WASHINGTON — In a historic moment at the nation’s capital, Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, joyfully welcomed their fourth child. This marks the rare birth of a child to a sitting vice president, a milestone last seen over 150 years ago.

The new addition, Alec Neel Vance, arrived on Sunday, joining his siblings: Ewan, 9; Vivek, 6; and Mirabel, 4, who are thrilled to greet their new brother into the family.

This happy news was shared by Vance himself through a heartfelt post on social media, co-signed with his wife, Usha.

“We are delighted to announce the arrival of our baby boy, Alec Neel Vance, this morning. Both Usha and Alec are in great health, and our children are over the moon to welcome their baby brother,” the statement said, capturing the family’s joy.

The Vance family expressed their gratitude towards the dedicated doctors and staff at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, along with the White House medical team, for their exceptional care.

The Republican vice president’s growing family is in keeping with his passionate advocacy for Americans to have more children. He has also suggested that the 2025 killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was his friend, factored into the decision to have another child.

Vance, a former U.S. Marine, repeatedly expressed alarm about declining birth rates in America as he launched his political career in 2021 with a bid for a U.S. Senate seat from Ohio. As vice president, he said in Washington at the 2025 March for Life anti-abortion rally, “I want more babies in the United States of America.”

The vice president, who’s 41, has been accompanied on overseas trips by Usha Vance, 40, and their children, with the kids often pajama-clad as they board Air Force Two for the overnight flights.

Usha Vance, the daughter of immigrants from India, had already been the subject of some public fascination because of her husband. Her pregnancy, which was announced in January, amplified that spotlight since it is rare for occupants of the United States’ highest public offices to add to their families while serving.

The last time a sitting vice president became a new father was in the 1800s.

Schuyler Colfax and his second wife, Ellen Wade, had a son, Schuyler Colfax III, in 1870 when Colfax was serving as vice president, according to the White House Historical Association. Decades before that, John C. Calhoun and his wife, Floride Bonneau, had a son, William, in 1829 when Calhoun was vice president, the association said.

The newest addition to Vance’s family was part of a recent mini baby boom among top members of President Donald Trump’s administration. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller’s wife, Katie Miller, recently gave birth to the couple’s fourth child, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had her second child with her husband, Nicholas Riccio, in May.

Usha Vance recently came under scrutiny after The New York Times’ fashion critic called attention to the stomach-hugging, coral maternity dress she wore for a Father’s Day episode of “Storytime with the Second Lady,” a video podcast she launched during the pregnancy.

The Times wrote that the attention that Vance, Miller and Leavitt had put on their pregnancies offered “an image of idealized womanhood that gives literal shape to the pronatalist movement,” which encourages couples to have as many children as possible to counter declining birth rates.

The second lady responded on social media, writing, “Now that we know the political significance of my $8.75 coral maternity dress from Old Navy, can’t wait to hear what the New York Times has to say about my elastic-waistband pants and compression socks! In the meantime, enjoy my pregnancy fashion (or lack thereof) and a good story with your kids on Storytime with the Second Lady.” She later shared the receipt for the dress, and her husband applauded her frugality.

“She bought a $50 dress for $8.75. America: meet your next director of the federal budget!” the vice president wrote on social media.

JD Vance has said it was Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, telling them that she wished she’d had more than two children with her husband before he was assassinated last September in Utah that led him and the second lady to decide to grow their family. Usha Vance, a former attorney who once clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, concurred – in part.

“It was very powerful, what (Erika) said about her own family, and certainly very moving to both of us. I think I had already started to open my mind to the possibility,” Usha Vance said during a joint interview with her husband for “CBS Sunday Morning” that aired in June. “I wouldn’t say that this was, for me in any way, the decisive factor. But it came in the middle of a conversation that we were already having.”

The Islamic State is reportedly making a resurgence as the United States nears the end of its military presence in Iraq. This development is causing concern that the terror group might leverage a potential security vacuum, according to a regional security expert on Sunday.

With all U.S. forces set to exit by September 30, and as Baghdad works to manage Iran-affiliated militias, Iraq could be approaching its most precarious point since ISIS took control of Mosul in 2014. This is the view of counterterrorism specialist Dr. Omar Mohammed.

“ISIS is strategically poised in the voids, as it has historically done,” stated Mohammed, who is both an author and researcher with the George Washington University Program on Extremism, during an interview with News Media.

“The issue isn’t whether the American forces will depart in September; that decision is already made. The concern is about what states of affairs, and perhaps chaos, might accompany their exit.”

“The militias claim the ISIS threat in order to keep their weapons, while ISIS recruits from the grievances that the militias create,” Mohammed explained.

“That is exactly the dynamic that hollowed out Mosul before 2014, when the city was caught between a sectarian security apparatus and the insurgency it fed.”

After preparing for years, ISIS captured Mosul, about 250 miles north of Baghdad, over a decade ago. Iraqi security forces collapsed and fled the city.

The group built underground networks through assassinations, extortion, intimidation and infiltration before launching its offensive. ISIS seized U.S.-made weapons and hundreds of millions of dollars before leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate.

At the time, Mohammed launched “Mosul Eye,” a blog that secretly documented life under ISIS rule, exposing its operations and offering intelligence to U.S. forces.

Mohammed’s story is chronicled in Mosul Eye: A Scholar’s Clandestine War Against ISIS, out July 21 from Skyhorse Publishing, with a foreword by Pope Francis and an introduction by retired Gen. David Petraeus.

Iraqi forces, backed by the U.S.-led coalition, went on to recapture Mosul in July 2017. When the U.S. combat mission ended in 2021, ISIS continued operating in parts of Iraq and Syria.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has said it will continue working to dismantle ISIS networks and prevent the terror group’s resurgence.

But, citing Iraqi intelligence estimates, Mohammed said the number of ISIS fighters in neighboring Syria has increased from around 2,000 to as many as 10,000 since the collapse of Bashar Assad’s government in 2024.

Mohammed also said the Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF, an umbrella organization integrated into Iraq’s security forces, was never disbanded after ISIS’s territorial defeat.

He estimated the force has about 238,000 members, receives billions of dollars in government funding and includes factions with close ties to Iran that operate outside the Iraqi government’s direct control.

Now Baghdad is trying to bring armed factions, including Kataib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq, under full state control.

“Sept. 30 is not one deadline; it is two,” Mohammed said, referring to the simultaneous U.S. withdrawal and the domestic disarmament push.

“The militias and ISIS are not separate stories; they are deeply interdependent. Each actively justifies the other. Both forces thrive in the unstable spaces the central state cannot hold.”

The U.S. withdrawal also follows a 2024 U.S.-Iraq agreement that envisioned ending the mission in Iraq by 2025 while continuing support for anti-ISIS operations in Syria through September 2026. Mohammed warned against repeating past complacency.

“Mosul did not fall in 2014 because ISIS was strong. It fell because everything that would have detected its strength—presence, attention, honest reporting from the ground—had been withdrawn in the years before, while the world’s eyes were elsewhere.”

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s White House meeting July 14, where it was announced remaining U.S. troops would leave Iraq, drew condemnation from Tehran.

According to Iran International, Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei , called al-Zaidi’s trip “regrettable” and claimed it damaged Iraq’s dignity.

Mohammed said Iran’s influence inside Iraq is important to Tehran after U.S. strikes degraded parts of its proxy network.

“Iran’s strategic calculation matters more now than at any point in a decade because Iraq is essentially what Iran has left,” Mohammed said. “So the regime’s real fear is not resurgence. It is irrelevance.”

Tehran fears an Iraq where the government successfully disarms the militias, U.S. forces leave on Baghdad’s terms rather than Iran’s, and no active security crisis remains to justify armed groups operating outside full state control, he said.

“That said, what happens across the wider region after September will not be decided by anyone’s stated intentions or diplomatic promises,” Mohammed added.

“I have seen what a city pays when that judgment is wrong. Whether ISIS grows large enough to frighten Iran, or stays just large enough to serve it, will be one of the defining questions of the year after the withdrawal,” he warned.

News Media has reached out to the White House for comment.

Tensions are boiling over in a Los Angeles neighborhood as reports surface of fruit vendors reportedly using the park beneath the iconic Hollywood Sign as a makeshift restroom before handling food.

The California Post has obtained striking photographs that seem to depict unauthorized vendors utilizing the shrubs in Lake Hollywood Park as toilets, only to return moments later to slice and sell their fruit offerings to unsuspecting customers.

These visuals have been shared by irate community members who claim they have meticulously documented these unsanitary practices for years. They accuse the vendors of openly defecating, discarding wastewater onto the street, and leaving substantial amounts of litter, all while city authorities seemingly ignore the escalating issue.

“It’s disgusting,” expressed Cindy Cobb, a resident who has called the area home for many years, during an interview with the California Post.

“These vendors use the bushes as a bathroom… then they come back,” Cobb continued. She emphasized, “Bear in mind, there’s no handwashing because there are no restroom facilities. They urinate and defecate in the park, only to proceed with cutting and serving fruit.”

The allegations come as health officials warn that fresh produce can become contaminated when handled by someone who has not properly washed their hands after using the restroom.

The parasite Cyclospora, which causes the intestinal illness cyclosporiasis, spreads when food or water is contaminated with human feces and has frequently been linked to fresh produce.

The CDC advises consumers to thoroughly wash fresh fruits and vegetables under clean running water before eating them, while noting that chemical disinfectants may not completely eliminate the parasite.

Lake Hollywood Park, the roughly two-acre park beneath the world-famous Hollywood Sign, attracts thousands of visitors each week.

Neighbors say not having bathrooms has created an ongoing sanitation problem.

They claim vendors routinely disappear into nearby bushes to relieve themselves, then return minutes later to prepare ready-to-eat fruit for tourists.

Residents say they have repeatedly reported the issue to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, park rangers, the Bureau of Street Services, Mayor Karen Bass’ office and Councilmember Nithya Raman’s office.

When The California Post reviewed one of those complaints, there was a response from the county’s Department of Public Health stating: “Your complaint has been received and assigned to our Environmental Health Mobile Food Program. Due to the large volume of unpermitted sidewalk vending complaints, your complaint has been placed in the queue and will be addressed as soon as possible.”

“What we’re against is the city not enforcing its own ordinances,” Cobb said. “This is a public health issue.”

She said officials had opportunities to stop the problem before it escalated.

“The city had a chance to stop this years ago,” Cobb said. “Instead, it just kept growing.”

Residents also say vendors are dumping dirty wastewater into storm drains and streets, leaving behind fruit containers and plastic utensils, and creating fire hazards by cooking inside a designated Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone beneath the Hollywood Hills.

Scott Meyers, who is running for running for election to the U.S. House to represent California’s 30th Congressional District, and lives not too far from the park told The Post, “Thousands of unsuspecting customers, seeking refreshment in the dead of summer, order fruit, cut by the hands of food vendors, unregulated and free from any County Health inspection, who have just relieved themselves in the bushes in the perimeter of the park.

Mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, the “urban planner“ is fully aware of this and shrugs.”

Cobb also told The Post she believes many of the fruit carts are part of a larger operation rather than individual vendors.

She said trucks regularly drop off multiple carts each morning and return to collect them at night. She says she suspects some workers may be exploited.

“I think a lot of these people are trafficked to do the jobs. It’s not right.”

The California Post has reached out to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Mayor Karen Bass’ office and Councilmember Nithya Raman’s office for comment.

Spanish fans expressed their frustration towards FIFA President Gianni Infantino with sarcastic chants after a contentious decision during the match. An extra-time goal by Nico Williams was disallowed following a ‘soft’ foul call involving Nicolas Otamendi.

At a tense 0-0 deadlock in the early moments of extra-time, the Spanish winger seemed to have secured victory when he calmly placed the ball past goalkeeper Emi Martinez.

Yet, just as Williams reveled in what he thought was the decisive moment, Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic, officiating his first World Cup final, interrupted the celebrations with his whistle, declaring a foul.

Vincic determined that Mikel Merino had inadvertently stepped on Otamendi’s foot just before the goal, causing the former Manchester City defender to take a dramatic tumble.

Despite a review by VAR, the decision stood, igniting anger among the 80,000 fans present at the MetLife Stadium.

The thousands of Spaniards who flocked to New Jersey were heard chanting ‘Infantino’, not for the first time during the match, amid accusations that the World Cup has been ‘rigged’ in the favour of Lionel Messi and Co. 

Commentating on the game for the BBC, Alan Shearer said there was ‘not enough’ contact to warrant a foul. 

‘Was it just the way Mikel Merico went sliding in?’, he questioned. ‘That is not a foul for me.

‘The only thing I can see is there is a slight touch of the toes on Nicolas Otamendi’s toe, but not enough for me to give it as a free-kick.

‘Otamendi makes a meal of it and that’s what has won them the free-kick.’

The notion of a rigged World Cup is one which has plagued much of this summer, with fans questioning whether referees have been biased towards Messi in what is almost certainly his final major tournament. 

The South Americans struggled on their route to the World Cup final, only narrowly scraping past Cape Verde, Egypt and Switzerland in their earlier knockout games.

The manner of those victories – in which Egypt had a goal controversially disallowed and the Swiss saw striker Breel Embolo sent off – resulted in huge backlash surrounding the officials. 

Ex-Man City defender Manuel Akanji fumed after Switzerland were defeated by the Argentinians: ‘Every little thing was called against us’ and ‘I’ve never experienced such a one-sided game,’ before his manager Murat Yakin called the refereeing ‘incomprehensible’.

It came after Egypt winger Motafa Ziko argued: ‘This tournament has been fixed’, and his manager Hossam Hassan added: ‘This match was rigged, and the whole world saw it.’ 

FIFA’s chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina responded, stating that ‘nobody can question the integrity’ of the refereeing and ‘unfounded allegations have no place in our sport’.

Argentina’s so-called luck, however, ultimately ran out in on Sunday night as Spain rallied after the disallowed goal to find a winner. 

It came through Ferran Torres in the 106th minute. After a ball was swung in from the right, Nico Williams nodded a header down from the far post, which the Barcelona striker latched on to and fired into the roof of the net to spark jubilant scenes. 

The South Americans applied pressure of their own in search of a goal late on and Tottenham Hotspur defender Marcos Senesi almost levelled from close range. 

But, in the end, it wasn’t to be for Lionel Messi on what could his final appearance on football’s biggest stage as Lamine Yamal and his Spanish team-mates held on for a historic victory.

Joe Hart said on the BBC: ‘They were never rattled or under pressure. They haven’t nibbled once. They played beautiful football the entire time.

‘Yamal, at 19 years old, his confidence, the ways that he’s doing this. Everyone will be trying to get on his back and hate on him, but he’s got a Euros and World Cup. He kept so cool, kept his head, and had those standout moments.’

The match was, however, at times overshadowed by the antics of the Argentinians. 

After taunting England’s stars in Atlanta on Wednesday, Argentina’s behaviour against Spain was dubbed ’embarrassing’ by pundits after the final whistle in New Jersey. 

Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez saw red in the 90+3-minute for a late challenge on Pau Cabarsi before chaotic scenes were sparked on the pitch when Spain’s win was confirmed. 

As the Spanish bench descended onto the pitch to celebrate, Argentinian substitute Leandro Paredes took issue with Barcelona midfielder Gavi.

The pair became embroiled in a row, causing Scaloni to intervene, before Paredes appeared to direct two punches at Gavi as he fell to the turf.

And, speaking on the BBC, ex-Man United striker Wayne Rooney was scathing in his criticism of Argentina’s behaviour not only on Sunday, but throughout the tournament. 

He said: ‘It doesn’t surprise me. We’ve seen this from Argentina before. It’s just sad, very poor from them. If you lose a game of football, be graceful. It’s a reaction to them being outplayed. Enzo Fernandez has got what he deserves it’s well.’ 

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