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The Trump administration is recalling nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial and other senior embassy posts as it moves to reshape the US diplomatic posture abroad with personnel deemed fully supportive of President Donald Trump's America First priorities. The chiefs of mission in at least 29 countries were informed last week that their tenures would end in January, according to two State Department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel moves. All of them had taken up their posts in the Biden administration but had survived an initial purge in the early months of Trump's second term that targeted mainly political appointees. That changed on Wednesday when they began to receive notices from officials in Washington about their imminent departures. Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president, although they typically remain at their posts for three to four years. Those affected by the shake-up are not losing their foreign service jobs
The Justice Department's much-anticipated release of records tied to Jeffrey Epstein arrived in a flood of documents that did little to quell the long-simmering intrigue, largely because some of the most consequential records were nowhere to be found. The initial disclosures, spanning tens of thousands of pages, offer scant new insight into Epstein's crimes or the decisions that allowed him to avoid serious federal prosecution for years. Missing are FBI interviews with survivors and internal Justice Department memos examining charging decisions records that could have helped explain how investigators viewed the case and why Epstein was allowed in 2008 to plead guilty to a relatively minor state-level prostitution charge. The gaps go further. The records, required to be released under a recent law passed by Congress, contain no references to several powerful figures long associated with Epstein, including Britain's former Prince Andrew, renewing questions about who was scrutinised,
At least 16 files disappeared from the Justice Department's public webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein including a photograph showing President Donald Trump less than a day after they were posted, with no explanation from the government and no notice to the public. The missing files, which were available Friday and no longer accessible by Saturday, included images of paintings depicting nude women, and one showing a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers. In that image, inside a drawer among other photos, was a photograph of Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Epstein's longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
The Justice Department faces a Friday deadline to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender and wealthy financier known for his connections to some of the world's most influential people, including Donald Trump, who as president had tried to keep the files sealed. The records could contain the most detailed look yet at nearly two decades worth of government investigations into Epstein's sexual abuse of young women and underage girls. Their release has long been demanded by a public hungry to learn whether any of Epstein's rich and powerful associates knew about or participated in the abuse. Epstein's accusers have also long sought answers about why federal authorities shut down their initial investigation into the allegations in 2008. Bowing to political pressure from fellow Republicans, Trump on November 19 signed a bill giving the Justice Department 30 days to release most of its files and communications related to Epstein, including information about the ..
References in US Coast Guard policy calling hate symbols potentially divisive" were removed Thursday, and a US senator said she was lifting a hold she had placed on a nomination for the service's top job. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees the Coast Guard, said on social media that the latest changes were made so no one can misrepresent the branch's position. The pages of superseded and outdated policy will be completely removed from the record so no press outlet, entity or elected official may misrepresent the Coast Guard to politicize their policies and lie about their position on divisive and hate symbols, Noem said. The move appears to cap off back-and-forth revisions to Coast Guard policy on swastikas, nooses and other hate symbols, which has sparked an uproar. The Department of Homeland Security has said there was never a downgrade' in policy language. Noem's announcement came a day after Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada said she was holding u
The government admitted Wednesday that the Federal Aviation Administration and the Army played a role in causing the collision last January between an airliner and a Black Hawk helicopter near the nation's capital, killing 67 people. The official response to the first lawsuit filed by one of the victims' families said that the government is liable in the crash partly because the air traffic controller violated procedures that night. But the filing suggested that others, including the pilots of the jet and helicopter, also played a role. The lawsuit also blamed American Airlines and its regional partner, PSA Airlines, for the crash, but those airlines have filed motions to dismiss. At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the helicopter apparently flew into the path of the American Airlines regional jet while it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport in northern Virginia, just across the river from the nation's capital, officials said. The
When Eddie Wicks and his wife went to bed in their house next to the Snoqualmie River on a Washington state farm known for its sunflower mazes and Christmas trees, they weren't too worried about the flooding heading their way. After 30 years living in the city of Duvall, northeast of Seattle, their family had plenty of experience with floods and always made it through largely unscathed. But as they moved their two donkeys to higher ground and their eight goats to their outdoor kitchen, the water began to rise much quicker than anything they'd experienced before. It was hours, not days," he said. In four hours, it had to come up 4 feet. As the water engulfed their home on Thursday afternoon, deputies from the King County Sheriff's Office marine rescue dive unit were able to rescue them and their dog, taking them on a boat the half mile (800 metres) across their field, which had been transformed into a lake. They were among the thousands forced to evacuate as an unusually strong ...
The House voted to pass a sweeping defence policy bill on Wednesday that authorises USD 900 billion in military programmes, including a pay raise for troops and an overhaul of how the Department of Defence buys weapons. The bill's passage comes at a time of increasing friction between the Republican-controlled Congress and President Donald Trump's administration over the management of the military. The annual National Defense Authorization Act typically gained bipartisan backing, and the White House has signalled "strong support" for the must-pass legislation, saying it is in line with Trump's national security agenda. Yet tucked into the over-3,000-page bill are several measures that push back against the Department of Defence, including a demand for more information on boat strikes in the Caribbean and support for allies in Europe, such as Ukraine. Overall, the sweeping bill calls for a 3.8 per cent pay raise for many military members as well as housing and facility improvements o
The Justice Department on Tuesday sued six more states in its ongoing campaign to obtain detailed voter data and other election information. The department announced it was suing Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington over their failure to produce statewide voter registration lists. It has portrayed the litigation as part of an effort to ensure the security of elections, but Democratic officials have raised concerns over how the data will be used and whether the department will follow privacy laws in protecting it. Tuesday's actions bring to at least 14 the number of states the Justice Department has sued in its quest for the voter information. Our federal elections laws ensure every American citizen may vote freely and fairly, said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the department's Civil Rights Division. States that continue to defy federal voting laws interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they g
Nearly 44% of the 16,000 truck driving programmes listed nationwide by the US government may be forced to close if they lose their students after a review by the federal Transportation Department found they may not be complying with minimum requirements. The Transportation Department said Monday that it plans to revoke the certification of nearly 3,000 schools unless they can comply with training requirements in the next 30 days. The targeted schools must notify students that their certification is in jeopardy. Another 4,500 schools are being warned they may face similar action. Schools that lose certification will no longer be able to issue the certificates showing a driver completed training that's required to get a license, so students are likely to abandon those schools. It's not clear how many of those schools have been actively teaching students. Separately, the Department of Homeland Security is auditing trucking firms in California owned by immigrants to verify the status o
The Trump administration has halted all asylum decisions and paused issuing visas for people travelling on Afghan passports, seizing on the National Guard shooting in Washington to intensify efforts to rein in legal immigration. The suspect in Wednesday's shooting near the White House that killed Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically wounded Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, both of the West Virginia National Guard, is facing charges including first-degree murder. Investigators are seeking to find a motive for the attack. Rahmanullah Lakanwal is a 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War. He applied for asylum during the Biden administration and was granted it this year under President Donald Trump, according to a group that assists with resettlement of Afghans who helped U.S. forces in their country. The Republican administration is promising to pause entry to the United States from some poor nations and review Afghans and other legal ...
President Donald Trump's administration is promoting efforts to work with Nigeria's government to counter violence against Christians, signalling a broader strategy since he ordered preparations for possible military action and warned that the US could go in guns-a-blazing to wipe out Islamic militants. A State Department official said this past week that plans involve much more than just the potential use of military force, describing an expansive approach that includes diplomatic tools, such as potential sanctions, but also assistance programs and intelligence sharing with the Nigerian government. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also met with Nigeria's national security adviser to discuss ways to stop the violence, posting photos on social media of the two of them shaking hands and smiling. It contrasted with Trump's threats this month to stop all assistance to Nigeria if its government continues to allow the killing of Christians. The efforts may support Trump's pledge to avoid mo
John F. Kennedy's granddaughter disclosed Saturday that she has terminal cancer, writing in an essay in The New Yorker that one of her doctors said she might live for about another year. Tatiana Schlossberg, the daughter of Kennedy's daughter, Caroline Kennedy, and Edwin Schlossberg, wrote that she was diagnosed in May 2024 at 34 when, after the birth of her second child, her doctor noticed her white blood cell count was high. It turned out to be acute myeloid leukemia with a rare mutation, mostly seen in older people, she wrote. Schlossberg, an environmental journalist, wrote she has undergone rounds of chemotherapy and two stem cell transplants, the first using cells from her sister and the next from an unrelated donor, and participated in clinical trials. During the latest trial, she wrote that her doctor told her he could keep me alive for a year, maybe. Schlossberg noted that her cousin, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was on the national stage, first running for president and later ..