President Donald Trump argued that Hamas deserved "a lot of credit" for digging up the dead bodies of their victims.
During the first Board of Peace meeting in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Trump noted that "every last remaining hostage, both living and dead, has been returned back home" from Gaza.
"And we did hundreds of hostages," he remarked. "I said the last 20 are gonna be very tough, very, very tough."
"And we got them back. We got the living back," Trump continued. "And then we only got about 16 of the dead. And we said, well, you got to get them all. You promised them all."
"And they dug and dug and dug. You can imagine it's a job that's brutal. And Hamas really did a lot of that work. And you've got to give them credit for that. They brought the last one home a week ago. And we got all 28 of them."
According to Drop Site News, "some 10,000 Palestinians are still missing, buried under the rubble, and another 10,000 Palestinian captives are detained in Israeli torture prisons and military sites."
The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor could affect the United States, according to a political commentator who believes a precedent has been set.
The ex-Prince was arrested earlier today (February 19) on suspicion of misconduct in public office. The Mirror columnist Christopher Bucktin described the arrest as an "almost surreal" moment that would have longer-term consequences for those in the US.
He wrote, "Whatever the eventual outcome, the message was unmistakable: status alone no longer guarantees insulation from criminal investigation. Of course, Andrew's arrest should not be seen as any indication of guilt, and there are no charges yet.
"He has consistently denied any wrongdoing. But the tremors have not stopped at royalty." Bucktin would pull up Attorney General Pam Bondi's comment on investigating everyone mentioned in Jeffrey Epstein's files. Bondi suggested such action could "bring down the government," and the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor could be a shift in the tide, Bucktin believes.
He added, "It was an astonishing warning. Not that the innocent would be exonerated. Not that due process would prevail. But that full accountability might destabilise the political order itself.
"If examining credible allegations against powerful individuals, like what the UK is now doing, risks shaking institutions, then those institutions demand deeper scrutiny, not gentler handling. The rule of law cannot function on the basis that some names are simply too significant, too connected, too politically sensitive to examine.
"The Epstein affair was never merely about one disgraced financier who died in custody. It was about an ecosystem of influence - the private jets, the island retreats, the cross-party friendships and the ease with which wealth seemed to smooth every obstacle. It was about how power protects itself."
Bucktin went on to suggest the activity in the UK over the former Prince's arrest could put pressure in the US to act similarly, as their "conspicuous" silence may be breached.
He wrote, "Justice cannot stop at one imprisoned accomplice while others retreat behind legal teams and influence. It cannot flinch because the truth might prove politically explosive. And it cannot accept that the potential embarrassment of the elite outweighs the public’s right to accountability.
"A birthday arrest on suspicion of misconduct in a public office should not stand alone as a rare spectacle. It should signal something larger: that no title, no fortune, no political office is sufficient armour against the law."
According to documents reviewed by the Guardian, Donald Trump has initiated plans to construct a military base in Gaza capable of housing up to 5,000 troops.
The facility design includes "26 trailer-mounted armored watch towers, a small arms range, bunkers, and a warehouse for military equipment for operations. The entire base will be encircled with barbed wire."
The proposed site is located in an area devastated by years of Israeli military operations. International construction companies with war zone experience have already conducted site visits to assess the location.
Several critical questions remain unanswered regarding the proposal. It is unclear what the ISF's rules of engagement would be during combat, renewed Israeli bombing, or Hamas attacks. The ISF's specific role in disarming Hamas—a condition Israel has set for Gaza reconstruction—also remains undefined.
The proposal follows negotiations led by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner regarding the Board of Peace's operational structure.
New body camera footage this week showed the moment a police officer confronted the alcoholic father of a British woman who was shot dead in Texas after the two argued over President Donald Trump.
Lucy Harrison, 23, was visiting her family in Texas in January 2025 when her father, Kris Harrison, 51, shot her during a disagreement, The Daily Beast reported.
In the video, police confront Kris Harrison about the fight. He told law enforcement the two were "talking about guns" when the firearm apparently went off.
“She said, ‘you got a gun?’ I said, yes, I got it out and it just went off and she stood there like, as I pulled it out. It went off,” he said during the conversation, which was captured on the body camera footage.
“I put it on the bed straight away. It was in the bedside cabinet. In a locked box, and we took it out to look, and just as I picked it up, it went off,” Kris said.
Officers appeared to be speaking with Kris while Lucy's boyfriend, Sam Littler, was seen pacing in the room, putting his hands on his head.
"Prosecutors in Collin County failed to secure an indictment against Kris after a grand jury heard that his gun accidentally fired when he 'lifted it to show her,'" The Daily Beast reported.
Although he wasn't prosecuted in the US, the UK has held an inquest — a special court hearing — and has continued to investigate.. Last month the court ruled that Lucy died unlawfully.
In his testimony with the Cheshire Coroner’s Court earlier this month, Littler described what happened in the moments before the shooting.
Lucy and her father were apparently discussing Trump when she asked him, “How would you feel if I was the girl in that situation and I’d been sexually assaulted?”
"He dismissed her question and said he had two other daughters living in their home, so it would not upset him too much," The Daily Beast reported. "Littler said that Lucy grew 'quite upset' with her father’s answer and went upstairs."
The couple had planned to leave for the airport and return to the UK when Littler said Kris took Lucy by the hand up to his bedroom.
"Littler said he then heard a loud bang and heard Kris scream for his wife," The Daily Beast reported.
Kris sent a written statement to the Cheshire Coroner’s Court and said he had relapsed the day of the shooting and had drunk nearly a full bottle of white wine.
“As I lifted the gun to show her I suddenly heard a loud bang. I did not understand what had happened. Lucy immediately fell,” Kris said.
“I fully accept the consequences of my actions, and there isn’t a day I don’t feel the weight of that loss—a weight I will carry for the rest of my life, and I know that nothing I say can ease the heartbreak this tragedy has caused,” he said in the statement.
Far-right white nationalist and Nazi sympathizer Nick Fuentes lost it on Wednesday amid growing national concern that America is moving closer to war with Iran.
Fuentes wrote on X about what he expected to happen if a war were to break out between the U.S. and Iran under President Donald Trump.
"If Trump brings us to war in Iran you can forget about 2026 and you can forget about a ticket with Vance or Rubio in 2028. This is literally Iraq 2.0. The GOP has utterly and completely betrayed America First," he wrote.
As military movement heightens in the Arabian Sea and more American air defense are repositioned closer to the Middle East, a Trump administration adviser reportedly told Axios, “I think there is 90% chance we see kinetic action."
MAGA has been divided over the Trump administration's international focus throughout the first year of Trump's second term. Fuentes' most recent comment signifies his growing disdain over the Trump administration's pivot to international security versus the MAGA coalition's central push for "America First" policies.
The Vatican issued a statement and declined the White House's January request, making it clear that the leader of the Roman Catholic Church does not want to be involved with Trump's Gaza project, The New Republic reported.
The Vatican’s secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin said that the Pope expressed several concerns and "will not participate," The Independent reported.
“For us, there are ... some critical issues that should be resolved,” Parolin told reporters. “One concern is that, at the international level, it should above all be the UN that manages these crisis situations. This is one of the points on which we have insisted.”
The Pope has been critical of the president and his administration. He was among several world leaders invited to participate on the board and "supervise the ceasefire in Gaza and coordinate the strip’s reconstruction following the conflict between Hamas and Israel," according to The Independent. Trump has also said that the board would look to address global clashes, but some have viewed his move as an attempt to add an "alternative multilateral forum to the UN," which Trump has long complained about.
The Pope has disagreed with Trump's move. In September, he made a subtle comment calling out the president, saying “someone who says ‘I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”
And in November, the Pope, who is also the first American-born Vatican leader, went into further detail in his criticism.
“I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have. If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts, there’s a system of justice,” the Pope said.
“But when people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful to say the least—and there’s been some violence unfortunately—I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said,” he said. “I would just invite all people in the United States to listen to them.”
As of now, only 19 countries have joined Trump's board, including Argentina, Hungary, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Both Israel and Russia — countries that are both accused of war crimes — have been offered invitations but only Israel has decided to join the board so far.
"The Vatican and the pope’s rejection will hurt the board’s credibility, but that isn’t likely to change Trump’s mind," according to The New Republic.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was revealed by Axios Wednesday to be engaged in “secret talks” with the grandson of ex-Cuban President Raúl Castro, bypassing official communication channels as part of the Trump administration’s brutal campaign to starve the Caribbean nation of resources in the pursuit of regime change.
"Our position – the U.S. government's position – is the regime has to go," one senior Trump administration official told Axios in its report Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "But what exactly that looks like is up to [President Donald Trump] and he has yet to decide. Rubio is still in talks with the grandson."
While Cuba has faced crippling sanctions and an embargo imposed on it by the United States since the late 1950s, an executive order Trump signed last month imposed even harsher penalties on nations supplying the Caribbean nation with oil, setting off a chain reaction that’s shuttered hospitals and starved people of food.
Trump openly cheered his administration’s use of starvation as a negotiating tactic on Tuesday, calling Cuba a “failed nation” that should “absolutely make a deal.” He also refused to rule out an outright attack on Cuba similar to the United States' attack on Venezuela last month.
And on Wednesday, sources revealed to Axios that Rubio is apparently in regular contact with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, the grandson of Raúl Castro, and the great-nephew of Fidel Castro, talks that have reportedly been "surprisingly" friendly.
“I wouldn't call these 'negotiations' as much as 'discussions' about the future," the senior Trump administration official told Axios.
Another source who was “familiar with the talks” told Axios that Rubio is “looking for the next Delcy in Cuba,” referring to acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez, who’s led Venezuela since the Trump administration abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro last month.
“There's no political diatribes about the past. It's about the future,” the source told Axios. “[Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro] could be straight out of Hialeah, [Florida]. This could be a conversation between regular guys on the streets of Miami."
The United States has sought to topple Cuban’s government since the late 1950s after revolutionaries – led by the Castros and Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara – ousted the U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista, whose leadership, critics say, maintained the Caribbean nation as a “virtual slave state” to the benefit of U.S. companies.
As a fleet of U.S. warships barrel toward Iran, the Trump administration appears poised to “pull the trigger” on a “full-fledged war” at any moment, and may do so sooner than “most Americans realize,” Axios reported Wednesday.
“Trump's military and rhetorical buildups make it hard for him to back down without major concessions from Iran on its nuclear program,” writes Axios’ Mike Allen in the outlet’s report Wednesday.
“It's not in Trump's nature, and his advisers don't view the deployment of all that hardware as a bluff. With Trump, anything can happen. But all signs point to him pulling the trigger if talks fail.”
The Trump administration met with Iranian officials in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday in the hopes of reaching a deal to avoid further escalations, but according to Vice President JD Vance, those talks stalled due to Iranian officials refusing to “acknowledge” some of President Donald Trump’s “red lines.”
Now, according to sources who spoke with Axios on the condition of anonymity, the United States could be engaged in “a major war in the Middle East,” and “very soon,” Axios reported.
Both the USS Gerald Ford and the USS Abraham Lincoln – two massive aircraft carriers that each carry dozens of aircraft and crews of up to 5,690 – are currently near Iran, BBC Verify and AntiWar.com have reported.
With the aircraft carriers are dozens of warships and hundreds of fighter jets. And, according to Axios, more than 150 military cargo flights have “moved weapons systems and ammunition” to the region. Within the past 24 hours as of Wednesday morning, the Trump administration has also moved 50 additional fighter jets to the region.
Donald Trump's administration has overseen a shift in the mood of world politics, with the U.S. drifting further to the right and a question mark looming over its relationship with Europe.
The president's team has openly backed political candidates in elections across the globe, notably in Brazil and Honduras last year. Trump's meddling is targeted and shows how far the president will go to ratify his U.S. national security strategy, CNN analyst Stephen Collinson said.
Collinson wrote, "The Trump administration’s backing of Orbán in Hungary’s election is the latest sign of an institutionalized shift to the right in US foreign policy, and a rejection of traditional stances. Some Europeans now regard their longtime protector as a growing political threat.
"And it reflects the growing willingness of the White House — amid new Trump claims that the US election system is plagued by fraud ahead of the midterm elections — to insert itself into the domestic politics of foreign states.
"Trump has already tried to influence voters or shape elections in Argentina, Brazil, Honduras and Poland, and claims to be running Venezuela from the Oval Office after ousting President Nicolás Maduro.
"Trump isn’t acting on a whim. He’s codified his goals in the new US national security strategy, which praises the 'growing influence of patriotic European parties' in Europe. This refers to right-wing populist and anti-immigrant parties like the National Rally in France, Reform in the UK and the AfD in Germany, which are seeking to oust the global leaders with whom Trump deals every day."
Collinson went on to suggest these stress tests of European willingness could amount to the US withdrawing from defense agreements and severing ties with some countries.
He wrote, "At Munich last year, Vice President JD Vance conjured an idealized view of Western Europe rooted in Christianity at risk of being destroyed by a wave of immigration from Muslim and majority non-White nations. This year, Rubio delivered a similar message, albeit cushioned with more diplomatic finesse.
"He insisted that Washington doesn’t want “vassal” states but strong EU partners and that it is committed to ending the Ukraine war threatening the continent. But his speech was also a broad hint that unless the continent adopted MAGA’s view of Western civilization, America’s defense of Europe would be in question."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered an unsettling speech to European leaders at the Munich security conference Monday, receiving a standing ovation that left an analyst stunned.
In an opinion piece for The Guardian published Tuesday, Mehdi Hasan, editor-in-chief and CEO of Zeteo, described the "disturbing" 3,000-word address from the Trump administration's top diplomat. Hasan questioned Rubio's "love letter to conquest and colonialism" and called out his "gaslighting" as the son of Cuban immigrants who once called President Donald Trump a "con artist" and "lunatic." He's now telling European leaders they should support America's president.
"Did they not realize that they may have been clapping for their own demise? That despite Rubio’s gentler tone and polished language, despite all his talk of transatlantic comity and unity, he was advocating for a geopolitics of vicious authoritarianism. That Rubio may be good cop to Trump’s bad, but their goal is one and the same: to make empire great again," Hasan wrote.
Hasan pointed out that it wasn't just what Rubio said — it's what he didn't say.
Rubio did not mention Russia or China once in his comments, and despite the concerns of European leaders, he also never spoke of Greenland. And after reports that Trump is still considering acquiring Greenland, Rubio reiterated that Trump hasn't let go of the idea of using military force to take the Denmark territory.
"Astonishingly, Trump has refused to rule out the use of military force against Denmark, a Nato ally," Hasan wrote. "He has dismissed concerns about international borders and national sovereignty. And, this weekend, he sent his secretary of state to a conference in Europe that was supposed to be about collective security to deliver a speech that amounted to: America must dominate. Trump must lead. And Europe must get onboard – or else."
Instead of praising Rubio, European governments should be wary, Hasan argued.
"Again, I cannot emphasize this enough: European officials actually stood up in Munich and applauded a US official praising empire, while serving a US administration whose stated foreign policy goals include the imperial seizure of European territory," Hasan wrote.
"Have they lost their minds? The Europeans in that audience may have told themselves that they were applauding a return to stability and even friendship with the United States," Hasan added. "In reality, they were offering a standing ovation for the return of something much uglier, bloodier, and more dangerous. Empire. And this time, it may not stop at Europe’s own borders."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s gushing praise of Viktor Orbán, the authoritarian prime minister of Hungary, on Monday was called out on MS NOW as nothing more than an attempt to stay in the good graces of Donald Trump and the far-right MAGA base.
During their joint appearance in Budapest, the former Florida senator exclaimed, “I can say to you with confidence that President Trump is deeply committed to your success because your success is our success, because this relationship we have here in Central Europe through you is so essential and vital for our national interests in the years to come.”
That led “Morning Joe’ co-host Joe Scarborough to point out that, until Rubio joined Trump’s administration, Orbán was the type of leader that the secretary of state publicly loathed.
Speaking with “Morning Joe” regular Katty Kay, Scarborough noted, “What is good for Orban is bad for America, is bad for freedom, is bad for Ukraine, and is only good for Vladimir Putin. And I suppose Donald Trump.”
“It is screwed up that any American president would want anything to do with that autocratic thug,” he said. “And for Marco Rubio, a guy caddie for Marco Rubio, a guy who is this, you know, anti-communist hawk and against autocracy and supporting freedom and liberty, for him to be embracing Orbán and saying those things about Orbán, which he does not believe, it is a new low.”
Kay observed, “Yeah. I was listening to that speech that he gave in Hungary, and I felt like you that it came off as somebody who was desperately trying to say something they believed in, but it was pretty obvious that they didn't.”
“I mean, there is Marco Rubio,” she elaborated. “He's sort of straddling this world where he's looking to 2028 thinking, ‘I have to shore up the MAGA vote. I can't have them abandon me. I have to make sure that Donald Trump is happy.’ Although, apparently, he wasn't with the speech that he [Rubio] gave in Berlin. And make sure the Europeans are also happy, because that's actually what I believe. I still do believe in this world order where America leads.
"And he tried to reconcile [with] Europeans and have them in a better position with America at the Berlin Security Conference, at the Munich Security Conference. But then he goes on, and where does he go and visit? The two countries that are the most Russia-aligned in all of Europe. He goes to Slovakia and he goes to Hungary.”
The World Health Organisation and Donald Trump's administration still maintains contact despite the United States leaving the organization this year.
While the WHO is less dependent on U.S. financing, it has made it clear that it believes the world is less safe without its involvement. Insiders and admin officials told The Guardian columnist Devi Sridhar that, even though the U.S. had severed ties with the health body, it was still in touch with it.
Sridhar wrote, "We have China and Russia increasing their bilateral ties to low-income countries, tying together global health aid with their influence. And we have health threats such as the H5N1 variant of bird flu, antimicrobial resistance and continual disease outbreaks requiring rapid information-sharing and coordinated response.
"The U.S. government knows this. I am told that in all practical ways, Trump’s leadership team is still engaging with the agency privately, while lambasting it publicly."
Sridhar suggested the reason for opening private channels and yet blasting the organization publicly is to play up the MAGA voter base ahead of the midterm elections.
She wrote, "This plays to his MAGA base who need a foreign enemy to attack, while also ensuring the U.S. has the necessary global intel on health risks that the WHO holds. Yet again, Trump says one thing publicly while doing the opposite privately.
"In another 'emperor has no clothes' moment, the real story is that the U.S. government is more dependent on the WHO than vice versa." Professor Sridhar, a chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, also claimed the World Health Organisation had nearly buckled under MAGA pressure in the past.
"A senior WHO staff member told me that it had been pressed to align with the MAGA talking points on the links between vaccines and autism, and paracetamol in pregnancy and autism, as well as climate-change denialism," she wrote. "When the agency pushed back that this wasn’t scientifically accurate, it was reprimanded.
"Having studied the WHO (and co-written a book on it), it is bizarre to watch the U.S. government attacking the very agency it has been the architect and champion of for years. The entire UN system was premised on the idea that cooperation across countries could prevent collective catastrophes like the Second World War.
"U.S. leadership has been central to global campaigns against smallpox, polio, HIV/Aids and reducing child mortality. Financially, too, the U.S. has been the single largest contributor to the WHO, through assessed contributions and voluntary funding tied to specific programmes."
An economic plan from world leaders could reduce the impact of Donald Trump's tariff policy worldwide, insiders say.
The president's economic plan, which he implemented during his second term, has caused disruptions domestically and internationally. World leaders are now seeking a way through the economic spiral, and Canadian PM Mark Carney is believed to be at the helm of this plan. Insiders, speaking to Politico, confirmed there are nearly 40 countries interested in the talks.
A Canadian government official said, "The work is definitely coming along. We’ve had very fruitful discussions on it with other partners around the world."
Both the European Union and members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, including Canada, Mexico, and Australia, are keen to stand against Trump's economic policies and their effects on the wider world.
A Japanese trade official said, "We see a lot of value in increasing trade among the EU and CPTPP parties, which would also contribute to enhancing supply chain resilience."
Another diplomat from an unnamed nation spoke positively of the possible alliance between the EU and CPTPP. They said, "If the EU is up for the conversation, then of course it would make things very interesting indeed."
Klemens Kober, director of trade policy, EU customs and transatlantic relations at the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also confirmed relevant parties were looking into an agreement which, if signed, could hinder Trump and his administration's hold on world economics.
All relevant actors are looking at it," Kober said. "If there can be a focus on having these rules as harmonized and simple as possible, as part of these negotiations, that could prove advantageous for German companies.
"Having the possibility of cumulating origin between different FTAs is very useful. We hope that if that’s a success, if you can see tangible benefits in different areas, that could also entice other countries to join in and team up in a positive sense. So the more the merrier."
