FBI and US Air Force agents have raided the homes of a man who runs a website about the top secret military base in Nevada known as Area 51.
Officers entered the properties of Joerg Arnu in Las Vegas and the town of Rachel, which is close to the defence facility, earlier this month as part of a joint investigation, authorities have confirmed, but gave no further details.
The blogger operates a site called Dreamland Resort which focuses on Area 51, an air force base about 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas where testing is conducted on classified military aircraft.
Started by Mr Arnu in 1999, it includes satellite images of the base; articles on test flights, “black projects” and UFOs; drone videos of locations around Area 51 and details on scanner frequencies.
Confirming the raids, Lt Col Bryon McGarry, a spokesman for Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, said in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “This is an open and ongoing law enforcement investigation between the Las Vegas FBI and Air Force OSI (Office of Special Investigations).”
In a news release posted on his website, Mr Arnu said: “I believe the search, executed with completely unnecessary force by overzealous government agents was meant as a message to silence the Area 51 research community.”
He said each of his homes had been raided on 3 November by up to 20 agents “in full riot gear”.
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The raids happened while Mr Arnu was in his Rachel home and his girlfriend in the Las Vegas one, and he said they were both “detained and treated in the most disrespectful way”.
He added: “My girlfriend was led out into the street barefoot and only in her underwear in full view of our neighbours.
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“I was led outside, handcuffed and only in T-shirt and sweats in sub-freezing temperatures.
“Despite my repeated requests for an explanation, I was only told that the search was related to images posted on my Area 51 website.”
Image: Classified military aircraft are tested at the defence facility
During the raid, Mr Arnu claimed that all of his “laptops, phones, backup drives, camera gear and my drone were seized”.
He estimated the damage to his home at $5,000 (£4,206) and the value of the confiscated equipment at $20,000 (£16,823).
He claimed there were 40 pages missing from the search warrant he received and the case file was sealed, preventing him reading about it.
Mr Arnu went on: “In an effort to defuse the situation I have removed some material from my Dreamland Resort website although I believe that it was legally obtained and legal to publish.
“I am not sharing anything on my website that cannot be found on dozens of other websites and news outlet publications.
“Considering how this went down I have no intention of removing any more material unless ordered to do so by a federal judge.”
Image: Mr Arnu believes the raids aimed ‘to silence the Area 51 research community’. Pic: AP
Area 51 has long been a focus of UFO and alien conspiracy theories, only enhanced by its secretive role.
The nearby state route 375 was even officially dubbed the Extraterrestrial Highway in 1996.
But Mr Arnu is dismissive on his website of UFO stories.
Image: Area 51 has long been a focus of UFO and alien conspiracy theories. Pic: AP
He states: “In reality, anyone who spends some time investigating Area 51 will quickly understand that what goes on there is very earthly in origin and has nothing to do with ‘ET’.
“It becomes apparent that the abundant UFO folklore is nothing but a welcome smokescreen, a distraction from the real purpose of the base, research and development of all sorts of black projects.”
Two people have been killed after a suspect shot at firefighters responding to a fire in the US state of Idaho, authorities have said.
Police were still “taking sniper fire” near the city of Coeur d’Alene on Sunday afternoon, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said.
Crews were responding to a fire at Canfield Mountain around 1.30pm and gunshots were reported around half an hour later, the force said.
Image: Pic: Reuters
Sheriff Bob Norris said officials believe the two killed were firefighters, and he did not know if anyone else was shot.
“We don’t know how many suspects are up there, and we don’t know how many casualties there are,” he said. “We are actively taking fire sniper as we speak.”
Mr Norris said the sniper appeared to be hiding in the rugged terrain and using a high-powered rifle, adding he had instructed his deputies to fire back.
“I’m hoping that somebody has a clear shot and is able to neutralise, because they’re not at this point in time showing any evidence of wanting to surrender,” the sheriff said.
Image: Pic: Reuters
Governor Brad Little said “multiple” firefighters were attacked.
“This is a heinous direct assault on our brave firefighters,” he said on X. “I ask all Idahoans to pray for them and their families as we wait to learn more.”
The president of the International Association of Firefighters said a third firefighter was in surgery.
In a statement on social media Edward Kelly said the firefighters “were ambushed in a heinous act of violence”. He added: “Two of our brothers were killed by a sniper, and a third brother remains in surgery.”
The sheriff’s office in neighbouring Shoshone County said authorities were “dealing with an active shooter situation where the shooter is still at large”.
Image: Smoke billows into the air after several firefighters were attacked while responding to a fire. Pic: Reuters
The fire was still raging, Mr Norris said.
“It’s going to keep burning,” he added. “Can’t put any resources on it right now.”
The FBI was sending technical teams and tactical support to the scene, its deputy director Dan Bongino said.
“It remains an active, and very dangerous scene,” he said on X.
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Donald Trump has said the US government has found a buyer for TikTok that he will reveal “in about two weeks”.
The president told Fox News “it’s a group of very wealthy people”, adding: “I think I’ll probably need China approval, I think President Xi will probably do it.”
TikTok was ordered last year to find a new owner for its US operation – or face a ban – after politicians said they feared sensitive data about Americans could be passed to the Chinese government.
The video app’s owner, Bytedance, has repeatedly denied such claims.
It originally had a deadline of 19 January to find a buyer – and many users were shocked when it “went dark” for a number of hours when that date came round, before later being restored.
However, President Trump has now extended the deadline several times.
The last extension was on 19 June, when the president signed another executive order pushing it back to 17 September.
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Mr Trump’s latest comments suggest multiple people coming together to take control of the app in the US.
Among those rumoured to be potential buyers include YouTube superstar Mr Beast, US search engine startup Perplexity AI, and Kevin O’Leary – an investor from Shark Tank (the US version of Dragons’ Den).
Bytedance said in April that it was still talking to the US government, but there were “differences on many key issues”.
It’s believed the Chinese government will have to approve any agreement.
Image: The president said the identity of the buyer would be disclosed in about two weeks. Pic: Fox News
President Trump’s interview with Fox News also touched on the upcoming end of the pause in US tariffs on imported goods.
On April 9, he granted a 90-day reprieve for countries threatened with a tariff of more than 10% in order to give them time to negotiate.
Deals have already been struck with some countries, including the UK.
The president said he didn’t think he would need to push back the 9 July deadline and that letters would be sent out imminently stating what tariff each country would face.
“We’ll look at the deficit we have – or whatever it is with the country; we’ll look at how the country treats us – are they good, are they not so good. Some countries, we don’t care – we’ll just send a high number out,” he said.
“But we’re going to be sending letters out starting pretty soon. We don’t have to meet, we have all the numbers.”
The president announced the tariffs in April, arguing they were correcting an unfair trade relationship and would return lost prosperity to US industries such as car-making.
Iran will have the capacity to begin enriching uranium again in “a matter of months”, the UN’s nuclear watchdog boss has said.
Rafael Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that US strikes on three sites a week ago had caused “severe damage” but it was not “total”.
Mr Grossi told CBS News: “The capacities they have are there. They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that.
“But as I said, frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there.”
Iran still has “industrial and technological capabilities… so if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again”, he added.
Image: A satellite overview shows excavators at tunnel entrances at the Fordow site in Iran. Pic: Maxar Technologies/Reuters
Iranian nuclear and military sites were attackedby Israel on 13 June, with the Israelis claiming Tehran was close to developing a nuclear weapon.
The US then carried out its own strikes on 22 June, hitting Iranian nuclear installations at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, under Operation Midnight Hammer.
Iran has insisted its nuclear research is for civilian energy production purposes.
US President Donald Trump said last weekend that the US deployment of 30,000lb “bunker-busting” bombs had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme.
But that claim appeared to be contradicted by an initial assessment from the US Defence Intelligence Agency.
A source said Iran’s enriched uranium stocks had not been eliminated, and the country’s nuclear programme, much of which is buried deep underground, may have been put back only a month or two.
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3:35
Did the US destroy Iran’s nuclear sites?
Mr Trump has rejected any suggestion that the damage to the sites was not as profound as he has said.
And he stated he would consider bombing Iran again if Tehran was enriching uranium to worrying levels.
At a news conference on Thursday alongside US defence secretary Pete Hegseth, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General Dan Caine, told reporters the GBU-57 bunker buster bombs had been designed in some secrecy with exactly this sort of target in mind.
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2:46
US: Iran nuclear sites ‘obliterated’
The head of the CIA has also said a “body of credible intelligence” indicates Iran’s nuclear programme was “severely damaged”.
Director John Ratcliffe revealed that information from a “historically reliable and accurate source” suggests several key sites were destroyed – and will take years to rebuild.
Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country “slapped America in the face” by launching an attack on 23 June against a major US base in Qatar, adding the nation would never surrender.
The 12-day air conflict between Israel and Iran ended with a US-brokered ceasefire.
But the Iranian armed forces chief of staff, General Abdolrahim Mousavi, has said his country doubts Israel will maintain the truce.
A spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry said the US strikes had caused significant damage to Tehran’s nuclear facilities.