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US Southern Command announced that it conducted another strike against a small boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, following a pause of almost three weeks. Thursday's strike is the 22nd the US military has carried out against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that the Trump administration claimed were trafficking drugs. There were four casualties in Thursday's strike, according to the social media post, bringing the death toll of the campaign to at least 87 people. In a video that accompanied the announcement, a small boat can be seen moving across the water before it is suddenly consumed by a large explosion. The video then zooms out to show the boat covered in flames and billowing smoke. The strike was conducted the same day Adm. Frank "Mitch" Bradley appeared for a series of closed-door classified briefings at the US Capitol as lawmakers began an investigation into the very first strike carried out by the military on September 2. The sessions came after a repor
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 ...
Two West Virginia National Guard members who deployed to the nation's capital were shot Wednesday just blocks from the White House in a brazen act of violence that the mayor described as a targeted attack. FBI Director Kash Patel and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said the Guard members were hospitalised in critical condition. The presence of the National Guard in the nation's capital has been a flashpoint issue for months, fuelling a court fight and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration's use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem. Jeffrey Carroll, an executive assistant DC police chief, said investigators had no information on a motive. He said the assailant "came around the corner" and immediately started firing at the troops, citing video reviewed by investigators. "This was a targeted shooting," Bowser said. West Virginia Gov Patrick Morrisey initially said the troops had died, but later walked back the stateme
President Donald Trump on Thursday accused half a dozen Democratic lawmakers of sedition punishable by DEATH after the lawmakers all veterans of the armed services and intelligence community called on US military members to uphold the constitution and defy illegal orders. The 90-second video was first posted early Tuesday from Sen Elissa Slotkin's X account. In it, the six lawmakers Slotkin, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, and Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan speak directly to US service members, whom Slotkin acknowledges are under enormous stress and pressure right now. The American people need you to stand up for our laws and our Constitution, Slotkin wrote in the X post. Trump on Thursday reposted messages from others about the video, amplifying it with his own words. It marked another flashpoint in the political rhetoric that at times has been thematic in his administrations, as well as among some in his MAGA base. Some Democrats accused him o
The U.S. military's 20th strike on a boat accused of transporting drugs has killed four people in the Caribbean Sea, a Pentagon official said Friday, coming as the Trump administration escalates its campaign in South American waters. The latest strike happened Monday, according to the official, who wasn't authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. It brings the death toll from the strikes that began in September to 80, with the Mexican Navy suspending its search for a survivor of a strike in late October after four days. The attack, which occurred the same day that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced two strikes had been carried out on Sunday, comes as the Trump administration expands the U.S. military's already large presence in the region by bringing in the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier. The nation's most advanced warship is expected to arrive in the coming days after traveling from the Mediterranean Sea. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on ...
The longest US government shutdown on record is doing more than grind activities to a halt at home; an ocean away in Europe, local workers at US military bases have started to feel the pain. At least 2,000 people working at overseas bases in Europe have had their salaries interrupted since the shutdown began almost six weeks ago. In some cases, governments hosting the US bases have stepped in to foot the bill, expecting the United States to eventually make good. In others, including in Italy and Portugal, workers have simply kept working unpaid as the gridlock in Washington drags on. It's an absurd situation because nobody has responses, nobody feels responsible, said Angelo Zaccaria, a union coordinator at the Aviano Air Base in northeastern Italy. This is having dramatic effects on us Italian workers, he told The Associated Press. An array of needed jobs ----------------------------- The jobs foreign nationals do at US bases around the world range from food service, constructio
The Pentagon has rolled out a new policy that will severely undercut the ability for transgender troops who have been banned from the armed forces by the Trump administration to turn to boards of their peers to argue for their right to stay in the military, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press. If military separation boards decide to allow transgender service members to remain in uniform, commanders can override that decision, according to an Oct 8 memo to all the services from the Pentagon's undersecretary for personnel and readiness, Anthony Tata. That breaks with longstanding policy that boards act independently. It is the Pentagon's latest step to drive transgender troops out of the armed forces following an executive order from President Donald Trump. He and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have targeted diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in what they say is an effort to make the military more lethal. The adminstration's policies have faced pushback in the .
Vice President JD Vance said he believes US military members will be paid at the end of the week, though he did not specify how the Trump administration will reconfigure funding as pain from the second-longest shutdown spreads nationwide. The funding fight in Washington gained new urgency this week as millions of Americans face the prospect of losing food assistance, more federal workers miss their first full paycheck and recurring delays at airports snarl travel plans. We do think that we can continue paying the troops, at least for now, Vance told reporters after lunch with Senate Republicans at the Capitol. We've got food stamp benefits that are set to run out in a week. We're trying to keep as much open as possible. We just need the Democrats to actually help us out. The vice president reaffirmed Republicans' strategy of trying to pick off a handful of Senate Democrats to vote for stopgap funding to reopen the government. But nearly a month into the shutdown, it hasn't worked. .
A US warship has docked in Trinidad and Tobago's capital as the Trump administration boosts military pressure on neighbouring Venezuela and its President Nicols Maduro. The arrival of the USS Gravely, a guided missile destroyer, in the capital of the Caribbean nation is in addition to the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, which is moving closer to Venezuela. Maduro criticised the movement of the carrier as an attempt by the US government to fabricate "a new eternal war against his country. US President Donald Trump has accused Maduro, without providing evidence, of being the leader of the organised crime gang Tren de Aragua. Government officials from the twin-island nation and the US said the massive warship will remain in Trinidad until Thursday so both countries can carry out training exercises. A senior military official in Trinidad and Tobago told The Associated Press that the move was only recently scheduled. The official spoke under condition of anonymity due to lack of ..
The Pentagon confirmed that it has accepted an anonymous USD 130 million gift to help pay members of the military during the government shutdown, raising ethical questions after President Donald Trump had announced that a friend had offered the gift to defray any shortfalls. While large and unusual, the gift amounts to a small contribution toward the billions needed to cover service member paychecks. The Trump administration told Congress last week that it used USD 6.5 billion to make payroll. The next payday is coming within the week, and it is unclear if the administration will again move money around to ensure the military does not go without compensation. That's what I call a patriot, Trump said during a White House event Thursday when he disclosed the payment from the donor. The president declined to name the person, whom he called a friend of mine, saying the man didn't want the recognition. The Pentagon confirmed it had accepted the donation on Thursday under its general gif
The U.S. military flew a pair of supersonic, heavy bombers up to the coast of Venezuela, a little over a week after another group of American bombers made a similar journey as part of a training exercise to simulate an attack. The U.S. military has built up an unusually large force in the Caribbean Sea and the waters off of Venezuela, raising speculation that President Donald Trump could try to topple Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro. Maduro faces charges of narcoterrorism in the U.S. Adding to the speculation, the U.S. military since early September has been carrying out lethal strikes on vessels in the waters off Venezuela that Trump says are trafficking drugs. According to flight tracking data, a pair of B-1 Lancer bombers took off from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas on Thursday and flew through the Caribbean and up to the coast of Venezuela. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations, confirmed that a training flight of B-1s to
The US military conducted its eighth strike against an alleged drug vessel, killing two people, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday. The Tuesday night strike occurred in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The seven previous strikes all targeted vessels in the Caribbean. According to Hegseth in a social media post, the strike killed two people, bringing the death toll from all the strikes to at least 34 people. In a brief video released by Hegseth, a small boat, half-filled with brown packages, is seen moving along the water. Several seconds into the video, the boat explodes and is seen floating motionless on the water in flames. In his post, Hegseth took the unusual step of equating the alleged drug traffickers to the group behind the September 11, 2001, attack. Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people, Hegseth said, adding there will be no refuge or forgiveness only justice. President Donald Trump has justified the .