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Signalgate haunts Trump as old nemesis scores major strategic win: analysis
The Iran-backed militia that once triggered one of the most damaging scandals of President Donald Trump's second term is back — and the president is trying to avoid a fight he already walked away from once, according to a new report.American diplomats met with Houthi representatives at the U.S. Embassy in Oman over the weekend in an effort to cool tensions and keep Red Sea shipping lanes open, a source briefed on the discussions told MS NOW. Both sides reaffirmed a ceasefire reached last year, under which the Houthis agreed not to strike U.S. targets in exchange for the U.S. standing down.That truce was born out of Trump's frustration with his military campaign that spawned Signalgate. In spring 2025, the U.S. launched a seven-week, more than $1 billion military operation against the Houthis — one that top officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, discussed on the Signal messaging app.The chats became public after then-national security adviser Mike Waltz mistakenly added a journalist to the thread, setting off months of controversy and staff turnover.Frustrated by the campaign's lack of progress, Trump halted it in May 2025 and struck the ceasefire instead.Now that decision has narrowed his options, reported MS NOW's Felicia Schwartz. With the U.S.-Iran war ongoing and Tehran controlling the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia had rerouted oil exports through the Red Sea to avoid the chokepoint.The Houthis have responded by seizing the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, threatening that backup route too and helping push gas prices higher just weeks before the U.S. midterms.Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally asked Trump last week to strike the Houthis after they took control of the strait, according to a person familiar with the call.Trump declined, telling the crown prince that Riyadh should take the lead on what the White House considers a regional security matter. Asked about the call while in Ireland, Trump called the crown prince "a good friend of mine" and predicted "everything's going to work out fine and dandy."A senior administration official said the U.S. expects the Houthis to keep honoring the ceasefire, noting the group has signaled it doesn't want to fight the U.S.But David Schenker, a former top State Department Middle East official now at the Washington Institute, said the president's rationale is both strategic and political. "Trump doesn't want to start another campaign, certainly not before the elections. We're short of munitions and already stretched."Trump's reluctance is frustrating to Saudi Arabia and Washington’s other Middle East partners who never wanted the Iran war in the first place but are now tasked with containing the fallout.“The war with Iran really exposed the vulnerabilities of a lot of our partners in the Gulf,” Schenker said. “It raises all sorts of questions about what a U.S. security commitment to the Gulf looks like.”
Damning UN probe sours Trump’s impending address to world leaders: report
A United Nations investigation found "reasonable grounds” that the United States had likely committed war crimes in its war against Iran, and the report is scheduled to be submitted to the international body on Monday — just one day before President Donald Trump is expected to address the UN and its “deeply skeptical audience” in New York, Reuters reported Friday.The report is expected to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, and found that the United States had acted “recklessly” in its strikes on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school on the first day of the conflict, an attack that killed more than 150 civilians, including around 120 children. Investigators came to a “similar conclusion” regarding a U.S. strike on an Iranian sports hall that damaged a nearby school and killed 22 civilians, Reuters reported.In response to the probe’s findings, the White House attacked the UN Human Rights Council, accusing the body of having “accomplished nothing for human rights,” according to Reuters.The timing of the report puts its submission to the UN on a collision course with Trump’s address to the international body, where Reuters noted the president will “face a deeply skeptical audience increasingly rattled by six months of war between US forces and an emboldened Iran.”Aaron David Miller, who previously advised secretaries of state in both Republican and Democratic-led administrations, said that Trump had only himself to blame for what may be a sour reception at the UN gathering on Tuesday.“We are seeing what happens when a president launches a war of choice without anticipating the unintended consequences,” Miller told Reuters.Jonathan Panikoff, a Middle East expert and former deputy national intelligence officer, argued that Trump’s dilemma was only likely to get worse.“The US clearly has (military) capacity challenges but even so the cost of inaction here is likely to intensify tensions among Gulf allies,” Panikoff told Reuters.
Trump raves at 'dirty dogs' in late-night rage post: 'You will pay a big price!'
President Donald Trump hurled furious threats in the middle of the night and insisted his MAGA base read a three-week old column from a conservative Washington Post pundit.The president took to Truth Social at approximately 12:15 a.m. Friday to share a column by Marc Thiessen entitled "What the disloyal leaks about Iran prove about Trump," published on Aug. 27."Keep on leaking you dirty dogs!" he wrote. "When we find you, you will pay a big price!!!"Thiessen's column chastised "disloyalists" who have grown concerned about the ongoing war in Iran — and have spoken out about it."The message of the leakers is clear: Had Trump only listened to us, we would not be in this mess," Thiessen wrote. "These self-serving leaks actually show the opposite — by demonstrating what a courageous decision Trump made. Virtually alone, surrounded by naysayers, Trump acted to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon."Those words got a nod from Trump in the wee hours of Friday morning where he wrote on Truth Social, “Very interesting. A must read!"
Australian man accused of murdering Thai teenager and putting body in suitcase pleads not guilty
Simon Peter Carman appeared in a Pattaya court on Friday charged with killing Tunchanok Donhomla An Australian man accused of murdering a Thai teenager and putting her body in a suitcase pleaded not guilty on Friday in a hearing in the seaside resort city of Pattaya, a court official said.Simon Peter Carman, 45, was arrested in June after 17-year-old Tunchanok Donhomla was reported missing in Pattaya City, about 150km south-east of Bangkok. A suitcase containing her body was found shortly after. Continue reading...
Louisiana firefighters find feline native to sub-Saharan Africa while responding to house fire
The African serval, illegally enclosed in the back yard, was subdued and transferred to an animal welfare facility Louisiana firefighters responding to a small house blaze found a wildcat native to sub-Saharan Africa illegally enclosed in the back yard, prompting an animal welfare agency to seek placing the creature in an appropriate environment, according to officials.Firefighters investigating a report of a minor fire at a home in the suburban New Orleans community of Marrero on Tuesday spotted the cat in question – an African serval – behind the residence in a chain-linked enclosure resembling a cramped baseball batting cage, a spokesperson for the local animal protection services said. Continue reading...
Weather tracker: Thunderstorms hit Spain as Japan braces for typhoon
At least one person dead as stormy weather causes severe flooding in Barcelona and Valencia Intense and slow-moving thunderstorms broke out on Wednesday afternoon across parts of eastern Spain, bringing some severe flooding and killing at least one person.Storms first struck over the Castilla-La Mancha region during the afternoon before passing over Spain’s east coast, becoming very slow-moving and continuing overnight. Torrential rainfall, strong winds and large hail were reported in Valencia and Barcelona, causing widespread flooding in both cities. Weather stations west of Barcelona recorded some of the highest totals with more than 100mm (4in) of rain falling in the space of a few hours, and locally 70mm in just 30 minutes in the early hours of Thursday morning. Cars and roads were submerged, and flights were cancelled across the region. Continue reading...
'Mind-melting incompetence' hides behind Trump's big 'bully' veneer: ex- official
A former top White House official has a simple theory as to why a bullying President Donald Trump president blew up America's relationship with its closest ally: "mind-melting incompetence."Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security during Trump's first term, tore into the administration's handling of its relationship with Canada in a new Substack post."Canada is demonstrating, for every democracy watching, that the response to Trump’s bullying should be neither submission nor hysteria… but the calm construction of alternatives," he wrote. "Our allies aren’t leaving because they hate America. They’re leaving because they miss us, and they can’t stand the bully who’s holding us hostage."Taylor argued Trump's trade war pushed Ottawa to give up on repairing the relationship. Since retaking office, Trump has hit Canada with 50 percent tariffs, moved to ban imports including dairy, alcohol, lumber and cars, and repeatedly needled the country about becoming America's "51st state."Rather than "cave" the way Taylor says some American law firms did early in Trump's second term, Canada has instead looked elsewhere. Prime Minister Mark Carney has been exploring a closer partnership with the European Union, which has floated an unprecedented "associate member" status for Canada. "Trump spent two years mocking Canada as America's future 51st state," Taylor wrote. "This week, Europe offered to make Canada its first."Taylor praised Carney's calm, businesslike response, writing, "they've walked across the street to build a better future with people who keep their word." This presents a sharp contrast to Trump's blustering and bullying that has only made the situation worse, Taylor argued. "You have to marvel at the mind-melting incompetence required to produce this outcome," Taylor wrote, noting Canada and the U.S. share the "longest peaceful border"on Earth, an integrated defense relationship, and a history of fighting alongside each other, with roughly "70% of Canadian exports" flowing to the U.S.Taylor didn't hold back on Trump personally, calling him "the stupidest man" he believes has held office in Washington. He noted that even John Kelly, Trump's former chief of staff, has said Trump is "the most flawed person" he's ever met.Taylor added that previously overseas ally officials used to quietly ask "whether America was still America" — but that they've "since stopped asking."
Cuba cash-grab plot exposed as Trump henchman exploit boss's sanctions: report
While dozens of major companies flee Cuba under President Donald Trump-era sanctions, a select group of insiders with ties to the president are quietly positioning themselves to scoop up the island's assets, according to the Guardian.That includes executives working for the Trump Organization.Spanish hotel giants Meliá and Iberostar, Canadian mining firm Sherritt International, European shipping companies, and even Visa and Mastercard have all pulled out of Cuba this summer, spooked by sweeping new secondary sanctions tied to Trump's pressure campaign following the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Axios last month there are "no escape valves" left for the island.But the Guardian reports a different story is playing out behind the scenes."A growing cast of Washington and Florida insiders – from billionaire Trump cronies and Rubio-linked lobbyists to Cuban exiles – are jockeying for control of the communist-ruled island-nation’s key assets, charging top dollar to help clients navigate the ever-expanding web of sanctions, and positioning themselves for lucrative business opportunities in the case of regime collapse," the Guardian's Lee Schlenker and Ed Augustin reported.The Guardian report added that, "several Trump Organization executives who had previously traveled to the island to explore real estate deals and who even registered the Trump trademark there in 2008 have in recent months returned to Cuba under the aegis of Dominari Holdings for meetings."Meanwhile, ordinary Cubans have endured a fuel blockade since January, after the administration cut off oil shipments from Venezuela and pressured Mexico into halting its own deliveries. Yet Treasury-authorized fuel exports from Florida and Texas to Cuba's private sector have surged past $160 million this year, up from almost nothing in 2025."If I had done during the Biden administration what Trump's friends have done now, I'd have been put in jail," said one longtime Cuba policy expert, granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Chilling red flag spotted by Nobel-winning psychiatrist over Trump's nuke image posts
A Nobel Peace Prize-winning psychiatrist fears President Donald Trump has become too unstable to be trusted with nuclear codes.Dr. Henry David Abraham, professor of psychiatry emeritus at Tufts University School of Medicine, told The i Paper's Kieron Monks he's troubled, not by the results of Trump's cognitive tests, but by how often he's taking them. Trump announced in May he'd scored a perfect 30 out of 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA, for the fourth time — his third such test in just over a year."You give a MoCA for a rapid screen. Is the person functioning in a cognitive sense or not?" Abraham told Monks. "If you are doing two, three, four, you're not doing a rapid screen. You're looking for a trend."Abraham, who shared in the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize as part of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, said Trump's conduct during "recent strikes on Iran and Venezuela" worries him most. "He's certainly our most impulsive president in my lifetime," Abraham said. "He is an unstable individual with absolute control over the American nuclear arsenal.""Some of the President’s threats towards Iran, such as 'a whole civilisation will die tonight', were widely taken as a veiled reference to nuclear weapons," the report notes. "The clinician also pointed to disturbing images Trump has posted on social media, including an AI-generated image of him pressing a red button while surrounded by explosions and mushroom clouds."Citing the Iran war quagmire, Abraham said, "He’s embarrassed every day about it, or at least attacked every day about it. What prevents him one night from saying, ‘Oh, I can solve this Iran problem in 10 seconds’ – which would essentially be the use of nuclear weapons.”Abraham also drew attention to "Trump’s medical records, pointing to a recent check-up that involved a record 22 medical specialists.“Those 22 doctors, they had better figure it out, and they better come forward,” he insisted, while "urging whistleblowers to share details from Trump's medical files, including a recent checkup involving a record 22 specialists."
IS member sentenced to 20 years in prison for role in 2021 Kabul airport bombing
Mohammad Sharifullah, 28, was convicted of aiding the terrorist group that took credit for the suicide bombing An Islamic State group member was sentenced on Wednesday to 20 years in prison for aiding the terrorist organization that took credit for a suicide bombing that killed 13 US service members and about 160 Afghans at the Kabul airport five years ago during the US military’s chaotic withdrawal from the country.A federal jury in Virginia had convicted Mohammad Sharifullah in April of providing material support to the IS affiliate known as Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). But jurors could not agree whether he bore some responsibility for the airport bombing on 26 August 2021. Continue reading...
World leaders scoff at Trump's 'hostile' tantrum: 'It's not up to a foreign power'
World leaders are not impressed with President Donald Trump's claim that welcoming Canada into partnership constitutes a "hostile act," the Washington Post reported Thursday.Trump made this claim in North Carolina Wednesday in response to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's proposal to make Canada the European Union's first-ever "associate member." "If it's a good intention, that's fine," Trump said. "If it's a bad intention, we'll put very heavy tariffs on Europe."Now leaders from up north and across the pond are saying they don't intend to be influenced by Trump or the United States. Benjamin Haddad, France’s European affairs minister, said on French television Thursday that the U.S. has no veto over decisions made by the 27-nation bloc, according to the Post.“It is not up to a foreign power, not the United States or anyone else, to choose the geopolitical direction of the Europeans,” he said on Public Sénat. “Once again, we have a relationship with Canada, and we are fully entitled to seek to deepen it.”European Union Commission spokesman Olof Gill said the E.U. leader made clear that “the proposed strengthening of our partnership with Canada is not against anyone else, but for our common strength.”Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, set to address European lawmakers on Thursday, described a partnership between his country and the European Union as "natural."According to the Post, he said both wanted “a deeper partnership that reinforces our mutual sovereignty to create more opportunities and prosperity for our peoples.”
Professor arrested during fiery public budget protest over Florida's Israel bonds: report
Palestinian-American human rights lawyer and Rutgers University professor Noura Erakat was arrested and charged with trespassing Tuesday night after speaking out against Palm Beach County's billion-dollar investment in Israel Bonds during a public budget hearing.According to The Guardian, Erakat, who teaches Africana studies at Rutgers and sits on the editorial committee of the Journal for Palestine Studies, was detained by deputies in an elevator at the county government building in West Palm Beach. She remained in custody overnight and was released the following morning after paying bond.Dozens of other attendees who'd shown up to oppose the investment were also removed from the meeting, with some carrying signs reading messages like "Fund Housing, Not Genocide."Palm Beach County's stake in Israel Bonds climbed to roughly $1 billion earlier this year, a jump largely attributed to a purchase exceeding $350 million approved by Mike Caruso, the county clerk who has since been suspended from office and is separately facing unrelated sexual abuse allegations. A similar fight just unfolded in Miami-Dade, where county commissioners recently loosened investment rules to allow Israel Bonds to make up as much as 5 percent of the portfolio, up from a prior 3 percent cap, though the change stops short of forcing officials to actually purchase additional bonds.Opponents at that earlier meeting also had their microphones cut off or were escorted out.Erakat, born in California to Palestinian immigrant parents and a Berkeley law graduate, has spent years as a prominent critic of Israel's policies toward Palestinians, including addressing the United Nations directly on the issue. Tensions ran high enough during Tuesday's Palm Beach hearing that one commissioner told a protesting retired Air Force member he was "embarrassing the uniform."Palm Beach County deputies have not yet released an arrest report detailing the specific circumstances of Erakat's detention.
Sep 21, 2026