Vietnam veteran, daughter sue VA over benefits

April 28, 2026

Summary

A Connecticut lawsuit challenges VA rules that limit some Agent Orange-related birth defect benefits based on whether a veteran parent was the mother or father.

Why this matters

The case challenges how the federal government distributes benefits tied to Agent Orange exposure and could affect children of Vietnam veterans nationwide. It also highlights a long-running policy distinction based on whether the exposed veteran was the mother or father.

A Vietnam veteran and his daughter sued the Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday, arguing that its rules on Agent Orange-related birth defect benefits unlawfully treat fathers and mothers differently.

Former Army telecommunications technician Ronald Christoforo and his daughter, Michele Christoforo, filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Connecticut. They alleged that the VA provides disability compensation for some birth defects to children of women who served in Vietnam, but not to children of men who served there, except in cases of spina bifida.

The suit said Michele Christoforo has achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism that is covered for children of female Vietnam veterans. Ronald Christoforo applied in 2022 for benefits for his daughter and was denied. According to the lawsuit, the VA said Michele’s mother would have had to serve in Vietnam or Korea for her to qualify.

The Christoforos argued that the policy is unconstitutional sex discrimination.

Congress authorized benefits in 1996 for children of Vietnam veterans born with spina bifida. Four years later, it expanded eligibility to 18 conditions for children of women Vietnam veterans, including achondroplasia.

The Christoforos, represented by Yale Law School’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic, asked the court to declare the sex-based benefit structure unconstitutional and extend benefits to qualifying children regardless of whether their mother or father served in Vietnam.

Perspectives & reactions

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who has sponsored legislation to expand research on birth defects tied to veterans’ toxic exposures, said Monday that children with disabilities related to a parent’s service-connected exposure “deserve equal benefits without exception.”

Linda Schwartz, a Vietnam veteran and adviser to Vietnam Veterans of America, said research does not “justify this distinction” between maternal or paternal exposure and birth defects.

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China

China blocks Meta-Manus deal after review

China’s top economic planner said it blocked Meta’s acquisition of Singapore-based AI startup Manus and ordered the deal unwound.

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China’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, said Monday it had blocked Meta’s acquisition of Manus, an artificial intelligence startup founded by Chinese engineers that later relocated to Singapore.

The agency said it ordered the parties to unwind the deal. “The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has made a decision to prohibit foreign investment in the Manus project in accordance with laws and regulations, and has required the parties involved to withdraw the acquisition transaction,” it said.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission did not provide an explanation.

About 100 Manus employees had already moved into Meta’s Singapore offices as of March, according to the report, and the founders had taken executive roles. Manus CEO Xiao Hong now reports to Meta Chief Operating Officer Javier Olivan. Hong and Manus Chief Scientist Yichao Ji were reportedly under exit bans that prevented them from leaving mainland China.

Founded in 2022 by Hong, Ji, and Tao Zhang, Manus was originally established in Beijing under parent company Butterfly Effect before relocating its headquarters to Singapore around mid-2025. Meta announced the acquisition in December 2025 for about $2 billion to $3 billion, with plans to integrate Manus’ agent technology into Meta AI.

Nikkei Asia reported that the deal required Manus to fully exit Chinese ownership and operations.
World

Rubio cites Iran divisions as obstacle in talks

Rubio said divisions within Iran’s leadership limited what its negotiators could offer in talks with the U.S.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that internal divisions within Iran’s leadership were a major obstacle to reaching an agreement with Tehran.

In an interview with Fox News’ Trey Yingst, Rubio said Iranian negotiators often disagreed with other factions in the Iranian government, limiting what they could offer in talks.

“Other than the fact that the country is run by radical Shia clerics, that’s a pretty big impediment. The other is that they’re deeply fractured internally, and I think that’s always been the case, but I think it’s far more pronounced now. The best way to understand Iran is you have a political class now. I think, look, people talk about moderates and hardliners. They’re all hardliners in Iran. But there are hardliners who understand they have to run a country and an economy, and there are hardliners that are completely motivated by theology,” Rubio said.

Rubio said Iran’s leadership included officials focused on governing and others driven primarily by ideology.

“The hardliners that are motivated by theology are not just the IRGC officials, but obviously the supreme leader and the council that surrounds him. And then you’ve got the political class, the foreign minister, the president, the speaker of the moguls. These guys, they’re hardliners, too, but they also understand the country has to have an economy. People have to eat, they have to figure out a way to pay salaries and their government. And so you see a tension, and you always have in that system between the Iranians who understand, let’s be hardliners. But let’s also balance that with the need to run a country and the hardliners who don’t care and have this apocalyptic vision of the future,” he continued.

Rubio said those internal divisions complicated U.S. negotiations with Iran.

“Unfortunately, the hardliners with an apocalyptic vision of the future have the ultimate power in that country,” he added. “So as much as anything else, one of the impediments here is that our negotiators aren’t just negotiating with Iranians. Those Iranians then have to negotiate with other Iranians in order to figure out what they can agree to, what they can offer, what they’re willing to do, even who they’re willing to meet with.”
Australia

Australia proposes tax on Meta, Google, TikTok

It is Australia’s second legislative effort to require platforms to pay for Australian news content.

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Australia released draft legislation Tuesday that would tax major digital platforms, including Meta, Google, and TikTok, unless they make commercial deals with news publishers to pay for journalism.

The government said it planned to introduce the legislation to Parliament by July 2. The proposal, called the News Bargaining Incentive, would charge major platforms that do not strike deals with publishers 2.25% of their Australian revenue.

The government said platforms would receive offsets that reduce their overall costs if they agree to pay publishers for journalism. It estimated the measure would raise 200 million to 250 million Australian dollars ($144 million to $179 million) a year, about what platforms paid news outlets when the News Media Bargaining Code was at its peak.

Communications Minister Anika Wells said the government would distribute the money among news organizations based on the number of journalists they employ.

Under the 2021 News Media Bargaining Code, platforms reached commercial deals with publishers rather than enter arbitration and have a judge set prices. But the government said platforms have since avoided renewing those deals by removing news from their services.

The proposed tax would apply to Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram, Google, owned by Alphabet Inc., and TikTok, which is majority-owned by U.S.-backed investors.

Meta said news organizations “voluntarily post content on our platforms because they receive value from doing so.”

“The idea that we take their news content is simply wrong. This proposed legislation, which would apply to platforms regardless of whether news content even appears on our services, is nothing more than a digital services tax,” Meta said in a statement.
US

Supreme Court weighs Bayer bid to curb Roundup suits

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The U.S. Supreme Court gave a mixed response Monday to Bayer AG’s effort to halt tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging its Roundup herbicide should have carried a cancer warning.

During arguments in Washington, the justices considered a $1.25 million Missouri jury verdict for a man who blamed Roundup for his non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Bayer argued that because U.S. regulators did not require a cancer warning, federal law bars that suit and similar claims.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested support for Bayer’s position, questioning whether failure-to-warn lawsuits can be reconciled with a federal provision requiring “uniformity” in herbicide labels. Chief Justice John Roberts, however, said states reviewing new evidence that a product is dangerous should be able to “call this danger to the attention of the people.”

Bayer said federal law preempts state-law failure-to-warn claims. The dispute centers on the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, which governs pesticides, requires adequate labeling, and says states cannot impose additional mandates.

Bayer shares fell as much as 6.5% in early trading Tuesday in Frankfurt. The stock had risen 67% over the past year through Monday’s close amid investor optimism about limiting Roundup-related liabilities and progress in the company’s pharmaceutical pipeline.

The court is expected to rule by early July.
Africa

Attack in northeast Nigeria kills at least 29

The Islamic State West Africa Province claimed responsibility.

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Gunmen killed at least 29 people in northeastern Nigeria on Sunday, Adamawa state Gov. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri said Monday, after residents said attackers opened fire on young people gathered at a football pitch.

The attack happened in Guyaku community in Gombi Local Government Area, in Adamawa state near the Cameroon border. The area has faced violence from jihadist groups, criminal gangs, and disputes over land.

Fintiri visited the scene and “confirmed that no fewer than 29 people were killed in a deadly attack on Guyaku community in Gombi Local Government Area,” his spokesman said in a social media post.

The governor’s office, citing local community leader Aggrey Ali, said “the attackers operated for several hours, killing dozens of residents, burning places of worship, and destroying property including motorcycles.”

Since 2009, the insurgency led mainly by Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions in northeastern Nigeria, according to the United Nations. The conflict has also spread to Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.

A separate attack also occurred Sunday more than 100 kilometers away in Lamurde area, where a local community blamed communal clashes over farmland disputes.
Finance & Markets

Oil rises to three-week high

Brent crude rose above $111, bringing its weekly gain to nearly 6%, while West Texas Intermediate traded above $98.

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Oil rose to a three-week high above $110 a barrel in London as traders awaited the U.S. response to an Iranian proposal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

President Donald Trump convened a meeting to discuss Iran’s proposal, but maintained “red lines” for any deal, including preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

A ceasefire has broadly held since early April, but Iranian and U.S. blockades have reduced daily transits through the strait to near zero. The disruption has curbed flows of crude, natural gas, and oil products, pushing up energy prices and raising inflation concerns.

Iranian media said Sunday that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi would tell Pakistan, which is mediating peace talks, that the conflict could end if the U.S. lifts its naval blockade, agrees to a new legal framework for traffic through the strait, and guarantees there will be no future military action against Iran.

Trump and his national security team are skeptical of the proposal but will continue talks, and the White House is likely to offer a response and counterproposals in the coming days.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Fox News interview aired Monday that Iran appeared to want to retain control of Hormuz, which he said was unacceptable to the U.S. Before the war, about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas moved through the waterway.

Two Iran-linked oil tankers interdicted by U.S. forces near Sri Lanka last week appeared to have stopped heading west in the Indian Ocean and turned around. The U.S. cordon on shipping to and from Iranian ports began April 13 and has turned away dozens of vessels.
Finance & Markets

Oil rises to three-week high

Brent crude rose above $111, bringing its weekly gain to nearly 6%, while West Texas Intermediate traded above $98.

Full story +

Oil rose to a three-week high above $110 a barrel in London as traders awaited the U.S. response to an Iranian proposal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

President Donald Trump convened a meeting to discuss Iran’s proposal, but maintained “red lines” for any deal, including preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

A ceasefire has broadly held since early April, but Iranian and U.S. blockades have reduced daily transits through the strait to near zero. The disruption has curbed flows of crude, natural gas, and oil products, pushing up energy prices and raising inflation concerns.

Iranian media said Sunday that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi would tell Pakistan, which is mediating peace talks, that the conflict could end if the U.S. lifts its naval blockade, agrees to a new legal framework for traffic through the strait, and guarantees there will be no future military action against Iran.

Trump and his national security team are skeptical of the proposal but will continue talks, and the White House is likely to offer a response and counterproposals in the coming days.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Fox News interview aired Monday that Iran appeared to want to retain control of Hormuz, which he said was unacceptable to the U.S. Before the war, about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas moved through the waterway.

Two Iran-linked oil tankers interdicted by U.S. forces near Sri Lanka last week appeared to have stopped heading west in the Indian Ocean and turned around. The U.S. cordon on shipping to and from Iranian ports began April 13 and has turned away dozens of vessels.
World

Man accused in China-linked hacks extradited to U.S.

According to prosecutors, Hafnium targeted more than 60,000 entities in the United States and successfully hacked more than 12,700 of them.

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A man accused of carrying out cyberattacks on behalf of the Chinese government was extradited to the United States and could face more than a decade in prison if convicted.

The U.S. Justice Department last year accused Xu Zewei of working as a contractor for China’s Ministry of State Security in a series of cyberattacks. Prosecutors alleged that Xu and co-conspirator Zhang Yu targeted several U.S. universities in early 2020 to steal COVID-19 pandemic-related research.

They also allegedly hacked thousands of email servers running Microsoft Exchange beginning in March 2021 as part of a campaign that U.S. authorities attributed to a China-backed hacking group known as Hafnium, later Silk Typhoon.

Xu was arrested in Italy last year at the request of U.S. authorities. His lawyer in Italy, Simona Candido, said Xu was extradited to the United States on Saturday and is being held in Houston. The Federal Bureau of Prisons website listed a man with the same name at the Federal Detention Center in Houston.

After the story was published, the Justice Department announced Xu’s extradition in a press release.

When it first announced the charges, the Justice Department said Xu worked for Shanghai Powerock Network, a Chinese company that prosecutors said “conducted hacking” for Beijing. Prosecutors alleged that Xu and other hackers reported their activities directly to Chinese state officials in Shanghai.

The Justice Department said Xu and Zhang were part of Hafnium, which allegedly exploited previously undiscovered security flaws in Microsoft Exchange servers to target American organizations including defense contractors, law firms, think tanks, and infectious disease researchers.

In 2022, Yanjun Xu was sentenced to 20 years in prison in what the Justice Department said was the first case in which a Chinese government intelligence officer had been extradited to the United States.
Europe

UK appeals ruling against Palestine Action ban

The appeal is the latest step in a legal dispute between the government and the network, which says it targets companies linked to the Israeli military.

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The U.K. government is set to appeal a High Court ruling that found its ban on Palestine Action was unlawful.

A two-day hearing begins Tuesday at the Court of Appeal in London. In February, High Court judges said proscribing the direct-action group as a terrorist organization was “disproportionate.”

Since the group was banned last summer, more than 2,700 people have been arrested under terrorism laws for holding signs that read, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” Although the government lost in the High Court, the ban remained in force throughout the appeals process, and support for the group remains illegal.

The legal status of those arrested remains unclear.

London’s Metropolitan Police said after the High Court ruling that it was unlikely to arrest supporters, but it reversed that position weeks later. Earlier this month, more than 200 protesters were arrested in central London. Last week, novelist Sally Rooney, climate activist Greta Thunberg, and Israeli historian Ilan Pappe were among celebrities and scholars who signed a letter declaring support for Palestine Action, a move that also risks arrest.

Palestine Action was founded in 2020 by Huda Ammori, a Briton of Palestinian and Iraqi descent, and former Extinction Rebellion activist Richard Barnard.

Several remand prisoners, including some who staged a prolonged hunger strike seeking an end to the ban, and activists on bail have alleged that their human rights were violated because of their alleged association with the group. The Ministry of Justice denied that claim.

Rights groups criticized the ban and urged the government not to appeal. In its annual report, Amnesty International said the U.K. “continued to use counterterror laws to restrict peaceful protests against the genocide in Gaza and ban the organisation Palestine Action [as] arms exports to Israel continued.”

The ban placed the group in the same legal category as armed groups including ISIL and al-Qaeda. Last month, Human Rights Watch wrote, “When the state blurs the line between activism and terrorism, it is not defending security, it is undermining freedom.”

It was unclear when the Court of Appeal would issue its ruling.

In a statement to Al Jazeera, the Home Office said, “There are many lawful ways to support the Palestinian cause without being a member or supporter of this harmful organisation.”
Middle East

Iraq president taps Ali al-Zaidi to form government

In January, President Donald Trump threatened to end U.S. support for Iraq if former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has close ties to Iran, returned to power.

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Iraqi President Nizar Amedi asked Ali al-Zaidi, the nominee of Iraq’s Shiite Coordination Framework, yesterday to form a new government.

“President Nizar Amede has tasked Ali al-Zaidi, the candidate of the largest parliamentary bloc, with forming the new government,” the presidency said in a statement.

The announcement came shortly after the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Shiite factions with varying links to Iran, endorsed Zaidi as its candidate.

The alliance had initially backed former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for the post. In January, President Donald Trump threatened to end U.S. support for Iraq if Maliki, who has close ties to Iran, returned to power.

On Monday, the Coordination Framework praised “the historic and responsible stance” of Maliki and caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani “for withdrawing” their candidacies.

Iraq has long balanced ties with both Iran and the United States. In Iraq, nomination by the largest Shiite bloc is typically followed by a presidential appointment, but Trump’s warning prompted Iraqi leaders to hold talks and choose another candidate.

Zaidi was widely seen as a compromise choice. He is a businessman, banker, and owner of a television channel, and has not previously held a government post.