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Oct 29, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump received a high-level military briefing Thursday as his administration considers launching another round of major attacks against Iran, according to an exclusive report from The Wall Street Journal.Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, made a rare in-person visit to the White House to discuss potential military operations, the Journal reported, citing U.S. officials and others familiar with the meeting.Cooper was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chief Chairman Gen. Dan Caine. The meeting also covered other topics, according to the report.The unusual gathering came as the U.S. weighs “resuming major combat operations,” the Journal reported Thursday. It followed a separate White House meeting a day earlier when military leaders met with Vice President JD Vance.Vance has reportedly reached out to one of Iran’s most powerful hard-liners in an effort to revive peace negotiations, according to the report, suggesting the administration is still pursuing diplomatic efforts even as it considers new military strikes.But Trump himself recently raised the prospect of renewed strikes.“We may do another little Epic Fury,” Trump said at a rally last week, referring to the earlier U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran.The possibility of renewed strikes has also alarmed some lawmakers, including Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), who said he had been briefed on some of the classified military planning and called the plans "insane.""It will lead to devastating escalation and the likely destruction of our commitment to the rule of law," Murphy warned.

Oct 29, 2026 - World

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) says he’s been briefed on the Iran war plan President Donald Trump is expected to launch after the midterms and calls it “insane,” the Daily Beast reported on Thursday.Murphy said he couldn’t share details. However, in a post on X, he claimed the plan would likely destroy the country’s commitment to the rule of law, adding that it “will not achieve objectives and will set off a new cycle of escalation.”At the Middle East Institute on Thursday, Murphy said he’d had a “fairly detailed conversation” about it and predicted it would prolong the conflict with Tehran. He acknowledged the public has heard it described as short in duration, but said the plan is “insane.”He noted reports that the Pentagon may be considering civilian infrastructure targets.Murphy said officials had been asked by the president to develop a plan, and that whether they think it will work, he couldn’t say. In his view, it would drag out the war and hurt U.S. security interests.He is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Appropriations committees. His comments followed reports that Gulf nations were told to prepare for a brief but intense campaign after Nov. 3. The Wall Street Journal cited officials as saying Trump was weighing strikes on nuclear sites and civilian infrastructure. Trump has said he won’t strike Iran before the election.Trump's campaign against Iran has proven wildly unpopular, with the public largely seeing him as breaking a promise to avoid foreign entanglements, and with the Strait of Hormuz crisis driving up energy prices to uncomfortable levels.

Oct 29, 2026 - World

Canadian rock star Bryan Adams brutally mocked President Donald Trump in a new song he released just before the midterm elections, according to a new report. The Guardian reported that Adams wrote a new song titled "Lake Ontario," which takes a shot at Trump for his efforts to "rename" one of Canada's most famous bodies of water. The move further escalated the feud between the two countries and resulted in the U.S. and Canada placing additional tariffs on goods coming from either side. The lyrics make it clear that Trump's renaming efforts were an attempt to "deflect from the president’s other political problems, including the war in Iran and renewed scrutiny of the Jeffrey Epstein files," according to the report. "But things weren’t going his way in Iran/ So like a baby tossing the toys from the pram/ But it feels like another distraction/ while the Epstein files were getting traction," the lyrics read in part. Adams explained that the song came from a project he called a "love letter" to Canada. “After finishing the first song, I moved on to that one, and then moved on to another one, and then started thinking maybe I should just carry on with my theme,” Adams told The Guardian.

Oct 29, 2026 - World

A GOP strategist torched a former Trump White House aide on live TV over her "naive" plan to end a raging war.Republican strategist and CNN commentator Shermichael Singleton tore into Caroline Sunshine on Wednesday's episode of "NewsNight," guest hosted by CNN's Michael Smerconish, after she urged the U.S. to pull funding from Ukraine to force it to negotiate an end to its war with Russia. Singleton called the idea "the most absurd thing" and told her she was "incredibly naive."The clash broke out during a segment on young men souring on President Donald Trump. Smerconish cited Harvard's latest youth poll, noting nearly 70 percent of men under 30 disapprove of the job Trump is doing.Sunshine, a former Trump White House aide, laid the blame on the president's staff."I want us to win the midterms. But if we don't win, it will be because the president's staff failed to execute his winning playbook in 2024," she said. "We're not live streaming the rallies. We're not making TikToks. We're not going on podcasts. We're not talking to that audience."She said she had been "dismissed" for months while pushing for appearances with podcasters Joe Rogan and Theo Von."I don't think the president's staff trusts his instincts," Sunshine said, before urging Trump to "get a staff that understand where young men are at," to "get Ukraine to the negotiating table" and to "stop listening to" rapper Nicki Minaj.Singleton immediately jumped in."What do you mean get Ukraine to the negotiating table? You mean Russia?" he asked. "What did they do that was unlawful, illegal, immoral and unethical? It wasn't the Ukrainians. It was the Russians."Sunshine countered that "hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians are dying every day in this war" and argued the U.S. should cut Ukraine off."Ukraine is not a NATO ally. The United States has no role in this war except to end it. And the only way that it ends is by yanking funding from Ukraine," she said.Singleton shot back that it was “the most absurd thing,” as Sunshine insisted she was talking about “ending the war peacefully.” He accused her of being "intellectually dishonest" and blasted the idea of forcing Ukrainians to "come to the table over something they didn't start.""That's never been the posture of the United States," he said.As Sunshine kept pressing, Singleton cut her off. "You are incredibly naive," he said. "Why would we put pressure on the Ukrainians instead of the Russians?"He then questioned whether she grasped the subject at all."Do you even understand these issues? No, I don't think you do. I don't think you understand these issues at all," Singleton said.Smerconish eventually stepped in to move the conversation along.

Oct 27, 2026 - World

Rubio’s decision not to meet Narendra Modi last week was seen by some as a snub – but by focusing on business leaders and oil, the secretary of state made American priorities clear. Plus: the artist bringing a female perspective to men’s clothing• Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereWhen the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, visited India for the second time this year, headlines concentrated on who he met and where he went.The fact that Rubio bypassed New Delhi and did not meet the prime minister, Narendra Modi, during his trip last week, and instead traveled to the financial capital, Mumbai, where he met India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (pictured top with Rubio), and business leaders, did not go unnoticed. Nor did his decision to travel to Jamnagar, the small Gujarati town that is home to Reliance Industries’ colossal oil refinery complex. Continue reading...