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Pentagon bars reporters from press office

In another of a series of moves restricting media access at the Pentagon, the Defense Department has declared that its press office is now a classified space inaccessible to journalists. On X, acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez confirmed the move, saying there was “nothing controversial” about it and that it came because speech­writers, who use classified material, were now occupying the space. “The Pentagon Press Office has been redesignated as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility due to speechwriters from the Office of the Secretary of War sharing the ...

US bombs Iranian military sites

The United States said Monday that it bombed radar and drone sites in Iran after Tehran shot down an American drone over the weekend. Iran then said it targeted American soldiers in Kuwait with missiles, which the U.S. says it shot down. The nominal ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. has been repeatedly tested with back-and-forth attacks, though officials from both countries are still trying to negotiate an end to the war. It’s not clear how close they are to a deal — and there is always the risk that an attack could derail those talks. Fighting has also been escalating between ...

Pentagon policy illegally banned transgender troops from service

WASHINGTON — A Pentagon policy illegally banned transgender troops from military service, a divided panel of federal appeal court judges ruled on Monday in another legal setback for President Donald Trump’s sweeping agenda. The majority opinion — by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit — held that the Trump administration’s policy was designed to exclude people from the military based on their gender identity. The ban remains in effect. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Pentagon to start enforcing it last year, as ...

AP source says Trump reconsidering $1.8B fund

President Donald Trump is reconsidering whether to move forward with a $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate his allies, a person familiar with his thinking said Monday, as the Justice Department said it would temporarily pause its implementation to comply with a court order. The potential retreat is a nod to the legal setbacks the fund has encountered since it was announced two weeks ago and a recognition of the mounting political backlash from Republicans concerned by a lack of oversight of the money disbursement and the possibility of payouts to participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, ...

Trump: Israel, Hezbollah agree to dial back fighting

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to dial back fighting after he talked with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and communicated with the Lebanese militant group through mediators. Trump announced the development in a social media post following a call with Netanyahu, whose forces recently made their deepest incursion into Lebanon in more than a quarter century. Trump said there would be no Israeli troops “going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back.” The president said Hezbollah had ...

5 cruise ship passengers leave quarantine facility

OMAHA, Neb. — Five of the 18 American cruise ship passengers who have been staying at a national quarantine facility in Nebraska after being exposed to hantavirus are going home, U.S. health officials said Monday. The five people will complete their monitoring at home after remaining symptom-free and meeting criteria for monitoring outside the quarantine unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. They are leaving Omaha about three weeks after they and the 13 other Americans arrived in Nebraska following a deadly outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship traveling in the South ...