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Robert S Mueller III, the FBI director who transformed the nation's premier law enforcement agency into a terrorism-fighting force after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks and who later became special counsel in charge of investigating ties between Russia and Donald Trump's presidential campaign, has died. He was 81. "With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away" on Friday night, his family said in a statement Saturday. "His family asks that their privacy be respected." At the FBI, Mueller set about almost immediately overhauling the bureau's mission to meet the law enforcement needs of the 21st century, beginning his 12-year tenure just one week before the Sept 11 attacks and serving across presidents of both political parties. He was nominated by Republican President George W Bush. The cataclysmic event instantaneously switched the bureau's top priority from solving domestic crime to preventing terrorism, a shift that imposed an almost impossibly difficult standard on .
A US military attack on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean has left one survivor and two people dead, US officials have said, as the Trump administration pursues its campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America. US Southern Command said in a post on X on Friday that it immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate a search for three people who survived the strike. The Coast Guard said in a statement that one of its ships recovered two dead bodies and one survivor, and transferred them to the Costa Rican Coast Guard. The latest attack brings the number of people who've been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 159 since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls "narcoterrorists" in early September. As with most of the military's statements on the more than 40 known strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, US Southern Command said it targeted alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes.
A jury has found Elon Musk liable for misleading investors by deliberately driving down Twitter's stock price in the tumultuous months leading up to his 2022 acquisition of the social media company for USD 44 billion. But it absolved him of some fraud allegations, finding that he did not "scheme" to mislead investors. The civil trial in San Francisco centered on a class-action lawsuit filed just before Musk took control of Twitter, which he later renamed X. Jurors were asked to decide if two tweets and comments Musk made on a podcast in May 2022 amounted to him intentionally defrauding Twitter shareholders, who sold their shares based on Musk's statements. The nine-person jury returned the verdict after 3 days of deliberation, nearly three weeks after the trial began on March 2. They said that while Musk was liable for misleading investors with two tweets -- including one said the Twitter deal was "temporarily on hold," he did not do so with a statement he made on a podcast and that
A bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security failed to advance in the Senate amid growing concerns about long lines to get through screening at some of the country's biggest airports. Democrats declined to provide the support needed to move the funding measure toward final passage. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would offer an alternative measure Saturday to fund just the Transportation Security Administration, which screens passengers and luggage for hazardous items. That too is likely to fail as lawmakers hold a rare weekend session. Behind the scenes, work toward resolving the standoff intensified Friday as White House border czar Tom Homan was set to meet for the second consecutive day with a bipartisan group of senators. Democrats are demanding changes to immigration enforcement practices by federal agents following the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that he sees "deal
The US Special Representative for South and Central Asia Sergio Gor and Sri Lanka President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Thursday discussed strengthening of bilateral relations and the island nation's position on the West Asia crisis. The US Special envoys' visit to Sri Lanka comes at a time when Sri Lanka came to be embroiled in the joint US-Israeli war against Iran since February 28. Gor met with Dissanayake at the Presidential Secretariat as part of "US efforts to safeguard vital sea lanes and secure ports, reinforce mutually beneficial trade and commercial ties, and advance a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific for the benefit of both our peoples," a release from the US Pacific Command said. Gor and Dissanayake's "discussions focused on strengthening bilateral ties and Sri Lanka's position on the Middle East conflict and its challenges," the President's Media Division (PMD) said in a post on X. The US Special envoy will also travel to Maldives after Sri Lanka in the 5-day vi
Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez announced a major Cabinet shake-up Wednesday with the appointment of a new defense minister to replace Gen. Vladimir Padrino Lopez, who had been a cornerstone of the military's long-standing support for former President Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez announced the transition on her Telegram channel, saying the appointment of Gen. Gustavo Gonzalez Lopez to the role was effective immediately. She also thanked Padrino Lopez for his "loyalty to the Homeland" and expressed confidence in his future roles. The announcement comes more than ten weeks after Rodriguez became acting head of state following the Jan. 3 U.S. military operation that captured Maduro to put him on trial in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges. The Trump administration has since ramped up pressure on the Maduro loyalists currently governing the oil-rich nation. Padrino Lopez was one of the longest-serving Cabinet ministers after Maduro took office in 2013 and one the country's
US stocks are sinking Wednesday after another climb for oil prices raised worries about inflation, which may have been primed to worsen even before the war with Iran began. The S&P 500 fell 0.5 per cent and was on track for its first loss this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 377 points, or 0.8 per cent, as of 11 am. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5 per cent lower. Stocks fell under the pressure of a 6.2 per cent climb for the price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, to USD 109.84. Benchmark US oil rose 2.3 per cent to USD 97.70 per barrel. Oil and natural gas prices have been spiking since the war began because of disruptions to the Persian Gulf's energy industry. Iran's state television said Wednesday that the Islamic Republic would be attacking oil and gas infrastructure in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after an attack on facilities associated with its offshore South Pars natural gas field. If the disruptions .
The White House said President Donald Trump would waive, for 60 days, Jones Act requirements for goods shipped between US ports to be moved on US-flagged vessels. The 1920s law, designed to protect the American shipbuilding sector, is often blamed for making gas more expensive. The moves highlight the increased pressure that the Republican administration is under to ease soaring oil prices as the United States, along with Israel, wages a war with Iran without a foreseeable end date. Global oil prices have since spiked as Iran halted traffic through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of the world's oil typically passes through from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is travelling Wednesday to the United States for what she expects to be a "very difficult" meeting with US President Donald Trump after he called on Japan and other allies to send warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz. The three-day visit to Washington was originally expected to focus on trade and strengthening the US-Japanese alliance as China's influence grows in Asia. It is now expected to be overshadowed by the war the United States and Israel launched against Iran on February 28. "I think the US visit will be a very difficult one, but I will do everything to maximise our national interest and to protect the daily lives of the people when the situation changes daily," Takaichi told parliament on Wednesday, hours before her departure. Takaichi held her first meeting with Trump in October in Tokyo, days after becoming Japan's first female prime minister. A hard-line conservative, Takaichi is a protege of former leader Shinzo Abe, who ...