British police arrested five men on Sunday near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, England—the base the U.S. Air Force has used as a staging post for defensive strikes on Iran. Counter-terrorism police are now running the investigation, and the men are being held on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act.

According to BBC News, a call came in at about 12:45 a.m. reporting three suspicious vehicles heading toward the base. Armed officers detained the men in the nearby village of Whelford, first under the Explosives Act. An Army bomb disposal team then examined white vans inside a 400-meter cordon while 85 households were evacuated overnight. Police have not confirmed whether those vans were connected to the incident.

The wider context is what makes this interesting. The Pentagon has raised the threat level at RAF Lakenheath to its second-highest category, and the U.S. embassy in London has told Americans to be cautious. Iran's Revolutionary Guard has said any base used to strike its territory is a legitimate target, and investigators are treating an Iranian link as one line of inquiry. One only. Defense Secretary Wes Streeting called it “far too early” to speculate.

President Donald Trump went further, saying authorities had the men “under view for a long time” and could have suffered big damage. For now the men are unnamed and uncharged, their nationalities and motive unconfirmed. But investigators are looking into whether there is any link to Iran or Russia. Both have been accused of orchestrating attacks on British soil.

Television ads with a pro-Trump message and a tagline reading “paid for by the U.S. Government” widened their reach over the weekend, running on CBS’s Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday, college football and NFL broadcasts. Which is to say: if you watched anything on Sunday, you paid for part of it.

One spot features President Donald Trump saying “America will never be a communist country” over onscreen lines including “largest tax cuts in history.” It has cost roughly $920,000 so far, according to AdImpact figures reported by CNBC. Nobody has said where the money is coming from. The specific agency and appropriation behind the buys haven’t been identified, and there’s no confirmed total across all the ads or word on whether more are planned. A White House spokesperson described them as “public service announcements”.

And objections are coming from both sides. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., wrote to chief of staff Susie Wiles arguing the ads appear to violate federal bans on spending appropriated funds on propaganda that aids a party or candidate. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., also objected. The White House hasn’t publicly answered the legal argument, and it’s unclear whether any formal investigation or review has started. But we’re roughly five weeks out from the midterms in which Democrats lead national polling, and the ads track Republican campaign themes almost line for line.

Don’t call it a comeback, but Madonna was the big winner at the 2026 MTV VMAs, which went down last night, hosted by Snoop Dogg. Madonna won a total of seven awards, the most of any artist on the night. She referenced that many in the audience weren’t even born when she performed her iconic “Like a Virgin” routine in a wedding dress.

Madonna has now won 26 VMAs. That’s a lot, but not as many as Taylor Swift, who holds the record at 32. Beyoncé trails just behind with 29 on the all-time leaderboard. Swift won for Video of the Year for “The Fate of Ophelia” and received the inaugural VMA Artist Director honors. She also premiered the music video for her new single, “Patient Zero,” starring Colin Farrell and Dakota Johnson.

There were two tributes to late, great artists. Kacey Musgraves performed a tribute to Dolly Parton. RAYE, SOMBR, Teddy Swims and Adam Lambert honored George Michael. In addition, Nirvana, which disbanded upon the suicide of lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain, received the video vanguard award. The show was okay, but half of the fun of the VMAs is seeing all of the year’s stars dancing to each other’s music, right? Most of the audience shots this year were screaming fans, whose enthusiasm is nice but not especially interesting.