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First Lady Melania Trump Issues Commentary Washington Post: Mothers are America's Strength
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The White House issued the following commentary on May 8, 2026, First Lady Melania Trump to the Washington Post:
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First Lady Melania Trump: Mothers are America's strength
Women can lead boldly at work while restoring the honor of motherhood
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A mother's devotion to her child is unmatched. This love takes many forms: strength, compassion, wisdom, grace, joy, labor, humor and even grief, to name a few. The love between mother and child has helped shape America's identity since the nation's founding 250 years ago.
It is time to revisit the enduring American family
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WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The White House issued the following commentary on May 8, 2026, First Lady Melania Trump to the Washington Post:
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First Lady Melania Trump: Mothers are America's strength
Women can lead boldly at work while restoring the honor of motherhood
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A mother's devotion to her child is unmatched. This love takes many forms: strength, compassion, wisdom, grace, joy, labor, humor and even grief, to name a few. The love between mother and child has helped shape America's identity since the nation's founding 250 years ago.
It is time to revisit the enduring American familytraditions that have supported generations, while also recognizing the challenges for mothers of building both a career and a home. This balancing act reflects the realities women face today.
America's strength is closely tied to the role mothers play in shaping character, education and moral order within families. From morning until night, mothers serve as the first teachers of empathy, aspiration and discipline. It is mothers who do so much to shape a child's mind -- how to think, how to distinguish right from wrong and how to persevere in challenging times.
The household is our nation's smallest institution, yet it is the foundation of all others, including democracy itself. The values cultivated in homes often shape the moral voice of the next generation. Looking ahead, we must consider how to strengthen this vital role.
Being a modern mother demands the discipline and restraint to not disregard what came before us. In this spirit, the healthy evolution of the American family can best be achieved by preserving the elements of the past that have proven their worth. In doing so, America can restore the honor of motherhood after years in which feminism often placed career above family, with consequences to our nation.
Yes, women can thrive in both motherhood and business. But let's be honest, extended families and strong support systems are often essential to providing a solid base for success. That's why I admire the strength and dedication of single mothers in America, who often handle these responsibilities alone.
I note, too, that May is National Foster Care Month. Across America, tens of thousands of foster mothers selflessly provide safety and stability when it is needed most. Often, these moments create powerful bonds that can alter a child's trajectory and even lead to a permanent home through adoption, changing lives forever.
American women today are finding unique ways to balance career ambition and family. The busy accountant who makes time during tax season to read with her kids before bedtime; the nurse who works a grueling shift starting at 6 a.m. but treasures being present with her children when they return from school. We all know these incredible women.
From these stories, we revisit a simple but enduring truth about being a mother: You make yourself available not just when it is convenient, but whenever your child needs you. This is the heartbeat of an everlasting connection between a mother and her child.
Children's trust in their mothers grows over time, particularly when they know they are prioritized -- before everything, including work. This holds true not only in moments of need, but also in ordinary moments: when a child wishes to talk, laugh or simply be together. In order to sustain this bond, a mother's self-care is essential.
To be fully present for a child, mothers must occasionally take time to restore their own energy. Such care is not selfish, but an important part of caring for others. Through self-care, your devotion to your children and the rest of your family is more effective. This approach will enrich every aspect of your life, professional and personal.
Make time for yourself, while also welcoming challenges -- learning new things, and discovering and building on your passions.
I constantly challenge myself, as first lady, to think beyond the traditional responsibilities of the East Wing. That has resulted in many new opportunities, including leading four reunifications of Ukrainian and Russian children with their families, addressing the U.N. Security Council on achieving peace through education, and, at the White House, launching Fostering the Future Together, a global effort to help children thrive through the safe and innovative use of technology. But family always comes first.
Together, let's champion a new American model that restores the honor of motherhood by encouraging all women to lead boldly at work while also making family the cornerstone of our national future. I invite you to join me in prioritizing family as we shape a stronger America for the generations to come.
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Read this op-ed in The Washington Post here (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/05/08/melania-trump-mothers-are-america-strength/).
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Original text here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2026/05/first-lady-melania-trump-mothers-are-americas-strength/
Federal Indictment Charges Suburban Chicago Businessman With Orchestrating $4 Million Fraud Schemes
ROCKFORD, Illinois, May 9 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois posted the following news release on May 8, 2026:
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Federal Indictment Charges Suburban Chicago Businessman With Orchestrating $4 Million Fraud Schemes
CHICAGO -- A suburban Chicago businessman has been indicted on federal charges for allegedly orchestrating a pair of fraud schemes that netted him more than $4 million.
An indictment unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago charges RAED NASER with eleven counts of wire fraud and four counts of money laundering.
Naser owned a freight
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ROCKFORD, Illinois, May 9 -- The office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois posted the following news release on May 8, 2026:
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Federal Indictment Charges Suburban Chicago Businessman With Orchestrating $4 Million Fraud Schemes
CHICAGO -- A suburban Chicago businessman has been indicted on federal charges for allegedly orchestrating a pair of fraud schemes that netted him more than $4 million.
An indictment unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago charges RAED NASER with eleven counts of wire fraud and four counts of money laundering.
Naser owned a freighttransport company based in Orland Park, Ill. According to the indictment, Naser engaged in two wire fraud schemes--one involving the submission of false invoices from Naser's company for nonexistent freight shipping and the other involving bakery franchises that Naser sold to an unsuspecting buyer after fraudulently inflating their value. The money laundering charges accuse Naser of laundering the proceeds from the fraud schemes by, among other things, purchasing a Lamborghini Huracan, a BMW M8 Gran Coupe, and a Cadillac Escalade.
Naser, 41, of Crown Point, Ind., pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge M. David Weisman in federal court in Chicago. A status hearing is now set for June 10, 2026, at 9:45 a.m., before U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman.
The indictment was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, and Nicholas Bucciarelli, Acting Inspector-in-Charge of the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Heidi Manschreck.
The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
View indictment here: naser_indictment.pdf (https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/media/1440166/dl?inline)
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Original text here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/federal-indictment-charges-suburban-chicago-businessman-orchestrating-4-million-fraud
Fed: Investor Composition of Money Market Funds and Its Implications for Flow Dynamics
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The Federal Reserve issued the following Fed Notes article:
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Investor Composition of Money Market Funds and Its Implications for Flow Dynamics
Yi Li, Nick Panetta, and Weston Watts
1. Introduction
Money market funds (MMFs) play a critical role in supplying short-term funding to corporations, banks, and governments. While existing research has made substantial progress in understanding MMF portfolio choices and investor flows, little is known about the composition of MMFs' institutional investors. In this FEDS Note, we use newly available data to provide an overview
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The Federal Reserve issued the following Fed Notes article:
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Investor Composition of Money Market Funds and Its Implications for Flow Dynamics
Yi Li, Nick Panetta, and Weston Watts
1. Introduction
Money market funds (MMFs) play a critical role in supplying short-term funding to corporations, banks, and governments. While existing research has made substantial progress in understanding MMF portfolio choices and investor flows, little is known about the composition of MMFs' institutional investors. In this FEDS Note, we use newly available data to provide an overviewof MMFs' investor composition and examine how it relates to funds' portfolio characteristics and flow dynamics. We find that when banks are the dominant investors, MMFs tend to experience more volatile flows and a higher likelihood of large outflows. Consistent with this pattern, MMFs with banks as principal investors hold more liquid and lower-risk portfolios. Although our methodology does not attempt to establish causality, the results suggest that MMFs respond to investor behavior and manage portfolio risk in an integrated manner.
2. Data and summary statistics
MMFs must file Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Form N-MFP each month./1 Beginning in June 2024, the SEC required institutional prime MMFs to disclose a breakdown of their investor composition by type. The new data on investor types, which is reported for each of a fund's share classes, complements Form N-MFP data that have been collected for many years, including granular security-level holdings and liquidity metrics. In combination, these data allow us to link investor composition to a fund's portfolio exposures, risk profiles, and liquidity management. In addition, we use daily flow information to construct measures of investor flow dynamics, which enables us to examine whether investor composition has a potential influence on flow behavior.
Our sample spans June 2024 through August 2025. We conduct the analysis at the share-class level rather than the aggregate fund level, since different share classes often target distinct investor segments and may exhibit materially different flow dynamics. We focus on institutional prime MMFs that are publicly offered and that consistently file N-MFP reports throughout the sample period. Funds that were liquidated, converted, or merged with another fund prior to the implementation of SEC reforms in October 2024 are excluded to maintain a consistent panel./2 The final sample includes 32 share classes from 8 institutional prime funds./3
Form N-MFP requires funds to classify investors in each share class into 12 categories./4 We consolidate these into four groups: Dealer (broker/dealers), Bank (depository institutions), Firm (nonfinancial firms), and Other (all remaining types). As shown in Figure 1, over our sample period, Dealer and Bank each account for roughly 30% of investments in institutional prime MMFs, while Firm and Other each contribute about 20%.
Figure 1. Composition of Investors in Institutional Prime MMFs
We then define four dummy variables (Dealer, Bank, Firm, and Other) to indicate the principal-investor type for each share class. Specifically, Dealeri, t equals 1 if dealers provide more than 50% of the investments in share class i in month t, and 0 otherwise. The other indicators are defined analogously. By construction, at most one principal-investor indicator can equal 1 for a given share class in a given month.
Table 1 reports the summary statistics for these principal-investor indicators based on the share class-month panel. Across share classes, there is a 23% probability that dealers are the principal investor, a 26% probability that banks are the principal investor, and an 11% probability that nonfinancial firms are the principal investor. For 19% of share classes, no single investor type accounts for more than half of total investments.
Table 1. Summary Statistics for Principal-Investor Indicators
3. Investor type and fund characteristics
We next examine how investor types relate to key fund characteristics. Different types of investors may have distinct preferences for liquidity and risk-taking. These preferences may influence investors' allocation decisions across MMFs as well as how fund managers adjust fund characteristics to attract and respond to specific investor bases. Rather than attempting to establish causality, we examine the associations between investor composition and fund characteristics, including size, liquidity condition, and risk profiles.
Specifically, we use weekly liquid assets (WLA) and weighted-average maturity (WAM) to capture funds' portfolio liquidity (with longer maturity indicating lower liquidity), and the cross-sectional percentile ranking of gross yield and the share of risky assets to proxy for risk-taking./5 Table 2 provides summary statistics for these fund characteristics at the share class-month level.
Table 2. Summary Statistics for Fund Characteristics
To provide a simple illustration of the relationship between investor base and fund portfolio choices, we sort MMF share classes over the sample period into groups based on their principal-investor type and plot the average levels of liquidity and risk measures for each group.
Figure 2 shows that, relative to other institutional prime MMFs, funds dominated by bank investors hold higher levels of weekly liquid assets and maintain shorter weighted average maturities on average. Based on a similar methodology, Figure 3 shows that funds dominated by bank investors earn lower average gross yields and hold fewer risky assets relative to their peers.
Figure 2. Principal-Investor Type and MMF Liquidity
Figure 3. Principal-Investor Type and Portfolio Riskiness
Next, to systematically quantify these relationships and account for common time effects and other confounding factors, we run contemporaneous panel regressions of fund characteristics on principal-investor indicators:
[Text omitted]
In addition to the principal-investor indicators, we control for the concentrations of investor types for a given share class, proxied by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI). We emphasize that the coefficients on investor composition measures (i.e., B) should be interpreted as associative rather than causal: they describe how fund characteristics vary across share classes with different investor profiles. We also control for year-month fixed effects (ut) to absorb common time-series shocks that influence all funds. Standard errors are two-way clustered at the share-class and month levels to account for cross-sectional dependence and serial correlation.
Consistent with the findings in Figure 2 and 3, regression results in Table 3 show that funds in which banks are the principal investors maintain more conservative portfolio positions: they keep shorter portfolio maturities (i.e., higher liquidity) and generate lower gross yields (i.e., lower risk). In contrast, funds predominantly held by dealers or nonfinancial firms hold longer-duration portfolios./6
Table 3. Principal-Investor Type and Fund Characteristics
These findings point to a significant association between a fund's investor base and its portfolio choices. In particular, the tendency for funds with banks as their primary investors to hold more conservative portfolios raises the question of why such differences arise. Our analysis in the next section suggests that these patterns appear to be consistent with the flow dynamics of bank investors.
4. Investor base and flow dynamics
We next examine the relationships between investor base and flow dynamics. Intuitively, investor flows are driven by the investors themselves, and different types of investors may exhibit different withdrawal patterns. Specifically, we test whether funds with certain investor base characteristics experience greater flow volatility or a higher probability of large outflows in the subsequent month.
To evaluate these relationships, we regress next month's flow outcomes on current investor base:
[Text omitted]
Table 4 shows that when banks are the principal investors, MMFs tend to experience more volatile flows and are more likely to face large outflows in the subsequent month./7 These findings are consistent with our earlier result that MMFs with banks as principal investors maintain more conservative and liquid portfolio positions. Together, our results suggest that MMFs may take additional precautions in response to banks' relatively more volatile flows and greater propensity for large-scale withdrawals. Such flow patterns may reflect banks' motives for investing in MMFs and their management of these investments, issues that are beyond the scope of this note.
Table 4. Principal-Investor Type and Next-Month Flow Dynamics
5. Conclusion
Using novel data, we find that the investor composition of institutional prime MMFs is significantly associated with their portfolio decisions and flow dynamics. The relationships we find indicate that MMFs respond to investor behavior and manage portfolio risk in an integrated manner.
While our analysis is based on a 15-month period in which there was no material stress among MMFs, and the predictive role of investor composition during periods of market strain remains uncertain, the results suggest that investor composition is an informative indicator of MMF flow dynamics. These patterns may have implications for the likelihood of large redemptions during stress episodes and therefore warrant consideration in assessments of MMF run risk.
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1. A single MMF often offers multiple share classes targeted to different investor groups; while these classes have the same underlying portfolio, they usually differ in fee structures and investor eligibility. Return to text
2. Following the runs on prime MMFs in March 2020, the SEC adopted reforms for the industry in July 2023. The reforms were fully implemented starting in October 2024. Return to text
3. Feeder funds and money market ETFs are excluded from the final sample. Return to text
4. The 12 types are: broker/dealers, depository institutions, nonfinancial firms, registered investment companies, insurance companies, municipalities, nonprofit organizations, pension funds, private funds, sovereign funds, and other investors. Return to text
5. Weekly liquid assets are cash, direct and certain indirect debt of the U.S. Government, securities that mature within five business days, and receivable balances due within five business days. Risky asset share is the percentage of fund assets comprised of commercial paper, certificates of deposit, and time deposits. Return to text
6. Although not reported in the table, we observe similar patterns when replacing the principal-investor indicators with continuous investor shares. Return to text
7. We conduct two robustness checks (not shown): (i) computing flow outcomes over the subsequent quarter instead of the next month, and (ii) replacing principal-investor indicators with continuous investor-share measures. Both approaches yield consistent results. Return to text
Please cite this note as:
Li, Yi, Nick Panetta, and Weston Watts (2026). "Investor Composition of Money Market Funds and Its Implications for Flow Dynamics," FEDS Notes. Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, May 08, 2026, https://doi.org/10.17016/2380-7172.3973.
Disclaimer: FEDS Notes are articles in which Board staff offer their own views and present analysis on a range of topics in economics and finance. These articles are shorter and less technically oriented than FEDS Working Papers and IFDP papers.
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Original text here: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/investor-composition-of-money-market-funds-and-its-implications-for-flow-dynamics-20260508.html
F-22A Raptor Hangar Marks Construction Milestone at JBLE
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas, May 9 -- The U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Center issued the following news:
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New F-22A Raptor hangar marks construction milestone at JBLE
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - A push to modernize infrastructure for the F-22 Raptor reached a milestone last month with the formal handover of a new 76,445-square-foot hangar at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia.
The Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center is overseeing several major military construction efforts at the base. Along with the hangar, a low observable component repair facility and a
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JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas, May 9 -- The U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Center issued the following news:
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New F-22A Raptor hangar marks construction milestone at JBLE
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - A push to modernize infrastructure for the F-22 Raptor reached a milestone last month with the formal handover of a new 76,445-square-foot hangar at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia.
The Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center is overseeing several major military construction efforts at the base. Along with the hangar, a low observable component repair facility and atraining support squadron facility are being built to support the F-22A fleet.
The hangar project has been under construction since February 2023 and was formally handed over to the base April 18.
"I'm proud of the collective effort and partnerships involved in completing such a complex project," said Judy Biddle, execution branch chief at the Air Force Civil Engineer Center's Special Programs Division, who has been involved with the project from the beginning. AFCEC is an AFIMSC primary subordinate unit.
"This is the first of three military construction projects to be completed at JBLE as part of the post-Hurricane Michael Rebuild program," she said. "The new hangar will provide maintenance support for the F-22A aircraft that were relocated from Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, after Category 5 Hurricane Michael devastated the base in 2018."
Biddle worked closely with Col. Rob Bartlow, AFCEC Special Programs Division Chief, and the division's JBLE team to get the hangar across the finish line.
"Completing construction of hangar and turning it over to the base represents a significant construction milestone," Bartlow said. "It provides much needed maintenance space for the 1st Fighter Wing and their F-22 squadrons."
The new hangar is built on the former site of one of the base's oldest hangars originally built in 1932.
"It's quite impressive, with all necessary spaces such as maintenance bays, administrative spaces, and associated infrastructure," said Mike Dwyer, AFCEC SPD Deputy Chief. "This new and very modern facility delivers outstanding permanent maintenance spaces for the F-22 Raptor."
The modern facility consolidates the operations and maintenance functions into two main areas: a 36,000-square-foot maintenance hangar with six bays for F-22s and a two-story, 40,445-square-foot administrative and support wing for 92 full-time staff.
Work on the low observable component repair facility and the training support squadron facility is progressing. Combined, these three new state-of-the-art facilities will provide the advanced infrastructure essential to support the Air Force's mission well into the future.
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Original text here: https://www.afcec.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4480698/new-f-22a-raptor-hangar-marks-construction-milestone-at-jble/
Commission on International Religious Freedom: Nonstate Violators of Religious Freedom in Nigeria - Fulani Militants
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued the following fact sheet:
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Nonstate Violators of Religious Freedom in Nigeria: Fulani Militants
In recent years, armed actors from a Fulani ethnic background have perpetrated some of the most visible and deadly attacks on religious communities--often but not exclusively against Christians--in Nigeria. These actors operate in a variety of contexts and with a multiplicity of likely aims and motivations. While many Fulani militant groups wage independent attacks, others periodically coordinate with a wide range
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued the following fact sheet:
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Nonstate Violators of Religious Freedom in Nigeria: Fulani Militants
In recent years, armed actors from a Fulani ethnic background have perpetrated some of the most visible and deadly attacks on religious communities--often but not exclusively against Christians--in Nigeria. These actors operate in a variety of contexts and with a multiplicity of likely aims and motivations. While many Fulani militant groups wage independent attacks, others periodically coordinate with a wide rangeof other actors, from conventional bandit gangs seeking financial enrichment to recognized terrorist organizations that espouse a violent interpretation of Islam.
This publication examines Fulani militants' role in deteriorating religious freedom conditions in Nigeria by explaining Muslim and Christian communal dynamics and providing examples of recent and ongoing religious freedom violations by violent Fulani actors. It also describes efforts--and shortcomings--on the part of the Nigerian government and civil society actors to bolster social cohesion, improve security, and reduce patterns of violence.
Fulani Dynamics and Militant Violence
The Fulani people are a Muslim-majority ethnic group largely concentrated in northern Nigeria and other adjacent areas in West Africa. They represent approximately six percent (or 14.5 million) of Nigeria's total population of about 242.4 million. Herding remains an important part of many Fulani people's livelihoods and identities but still faces societal stigma as a traditional way of life. A violent religious ideology, growing resource limitation and competition, population growth, poverty, and other factors have further embroiled the Fulani people in Nigeria's social instability challenges--and its increasingly volatile security landscape. An estimated 30,000 Fulani militants likely operate across the country, traditionally concentrating in the country's northwest, then migrating down through the Middle Belt, and becoming increasingly active in the South. Each group consists of anywhere from 10 to 1,000 members. While these militants do not share a centralized leadership, some collaborate on attacks.
Violence by Fulani militants caused the highest number of deaths among all religious communities in Nigeria over the last year as compared to attacks by organized insurgent groups and criminal gangs. Fulani assailants have not spared Muslims, raiding herders' cattle and violently attacking non-Fulani Muslim communities. Furthermore, many militants have targeted Christian communities in the Middle Belt and, increasingly, the South, burning homes and churches as well as kidnapping, raping, and murdering. Militants often coordinate via radio and utilize motorcycles and automatic weapons, rapidly hitting several targets at once in rural, isolated areas. They often wield machetes and descend on vulnerable communities during the night, eliciting terror as a way to force victims to quickly leave and to achieve greater control of desired land. These Fulani militant attacks, among those of other actors, have forced at least 1.3 million people in the Middle Belt off their land and into overcrowded, unsanitary, and unsafe conditions in displacement camps. Militants vary in their use of deadly force against religious communities, and many carry out sexual assault and abductions in hopes of intimidating them or profiting from ransom payments, respectively. Reportedly, some hostages remain hidden in remote locations such as the Rijana Forest in Kaduna State. Many of these hostages have faced violent sexual assault, causing lifelong trauma. Militant actors have often carried out operations during Christian holidays such as Christmas or Easter to further maximize the psychological impact, terrifying those communities from gathering to celebrate or worship. During attacks, assailants sometimes utter slogans with religious connotations, such as "Allahu Akbar."
In Plateau and Benue States, Fulani militants have recently perpetrated multiple attacks in which fatalities numbered in the hundreds. One attack in Benue in June 2025 killed at least 200 people, including internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in a Catholic mission, while a massacre that month in Yelwata, Benue forced over 3,000 people to flee their homes and killed over 200 Christians, mostly sleeping women and children. In May, Fulani militants abducted pastors Adura Kayode and Kingsley Ebing of the City of Grace Prophetic Liberation Church in Kogi State, and another assailant reportedly shot and seriously wounded a Catholic priest in Benue State. In October, militants killed seven Fulani Muslim herders in Kano State and stole 70 head of cattle; those assailants also abducted 10 members of the same herding community, demanding ransom payments.
Such violence continued apace in early 2026. In February, Fulani gunmen reportedly killed 12 in Barkin Ladi and Riyom, Plateau State, including one farmer and two herders. That same month, suspected Fulani militants killed at least 32 in the Borgu area of Niger State and reportedly attacked Holy Trinity Parish in Kafanchan Diocese in Kaduna, killing three people and abducting 11 others, including the parish priest, Father Nathaniel Asuwaye. In March, suspected militants killed 12 people in Benue State despite the recent deployment of over 400 security personnel to the region.
Fulani militants have also joined other armed groups in regularly using kidnapping as a tool of extortion, often targeting religious institutions as a potentially lucrative source of funding or profit. For example, in February 2026, armed men kidnapped an imam and seven worshipers from a mosque in Plateau, a state notorious for Fulani militants' attacks. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of 16 million Nigerian naira ($11,800). Additionally, "bandits"--a common term in local news headlines--have abducted children or teenagers from Christian and public schools as well as worshipers from both churches and mosques. In September 2025 in the northwestern state of Zamfara, for example, armed Fulani actors attacked a mosque during early morning prayers, seizing an unspecified number of Muslim worshipers. In April 2026, assailants abducted more than 150 people, mostly women and children, in Zamfara State. On Palm Sunday, assailants killed at least 28 in a heavily Christian area in Plateau State. One week later on Easter Sunday, Fulani militants reportedly killed five worshippers at two churches in Kaduna State while abducting 31 others, and suspected militants killed 17 people in Benue State. The fates of all these kidnapping victims, like so many others, remain unknown to the public due to the sensitivity of ransom negotiations and, in some cases, possible collusion between perpetrators and some officials from the police and/or army.
Further complicating matters is the fact that both conflicting media narratives and reported government censorship have hindered accurate analysis of the identities and motivations of the alarming number of armed nonstate actors that violate religious freedom in Nigeria. Some observers have argued environmental and economic factors as the driving force behind Fulani militants' acts of violence, while others have suggested that these actors are engaged in a concerted campaign of outright genocide against non-Muslims, especially Christians. In fact, multiple and overlapping factors, including religion in many cases, likely spur Fulani militants to attack communities or individuals. Regardless of these complex motivating factors, the escalation of Fulani-led land invasions and other violent assaults has yielded the same outcomes: severely disrupting the lives, livelihood, and ability to worship of many Christian and Muslim farmers while triggering their mass displacement and depriving them of their lands.
Nigerian Government Responses to Fulani Violence
Criticism of responses to Fulani militant violence from federal and state authorities has often described their responses as unsatisfactory at best and complicit at worst. Victims have long reported that security forces are consistently slow to respond to attacks on their communities. As in prior years, some Christian advocates have continued to suggest that security forces responding to or investigating attacks routinely show favoritism toward Muslim communities. Local governments have similarly failed to communicate or coordinate with victims and targeted religious communities, and some reports suggest that leaders may even exploit interethnic or interreligious tensions to advance their own agendas. Compounding these issues, religious leaders have at times sought to address the reported lack of government intervention by recruiting their own security personnel with poor training and little or no accountability for their actions, including use of force. In one incident, local Christians shifted from self-defense to pursuit of innocent actors, attacking Fulani hunters without provocation. Community representatives have pointed to deficiencies in the weapons and staff available to law enforcement and emphasized communities' corresponding need for self-defense.
In June 2025, in response to a Fulani-led wave of fatal violence in the Middle Belt, governors from 11 states, including Plateau, Benue, Kano, and Zamfara, took the first steps in an initiative to set aside ranch land for herders. Supporters of the program hope that access to ranching will reduce Fulani herders' reliance on an increasingly limited number of open grazing routes, preempting a common source of friction between Fulani Muslim herders and Christian-majority agriculturalists. Given that government sources and some Nigeria observers often point to the issue of land use rights as the primary catalyst of Fulani-led violence against farming communities--thereby dismissing any religious role in such violence--addressing these demands may indeed reveal other motivating factors, including religion, in any subsequent and ongoing violence.
At the federal level, U.S. President Donald J. Trump's designation in October 2025 of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for its religious freedom violations has since prompted more urgent action on the part of the Nigerian government. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu officially designated kidnappers and violent armed groups, such as Fulani militants, as "terrorists" in December, placing them at the same level of priority as armed insurgent groups. In January 2026, police rescued 309 hostages via coordinated security operations in Kogi and Kwara States, apprehending 129 suspected Fulani militants and killing 55 others. Also in January, the army dismantled a suicide bombing network linked to Fulani militants who had carried out a December 2025 attack that killed five people at a mosque in Gamboru.
There has been some evidence of increased government efforts, both before and after the October CPC designation, to address Fulani-led violence through prosecutions and community-level engagement. In September, prosecutors filed initial terrorism charges against nine Fulani herders. All nine defendants, including the alleged organizer of the massacre, Lawal Mohammed Dono Ardo, have reported ties to the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN). The police--which in Nigeria are a federal force with local offices--have also contributed to investigations of kidnappings of religious communities. And in December, the government brought together civil society groups, including religious communities, to reaffirm the government's commitment to conflict prevention via a new initiative, the Capacity Building Engagement for the Multi-Stakeholder Conflict Early Warning Response Group (EWRG). In early 2026, 19 state governments subsequently launched the Northern Nigeria Peace Campaign, which "calls upon on citizens, traditional institutions, and civil society organizations to embrace community service as a vital tool for peacebuilding, social cohesion, and sustainable development across Nigeria."
The Controversial Role of MACBAN
MACBAN promotes agricultural interests across Nigeria and maintains close ties with the Fulani community. The organization has faced longstanding criticism from Christian leaders who claim that it has been ineffective at best in reducing militant violence and Fulani herder incursions onto farmlands--and, at worst, possibly even foments land invasions, according to some. In turn, MACBAN has argued that violent Fulani militants represent only a minority of the greater Fulani population but perpetrate the majority of the violence against all religious communities, including Muslims. In 2025, the organization demanded a presidential directive for security agencies to protect herding communities, citing that they, too, face threats from violent militants and criminal gangs and insisting that they do not "support, condone, harbor, finance, or protect any form of criminality, extremism or violence." MACBAN and government representatives from Agatu, Benue State, have since engaged in more conciliatory negotiations, agreeing to set aside decades-old tensions and direct their joint efforts toward resisting criminal gangs that target both Christians and Muslims.
In February 2026, the U.S. Congress introduced a bill, the Nigeria Religious Freedom and Accountability Act of 2026, that included MACBAN as an entity on which the U.S. Departments of State and the Treasury should impose targeted sanctions for its alleged role in perpetrating severe religious freedom violations. The same month, a congressional report to the White House outlined actions that the U.S. and Nigerian governments can take to end the persecution of Christian communities and address persistent security challenges in Nigeria.
Conclusion
Since the United States' CPC designation in October 2025 and attendant bilateral security discussions with Nigeria, armed Fulani actors have continued to carry out largescale incursions onto Christian farmers' agricultural lands, violent raids on Christian and Muslim religious sites, and kidnappings of laity and leaders from both religions. As a result, central Nigeria remains entrenched in an intense, daily, and seemingly perpetual crisis of insecurity--a crisis that is likely to persist until the federal and several state governments create broader underlying conditions that are more conducive to the safe practice of religious freedom.
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Professional Staff
Michael Ardovino, Policy Analyst
Gretchen Birkle, Senior Advisor
Susan Bishai, Supervisory Policy Analyst
Mollie Blum, Policy Analyst
Guillermo Cantor, Director of Research and Policy
Serena Doan, Supervisory Policy Analyst
Kaylee Fisher, Public Affairs Specialist
Andrew Hamm, Victims List Database Specialist
Sema Hasan, Senior Policy Analyst
Thomas Kraemer, Chief Administrative Officer
Kirsten Lavery, Supervisory Policy Analyst and International Legal Specialist
Veronica McCarthy, Government Affairs Specialist
Hilary Miller, Policy Analyst
Nora Morton, Operations Specialist
Molly Naylor-Komyatte, Policy Analyst
Dylan Schexnaydre, Policy Analyst
Katherine Todd, Policy Analyst
Ross Tokola, Policy Analyst
Brett Warner, Administrative Specialist
Scott Weiner, Supervisory Policy Analyst
Kurt Werthmuller, Supervisory Policy Analyst
Nathan Wineinger, Chief of Public Affairs
Jean Wu, Policy Analyst
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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan legislative branch agency established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief.
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Original text here: https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2026-05/2026%20Nigeria%20-%20Fulani%20Militants%20Report.pdf
CDC Provides Update on Hantavirus Outbreak Linked to M/V Hondius Cruise Ship
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued the following news release:
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CDC Provides Update on Hantavirus Outbreak Linked to M/V Hondius Cruise Ship
The U.S. government is actively monitoring and responding to a hantavirus outbreak linked to the M/V Hondius cruise ship. At this time, the risk to the American public remains extremely low.
CDC developed health guidance for impacted American passengers, which was delivered by the U.S. Department of State. CDC's premier infectious disease experts are continuing to
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 9 -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued the following news release:
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CDC Provides Update on Hantavirus Outbreak Linked to M/V Hondius Cruise Ship
The U.S. government is actively monitoring and responding to a hantavirus outbreak linked to the M/V Hondius cruise ship. At this time, the risk to the American public remains extremely low.
CDC developed health guidance for impacted American passengers, which was delivered by the U.S. Department of State. CDC's premier infectious disease experts are continuing towork closely with international partners to develop consistent monitoring guidance. This guidance will be distributed today, in addition to resources targeted for state and local health departments.
The U.S. government's top priority is the safe repatriation of American passengers. These individuals are planned to be evacuated on a U.S. government medical repatriation flight to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, where they will be transported to the National Quarantine Center at the University of Nebraska, Omaha.
The CDC deployed a team of epidemiologists and medical professionals to the Canary Islands, where the M/V Hondius is expected to dock. The team will conduct an exposure risk assessment for each American passenger and provide recommendations for the level of monitoring required. An additional CDC team will deploy to Offutt AFB to support public health assessment of returning passengers.
https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/about/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/about/andesvirus.html
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are curable or preventable, chronic or acute, or from human activity or deliberate attack, CDC's world-leading experts protect lives and livelihoods, national security and the U.S. economy by providing timely, commonsense information, and rapidly identifying and responding to diseases, including outbreaks and illnesses. CDC drives science, public health research, and data innovation in communities across the country by investing in local initiatives to protect everyone's health.
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Original text here: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2026/2026-cdc-provides-update-on-hantavirus-outbreak-linked-to-m-v-hondius-cruise-ship.html
BLS Northeast Region Issues Report on Business Employment Dynamics in New York Third Quarter 2025
NEW YORK, May 9 (TNSLrpt) -- Business Employment Dynamics in New York Third Quarter 2025 - A report from U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics Northeast Region - May 8, 2026
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From June 2025 to September 2025, gross job gains from opening and expanding private-sector establishments in New York were 489,252, while gross job losses from closing and contracting private-sector establishments were 482,473, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Mark J. Maggi noted that the difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross
... Show Full Article
NEW YORK, May 9 (TNSLrpt) -- Business Employment Dynamics in New York Third Quarter 2025 - A report from U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics Northeast Region - May 8, 2026
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From June 2025 to September 2025, gross job gains from opening and expanding private-sector establishments in New York were 489,252, while gross job losses from closing and contracting private-sector establishments were 482,473, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Mark J. Maggi noted that the difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of grossjob losses yielded a net employment gain of 6,779 jobs in the private sector during the third quarter of 2025. (See table 1.) During the previous quarter, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains by 89,532. (See chart 1.)
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Chart 1. Private-sector gross job gains and losses in New York, September 2020-September 2025, seasonally adjusted
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The change in the number of jobs over time is the net result of increases and decreases in employment that occur at all private businesses in the economy. Business Employment Dynamics (BED) statistics track these changes in employment at private-sector establishments from the third month of one quarter to the third month of the next. The difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses is the net change in employment. (See the Business Employment Dynamics Technical Note.)
Gross job gains
In the third quarter of 2025, gross job gains represented 5.9 percent of private-sector employment in New York; nationally, gross job gains accounted for 5.6 percent of private-sector employment. (See chart 2.) Gross job gains are the sum of increases in employment due to expansions at existing establishments and the addition of new jobs at opening establishments. In New York, gross job gains at expanding establishments totaled 365,232 in the third quarter of 2025, a decrease of 50,403 jobs compared to the previous quarter. Opening establishments accounted for 124,020 jobs gained in the third quarter of 2025, an increase of 44,977 jobs from the previous quarter.
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Chart 2. Private-sector gross job gains as a percent of employment, United States and New York, September 2020-September 2025, seasonally adjusted
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Gross job losses
In the third quarter of 2025, gross job losses represented 5.8 percent of private-sector employment in New York; nationally, gross job losses accounted for 5.7 percent of private-sector employment. (See chart 3.) Gross job losses are the result of contractions in employment at existing establishments and the loss of jobs at closing establishments. In New York, contracting establishments lost 373,345 jobs in the third quarter of 2025, a decrease of 63,123 jobs from the prior quarter. Closing establishments lost 109,128 jobs, a decrease of 38,614 jobs from the previous quarter.
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Chart 3. Private-sector gross job losses as a percent of employment, United States and New York, September 2020-September 2025, seasonally adjusted
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Industries
Gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in 3 of the 11 published industry sectors in New York in the third quarter of 2025. Education and health services had the largest over-the-quarter net job increase, with a gain of 10,030 jobs. This was the result of 90,352 gross job gains and 80,322 gross job losses. Professional and business services showed a net loss of 7,765 jobs, the largest loss of any sector in the state. New York's leisure and hospitality industry sector had a net loss of 7,564 jobs.
For more information
The BED data series include gross job gains and gross job losses by industry subsector, for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, as well as gross job gains and gross job losses at the firm level by employer size class. BED data for the states have been included in table 2 of this release. Additional information is available online at the Business Employment Dynamics homepage and the Business Employment Dynamics Summary.
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The Business Employment Dynamics for Fourth Quarter 2025 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).
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Technical Note
The Business Employment Dynamics (BED) data are a product of a federal-state cooperative program known as Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). The BED data are compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from existing QCEW records.
More information on formal definitions of the data used in this release, along with coverage, concepts, and methodology, can be found in the Business Employment Dynamics Technical Note.
If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.
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Table 1. Private-sector gross job gains and losses by industry, New York, seasonally adjusted
Table 2. Private-sector gross job gains and losses as a percent of total employment by state, seasonally adjusted
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View original text plus charts and tables here: https://www.bls.gov/regions/northeast/news-release/2026/businessemploymentdynamics_newyork_20260508.htm
