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Aug 13, 2026 - World

Iranian officials taunted the U.S. and claimed full control and management of the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, contradicting President Trump's contention the U.S. is directing oil traffic through the waterway at the heart of the Middle East dispute.

Aug 13, 2026 - World

Former PM of Israel calls events ‘concerted and meticulous attempt at ethnic cleansing’ against PalestiniansIsraeli troops have forced two Palestinian families to leave their besieged West Bank homes, the day after a top Israeli commander personally promised he would end a violent settler campaign to drive them out.Israeli soldiers also took over eight other homes in Qusra early on Thursday, telling the village’s mayor, Abdul Azim Wadi, that the buildings were needed for a days-long operation to remove the settlers. They later relinquished six. Settlers still roam the village. Continue reading...

Aug 13, 2026 - World

Fireworks light up Pakistan’s capital as crowds celebrate the 79th anniversary of independence

Aug 13, 2026 - World

Jared Kushner drew immediate backlash for a social media post claiming President Donald Trump had opened a new chapter of 'peace' in the Middle East, as a U.S.-initiated war raged on.Kushner posted Thursday on X to mark what he called the six-year anniversary of the Abraham Accords — the 2020 diplomatic agreements that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states.The comments came despite a war that Trump began February 28 by launching strikes against Iran, igniting a regional conflict that has since drawn in Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen, according to the Council on Foreign Relations."Magical thinking is the new norm in this US administration," former diplomat Alan Eyre responded on X, quoting Kushner's post.Eyre spent 40 years as a U.S. Foreign Service diplomat and served as the sole career diplomat on the U.S. nuclear negotiating team that produced the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.In his post on X, Kushner claimed that Trump had delivered what many said was impossible."Six years ago, President Trump launched the Abraham Accords and opened a new chapter of peace, partnership, and prosperity in the Middle East," Kushner wrote."The Middle East is once again at an inflection point," the president's son-in-law added. "Now we have an opportunity to build an even broader movement around cooperation, shared prosperity and security."In the February 28 strike on Iran, the U.S. and Israel killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of senior military figures, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. The war has not ended.Since March 2, Israel has also waged a separate war in Lebanon, where more than 4,300 people have been killed, including at least 253 children, according to the United Nations.Former Obama White House national security spokesman Tommy Vietor was among those who replied to Kushner directly on X."Yes the Middle East has been so peaceful since the signing of the Abraham Accords. No new wars. No slaughter of innocent people. Just good vibes and trade deals," Vietor wrote.Kushner, however, focused on the future."We surprised the world once. With the right leadership, focus, patience and courage, I believe we can do it again," he wrote.Andreas Krieg, a security analyst at King's College London, was less optimistic."Project 'Peace in the Middle East' is going very well indeed," Krieg replied to Kushner.The Strait of Hormuz — through which 20 percent of the world's oil once flowed — remained effectively closed as of Wednesday, with U.S.-Iran negotiations stalled, according to CNN.

Aug 13, 2026 - World

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s out-of-the-blue announcement that she is abandoning her current job to become an off-the-books adviser to the president raised eyebrows on Thursday.During a panel discussion on MS NOW’s “On The Line” with host Alicia Menendez, it was noted that the imminent departure of President Donald Trump’s spokesperson comes on the heels of an unexpected and controversial memo from Attorney General Todd Blanche released on Tuesday, after he was sworn in.According to the Blanche memo, the executive privilege that shields White House advisors will now extend to private citizens who advise the president.“It remains to be seen whether a court will say that its construction of who is entitled to executive privilege is valid or not,” MS NOW legal correspondent Lisa Rubin told the panel. “But, at least as the DOJ considers it, is Karoline Leavitt, an outside adviser when she leaves the presidency, the presidential administration, and continues to talk to Trump on the phone and give him advice?" "Absolutely,” she elaborated. “Because that memo defines the term private adviser in a breathtakingly broad way, it's basically anyone that the president calls or anyone that even his direct staff calls and solicits advice from can be a private adviser to the president.”Host Menendez, pointed out, “I think what is interesting to me is the fact that it is happening in the shadow of this memo, where now it feels a little bit like that Oprah moment: ‘You get a car, you get a car, you get a car.’”“Now it's like ‘You're a private advisor, you're a private advisor, you're a private advisor,’ because they now have a legal shield that they did not previously have,” she added.Conservative Amanda Carpenter, a Trump critic, suggested, “What Trump is trying to do here, and through this memo is shield any kind of accountability that may come later. I view this as a kind of preemptive strike against any accountability that might come after the midterm elections.” - YouTube youtu.be