” Leavitt added.

PHOTO: Jared Kushner and Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel CC: 2.0