Trump backs top adviser who accidentally added journalist to secret air strike chat
Summary
Donald Trump backs National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, who accidentally added a journalist to a group chat about air strikes on Yemen
Trump tells NBC that Waltz is a good man, and the leak was a "glitch"
Analysis: Trump says Waltz has learned his lesson. But what was that lesson?
Waltz added editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a chat about US air strikes on Yemen earlier this month
In the chat, Vice-President JD Vance seemingly says he hates "bailing Europe out again"
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth apparently replies to Vance with: "I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It's PATHETIC"
Several members of the chat are testifying at an already scheduled Senate Intelligence Committee hearing - you can watch live at the top of this page
Democrat Heinrich pushes Ratcliffe on why material in chat was not classified
Democratic Senator Martin Heinrich asks Ratcliffe about who determined that the material in the chat was not classified.
CIA director John Ratcliffe, who earlier said he was in the chat, says Signal is a permissible platform to use.
Heinrich says this is already clear, as Ratcliffe continues to explain that it has been approved for use.
In this case, Ratcliffe says the national security advisor requested through a Signal message "that there be coordination".
He says it is not improper that a CIA agent was a member of the chat.
The chat was set up with the instruction to send a point of contact, and information would be further provided in a more secure manner of communications, he says.
Oscar-winning Palestinian director released from Israeli detention
No Other Land director Hamdan Ballal released a day after he was attacked by settlers and detained by Israeli forces
An Oscar-winning Palestinian director who was attacked by Jewish settlers and detained by Israeli forces has been released from detention.
Hamdan Ballal and two other Palestinians left a police station in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, where they were being held on Tuesday. Ballal had bruises on his face and blood on his clothes.
The three had spent the night on the floor of a military base while suffering from serious injuries sustained in the attack, according to Ballal’s lawyer, Lea Tsemel
Imabari City, Ehime wildfire
India: Comedian charged for skit criticizing politician
Indian comedian Kunal Kamra on Monday night refused to apologize for his act criticizing a politician allied with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after the launch of an investigation accusing him of defamation.
"I don't fear this mob and I will not be hiding under my bed, waiting for this to die down," Kamra, among India's leading comedians, said in a post shared on his social media accounts.
Brazil judges weigh whether to put Bolsonaro on trial for 'coup'
The case arises from alleged efforts to unseat leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to whom Bolsonaro lost a vote in October that year by a razor-thin margin.
The 70-year-old was charged in February with crimes including overseeing a "coup d'etat," the "attempted violent abolition of the democratic state of law" and "armed criminal organization."
He risks a sentence of about 40 years if convicted, but has insisted he is the victim of a political plot to exclude him from running in presidential elections in 2026.
What is Betar US, the group pushing to deport pro-Palestinian students?
Several pro-Israel groups have come out in support of United States President Donald Trump’s push to expel and deport students for participating in pro-Palestine protests on US campuses.
One of the most prominent among them is Betar US, a group that says it is sharing the names of pro-Palestinian protesters with the Trump administration.
