The gas company tasked with helping the investigation of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s ‘suspicious’ deaths say they found a ‘minuscule leak’.

The veteran Hollywood actor, 95, was discovered on the floor of his Santa Fe, New Mexico, home late last month (February 26) while his wife, 65, and their 12-year-old dog were found in similar positions in a separate room.

Gene’s daughter, Elizabeth Jean Hackman, told TMZ last week that she suspects the pair could’ve died from carbon monoxide poisoning or other ‘toxic fumes’.

Yet initial tests carried out by the Santa Fe City Fire Department showed there were ‘no signs’ of a carbon monoxide leak or poisoning.

Gene and Betsy were found dead on the floor of their home last month (Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office also said they did not suspect foul play but determined the mysterious and seemingly sudden deaths ‘suspicious enough’ to warrant a thorough investigation.

Now, the New Mexico Gas company has confirmed that there are ‘no significant findings’ in the couple’s home related to gas leaks or carbon monoxide, reports Variety.

However, gas workers did find a ‘minuscule’ leak around a stove burner, which showed 0.33 percent gas in the air, but determined it was ‘not a lethal amount.’

The gas company also noted four other ‘red tag’ code enforcement violations, not involving gas or carbon monoxide, around a water heater and gas log lighters in three fireplaces.

The sheriff’s office also said this week that natural gas is ‘not believed to be a factor.’

While autopsy and toxicology results into the superstar actor and the classical pianist are still pending, Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Gene and Betsy’s bodies tested negative for carbon monoxide, suggesting it has been ruled out as a cause of death.

A gas inspection found a minor leak but nothing that could’ve contribute to their deaths (Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)

The pair also showed no signs of having suffered ‘external trauma’ but cops on the scene noted the pair appeared to have possibly ‘abruptly’ fallen to the ground and had apparently been dead for some time.

Tests on Gene’s pacemaker showed he was alive as of February 17 when a ‘last event’ was recorded, reports Daily Mail, which is nine days before their bodies were found.

The authorities say it is a ‘reasonable assumption’ that Gene died around that time the pacemaker recorded the event.

Among the ‘suspicious’ circumstances at the scene of their sprawling $3.8 million home were the fact the front door was unlocked, as discovered by two maintenance workers, and two of their three of their dogs on the premises were ‘healthy’.

A bottle of opened prescription pills were also found scattered on the counter top of the bathroom near Betsy’s body while Gene was found on the floor of the mud-room by a walking stick and sunglasses.

A spokesperson for the Kremlin has released a statement responding to Donald Trump pausing all US military aid to Ukraine and his ‘desire to bring peace’.

Mere days after US President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance berated Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, the US revealed it would be pausing military aid to Ukraine.

On February 28, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy visited the White House in Washington DC but was met with a far from warm response.

Vance proceeded to accuse Zelenskyy of being disrespectful towards both the US and President Trump, and told him he ‘should be thanking the president’.

Trump then ended up butting in, telling Zelenskyy he’s ‘in no position to dictate’ how the US is ‘going to feel’ given he and Ukraine aren’t ‘in a very good position,’ accusing the president of ‘allow[ing]’ himself to ‘be in a very bad position’.

Trump warned: “You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards … You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people! You’re gambling with World War Three! You’re gambling with World War III. And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country – this country.”

Yesterday (March 3), a White House official revealed the US would be ‘pausing and reviewing [its] aid [to Ukraine] to ensure that it is contributing to a solution’.

“The president has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well,” the statement added.

The White House revealed it’s paused military aid to Ukraine (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

And Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has since responded to the US’ decision to pause military aid to Ukraine, stating, as quoted by Reuters: “If this is true, then this is a decision that can really encourage the Kyiv regime to (come to) the peace process.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, the US has provided the equivalent of $65.9 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, the State Department revealed in January earlier this year.

Peskov’s statement continues: “It is obvious that the United States has been the main supplier of this war so far. If the United States stops being (an arms supplier) or suspends these supplies, it will probably be the best contribution to the cause of peace.”

He resolved: “We hear his statement about his desire to bring peace to Ukraine, and this is welcome. We see certain things and receive certain information about the proposed actions in this direction. This is also welcome. But we will continue to see how the situation develops in reality.”

China has implemented new tariffs in response to steps made by Donald Trump during his opening days in the Oval Office.

Upon his presidency starting, President Donald Trump implemented tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China to tackle what the White House has described as an ‘extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl’.

Essentially, tariffs are taxes imposed on foreign goods, meaning many of these goods will cost more to sell in the US – which could ultimately be passed on to the consumer.

Trump signed an executive order last month to add a ten percent tariff on all shipped goods from China, a tariff which has since been increased to 20 percent across the board.

Trump has previously introduced tariffs on China (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

When it comes to China specifically, a press release from the White House claimed Chinese officials had ‘failed to take the actions necessary to stem the flow of precursor chemicals to known criminal cartels and shut down money laundering by transnational criminal organizations’.

The trade war official began on February 4, but it didn’t take long for President Xi Jinping to retaliate.

Following the order coming into play, China announced plans to impose taxes of 15 percent on coal and liquified natural gas from the US, as well as a 10 percent levy on crude oil, farming equipment, and some cars.

And on Tuesday (March 4), China announced imports of US-grown chicken, wheat, corn and cotton will see an extra 15 percent tariff, while the likes of sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, seafoods, fruit, vegetables, and dairy products are seeing a 10 percent increase, as per AP.

The country has also placed ten further firms based in the US on its unreliable entity list, which essentially prohibits them from making new investments in China and from engaging in import and export activities.

China has implemented new tariffs in response (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

Officials in Beijing have added 15 US-based companies to its export control list, with the ministry stating in a statement: “China has decided to include 15 US entities that endanger China’s national security and interests in the export control list, prohibiting the export of dual-use items to them.”

Speaking of the future, Sun Chenghao, who is an international relations professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said: “The US hopes to get a trade deal with China in the end. For the long term, it is possible that China and the US will continue to negotiate, but the current atmosphere is not good.”

A Canadian Premier has claimed he will shut off power to 1.5 million US customers after Donald Trump announced controversial new tariffs.

Shortly after his return to the White House in January, President Trump signed off on an order imposing ‘catastrophic’ tariffs to ‘hold China, Mexico and Canada accountable for their promises to halt the flood of poisonous drugs into the US’ by placing 25 percent tariffs on goods imported from Canada and Mexico, and 10 percent on China.

The 47th POTUS explained how the only ‘solution’ for Canada to avoid the tariff is to become the US’ ‘cherished 51st State’.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement released on Monday (March 3): “Today, after a 30-day pause, the United States administration has decided to proceed with imposing 25 percent tariffs on Canadian exports and 10 per cent tariffs on Canadian energy. Let me be unequivocally clear – there is no justification for these actions.”

Trump has introduced new tariffs on Canada (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

An announcement released by the White House stated the tariffs are part of Trump ‘taking bold action to hold Mexico, Canada, and China accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country’.

The order states: “There is growing production of fentanyl in Canada, and enough fentanyl was seized at the northern border last fiscal year to kill 9.8 million Americans.

“Additionally, illegal border crossings from Canada reached historic new highs every year for the last four fiscal years.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who won a third majority last week, said during news conference: “If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do anything, including cutting off their energy — with a smile on my face.

“They need to feel the pain. They want to come at us hard? We’ve got to go back twice as hard.”

Ford told NBC: “We [Ontario] keep the lights on in 1.5 million homes and [in] manufacturing in New York, in Michigan, and in Minnesota.

“If he wants to destroy our economy and our families, I will shut down the electricity going into the US.”

Doug Ford has said he’ll cut off energy (NBC)

And speaking during a mining convention in downtown Toronto on Monday, Ford doubled down on his initial claims.

As per the Toronto Sun, Ford said: “If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything — including cut off their energy with a smile on my face.

“They rely on our energy, they need to feel the pain. They want to come at us hard, we’re going to come back twice as hard.”

He added: “That’s exactly what we’re going to do.

“The provinces have a big say in it, but it’s the federal government that’s leading the charge, and we’re going to stand shoulder-to-shoulder no matter who’s in the federal government.”

US Vice President JD Vance has faced condemnation on social media for comments he made regarding the support needed by Ukraine.

The war of words between Ukraine and America continues, and Vice President JD Vance has found himself embroiled in a new controversy.

Vance was accused of disrespecting France and/or the UK for his comments and now faces a heated backlash.

While speaking on Fox News on March 4, Vance said: “The president knows that if you want real US security guarantees, if you want to actually ensure that Vladimir Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine.

“That is a way better security guarantee from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.”

Tensions between the US and Ukraine remain high despite calls for peace (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

At this point, the UK and France are the only two countries that have pledged troops to a potential peacekeeping force.

As you can imagine, the vice president is now facing condemnation from British veterans as well as people who have taken issue with his comments.

One Twitter user commented: “JD Vance’s claim that the UK hasn’t fought a war in 30-40 years insults the 600+ British troops who died in Iraq and Afghanistan alongside Americans.

“Disrespectful to their sacrifice and our alliance, time for an apology, not ignorance.”

Another highlighted NATO nations contributions to America over the years and said: “VP Vance forgot that between 2001 and 2021, hundreds of soldiers from countries the U.S. came to help after 9/11 have died in Afghanistan.

“457 from the U.K., 89 from France, 25 from the Netherlands. It is truly sickening to see how these sacrifices have already been forgotten.”

Vance has since insisted he wasn’t talking about the UK or France (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

A third added: “To denigrate France and UK as some “random country” is an outrageous insult to allies with a great history of nations which supported the U.S. in the Iraq wars and wars after 9/11. An insult that demands an apology.”

However, Vance has since dismissed the notion that he was speaking about British or French troops in his own post on the social media platform.

He said: “This is absurdly dishonest.

“I don’t even mention the UK or France in the clip, both of whom have fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond.”

He added: “But let’s be direct: there are many countries who are volunteering (privately or publicly) support who have neither the battlefield experience nor the military equipment to do anything meaningful.”

Vice President JD Vance has detailed the moment it all went wrong during the heated exchange between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office last week.

President Trump invited Ukrainian president Zelenskyy to the White House last week (February 28) in the hope of discussing a peace deal that would see the end of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a fiery conversation broadcast live across the world, the 47th POTUS accused Zelenskyy of ‘gambling with World War 3’, while Vance insisted that Zelenskyy was treating both Trump and the US with disrespect and persistently called on the Ukrainian to ‘thank’ the president.

“I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media…You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict,” Vance added.

The vice president has since spoken out about the infamous Oval Office moment, telling Fox News host Sean Hannity: “I do think that there was just a certain sense of — there was a lack of respect. There was a certain sense of entitlement.”

Vance claimed he had hoped to have had the conversation with Zelenskyy in private, but that came to no avail.

He continued: “The president was like, ‘nope, actually, I don’t want to have it in private anymore. I want to have this actual conversation in public for the American people to see’.

It was quite the spectacle in the Oval Office (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“The president has set a very clear goal for his administration. He wants the killing to stop.

“And I think that it’s very important that President Zelensky and of course, President Putin, too, they’ve both got to come to the negotiating table. And that’s ultimately where things broke apart.

“I really don’t care what President Zelensky says about me or anybody else. But he showed a clear unwillingness to engage in the peace process that President Trump has said is the policy of the American people and of their president.”

Vance went on to say during the ‘Hannity’ segment that the war in Ukraine ‘cannot go on forever’.

JD Vance has given his take (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The VP added: “There aren’t enough Ukrainian lives, there isn’t enough American money, and there isn’t enough ammunition to fund this thing indefinitely.

“The only realistic pathway to bring this thing to a settlement is President Trump’s pathway. We encourage both President Zelensky and President Putin to follow that path.”

Vance’s latest comments come as Trump has paused all US military aid being sent to Ukraine to assist on the frontline.