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Top Trump administration national security officials facing back-to-back congressional hearings starting Wednesday are expected to be pressed on the war in Iran, including a deadly strike on a school, as well as the FBI's capacity to prevent terror attacks inside the United States. The annual worldwide threats hearings involving the government's senior-most intelligence officials are taking place at a time of scrutiny over the US military campaign in the Middle East and heightened concerns about terrorism in the homeland following recent attacks at a Michigan synagogue and Virginia university. The testimony before the House and Senate intelligence committees is expected to centre on the war and in particular the revelation that outdated intelligence likely led to the US firing a missile that hit an elementary school in Iran and killed over 165 people. The outdated targeting data was reported to have come from the Defence Intelligence Agency, whose director, Lt. Gen. James H. Adams,
Don Tracy, the former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, has won the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate. The retirement of Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin triggered a competitive campaign, with 10 Democrats and 6 Republicans in the race. Furious fundraising and sharp elbows marked the contest, which has tested the influence of Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker. He backed Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton over U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly in that primary. Tracy was the state party chairman from 2021 to 2024. Illinois last had a Republican in the Senate a decade ago, when Mark Kirk was defeated by Democrat Tammy Duckworth. Illinois voters decided primaries Tuesday for six open U.S. House and Senate seats in contests that became a testing ground for issues shaping the Democratic Party's future. From questions about the cryptocurrency and AI industries to immigration enforcement to fracturing U.S. support for Israel, the state's voters confronted such issues as super PACS poured
A shooting at a U.S. Air Force base in New Mexico has left one person dead and another wounded, according to military officials. The Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo was put on lockdown at about 5:30 p.m on Tuesday because of reports of an active shooter, according to a statement released by the base. The person who was wounded has been taken for medical treatment. Security officials have confirmed the base is safe and the lockdown has been lifted. "Emergency personnel are responding to the situation and there is no threat at this time," the statement said. Neither the names of the people shot nor additional details on the shooting have been released.
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore the government-run Voice of America's operations after it had effectively been shut down a year ago, putting hundreds of employees who have been on administrative leave back to work. U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth gave the U.S. Agency for Global Media a week to put together a plan for putting Voice of America on the air. It has been operating with a skeleton staff since President Donald Trump issued an executive order to shut it down. A week ago, Lamberth said Kari Lake, who had been Trump's choice to lead the agency, did not have the legal authority to do what she had done at Voice of America. In Tuesday's decision, Lamberth ruled on the actions she had taken to respond to Trump's order, essentially shelving 1,042 of VOA's 1,147 employees. "Defendants have provided nothing approaching a principled basis for their decision," Lamberth wrote. There was no immediate comment on the decision by the agenc
A federal judge in Boston has temporarily blocked federal health officials from cutting the number of vaccines recommended for every child, and says U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. likely violated federal procedures in revamping a key vaccine advisory committee. The decision Monday halts an order by Kennedy - announced in January - to end broad recommendations for all children to be vaccinated against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV. Leading medical groups voiced alarm at the changes. The American Academy of Pediatrics and some other groups amended a lawsuit filed in July, asking the judge to stop the government from scaling back the nation's childhood vaccination schedule. The judge also says Kennedy's reconstitution of the vaccine advisory panel likely violated federal law. He ordered the appointments - and all decisions made by the reformed committee - put on hold.
India on Monday said it hasn't engaged in bilateral talks with the US to ensure safe transit of merchant vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. The remarks by the Ministry of External Affairs came against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump calling on several countries to send warships to keep the strategically key shipping route open. Global oil and gas prices have surged after Iran virtually blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping lane between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman that handles roughly 20 per cent of global oil and LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas). In a social media post, Trump hoped that China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK and other countries affected by Iran's attempted closure of the Strait of Hormuz, will send warships to the region to keep the shipping route "safe and open". There has not been any concrete response by the leading countries. In its reaction, China called on all sides to immediately stop military operations in West Asia to help k
The CEOs of the nation's top airline companies, including American, Delta, Southwest and JetBlue, are imploring Congress to restore funding to the Department of Homeland Security and embrace a bipartisan solution to pay federal aviation workers including airport security officers during the partial government shutdown. "Once again, air travel is the political football amid another government shutdown," the executives wrote in an open letter to Congress that was published Sunday online and in The Washington Post. The letter, which was also signed by the CEOs of the cargo companies UPS, FedEx and Atlas Air, said that Congress should pass the Aviation Funding Solvency Act and the Aviation Funding Stability Act, which would guarantee air traffic controllers are paid regardless of the government's funding status, as well as the Keep America Flying Act. That measure would offer the same protections to Transportation Security Administration officers tasked to provide security and to screen
The US flag was raised Saturday over its embassy in Venezuela for the first time since 2019, a move that highlighted the recent shift in relations between the two countries since former President Nicolas Maduro was captured by American troops in January. The reopening of the American embassy comes after several statements from US President Donald Trump in support of Maduro's successor, acting President Delcy Rodriguez, who has tried to keep negotiations open with the American government. The flag was raised "exactly seven years after it was taken down," the US Embassy team said in a statement published on its social media channels. The reopening drew immediate attention from local residents. "It's a good thing, really, what a joy," said Caracas resident Luz Veronica Lopez. "Other countries must come back too because that's what we need; progress, to move forward with good relations with the rest of the world, as it should be." Alessandro Di Benedetto, another Caracas resident, not