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John Phelan firing caused by poor relationship with Pete Hegseth and slow movement on shipbuilding, sources sayThe Trump administration fired its top naval official on Wednesday in a move unrelated to the ongoing naval blockade of Iran’s strait of Hormuz, but instead over over an internal dispute about shipbuilding.The Pentagon confirmed that John Phelan, who ran a private investment fund in Florida and was a Donald Trump donor, had been ousted as the navy secretary. His departure – the first of any service secretary in the Trump administration – came in the same week Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps seized two container ships in the strait of Hormuz, claiming maritime violations and transferring them to Iranian shores. Continue reading...

The US has deployed more forces since the truce and senior Iranians seem to be relishing the prospect of the fightIt is the doomsday scenario that Donald Trump repeatedly swore he would never countenance: putting boots on the ground in a deployment that could embroil the US in a Middle East “forever war”.Now, with a two-week ceasefire in the war with Iran coming to an end and prospects for renewed negotiations hanging by a thread, the chances of the president breaking that pledge and ordering some kind of ground incursion seem to be rising. Continue reading...

Schwartz was deputy surgeon general under Trump’s first administration and is a rear admiral in the US Coast GuardDonald Trump announced Thursday that he has selected Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), bringing to an end a months-long search for a permanent head of the troubled public health agency.Trump revealed his choice on Truth Social, saying: “I am pleased to announce the new leadership of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is my Honor to nominate the incredibly talented Dr Erica Schwartz, MD, JD, MPH, as my Director of the CDC,” he wrote. “She is a STAR!” Continue reading...

• DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and her political allies have characterized Trump administration threats regarding the city's governance as a symbolic victory, suggesting they have successfully resisted federal pressure. • The dispute centers on federal efforts to exert control over District of Columbia government operations, marking one of the most serious federal threats to local autonomy in 30 years. • The 88-year-old congressional delegate has mounted a defensive response to defend the city's semi-autonomous status and self-governance rights.

Howard-era former minister Amanda Vanstone criticises parts of hardline policy but backs English language requirementGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFormer Howard government minister Amanda Vanstone has warned Angus Taylor against turning immigration into heavy-handed law enforcement, saying most migrants from countries run by dictators and extremists move here to escape authoritarianism.Releasing the first elements of a new hardline immigration policy on Tuesday, the opposition leader sparked criticism from refugee advocates, Pauline Hanson and even one sitting Liberal MP, who all likened the plans to policies from US president Donald Trump. Continue reading...

The Coalition might be in opposition to Labor but it is hoping to stem its loss of voters to Pauline Hanson – and Taylor’s speech shows how the party wants to be seenGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIt was not long ago that the notion of Australia as the world’s most successful multicultural country was not just a bipartisan political position but a source of national pride, expressed as enthusiastically by Liberals as their Labor counterparts.“I believe, no, I know that Australia is the most successful multicultural immigration country on the planet,” the then Liberal prime minister, Scott Morrison, told the National Press Club in 2021. Continue reading...

Prime minister explicitly blames US president for British consumers’ higher bills as he concludes tour of Gulf statesGood morning. Keir Starmer is wrapping up his three-day tour of Gulf states today, and we are starting some conclusions. What we have not got is any sort of plan for a resolution of the Iran war; Starmer is not one of the main protagonists in this conflict, what he has said publicly about his talks with Gulf leaders has consisted largely of platitudes, we still have no idea about when, if or how the strait of Hormuz will fully open, and the outcome will be determined by Iran and a rash and unpredictable US president.But Starmer has been giving some thought to how the UK should respond to the era of global uncertainty we now find ourselves in and he has set out some of his thinking in an article for the Guardian. The full piece is here. Continue reading...