Trump floats renaming Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America,’ denies claim he’d interfere with Canadians speaking French
President Donald Trump greets Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney during a world leaders’ summit on Oct. 13, 2025, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. (Evan Vucci – Pool/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday morning that he is giving “serious consideration” to renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” — mirroring his move to rename the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America early in his second term.
Trump later posted on his social media platform an altered map of the lake and surrounding area.
The map posted by Trump depicts the great lake with the official “Lake Ontario” label crossed out. In its place is a “Lake America” label in a larger, gold-colored font and a graphic of an American flag.
Just like the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ontario is a shared international waterway and multiple international, federal and regional agencies oversee it.
Split along the U.S.-Canada border, New York state and Ontario each govern their own portion of the lakebed and shoreline. The U.S. and Canada jointly manage it through the International Joint Commission and Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
And just like the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, Trump can unilaterally change a geographic name for official U.S. federal government use, like his action via executive order in that case — but he doesn’t have the authority to dictate what other countries or international bodies call it.
Trump on Tuesday also rejected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s claims that the U.S. was making threats on Canada’s use of the French language, as opposed to English, as part of the ongoing trade war. Trump said on social media that he would “never interfere with Canadians speaking French.”
“I have never even thought of doing such a stupid thing. This lie was made up by a weak and ineffective Prime Minister in an attempt to gain political support, which he has totally lost, from the people of Quebec. I love French Canadians!” Trump posted on his social media platform.
During a press conference on Saturday, Carney claimed that one of the reasons the trade talks with the U.S. collapsed is because the Trump administration wanted Canada to make changes to their use of the French language.
“This was not our choice. We were ready and close to having a comprehensive agreement that would be fair to both countries. But they made changes, including threats on the French language and Quebec culture and Canadian culture. That is not acceptable. That would never be acceptable,” Carney said.
President Donald Trump conducts a news conference in the White House briefing room about the war in Iran on Monday, April 6, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — With the war in Iran still unresolved and an energy crisis linked to it battering the global economy, here’s a timeline of the key phases of the conflict, from the start of “Operation Epic Fury” to “Project Freedom,” intended to reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz.
Phase 1: Trump announces the start of combat operations in Iran
In a late-night video statement released to the nation on Feb. 28, just hours after U.S. and Israeli forces launched attacks on Iran, President Donald Trump announced that major combat operations were underway.
“Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,” Trump said.
He said that chief among the goals of the joint U.S.-Israel operations was to eliminate once and for all Iran’s ambitions to obtain a nuclear weapon.
“They’ve rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t take it anymore,” said Trump, adding that after the U.S. “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025, the regime began rebuilding its nuclear program and developing long-range missiles.
In his first press briefing four days after the start of combat operations, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, “I stand before you today with one unmistakable message about Operation Epic Fury: America is winning decisively, devastatingly and without mercy.”
U.S. military officials said top government and military leaders of the Iranian regime were killed in the opening salvos of the conflict, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Hegseth said the hundreds of military targets were hit in the first hours of the operation, knocking out the IRGC’s ability to effectively communicate.
Iran retaliated by firing missiles at seven Gulf states, hitting civilian infrastructure and airports in the United Arab Emirates, residential areas in Qatar and an apartment building in Bahrain.
During the briefing, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine released the names of six U.S. service members killed in an Iranian drone strike on Port Shuaiba, Kuwait.
Phase 2: Strait of Hormuz becomes focal point of the war
As the fighting progressed, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was named the country’s new supreme leader on March 8, despite reports that he was badly injured in the attack that killed his father.
In his purported first written statement, Mojtaba Khamenei directed the IRGC to continue to limit traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the maritime channel linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, through which 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed in 2024.
Tensions immediately escalated in the Strait of Hormuz following Mojtaba Khamenei’s directive to the IRGC. The Iranian military claimed on March 12 that it struck an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, one of three commercial ships attacked that day near the Strait of Hormuz.
The attacks came just days after President Trump posted a message on his social media platform, saying if Iran attempted to stop the flow of oil in the strait, “They will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far.”
On March 21, Trump gave Iran an ultimatum to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all commercial vessels in 48 hours. The president posted on his social media platform that if Iran didn’t comply, “The United States will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST.”
The following day, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to the U.N. International Maritime Organization, saying the strait was open to “non-hostile” vessels.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on state TV on March 25 that “Iran’s power is the Hormuz Strait.”
Phase 3: US Naval blockade and ceasefire
Trump announced on March 23 that the U.S. and Iran were discussing an end to the war, giving the first indication of diplomatic talks since the start of the war. He gave Iran a five-day extension to reopen the strait, citing progress in ongoing peace negotiations.
The next day, the Trump administration offered Iran, through intermediaries in Pakistan, a 15-point plan to end the war.
Israeli Defense Forces announced on March 26 that Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the IRGC’s navy, was “eliminated” in a strike. The IDF also claimed the strike killed the head of Iran’s naval intelligence, Behnam Rezaei.
On March 26, Trump announced that he was pausing the attack on Iran’s energy plants for 10 days until April 6 at 8 p.m. ET., saying in a social media post, “Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well.”
Trump extended Iran’s deadline again on April 5, giving Iran until April 7 to make a deal. Iran responded to Trump’s 15-point peace plan with a 10-point proposal for ending the war, but the strait remained on lockdown.
Just hours ahead of the April 7 deadline, Trump again took to social media, writing, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
That same day, Iran and the United States announced they had agreed to a two-week ceasefire that would include reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
But on April 8, Israel launched a heavy bombing attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon, prompting Iran to complain that Israel broke the ceasefire agreement and closed the strait again.
Vice President JD Vance then traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan, for peace talks with Iran, brokered by Pakistan. Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also participated in the talks, but Vance announced on April 11 that no agreement had been reached.
With the strait still closed, President Trump on April 13 announced a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports along the strait. “We can’t let a country blackmail or extort the world, because that’s what they’re doing,” Trump said.
Trump said on April 21 that the ceasefire was being extended indefinitely at the request of Pakistan, but that the naval blockade would stay in place.
Phase 4: ‘Project Freedom’
As the war dragged into May, Trump announced that the U.S. Central Command was launching “Project Freedom,” in which U.S. military ships would escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
But the launch of Project Freedom on May 3 caused an escalation of tensions in the strait.
On May 4, Adm. Brad Cooper, head of the U.S. Central Command, said the IRGC had launched missiles, drones, and small boats toward ships the U.S. was protecting in the Strait of Hormuz. Cooper said the U.S. “defeated each and every one of those threats,” and that U.S. AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and others were used to “eliminate” the Iranian attack boats.
On May 5, Trump announced a temporary pause in Project Freedom at the request of Pakistan.
In a statement on social media on May 6, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the pause “will go a long way towards advancing regional peace, stability and reconciliation during this sensitive period.”
Trump said that while Project Freedom is paused, the U.S. naval blockade is still in effect.
U.S. President Donald Trump greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he arrives at the White House on April 07, 2025 in Washington, DC. P (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump cursed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a roughly 15-minute phone call on Monday, multiple sources familiar with the call told ABC News, with the president angered by Israel’s escalation in Lebanon and its potential to imperil the administration’s ongoing negotiations with Iran.
Trump accused Netanyahu of being ungrateful and called him “crazy,” sources familiar with the call said.
At one point during the tense call, Trump asked Netanyahu, “What the f— are you doing?”
Axios first reported on the expletive-filled call.
News emerged on Monday that Iran was threatening to call off talks over Israeli conduct in Lebanon — where the Israel Defense Forces are engaged with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.
“The Iranian negotiating team will suspend ‘talks and the exchange of texts through mediators,'” the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi did not confirm the report, but posted on X saying that a “ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon.”
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also said in a statement that Iran “considers crossing the red lines in Lebanon and Gaza to mean direct war.”
Trump brushed the warnings off, insisting he “couldn’t care less.”
But behind the scenes, the president told senior administration officials he wanted to speak with Netanyahu, furious that an escalation in Lebanon could derail any progress made in the talks. The president had just made edits to a proposed peace plan and had sent it to Iran for consideration.
After Monday’s call, Netanyahu released a statement. “I spoke with President Trump this evening and told him that if Hezbollah does not stop attacking our cities and citizens, Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut,” he said.
“Our position remains the same. At the same time, the IDF will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon,” Netanyahu said.
Monday’s call was not the first time that Trump and Netanyahu have had a tense conversation. Trump’s frustrations with Netanyahu have boiled over in previous instances where Israel has taken action against Iran and its proxies, but Monday’s conversation further underscored the administration’s distress over the potential that its ongoing negotiations with Iran are being undermined.
Following the call Monday afternoon, Trump posted on social media that talks with Iran were continuing at “a rapid pace.”
Later on Monday, the president struck a much different tone with Netanyahu.
“I had a conversation with Bibi Netanyahu today, asking him not to go into a major raid of Beirut, Lebanon. He turned his Troops around. Thank you Bibi!,” the president posted on social media.
ABC News has contacted the White House to request comment.
ABC News’ Jordana Miller contributed to this report.
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Venezuela and other regions in the Caribbean on June 24, 2026, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Photo by Edilzon Gamez/Getty Images)
(CARACAS, Venezuela) — When the first of two massive earthquakes hit Venezuela, American tourist Jason Wang said he was on a mountaintop outside Caracas, about to get on a cable car to head down.
It was just after 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday when a 7.2 magnitude jolted the South American country’s coastal region, followed 39 seconds later by an even stronger 7.5 magnitude tremor, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
High up on El Ávila mountain, about 7 miles outside the capital city, the 39-year-old Wang of Las Vegas said he was caught in a scene of confusion and panic, unsure what had just occurred.
“I was about to board the cable car. I started recording myself going in, and the whole building just started shaking. The floor under me was shaking, and then all of a sudden everyone started panicking,” Wang told ABC News on Thursday morning.
He said he and other tourists charged toward the exit of the cable car building.
“We were just rushing for the door to exit the building, and none of us knew what was going on until a few minutes afterwards,” Wang said. “We realized we got hit with a massive earthquake.”
Videos that Wang posted on social media showed him and others walking down the mountain back toward Caracas on a road blocked by numerous toppled trees. Wang said that as the sun was setting, he managed to get a ride back to his hotel in Caracas.
“I saw some people like cutting down trees that fell on the road to create a tunnel for us to get past,” Wang said.
He said that when he finally reached his hotel and was able to get a WiFi signal, he learned that the twin tremors were the biggest earthquakes to hit Venezuela in a century, causing massive destruction and widespread death across Caracas, a city of more than 2 million people.
“Once I got back on WiFi, I was able to contact my family and friends and tell them I was OK,” said Wang, adding that he was traveling out of the city to the jungle on Thursday morning to escape the danger being caused by numerous aftershocks.
Jorge Rodriguez, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, said that at least 188 people were killed in the earthquakes, and nearly 1,520 more were injured.
But the death toll is expected to grow. The USGS said there is a risk of more than 10,000 deaths, though official casualty tolls have been slow to be reported.
President Donald Trump said there could be a “devastating number of deaths,” as Secretary of State Marco Rubio added that the U.S. is deploying rescue teams to Venezuela to help search for victims.
In Caracas, the scenes of devastation and desperation were evident in all directions. Online videos showed apartment and commercial buildings lying in heaps of rubble, houses knocked off foundations and thousands of people in the streets, shellshocked and watching as emergency crews searched for survivors.
At one point, more than 25,000 people were unaccounted for, officials said.
During the earthquakes, people ran from swaying buildings in Caracas, many visibly shocked when they turned back to see destroyed walls that left furniture visible from the street.
“It’s like a horror movie,” one frantic woman who escaped her damaged building said.
One Caracas resident, Armando Nori, posted a video on social media from inside an apartment building that began to shake violently during the earthquakes. The footage showed Nori and others in the building fleeing as walls and shelves collapsed, and items, including what appeared to be a water container, crashing to the floor.
Another Caracas resident, Gabriel Higuera, told ABC News that he lives on the top floor of an apartment building with his girlfriend, and described their harrowing race to escape. He said his girlfriend almost fell from one of the floors due to the violent tremors.
“The shaking made it impossible to move,” Higuera said.
Another video verified by ABC News showed people in an apartment building in Junquito, west of Caracas, falling to the floor and holding onto each other as the building started to collapse around them. The man filming the video was heard in the footage screaming for his mother as he started to run for cover.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said numerous buildings had been brought down in Caracas, and that the cities of Trujillo, Yaracuy, Carabobo, Aragua, and Miranda had also been affected.
There were reports of widespread power outages and cell phone disruptions throughout the country. Gas to many buildings was turned off to prevent fires, officials said.
Rodriguez declared a state of emergency, saying the earthquakes had turned the coastal state of La Guaira into a “disaster zone.”
“Dozens of buildings have collapsed there, about 30 kilometers north of Caracas, and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” Rodriguez said in a televised address to the nation, according to The Associated Press.
She said Metro and rail services are suspended in the city and that the heavily damaged Maiquetía “Simón Bolívar” International Airport is closed.
Video posted online and verified by ABC News showed people at the airport running for their lives as part of its roof collapsed, creating a cloud of dust. In the footage, people could be heard screaming as the sound of crashing glass and chunks of falling concrete echoed in the background.
Amid the devastation came reports of heroic efforts to rescue people trapped in the rubble. Eighteen people were rescued from one of the two buildings that collapsed in the Chacao municipality, about 7 miles east of Caracas, authorities said.
Dozens of aftershocks have been reported following the initial tremors, forcing many people to sleep on the street on Wednesday night out of fear of more buildings collapsing.
Following the quake, a tsunami advisory was issued, with the potential for hazardous tsunami waves possible for coasts within 300 kilometers, or about 186 miles, of the earthquake epicenter. However, the tsunami advisory later expired.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky, Shannon Kingston, Victoria Beaule and Aicha El Hammar Castano contributed to this report.
