Legal advisers have been telling migrants from Muslim countries to pose as gay to be granted asylum in Britain, with some lawyers going as far as coaching migrants on how to fabricate photos and come up with their own back stories, the BBC reported on Wednesday. The BBC’s undercover investigation revealed how legal advisers are raking in cash by helping migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh apply for asylum by claiming to be gay, which would put them at risk of persecution in their home countries. One BBC reporter went undercover to a meeting organized by a group that claims to support gay and lesbian asylum seekers. Around 175 people attended the meeting put on by Worcester LGBT, but it appeared that none of them actually identified as lesbian or gay. “Most of the people here are not gays,” one man said, according to the BBC. Another man replied, “Nobody is a gay here. Not even 1% are gay. Not even 0.01% are gay.” The BBC reporter posed as a migrant seeking asylum and met multiple times with an adviser for Worcester LGBT named Tanisa. For their first meeting, the reporter met with Tanisa at her house and was invited to her bedroom to chat. Tanisa sat on her bed as she told the undercover journalist that he should apply for asylum as a gay man, but the reporter quickly informed Tanisa that he wasn’t gay. “Listen to me. There is nobody who is real. There is only one way out in order to live here now and that is the very method everyone is adopting,” Tanisa replied. “At the moment there is only one route from where you can get a visa and it is open,” she added. “It is the asylum visa … it is on human rights and it is called gay case or same sex. There is no hope for any other visa.” Tanisa stressed that the undercover reporter would have to convince the U.K. government of his asylum claim by memorizing a made-up story and coming up with fake photos. “The approach we will take is this: I will fully prepare you for the interview by compiling a comprehensive package for you, including photographs of you at clubs, various other pieces of supporting evidence, an organizational letter, and additional letters of support, so that you are completely ready when I send you in,” Tanisa said. The cost of the legal advice came out to 2,500 British pounds, or 3,385 U.S. dollars, but Tanisa said that price would increase if the U.K. government rejected the asylum claim and the case was appealed. The phony asylum seeker then asked about his “wife,” who was still in Pakistan. “If you call her here, then we will apply for her asylum as well,” Tanisa said. “Once she’s here, we can make her a lesbian.” The LGBT sham could bring in as much as 7,000 pounds, or 9,480 U.S. dollars, per case for some legal firms, the BBC reported. The BBC also interviewed one man who arrived in Britain from Pakistan in 2011 on a student visa. When his visa expired, he sought help from a lawyer who advised him to claim to be gay and attend Pride marches and gay clubs to bolster his story. In that case, the migrant’s attempt at asylum was unsuccessful, and he moved back to Pakistan. That migrant, however, told the BBC that three of his friends from Pakistan successfully obtained asylum in Britain by lying about their sexuality. The United Kingdom has seen a massive spike in Muslim migrants in the past decade, and hundreds of those migrants have claimed LGBT identities in their asylum claims. Britain’s Home Office reported that 578 Pakistanis claimed to be LGBT in their asylum claims in 2023 alone. Another 175 asylum-seekers from Bangladesh and 103 from Nigeria claimed to be LGBT.

Seven years before former Virginia Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax murdered his wife and committed suicide, he faced sexual assault allegations that derailed his rising political career. Fairfax, who was found dead Thursday morning by police after apparently shooting his wife during a domestic dispute, was once a rising star in Democratic politics before multiple women came forward in 2019 accusing him of sexual assault. Those allegations came to light after then-Governor Ralph Northam weathered his own scandal when old pictures of him in blackface surfaced. Following Northam’s blackface scandal, some, including former President Joe Biden, floated the idea that Fairfax could become the next governor of Virginia. “There is no place for racism in America. Governor Northam has lost all moral authority and should resign immediately. Justin Fairfax is the leader Virginia needs now,” Biden said. Those calls quieted down weeks later after Fairfax was accused by two women of sexual assault dating back to 2000 and 2004. Vanessa Tyson, the first woman to lodge accusations against Fairfax, said he sexually assaulted her during the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. In an interview with CBS News, she said that he forced himself on her after they started kissing in his hotel room. “You know, and he kind of … gently takes my hands and … guides me towards the bed … And we’re still kissing, right? And it’s completely consensual,” she said. “He guides me to the bed. And then, you know, he sits down on the bed … And what happens from there, you know — we start kissing lying down, but on the very edge of the bed.” She then accused him of forcing her head into his crotch and said she couldn’t move her neck. The second woman, Meredith Watson, accused Fairfax of raping her back in 2000 when they were both students at Duke University. Fairfax denied both allegations and said he was being targeted, but many Democrats abandoned him and called for him to resign. The FBI later launched a probe into the allegations and looked at whether there was a potential political motive at play. At the time, Fairfax said he was interviewed as part of an investigation into whether there was any benefit offered to his accusers. During his run for governor in 2021, Fairfax compared himself to lynching victims. He accused Terry McAuliffe, one of his Democratic primary opponents, of treating him like George Floyd. “Everyone here on the stage called for my immediate resignation, including Terry McAuliffe three minutes after a press release came out,” Fairfax said. “He treated me like George Floyd; he treated me like Emmett Till — no due process, immediately assumed my guilt. I have a son and a daughter. I don’t ever want my daughter to be assaulted, I don’t want my son to be falsely accused. And yet this is the real world that we live in.” His claims did not garner much sympathy from Democrats, and he failed to break 5% in the Democratic primary election. After his failed gubernatorial bid, he left politics to enter the private sector. Police suggested Thursday that Fairfax shot his wife because the couple was going through a messy divorce. They said that Fairfax was recently served papers related to the ongoing split. “While he served as lieutenant governor, and even afterwards, was a rising star politically, not just in northern Virginia, but in Virginia, so it’s high-profile in nature,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said Thursday. “It’s tragic in nature, certainly a fall from grace for a relatively high-profile family that seemingly had a lot of things going in their favor.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has officially launched “Operation Economic Fury,” a sweeping, aggressive campaign aimed at the total economic isolation of the Iranian regime. Describing the measures as the “financial equivalent” of a military bombing campaign, Bessent signaled a return to a strict “maximum pressure” stance, targeting illicit oil networks, terror financiers, and global banks that continue to facilitate Tehran’s activities. The announcement coincided with a massive enforcement action by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which sanctioned more than two dozen individuals, companies, and vessels. At the center of the crackdown is the multi-billion dollar petroleum empire of Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, the son of the late senior Iranian security official Ali Shamkhani. According to the Treasury, the Shamkhani network has enmeshed itself in the global shipping industry using a sophisticated web of front companies in the United Arab Emirates, the Marshall Islands, and India. These firms, including Oriel Group and House of Shipping, allegedly provided a “veneer of legitimacy” while managing a shadow fleet that generates billions of dollars for both the Iranian and Russian regimes. “Treasury is moving aggressively with Economic Fury by targeting regime elites like the Shamkhani family that attempt to profit at the expense of the Iranian people,” Secretary Bessent stated. The operation also took aim at a complex “oil-for-gold” scheme involving Lebanese Hizballah financier Seyed Naiemaei Badroddin Moosavi. In coordination with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Treasury revealed that Moosavi facilitated the smuggling of Iranian oil to the former Venezuelan regime under Nicolás Maduro in exchange for gold. This gold was then allegedly moved via Mahan Air to Hizballah members in Tehran before being laundered through Turkey. In a move that will likely tighten global energy markets, Bessent confirmed that the United States will not renew the general licenses that allowed for the purchase of Iranian and Russian oil. These waivers, which allowed “oil on the water” prior to March 11 to reach its destination, are set to expire on April 19, 2026. Bessent dismissed the need for further relief, arguing that the temporary measures intended to stabilize prices during recent regional conflicts have served their purpose. “All that oil has been used,” Bessent told reporters, signaling that the administration is no longer willing to tolerate leaks in the sanctions regime. Perhaps the most significant escalation of Operation Economic Fury is the administration’s willingness to deploy secondary sanctions. These measures target third-party entities — such as foreign banks — that do business with sanctioned Iranian actors, effectively forcing them to choose between the Iranian market and access to the U.S. financial system. Bessent revealed that the Treasury has already issued formal warnings to two major Chinese banks. Historically, China has purchased upwards of 90% of Iran’s exported oil. “If we can prove that there is Iranian money flowing through your accounts, then we are willing to put on secondary sanctions,” Bessent warned. He noted that the U.S. is seeking deeper cooperation from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) neighbors to freeze the assets of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other leadership figures. Addressing concerns from the shipping industry regarding the volatile Strait of Hormuz, Bessent discussed a potential U.S. government reinsurance program. Highlighting that insurance rates from Lloyd’s of London remain “skyrocketing,” he suggested the U.S. could provide a “normalized level” of insurance to encourage commercial traffic once the lanes are declared safe. “Exactly,” Bessent replied when asked if this was an expansion of the war through economic rather than kinetic means. With over 1,000 entities sanctioned since the start of the current campaign, Operation Economic Fury marks the administration’s most decisive effort yet to bankrupt the Iranian state’s military and proxy capabilities.

A sharp uptick in religiosity among young American men is reversing decades of cultural trends, with new polling showing the largest year-over-year increase in religious engagement for any age group in more than two decades, an outcome many on the Right have been working toward for years. According to a new survey from Gallup, 42% of men aged 18 to 29 now say religion is “very important” in their lives, up from just 28% two years prior. The 14-point jump marks the steepest increase measured across any demographic group in the poll’s recent history and returns young men to levels of religiosity not seen since the early 2000s. The surge has also upended a longstanding gender dynamic. For decades, young women consistently reported higher levels of religious commitment than their male peers; that gap has now reversed, with young men surpassing young women in the importance they place on religion, holding a slight edge in religious affiliation, and matching them in attendance at religious services. Gallup’s data show the increase is not merely attitudinal, as religious service attendance among young men rose seven points over the same period, reaching 40%, their highest level in more than a decade, bringing them into parity with young women and closer to older male cohorts than at any point in recent years. The poll finds that the rise in religiosity is concentrated heavily among Republicans, with young Republican men driving much of the increase. That political alignment hints that the trend is not simply an ideological shift, but part of a broader cultural realignment among younger Americans. For years, conservative leaders, media figures, and grassroots organizations have placed renewed emphasis on religion, tradition, and moral structure, particularly in response to what they describe as a vacuum of meaning created by secular institutions. That messaging has been especially targeted toward young men, a demographic often described as politically disengaged and culturally adrift in the social media era. The late Charlie Kirk was among the key forces in the movement, consistently urging young men to reject modern nihilism in favor of the “ancient and the beautiful.” Shortly before his death, he delivered a call that resonated with the very men now appearing in Gallup’s data: “Find yourself back to church … that will reorient your life. Do what the church tells you to do: Find a woman, marry her, provide … have more kids than you can afford.” The data now suggest that his effort bore fruit. While the broader trajectory of American religiosity remains in decline — with overall levels of belief, affiliation, and attendance near historic lows — young men have emerged as a clear exception. Their return to levels of religious importance last seen in 2000-2001 stands in stark contrast to women of all age groups, as well as older men, who remain at or near their lowest points in Gallup’s long-term tracking. At the same time, young women have moved in the opposite direction. At just 29%, they are now the least religious demographic measured, widening a gap that now extends beyond religion into politics and culture more broadly. The result is a striking divergence: one cohort moving back toward faith, structure, and institutional religion, while another continues to drift away. Gallup’s own analysis suggests the answer may lie in politics as much as in theology. The sustained increase in attendance among young Republican men since the late 2010s, as well as the more recent acceleration, indicates that religious engagement is increasingly intertwined with political identity. That dynamic has amplified the impact of the shift. With nearly half of young men now identifying as or leaning Republican, gains within that group are large enough to reshape the overall trend line. It marks a major victory for the conservative movement’s central argument — that cultural renewal requires a return to faith and tradition. The data offer early signs that such a shift may already be underway among a key demographic. Whether that trend continues or expands beyond its current base remains to be seen. For now, however, the numbers point to a clear break from the recent past: after decades of steady decline, young men are moving back toward religion in measurable and historically significant ways.

Step aside, Thomas Aquinas. Make room, St. Augustine. There is a new Bible scholar in town, and she didn’t find her calling in a cathedral — she found it in a Reno lounge act and a Disney-funded wardrobe department. Whoopi Goldberg, a woman whose theological training apparently consists of wearing a polyester habit in two “Sister Act” films, has decided that she is the preeminent authority on the “Bible-Bible.” Speaking on “The View” on Thursday, Goldberg donned her invisible miter to lecture the masses on why the U.S. shouldn’t deal with Iran, wielding Scripture with the surgical precision of a blindfolded butcher. Citing the Beatitudes and the command to “turn the other cheek,” Goldberg lamented that her own cheeks are “getting tired” from all the slapping. It’s a touching sentiment, truly. One can almost hear the angels weeping — or perhaps that’s just the sound of anyone who has actually read Romans 13 hitting the floor in a dead faint. Whoopi, ever the humble scholar, warned her audience that they only have a “half a quote” and need to “get into the Bible-Bible” to truly understand that being a “peacemaker” apparently means letting a theocratic regime develop ICBMs. Despite Joy Behar's refusal to apologize for calling Jesus a "narcissist" for saying he was the Messiah, earlier in the week, Whoopi wants to lecture the faithful on the right about the Bible and war. She says you need to learn about "The Bible-Bible": GOLDBERG: But Jesus said,… pic.twitter.com/YmrDUIsqm4 — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 16, 2026   It’s a bold move for a woman who previously informed the world that “there’s nothing in the Book that says anything about abortion.” Apparently, in Whoopi’s version of the “Bible-Bible,” God’s intricate knitting together of an unborn child in the womb mentioned in Psalm 139 was just a suggestion, and the “sword” the state bears in Romans 13 is actually a pool noodle used for rhythmic gymnastics. But Goldberg’s expertise doesn’t stop at foreign policy. She’s also been there to fix the Catholic Church’s administrative issues. When Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone dared to enforce Canon 915 by denying Communion to Nancy Pelosi, Whoopi was there to set him straight: “This is not your job, dude!” According to the Gospel of Goldberg, the Eucharist isn’t a sacrament requiring a state of grace; it’s a participation trophy for anyone with a “View” microphone. She’s “schooling” us, folks. We just don’t understand the “Bible-Bible” like she does. After all, she played a nun twice. That’s basically two-thirds of a Trinity.