Category: Middle East

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has joined the advisory board of Ukraine’s leading defense company, renowned for its long-range drones capable of striking targets deep inside Russia, as a corruption investigation continues.
In an effort to enhance its international reputation, Fire Point is establishing a new factory in Denmark and bringing prominent industry figures on board. It also aims to expand its operations to produce battle-tested cruise missiles, with plans to more than double its current capacity.
However, public scrutiny remains intense during an ongoing corruption investigation. Fire Point’s executives insist they have nothing to hide and are operating under strict martial law protocols, even commissioning an independent audit to appease investigators. Critics, however, question the company’s opaque origins and the monopoly of its contracts with the Defense Ministry, and point to alleged links to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ’s notorious associate Tymur Mindich,..

First responders continued to search Saturday along the Central Coast of California for a five-year-old girl who was swept out to sea the previous afternoon, as inclement weather continues to hammer the Golden State.
Just before 1 p.m. Friday, waves estimated to reach 15 to 20 feet high washed the young girl and her parents into the chilly Pacific waters off Garrapata State Beach in Monterey County, according to the sheriff’s office.
The mother was able to get to shore safely on her own, while the girl’s father was rescued by an off-duty State Parks lifeguard, according to law enforcement officials. He was then taken to a nearby hospital and later pronounced dead. The woman remains in stable condition with mild hypothermia.
Officials began searching Friday for the missing child, pausing their operations later that night due to weather and poor visibility conditions. The search resumed Saturday morning, featuring personnel from the sheriff’s office, California State Parks, Cal Fire, an..

The man suspected of smashing up the office of New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor Alina Habba and destroying her belongings has been arrested, officials said.
Keith Michael Lisa is accused of ransacking Habba’s office and trying to confront her, according to the FBI, which previously offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect.
Habba, formerly President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and now serving as Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, celebrated the arrest Saturday and praised Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“We got him,” Habba said in a post on X. “This [Department of Justice under [Bondi] and our federal partners will not tolerate any acts of intimidation or violence toward law enforcement.”
Habba also thanked the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Marshals Service for their role in capturing a suspect. “Now justice will handle him,” she added.
open image in galleryKeith Michael Lisa is suspected of smashing up Alina Habba’s office and..

The Trump administration is rolling back tariffs on a wide range of agricultural and grocery items including coffee, tropical fruit, spices, and beef, the White House announced Friday.
The president has signed an executive order exempting these goods from the “reciprocal” tariffs he put on most U.S. trading partners earlier this year.
The White House said the move followed “substantial progress” in trade negotiations with foreign nations, while reflecting “current domestic demand for certain products, and current domestic capacity to produce certain products.”
The tariff announcement also comes amid political pressure on the president from voters concerned about continued inflation at the supermarket.
President Trump has insisted affordability questions are a Democratic “con job” and prices on “everything” are “way down,” though this is not true.
open image in galleryThe Trump administration has rolled back tariffs on more than 100 food items including beef and coffee, as the White Ho..

An immigrant who was arrested after a Milwaukee judge allegedly helped him dodge federal agents has been deported.
Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 31, pleaded guilty in September to illegally reentering the United States after he reached a deal with prosecutors. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security tweeted Friday afternoon that he has now been deported.
The tweet did not say whether he was transported back to his native Mexico or some other destination. The Associated Press sent an email message to his attorney, Martin Pruhs, seeking more details but he did not immediately respond.
Flores-Ruiz is at the center of a case against that could end with Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan in prison.
According to court documents, Flores-Ruiz left his home near Michoacan, Mexico, at age 18 in 2013 and sneaked into the United States. He was apprehended and deported immediately after crossing the border, but reentered the country a few days later, making his way to Milwaukee where he worked in resta..