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US forces kill two in ‘lethal kinetic strike’ in Eastern Pacific
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.

The United States military conducted its latest operation to combat suspected drug-trafficking operations coming out of South America as part of Operation Southern Spear. 

Three people were reportedly aboard the ship, two were killed, and there was one survivor, according to U.S. Southern Command. The military announced the “lethal kinetic strike” in a social media post on X. 

“On Feb. 9, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” read the post on X. “Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.”

On Feb. 9, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking…
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) February 10, 2026

“Two narco-terrorists were killed and one survived the strike,” said U.S. Southern Command. “Following the engagement, USSOUTHCOM immediately notified U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivor.”

No status update was provided on the survivor.

MEXICO FACES WEIGHTY DECISION OVER TRUMP ULTIMATUM ON SHIPPING OIL TO CUBA

Monday’s strike was the second such operation in less than a week and the third known operation this year. It is also the second attack this year in which there was a reported survivor. An Operation Southern Spear strike in January killed two suspected drug-traffickers and left one survivor, according to reports. 

The U.S. has conducted at least 37 military strikes on suspected drug-trafficking vessels through Operation Southern Spear, with at least 121 reported fatalities. The campaign against suspected narco-traffickers was authorized by President Donald Trump in Sept. 2025.

As Ukraine war drags on, Trump hits Putin by squeezing Russia’s proxies
This feels like a quiet policy shift.

President Donald Trump vowed to impose "very severe consequences" on Russia in 2025 if it didn't commit to a deal to end its war on Ukraine.
As the war nears its four-year anniversary in late February, national security experts tell Fox News Digital that Russia is facing tangible consequences for the war. Those are through its network of proxy countries that have directly endured the might of the U.S. military and subsequently left Russia with fewer streams of revenue and resources, they say. 
"The President's moves as it pertains to Russia are really strategic," Morgan Murphy, who previously served as the senior public diplomacy advisor to the president’s special envoy to Ukraine in 2025, told Fox News Digital. "So if you look at what he's done with Iran and with Venezuela, these are two Russian proxies, right? Iran is a close ally of Russia."
"They sell a lot of drones to Russia," Murphy, who is running as a GOP Senate candidate to represent Alabama, continued. "Venezuela was again a proxy of Russia here in our hemisphere, and Trump is in the process of taking Iran off the table. He's certainly taken Venezuela off the chessboard, and that that has to change Putin's calculus, because he sees in President Trump a president who follows what he says he's going to do." 
ZELENSKYY ANNOUNCES NEXT ROUND OF TALKS WITH US, RUSSIA AS UKRAINE AIMS FOR 'REAL AND DIGNIFIED END TO THE WAR
Russia's war on Ukraine has persisted since Feb. 24, 2022, about a year after Trump's first administration ended and during President Joe Biden's presidency. Trump campaigned on ending the war upon his second inauguration in 2025, but ending the war has proven more difficult than anticipated as the U.S. continues negotiations. 
A White House official who spoke to Fox Digital said Trump is driven by humanitarian concerns and wants the conflict ended to stop the needless loss of life. The official added that in recent months his team has made major headway toward a settlement, pointing to Trump’s own remarks that "very good things" are developing between Ukraine and Russia.
According to the official, recent negotiations in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, were substantive and constructive, with U.S., Ukrainian and Russian delegations agreeing to a 314-person prisoner exchange — the first in five months. While more work is ahead, the official argued that breakthroughs like this show sustained diplomacy is producing real, measurable progress toward ending the war.
Trump launched a series of strikes on Iran in June 2025 that hobbled the country's covert nuclear program. Massive protests …

Adam Schiff makes endorsement in California gubernatorial race
What's the endgame here?

Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California has endorsed Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell in the race to become the Golden State’s next governor.
"I'm endorsing my friend Eric Swalwell to be the next governor of the great state of California," Schiff said in a video. 
"I know the Golden State will be in good hands with Eric Swalwell," Schiff declared.
SWALWELL PROMISES, IF ELECTED GOVERNOR, FORMER ICE AGENTS WOULD BE ‘UNHIRABLE’ IN CALIFORNIA
Swalwell said he was "honored" to receive Schiff's backing.
"I am honored to have the support of Senator @AdamSchiff as we work together to tackle our state’s biggest challenges — from lowering costs for families to protecting our democracy from Donald Trump," Swalwell wrote in a post on X.
ADAM SCHIFF CONFRONTED ON POLLING SHOWING OVERWHELMING SUPPORT FOR REQUIRING PHOTO ID TO VOTE
Schiff previously served in the House of Representatives from early 2001 through late 2024 before being elected to the U.S. Senate. 
Swalwell, who has served in the House since early 2013, is one of several candidates vying to succeed term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom.
SWALWELL IN THE HOT SEAT AFTER SPENDING OVER $200K IN CAMPAIGN CASH ON PERSONAL CHILDCARE: ‘SLIPPERY SLOPE’
The Democratic field includes a mix of current and former elected officials and political figures, including former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Beccerra, former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Tom Steyer, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former Fox News Channel host Steve Hilton.

Brandon To: A country that sacks heroes will never beat crime
This affects the entire country.

Brandon To is a Politics graduate from UCL and a Hong Kong BN(O) immigrant settled in Harrow

When Mark Hehir, a London bus driver, helped chase down a thief who had just snatched a passenger’s necklace, he probably assumed he was doing the right thing.

He was wrong. At least according to modern Britain.

Instead of thanks, Hehir was sacked by Metroline. His crime? “Excessive force” while stopping a fleeing robber.

Let’s be clear about what this means: Stopping a thief is now, apparently, too much.

So what is acceptable? A polite request? A strongly worded suggestion? Perhaps a hymn, sung gently, in the hope that divine intervention persuades the criminal to hand the necklace back?

This case would be funny if it weren’t so revealing.

A new chilling message is now being sent to the public: do not intervene. If you help, you may be punished. If you step in, you may lose your job. If you act decisively, you may be accused of doing more harm than the criminal himself.

Is it any wonder that bystanders look away?

TfL staff are told not to challenge fare evaders. Passers-by hesitate before helping victims. Even the police, in countless videos circulating online, appear reluctant to chase criminals, paralysed by the fear of complaints, and accusations that have little to do with justice.

Put it frankly, this is cowardice, dressed up as “compassion”.

Behind it lies a justice culture warped by liberal and “woke” ideology. In this worldview, criminals are endlessly contextualised, even sympathised with, as it’s always the “system” that failed them.

But who is there to sympathise with the victim? Or in this case, the hero who stood for them?

And heaven forbid if identity politics can be dragged into it. Suddenly, the act of stopping a thief is no longer about theft at all, but about race, systems, or abstract theories dreamed up in universities, far from the bus stop where the crime actually happened.

Against this backdrop, Kieran Mullan, the Shadow Justice Secretary, deserves credit for speaking up and standing with Mark Hehir. This is precisely what Conservatives should be doing — drawing a clear moral line and refusing to apologise for it.

But words are not enough.

If Conservatives are serious about restoring order, and about shedding the legacy of a government that was too weak and overly liberal on crime, then we must go further and be explicit about protection.

We should introduce clear legal safeguards for citizens who intervene, in good faith, to stop crime. If someone acts to prevent theft or violence, they should not later discover that the real punishment comes from their employer or a compliance department.

Employers who sack staff for intervening should be required to publicly justify their decision. Where dismissal occurs, it …

Iran draws missile red line as analysts warn Tehran is stalling US talks
We're watching the same failure loop.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country would not negotiate on its ballistic missile program, rejecting a core U.S. demand and further dimming prospects for a breakthrough deal.
He again warned in an interview with Al Jazeera that Tehran, Iran, would target U.S. bases in the Middle East if provoked, calling Iran’s missile program "never negotiable."
The warnings came as U.S. and Iranian negotiators met in early February in Oman, even as Washington continued to build up military forces across the region — a posture U.S. officials say is meant to deter further escalation but which analysts argue also underscores how far apart the two sides remain.
Despite the imbalance in military power, analysts say Iran believes it can withstand U.S. pressure by signaling greater resolve — and by betting that Washington’s appetite for war is limited.
TRUMP SAYS IRAN ALREADY HAS US TERMS AS MILITARY STRIKE CLOCK TICKS
While the U.S. possesses overwhelming military capabilities, Defense Priorities analyst Rosemary Kelanic said Iran is relying on the logic of asymmetric conflict.
"One country is much stronger, but the weaker country cares more," Kelanic said. "And historically, the country that cares more often wins by outlasting the stronger one."
"Iran is trying to signal resolve as strongly as it can, but it likely doubts U.S. resolve — because from Tehran’s perspective, the stakes for Iran are existential, while the stakes for the United States are not," she added.
IRAN'S PRESIDENT STRIKES SOFTER TONE ON NUCLEAR TALKS AFTER TRUMP'S WARNING THAT 'BAD THINGS WOULD HAPPEN'
Behnam Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Tehran’s primary leverage is its ability to threaten wider regional instability, even if it cannot win a prolonged conflict.
"The Islamic Republic’s leverage is the threat of a region-wide war," Taleblu said, noting that while U.S. and Israeli defenses could intercept most attacks, "something will get hit."
Analysts across the spectrum agree that Iran is using negotiations less as a path to compromise than as a way to delay decisive action.
Oren Kessler, analyst at global consulting firm Wikistrat, said Iran is using talks to stabilize its position internally while avoiding concessions on core security issues.
"Both sides want a deal, but their red lines are very hard for the other side to overcome," Kesler said. "The talks are going well in the sense that they’re happening, but they’re not really going anywhere."
Taleblu echoed that assessment, arguing that Tehran is treating diplomacy as a shield rather …

‘Only Trump-endorsed candidate’: Burt Jones flexes MAGA muscle after Georgia gubernatorial shake-up

EXCLUSIVE — Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is reinforcing his MAGA bona fides as the Trump-backed candidate in the battleground state’s gubernatorial race after another entry into the crowded GOP primary by billionaire Rick Jackson.

Despite the president’s blessing and his front-runner status in the polls to replace term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA), Jones must now fend off not one but two conservatives also aligned with the GOP base, Attorney General Chris Carr and Jackson, in the latest test for Trump’s endorsement power.

“These guys are all trying to act like, and they’re trying to put themselves out there as, a Trump-endorsed candidate,” Jones told the Washington Examiner in an interview. “They’re trying to put a camouflage up.”

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen, is also in the mix for the Republican primary on May 19.

Jones is all in on Trump’s recent FBI raid of Georgia’s largest elections office in Fulton County over the 2020 election, which has reopened divisive political wounds in the Peach State. Then a state senator, Jones was one of 16 fake Trump electors who sought to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia. And in a new ad campaign worth “several million dollars,” the gubernatorial hopeful uses Trump’s own words to remind GOP voters that he is the president’s preferred candidate.

Jones said Jackson’s entry into the race last week and the healthcare executive’s willingness to spend upwards of $40 million in personal money would not alter his own strategy, adding that the ad campaign was put together prior to Jackson’s launch.

“Iron sharpens iron, so competition never has bothered me,” Jones said. “It doesn’t change the fact that I’m the only Trump-endorsed candidate in the race.”

But one area where Jones stopped short of echoing Trump was in the president’s controversial call to “nationalize” voting in more than a dozen states, even as the lieutenant governor welcomes federal intervention in Fulton County. Jones neither embraced nor rebuffed the suggestion, which Republicans in Congress have largely condemned as unconstitutional or ill-advised because Democrats could one day seize on the would-be expanded federal government’s authority.

“I think we all want the same thing: We want to make it easier for folks to vote and make it harder to cheat,” Jones said of Trump’s rhetoric. “And that’s just plain and simple.”

To crack down on what …

Donald Trump’s coveted endorsement isn’t clearing the field in GOP primaries
Same show, different day.

Republicans running for office during this year’s midterm elections are all angling for one person’s endorsement: President Donald Trump.

Though it was once bestowed, Trump’s endorsement is not clearing the field. In fact, Republicans are continuing to mount primary challenges against Trump’s chosen picks.

In Florida, Trump endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) for the Republican nomination for governor. The endorsement made Donald the front-runner and helped him raise more than $40 million, but it hasn’t insulated him from competition.

Since being endorsed by Trump in early 2025, Donalds has seen three other Republicans enter the race: Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner, and millennial entrepreneur James Fishback. Polling shows Donalds well ahead of the pack, but with the primary not until Aug. 18, there is still time for the race to tighten.

“President Trump’s endorsement is a coveted stamp of approval in Republican primaries, which is why candidates across the country are asking for it and those running against it are playing for second place,” Republican National Committee spokeswoman Delanie Bomar told the Washington Examiner.

Merrill Matthews, resident scholar at the Institute for Policy Innovation, agreed. But she noted that while Trump’s endorsement is important, every election is different and has its own set of factors.

“If the state doesn’t necessarily like the person, Trump endorsing that person is not going to necessarily win them the primary and then the election,” said Matthews. “It’s helpful, but it’s not going to be 100%.”

Like Florida, Trump’s endorsement in Georgia has not cleared the field in the race to replace Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. Last August, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones got Trump’s backing for the post but has since seen two high-profile Republicans jump into the race.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a one-time Trump foe who publicly criticized the president’s assertion that the 2020 election was stolen, entered the race in September as a moderate alternative to Jones. Perhaps more troubling for Jones, however, was the entrance of billionaire Rick Jackson, who is running hard for the MAGA lane.

“These guys are all trying to act like, and they’re trying to put themselves out there, as a Trump-endorsed candidate,” Jones told the Washington Examiner. “They’re not running against the president by any means. So they’re trying to put a camouflage up about being the guy. But at the end of the …

Hegseth plays ‘good cop, bad cop’ in effort to pressure defense contractors to reform
This feels like a quiet policy shift.

HEGSETH’S ‘ARSENAL OF FREEDOM’ CRUSADE: Secretary Pete Hegseth, befitting his rebranded title, is on the warpath. Hegseth is skipping the NATO defense ministers meeting this week in Brussels. He won’t be hobnobbing with top world and defense leaders at the weekend’s Munich Security Conference (Secretary of State Marco Rubio will represent the U.S. at the prestigious conference).

Instead of appearing on the world stage, Hegseth has been assigned a singular mission — to implement President Donald Trump’s Jan. 7 executive order to cajole, threaten, and consult with defense contractors to make more weapons, faster and cheaper.

Monday found him at Maine’s Bath Iron Works, preaching that message with the fire and brimstone of a country pastor, to a gathering of shipyard workers, as part of his barnstorming “Arsenal of Freedom” tour of the country. “No more excuses. No more barriers to entry. No more monopolies. No more egregious bonuses. No more stock buybacks. No more ridiculous CEO salaries,” Hegseth said, invoking the president’s directive.

In that executive order, Trump fumed about “underperforming” defense contractors who “pursue newer, more lucrative contracts, stock buy-backs, and excessive dividends to shareholders at the cost of production capacity, innovation, and on-time delivery.”

“Effective immediately,” Trump said. “They are not permitted in any way, shape, or form to pay dividends or buy back stock, until such time as they are able to produce a superior product, on time and on budget.”

CONTRACTORS FEELING THE HEAT: This week, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Army is moving to collect $1.1 million in penalties from Northrop Grumman Corp. and Global Military Products Inc. over delayed shipments of large-caliber artillery shells, some of which were delivered 18 months late.

It’s an opening salvo in the Pentagon’s crackdown aimed at holding contractors accountable. The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that “sweeping performance reviews” are underway to identify companies that aren’t fulfilling their contracts and put them on notice.

“We have completed initial reviews to assess company performance as part of this executive order and will now undergo an extended period of review in which we will make noncompliance determinations,” the Journal reported. The newspaper quotes from a Feb. 6 email to industry executives from Michael Duffey, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, which the Journal claimed it reviewed. …

Trump admin to repeal Obama-era greenhouse gas finding in large-scale deregulation
What's the administration thinking here?

President Donald Trump's administration is poised to walk back an Obama-era greenhouse gas finding that serves as a lynchpin for justifying climate regulations across the country on Wednesday.
The 2009 "endangerment finding" identifies six greenhouse gases that the Obama administration said pose "a threat to public health and welfare." That harm finding was then used to justify sweeping climate regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), such as raising fuel economy standards and limiting power plant emissions, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin hailed the move as cutting through government red tape in an interview with the Journal.
"This amounts to the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States," Zeldin said.
DEMS ACCUSE EPA OF TRYING TO KILL GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING PROGRAM THAT AIDS CAP-AND-TRADE
The Journal reports that the final rule will be made public later this week and is set to eliminate requirements to measure, report, certify and comply with federal greenhouse-gas emission standards for motor vehicles. The rollback does not yet affect power plants or oil and gas facilities.
"More energy drives human flourishing," Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told the outlet. "Energy abundance is the thing that we have to focus on, not regulating certain forms of energy out."
Trump is reportedly expected to hold an event at the White House on Wednesday with Zeldin and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. There they will announce a new initiative for the Department of War to purchase electricity from coal-powered plants.
SNOWSTORM COULD'VE SPARKED GRID CATASTROPHE IF BIDEN CLIMATE POLICIES WEREN'T REVERSED: ENERGY DEPT
The Washington Coal Club is also set to name Trump the "Undisputed Champion of Coal" during the event, according to the Journal.
Trump has been consistently critical of global warming claims and climate regulation throughout both of his terms in office, famously withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement when he first took office in 2017.
Trump more recently used the wall of winter storms across the U.S. as a talking point against "climate insurrectionists."
"Record Cold Wave expected to hit 40 States. Rarely seen anything like it before," Trump wrote on social media last month. "Could the Environmental Insurrectionists please explain — WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???"

Georgia Republicans allow RNC to break party neutrality to support Burt Jones
Why resist verification?

Top state Republicans in Georgia have quietly opened the door for the Republican National Committee to support Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in the state’s hotly contested primary for governor.

The RNC normally maintains strict neutrality in party primaries to let voters — not party leaders — choose its nominee. Any move to intervene in Georgia, however, could dramatically reshape a crowded race for an open governor's seat in a premiere battleground state. It could give Jones, President Donald Trump’s handpicked choice, a boost in a field that includes Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a target of Trump’s ire ever since he refused to echo the president’s falsehoods about the 2020 election in his state.

Georgia’s three RNC members signed letters late last year and early this year waiving the party rule that bars the RNC from intervening in contested primaries, according to three people familiar with the agreement. That move allows the national party to provide financial or operating support to Jones and coordinate with him ahead of the May primary.

It’s unclear whether the RNC will move to support Jones in the crowded primary now that it’s been cleared to do so. But it was the RNC that first reached out to the Georgia party leaders about waiving the rule, according to a person familiar with the process — a sign the national party has at least considered getting off the sidelines. The RNC did not provide a comment.

Josh McKoon, the chair of the Georgia Republican Party, said he signed the letter waiving the RNC’s neutrality rule because Jones has Trump's endorsement.

“It was a no-brainer for me to sign the letter,” McKoon told POLITICO.

“From my perspective, I was going to remove any barriers to working with the RNC from a candidate that the president has clearly signaled as the candidate he wants to be the next governor,” he said.

Jones has long been a vocal supporter of Trump. He endorsed him for president in 2015, and as a state senator, was among the 16 Republicans who attempted to serve as electors in 2020 and falsely certify Trump’s loss in Georgia as a win. Jones received Trump’s official endorsement in August, and released a video with Jones last week calling him a “friend” who’s “going to make a great, great governor.”

Limited early public polling shows Jones leading the field, and he maintains a sizable war chest, but the race remains fluid, and a prolonged and expensive primary could complicate Republicans’ general election prospects. RNC support could help Jones fend off rivals and potentially avoid a prolonged primary fight, especially if he can avoid a run-off.

Last week, health care business owner Rick Jackson injected new uncertainty into the race by launching a surprise gubernatorial bid, pledging to spend $50 million of his own …