POLITICS

(Headline USA) A Department of Energy electrical engineer has been arrested on charges of providing support to the Houthi rebels, including by buying materials for homemade explosives and drones and traveling to Yemen, the Justice Department said Thursday. Ashton Hamed Ellaboudy, 51, of Richland, Washington, was arrested Thursday and is...

(Chris Wade, The Center Square) A Texas-based government watchdog group has filed a complaint against New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani over his administration's use of taxpayer money on social media influencers in an effort to sway public support for his lefty agenda. In a letter to the New York...

(Kyle Anzalone, Antiwar.com) President Donald Trump said an Iranian proposal that would have led to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz was “not good enough,” adding that renewed US bombing of Iran after the midterm elections was “possible.” In an interview with Time released on Thursday, Trump was asked...

(John Weeks, Antiwar.com) US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Wednesday announced plans to create a new four-star combatant command to leverage AI in warfare.  During a “State of the Force” address at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, Hegseth said the Autonomous Warfare Command (AUTOWARCOM) would be tasked with scaling...

(Thérèse Boudreaux, The Center Square) With Americans questioning the hundreds of thousands of AI-enhanced surveillance cameras across the country, one Republican lawmaker is introducing legislation to curb the worst abuses of the technology. The Stop Flock Abuse Act, which Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., announced he will release, targets the policies...

(Headline USA) The FBI has released a classified report to its workforce examining what it says are chapters from the bureau's history “where this institution fell short,” according to an internal message obtained Friday by The Associated Press. It was unclear what episodes from the FBI's past are chronicled in...

(Headline USA) Federal prosecutors have charged a store clerk and his son with selling kratom that authorities believe is linked to the death of a University of Mississippi student, prosecutors announced Friday. The U.S. attorney's office in Mississippi said authorities established a link between the kratom derivative found at the...

(Headline USA) A former Miami congressman and longtime friend of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison in connection with a secret $50 million lobbying campaign on Venezuela’s behalf during the first Trump administration. Republican David Rivera has been jailed since jurors found...

(Headline USA) Police on Thursday arrested a dual U.K.-Iranian national on suspicion of plotting a terror attack following a security incident at a U.S.-run military air base in England that British authorities have linked to Tehran. The 27-year-old man was arrested in central London on Thursday, and police have searched...

(Headline USA) U.S. President Donald Trump won't say whether he thinks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be reelected when voters head to the polls later this month. The president, who sat down with Time magazine for a 75-minute interview published Thursday, sidestepped multiple questions about Netanyahu's reelection bid. Israelis...

(Kyle Anzalone, Antiwar.com) A US official said Washington plans to send a third aircraft carrier and an additional Marine division to the Middle East.  Last month, The Atlantic reported the USS Theodore Roosevelt was preparing to deploy to the Middle East, with the Department of War preparing to maintain two...

(Kyle Anzalone, Antiwar.com) The White House is threatening NATO allies Germany and France for refusing to release diesel fuel from their emergency inventories. “US officials said France and Germany could be cut off from future US diesel exports. Reuters first reported the US threat to its allies on Thursday after...