The Justice Department unsealed a federal indictment Wednesday against former Cuban President Raúl Castro, accusing the 94-year-old communist leader of playing a central role in a 1996 attack that left four Americans dead. Castro, the younger brother of the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, faces charges including conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, destruction of aircraft, and murder, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced in Miami to a cheering crowd. The Trump administration hopes to try Castro on United States soil. The charges stem from a 1996 incident wherein Cuba shot down two planes operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue. The organization attempted to search for Cubans fleeing the communist country by boat. Four people were killed in the attack. “For nearly 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice,” Blanche said. “Raul Castro and five codefendants participated in a conspiracy that ended with Cuban military aircraft, firing missiles at those civilian planes and killing four Americans,” he added. “My message is clear: The United States and President Trump does not and will not forget its citizens.” pic.twitter.com/zQTF6Gb591 — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) May 20, 2026 The Trump administration’s latest action is part of a broader pressure campaign against Cuba. Just hours before the announcement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted a video message in Spanish to the Cuban people. “The reason you are forced to survive 22 hours a day without electricity is not due to an oil ‘blockade’ by the United States. As you know better than anyone, you have been suffering from blackouts for years,” Rubio said. “The real reason you don’t have electricity, fuel, or food is because those who control your country have plundered billions of dollars, but nothing has been used to help the people,” he added. (Photo by ADALBERTO ROQUE / AFP via Getty Images) Rubio also mentioned Castro and the military-run business he founded, GAESA, and Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, whom the United States captured in January. Cuba’s energy crisis only worsened after American Special Forces captured Maduro in a midnight raid and brought him to the United States to face multiple charges, including narco-terrorism. Venezuela was once Cuba’s main oil exporter. “Today, while you suffer, these businessmen have $18 billion in assets and control 70% of Cuba’s economy,” Rubio said. “They profit from hotels, construction, banks, stores and even from the money your relatives send you from the United States.” “Instead of using the money to buy oil, like all other countries in the world, they depended on free oil from Hugo Chávez and Maduro to keep the money. But now that the free oil has stopped coming, they buy fuel for their generators and their vehicles while the people are asked to sacrifice,” he added. During Wednesday’s press conference, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier slammed American politicians who “looked the other way” and took aim at former President Barack Obama for attending a 2016 baseball game in Havana alongside Castro. “And yet for too long leaders in Washington looked the other way. They sat by idly, they even attended baseball games with the very man that directed the murders,” he said. In March, President Donald Trump floated a potential “friendly takeover” of Cuba. “It may be a friendly takeover,” Trump said. “They’re really in, they’re down to, uh, as they say, fumes. They have no energy. They have no money. They’re in deep trouble on a humanitarian basis.” Trump weighed in after Wednesday’s announcement, saying “We have Cuba on our mind.” “This was a very big moment for, not only Cuban Americans, but people who came from Cuba, they want to go back to Cuba, see their family in Cuba,” he said. Castro formally stepped down as Cuba’s president in 2018 and as head of the Communist Party in 2021, though he is still widely viewed as influential within the communist regime.

All 50 states now report average gas prices at $4 or higher, adding more pain at the pump for travelers ahead of Memorial Day weekend. As of Wednesday, the national average price for a gallon of gas in the U.S. stands at $4.56, according to AAA, a slight increase from a week earlier and up 49 cents from a month ago. One year ago, the average price of gas sat at $3.17.  Gas prices have slowly but steadily climbed for three straight months since President Trump, on February 28, launched military strikes against Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. In response, the Iranian government closed the Strait of Hormuz, significantly straining global oil stockpiles and pushing energy prices higher.  “We cannot let them have a nuclear weapon. You want to see the world exploded? You want to see a problem? And this is peanuts,” Trump said when asked about gas prices. “And I appreciate everybody putting up with it for a little while. It won’t be much longer.” Trump dismisses rising gas prices as ‘peanuts’ pic.twitter.com/IabdsJSVRF — New York Post (@nypost) May 20, 2026 Georgia has the lowest gas prices at $4.01 per gallon, according to AAA. Other Southern states, including Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Alabama, also report prices just over $4. Across the country, California has the highest average gas prices in the United States, with a gallon of gas averaging $6.14 in the Golden State. The top Democrats running for California governor refuse to consider suspending the 61.2-cent state-imposed gas tax, The Daily Wire previously reported. Both Republicans in the race, former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, said they were in favor of suspending the tax. Other Western states report higher-than-average gas prices, including Washington at $5.79, Hawaii at $5.65, Oregon at $5.35, and Nevada at $5.27. Gas prices in the Rust Belt, including battleground Michigan, report higher-than-average as well.  Despite the pain at the pump, AAA projects 45 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles for Memorial Day between Thursday, May 21, and Monday, May 25. The forecast is slightly higher than last year and sets a new Memorial Day weekend record with 39.1 million people traveling by car and 3.66 million expected to fly to their destinations, according to AAA.  “Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer, and for most Americans, it’s a three-day weekend,” Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA Travel, said. “Travel demand remains strong, and despite higher fuel prices, many people are prioritizing leisure travel during holiday breaks.”  Trump, in recent weeks, has teased eliminating the federal gas tax for temporary relief, a proposal that faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled Congress.  “I think it’s a great idea,” the president said in a phone interview with CBS’s Nancy Cordes. “Yup, we’re going to take off the gas tax for a period of time, and when gas goes down, we’ll let it phase back in.”

Google’s announcements on Tuesday at its I/O developer conference drew mixed reactions, including the update to its AI model Gemini Omni, which will allow users to remix and even insert themselves into YouTube videos. Google CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted YouTube’s global reach during the presentation, noting that the platform now has more than three billion users worldwide, as noted by The Hollywood Reporter. The company said it plans to keep pushing deeper into AI-powered content creation tools as competition intensifies across the tech industry.  YouTube Shorts will now include a “Remix” feature powered by Google’s Gemini Omni model. The tool allows users to tweak videos in various ways to make them their own.  The feature closely resembles tools previously offered through OpenAI’s Sora platform, including “Cameos,” which allowed users to place AI-generated versions of themselves into videos before the app was shut down in April.  The company addressed expected backlash by noting that the AI-generated versions would have visible watermarks connected to the original video and said, “creators are always in control of their content and have the flexibility to opt out of visual remix in Shorts at any time.” “Remix an eligible Short by adding your own prompts and images to create an entirely new vision, like changing the scene into a 90’s vibe or inserting yourself alongside your favorite creator, all while the context of the original video stays the same,” YouTube said in the press release.  “Remixing with Omni delivers a fresh way for users to create and build on each other’s imagination. The model better understands user intent creating more consistent and meaningful storytelling while also handling complex video and audio adjustments behind the scenes. This means you can spend less time worrying about technical skills and more time focusing on your ideas.” Another update will be a feature called “Ask YouTube” for users who ask questions on the platform. “People come to YouTube every day to ask questions,” Pichai said during the presentation. “There’s a lot of videos, it can be hard to know where to start.” Remixing with Gemini Omni will be available for free through YouTube Shorts Remix and the YouTube Create app.

Pedestrians could be seen running in all directions as a vehicle caught fire, then exploded during rush hour on Tuesday evening, just a block away from New York City’s famous Charging Bull statue. Several videos caught the wild blaze as it quickly engulfed the car — which appeared to be affiliated with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) — and the ensuing explosion that sent onlookers scattering to get away from the billowing smoke. “Dramatic moment car explodes in huge fireball near Wall Street’s iconic Charging Bull statue,” The New York Post captioned a video shared via X. Dramatic moment car explodes in huge fireball near Wall Street’s iconic Charging Bull statue https://t.co/mkhlN6eZjq pic.twitter.com/3c01DpqX9G — New York Post (@nypost) May 20, 2026 Several other videos shared across X showed the blaze from different angles. Story here

“You are the trailer park. I am the tornado.” That legendary “Yellowstone” line pretty much sums up the grip Taylor Sheridan still has on America right now. The newest star of the franchise is giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at the kind of country Hollywood either forgot how to make or flat-out hates now. Natalie Alyn Lind just dropped a collection of on-set photos from Dutton Ranch, and honestly? It looks less like a television set and more like a whiskey-soaked middle finger to modern Hollywood. No lectures. No awkward activist monologues shoved into every scene like a college diversity seminar nobody asked to attend. Just horses, Texas dust, old-school chemistry, Broncos, cowboy hats, parking lot fights, sunsets, and the kind of rugged Americana that makes normal people want to throw their phone across the room and buy land somewhere. Lind, who plays Oreana in the “Yellowstone” spinoff “Dutton Ranch,” kicks things off standing beside co-star Finn Little in front of a green Bronco with the top off, looking like they just escaped a Luke Combs music video. Camel leather seats. Film cameras. Dirt roads. All that scene needed was an American flag flying off the back and Rip Wheeler grilling steaks nearby. And unlike half of modern Hollywood, these photos actually have a pulse. The behind-the-scenes shots tell their own story. Cast members help each other lasso. They laugh over meals instead of trauma dumping into therapy circles. They saddle horses. They sweat in the Texas heat. They look like they’d actually survive outside of Los Angeles for more than seven minutes. People can feel the difference immediately. That’s why “Yellowstone” keeps steamrolling the entertainment industry while billion-dollar studios keep producing unwatchable woke slop that disappears faster than CNN+. Americans are starving for stories about loyalty, family, romance, grit, hard work, and freedom. Not another depressing lecture about why masculinity is toxic from a guy wearing nail polish in a cardigan. Nobody wants to spend Friday night watching a seven-year-old explain gender theory to his blue-haired parents while sad indie music plays in the background. They want fistfights in parking lots. They want whiskey on the porch. They want cowboy wisdom, broken hearts, pretty girls, sunsets, country music, and Rip Wheeler looking like he’s two seconds away from sending somebody to the train station. In short, they want America to feel cool again. That’s exactly what Sheridan keeps delivering while the rest of Hollywood keeps wondering why audiences stopped showing up. The new series follows Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler after they relocate to a massive Texas ranch following the loss of their Montana home. Oreana enters the picture as the love interest for Carter, and their romance begins the old-fashioned way: by stepping into the middle of a fight in a parking lot. Now that’s how you introduce a character. The set of Dutton Ranch honestly looks like the kind of party the country wishes still existed, you know, the American dream before everything became filtered through HR departments, TikTok activism, and corporate sensitivity training. Tip of the cowboy hat to Sheridan. The man just doesn’t miss.