Wednesday morning news: April 16, 2025

SOUND: [Fighter jets launching]

Iran talks » Fighter jets launching from the deck of the U.S.S. Carl Vinson.

The Vinson and its strike group is the second carrier group to arrive in the Arabian Sea. It will back up the USS Harry S. Truman as the U.S. pounds the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

That also puts those carrier groups in Iran’s back yard with nuclear talks underway between American and Iranian negotiators.

Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff:

WITKOFF:  We are here to see if we can solve this, uh, situation diplomatically and with dialogue. The first meeting, I think it was positive, constructive, compelling.

But the carrier strike groups and B-2 bombers now in Iran’s neighborhood send a clear message that if diplomacy fails, the U.S. has other options to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is speaking out about the talks so far. He said the first round went well, but…

KHAMENEI: Of course we’re very skeptical of the other side. We don’t accept or trust them. We know who they are. But we are optimistic about our own capabilities.

Khamenei says his government is neither optimistic nor pessimistic about the talks.

Negotiators are expected to meet again in Oman this weekend.

Israel/Hamas latest » And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sounded off about those nuclear negotiations today.

In a video posted to social media, he criticized a post yesterday by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei calling for the elimination of the state of Israel.

NETANYAHU: So here you have the ruler of Iran openly declaring—again—that his goal is to destroy the state of Israel. And the most brazen thing about this is that he issues this while he's negotiating—supposedly negotiating peace with the United States.

Meanwhile in Jerusalem, Jewish worshippers dressed in white prayer shawls gathered at the Western Wall yesterday to receive the priestly blessing. That ceremony dates back more than 2,500 years to Solomon's Temple.

One worshipper says this year's blessing comes at a time marked by uncertainty.

KROIZER: This year especially, I wanted to come down here and see how the blessing comes down and hopefully, will help the hostages and the entire nation of Israel that is under extreme duress, especially this year.

All of this comes as Hamas is studying an Israeli ceasefire proposal that would offer the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Hamas' release of 10 Israeli hostages. That according to a report by CNN.

Russian journalists jailed » A Russian court has sentenced four journalists to years in prison for supposed extremism. WORLD’s Christina Grube has more.

CHRISTINA GRUBE: The journalists once worked for an anti-corruption group founded by the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny. He was an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin who died in a Russian prison.

The four journalists were found guilty of involvement with a group that the Russian government labeled as extremist and each were sentenced to more than five years in prison.

They are Antonina Favorskaya, Kostantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin and Artyom Kriger.

All four maintained their innocence, arguing they were being prosecuted for doing their job as journalists.

The closed-door trial was part of an unrelenting crackdown on dissent in Russia.

For WORLD, I’m Christina Grube.

Harvard grant money »  The Trump administration has frozen more than 2 billion in federal grants to Harvard after the Ivy League University pushed back against a list of demands by the administration.

Those requirements would include:  reporting foreign students here on visas who violate codes of conduct; teaching different points of view, a demand seen as including conservative issues in the classroom; and further addressing antisemitism on campus.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt:

LEAVITT:  Unfortunately, Harvard, uh, has not taken the president, the administration's demands of seriously, all the president is asking, don't break federal law, and then you can have your federal funding.

Harvard’s refusal to meet the administration’s demand drew applause from former President Barack Obama, a Harvard graduate. He praised the school for rejecting what he called an unlawful attempt to stifle academic freedom.

RFK Jr/Gov. Braun presser in Indiana Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. teamed up with Indiana Governor Mike Braun Tuesday to unveil a state initiative called "Make Indiana Healthy Again."

During a joint news conference, Kennedy said the CDC stated that the average American who died from COVID-19 had, on average, about four chronic diseases.

KENNEDY: Healthy people were not dying. It was sick. People who were dying, they were already sick. And so if we wanna protect our country against infectious diseases, we need to start by making people healthy again.

Republican Gov. Mike Braunn said he’s starting by making sure that the state is not feeding unhealthy junk food to those receiving low-income assistance.

BRAUN:  Today's first executive order removes candy and soft drinks from taxpayer funded SNAP benefits. What do you think about that?

Braun signed eight other orders to promote health and fitness in his state. Those included an order starting the Governor's Fitness Test in schools and encouraging more exercise for youth in general.

Both Braun and Kennedy said the goal is to target the "root causes" of chronic illness.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: budgets, spending cuts, and one big beautiful bill, Washington Wednesday is next. Plus, news from around the globe on World Tour. 

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