5 Big News Stories Overnight: Updates on the DC Shooting - Sunday, April 26, 2026

Washington: Gun Man Attempts to Attack Correspondent's Dinner

The man arrested in the shooting is Cole Tomas Allen, age 31, from Torrance, CA. He is a teacher and has been a video game programmer.

The New York Times reports:

A spokeswoman for the California Institute of Technology said a person named Cole Allen had earned an undergraduate degree in 2017, but that the school had no other information to disclose immediately.

A student named Cole Allen graduated with a master’s degree from California State University, Dominguez Hills, in 2025, according to a statement from that school.

In Torrance — the Los Angeles suburb where records show Mr. Allen lived in a modest, two-story tract home — news crews and neighbors gathered Saturday night on the sidewalk and police helicopters circled overhead. The street was cordoned off by the police, but it was unclear whether anyone was inside and the house was dark.

Middle East: Aborted Pakistan Trip Leaves Trump With Tough Choices on Iran Talks

The Wall Street Journal reports:

President Trump scrapped a trip by U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan for talks with Iran, leaving himself tough choices over how to force Iran to make concessions the White House wants to strike a deal.

Trump said on Saturday that he had decided to cancel the trip after receiving an offer from Iran that fell short of the White House’s expectations. “We’re not going to spend 15 hours in airplanes all the time, going back and forth, to be given a document that was not good enough,” he said.

He added that the Iranians had sent a much better offer 10 minutes after he canceled the trip, saying it involved Iran not having a nuclear weapon as part of a deal. 

Mali: Jihadist and Tuareg rebels claim attacks across Mali

France 24 reports: 

An Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group said Saturday that its fighters had joined forces with Tuareg rebels to launch attacks against the army across junta-ruled Mali.

Helicopters buzzed over Bamako and around the international airport and fighting was reported at a nearby military base in what was one of the most complex attacks in years in the impoverished west African country.

Mali has been grappling since 2012 with a security crisis over attacks by jihadist groups, as well as criminal groups and separatists.

The junta that seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021 said it was doing so to battle the jihadists more effectively, but attacks have continued.

Thousands of people have died since the jihadist turmoil erupted, with tens of thousands seeking refuge in neighbouring countries.

PHOTO: aboodi vesakaran, Unsplash

California cities seek to bless polyamorous unions. Lawyers warn it will get messy in court

LA Times reports:

West Hollywood is among the cities moving to formally recognize and protect multi-partner relationships, an effort that backers say addresses housing and healthcare discrimination. Lawyers who navigate the system for divorces, custody disputes and family court battles say it will be complicated.

OPINION: Measles Is Back. What Comes Next Will Be Worse.

New York Times:

The resurgence of measles — a terrible disease that can swell the brain and cause permanent disabilities or death — is alarming enough on its own. There have been more than 1,700 cases reported in the United States already this year, up from about 70 per year in the early 2000s. Three children died last year.

The rise of measles may also be a harbinger of something even worse, public officials say. “Measles is basically a canary in the coal mine for our entire system,” says Dr. Scott Harris, the state health officer in Alabama’s Department of Public Health. “When it surges like this, it signals that our vaccination programs are starting to fail, and that other diseases won’t be far behind.” Already, cases of whooping cough have surged, too. And after two Florida children died of Hib, a bacterial infection, epidemiologists worry that disease is resurgent.