Head of US command overseeing Trump ‘drug boat’ strikes steps down after expressing concern with the attacks: report

Admiral Alvin Holsey, the head of the U.S. Southern Command overseeing strikes on what the Trump administration claims are Venezuelan drug boats, has stepped down after expressing concern with the attacks, according to a new report.
Over the past few weeks, Special Operations forces have launched hits on at least five boats off the Venezuelan coast in the Caribbean Sea that the White House claims were transporting drugs. A total of 27 people have been killed in the strikes.
Just this week, Trump announced a boat strike that killed six suspected drug traffickers.
“The strike was conducted in International Waters, and six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike. No U.S. Forces were harmed. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday.
Two days later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Holsey’s early retirement from the Navy. Holsey assumed the commander role just this past November after serving as the deputy com..

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Ex-Trump adviser turned critic John Bolton indicted in classified documents case

A federal grand jury has indicted Donald Trump’s former national security adviser-turned-prominent critic John Bolton, marking yet another criminal prosecution of the president’s perceived political enemies.
The 18-count indictment alleges Bolton illegally sent hundreds of pages of classified national defense information to people believed to his immediate family, including information from foreign intelligence and details about covert actions from the U.S. government, among other documents labeled “top secret.”
Bolton — whose home in Bethesda, Maryland, was raided by the FBI in August — is accused of sending “diary-like entries” to people identified only as “individuals 1 and 2” — who are believed to be his wife and daughter — that he transcribed from hand-written notes containing classified material, the document says.
The 26-page document also accuses Bolton of printing out and storing sensitive material at his home.
Those emails were later hacked by a person believed to be working ..

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Trump says he will meet Putin in Hungary for Ukraine talks after ‘very productive’ call

Trump says he will meet Putin in Hungary for Ukraine talks after 'very productive' call1 hour agoShareSaveSean SeddonShareSaveReutersPutin and Trump met in person at a US base in Alaska in August 2025US President Donald Trump says “great progress” was made during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, with the pair agreeing to face-to-face talks in Hungary.
He said the call, the first with Putin since mid-August, was “very productive”, adding that teams from Washington and Moscow will meet next week.
Trump did not confirm a date for his meeting with Putin in Budapest. The Kremlin said work on the summit would begin “immediately” after the “extremely frank and trustful” call.
The talks came a day before Ukraine's President Zelensky was to visit the White House, and with Trump weighing whether to arm Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles capable of striking deep into Russia.
As he arrived in the US, Zelensky said Moscow was “rushing to resume dialogue as ..

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Netanyahu ‘determined’ to pressure Hamas to find remaining dead hostages

Netanyahu 'determined' to pressure Hamas to find remaining dead hostages4 hours agoShareSaveSean SeddonShareSaveEPABenjamin Netanyahu addressed a memorial ceremony at the Mount Herzl cemetery in JerusalemIsrael's prime minister has told a memorial for victims of the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023 that he is “determined” to secure the return of the dead hostages still in Gaza, and that the country will continue to fight terrorism with “full force”.
Benjamin Netanyahu made the comments hours after Hamas returned the bodies of two more hostages but said it was not able to access the remaining 19.
There has been fury in Israel that Hamas has not returned all the bodies in line with last week's Gaza ceasefire deal, though the US has downplayed the suggestion it amounts to a breach.
Also on Thursday, Donald Trump signalled he was willing to see fighting resume if Hamas “continues to kill people”.
Writing on his Truth Social platform, the US president said “we will hav..

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Ticked off: MAGA fume as Trump’s watches fail to deliver on the price tag

Some of Donald Trump’s MAGA faithful are ticked off with his watch company after a number of buyers complained of delivery issues.
Reviews of the presidential time-pieces sit at an average of 2.7 stars out of 5, according to TrustPilot, with many customers leaving Trump-like reviews blasting the operation as a “scam.” Out of all the reviews, 62 percent were negative, with 58 percent giving just a one-star rating.
Commercials for Trump’s “Fight, Fight, Fight” watch collection are now running regularly on the Newsmax channel, with prices ranging from $499 to $799, and even higher for custom made designs. Styles include “Fight Fight Fight Malachite,” the “Mugshot Suit Collectible,” and the “First Lady Mini” in “hot pink,” according to the official website.
While the site provides estimated shipping on all products, which are supposedly made to order, it says that arrival times are not guaranteed.
Despite this, many reviews seen by The Independent – whose authenticity could not be verifie..

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Hamas returns two more bodies but says it cannot retrieve remaining dead hostages

Hamas returns two more bodies but says it cannot retrieve remaining dead hostages1 hour agoShareSaveShareSaveReutersHamas says it needs specialised equipment to recover the remaining bodies of the hostages Hamas says it has handed over the bodies of two more Israeli hostages under the terms of the US-brokered ceasefire deal, but says it needs time and specialised equipment to recover the rest of the deceased from the ruins of Gaza
The group's armed wing said in a statement it was committed to the deal but had returned all the bodies of hostages it was able to reach.
US President Donald Trump has said Israeli forces could resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas does not uphold the agreement.
In a statement, the Israeli PM's office said Israel had received – through the Red Cross – coffins containing the bodies of hostages which were now awaiting official identification.
“The IDF urges the public to act with sensitivity and wait for official identification, which will first be communi..

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‘Worse than starting from scratch’: How big is the task of rebuilding Gaza?

'Worse than starting from scratch': How big is the task of rebuilding Gaza?5 hours agoShareSavePaul Brown,Kayleen Devlin,Erwan Rivault andBarbara MetzlerBBC VerifyShareSaveGetty ImagesAs thousands of Gazans made the journey back to their neighbourhoods following the ceasefire, many of them already knew their homes were in ruins.
The prospect of rebuilding homes, businesses and all the institutions and services needed for a return to normal life in Gaza is daunting by any measure: the UN estimates that the damage amounts to $70bn.
As Prof Andreas Krieg, a Middle East security expert from King's College London, says: “It's worse than starting from scratch – here you aren't starting in the sand, you are starting with rubble.”
The level of destruction on the strip is “now in the region of 84%. In certain parts of Gaza, like in Gaza City, it's even up to 92%”, says Jaco Cilliers, UN Development Programme special representative for the Palestinians.
This damage ..

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Charlie Kirk’s widow accepts Presidential Medal of Freedom on his behalf following Trump’s self-congratulatory speech: Live updates

CloseTrump celebrates sirens in the distance during Charlie Kirk Medal of Freedom speechPresident Donald Trump gave a self-congratulating speech on Tuesday as he posthumously awarded conservative activist Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The award ceremony took place in the White House Rose Garden, on what would’ve been Kirk’s 32nd birthday. Kirk was killed on September 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University. His widow, Erika Kirk, accepted the award on his behalf.
“Thank you, Mr. President, for honoring my husband in such a profound and meaningful way,” she said. “And thank you for making this event a priority amid the peace process in the Middle East.”
In a rambling speech at the ceremony, Trump praised Kirk as much as he praised himself and his allies. He took time to highlight his “very historic trip” to Israel, applauded several members of his administration who were in attendance and claimed “people are loving” the newly renovated Rose Garden.
At one point, ..

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Top lawyers for Bush, Clinton and Obama join together to blast Trump’s political prosecutions: ‘No American is safe’

A bipartisan trio of former White House ethics lawyers warned “no American is safe from political prosecution” after the Trump administration’s recent indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
President Donald Trump, who publicly urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute his political rivals without “delay” last month, has since used a federal prosecutor to embark on a retribution campaign.
Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s newly appointed interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, secured grand jury indictments against Comey and James. Comey has pleaded not guilty and his attorneys have dubbed it a “vindictive” prosecution; James has yet to make a formal plea, but called the charges against her a “weaponization of our justice system.”
Richard Painter, Norman Eisen and Virginia Canter, who served as ethics counsels for Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton respectively, asked for investigations int..

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