BREAKING: According to ABC News, Minneapolis and state officials are reportedly bracing for a possible pardon of Derek Chauvin.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth signs a defense cooperation agreement between the United States and Qatar.

There were 30,000 fewer U.S. drug overdose deaths in 2024 than the year before — the largest one-year decline ever recorded. An estimated 80,000 people died from overdoses last year, according to provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Wednesday. That’s down 27% from the 110,000 in 2023. The CDC has been collecting comparable data for 45 years. The previous largest one-year drop was 4% in 2018, according to the agency’s National Center for Health Statistics. All but two states saw declines last year, with Nevada and South Dakota seeing small increases. Some of the biggest drops were in Ohio, West Virginia and other states that have been hard-hit in the nation’s decades-long overdose epidemic.

After arriving in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, President Donald Trump indicated he was ready to hold talks with Ahmed al-Sharaa, a onetime high-ranking member of both al-Qaeda and ISIS, who now leads Syria following the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in December.
President Trump announced his willingness to lift economic restrictions that had long targeted Syria. According to officials, Sharaa had been eager to secure a meeting with Trump, offering sweeping incentives including energy agreements with the U.S., diplomatic recognition of Israel, and even permits for a Trump Tower project in Damascus. The White House confirmed that Sharaa was expected to fly into Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to sit down with the president.

The United States is weighing reviving a controversial arms deal with Turkey, and Israeli officials are raising quiet but pointed objections to the possible sale of advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets to a government they now view with growing suspicion—and no small measure of alarm. According to senior Israeli officials, Jerusalem has conveyed diplomatic messages to the Trump administration opposing any move to approve the sale, citing concerns over the erosion of Israel’s qualitative military edge in an increasingly volatile region. The messages, which have not been made public, reflect mounting unease within Israel’s security establishment as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey sharpens his rhetoric against the Jewish state.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — President Don

President Trump was greeted by a dramatic display of military honor on Wednesday when Air Force One entered Qatari airspace, with eight fighter jets flanking the presidential aircraft as it made its descent into Doha — the second destination on his current diplomatic tour through the Middle East.
Observers noted that the aerial reception seemed to be a deliberate gesture intended to surpass the welcome offered by Saudi Arabia a day earlier, where only six fighter jets had accompanied the president’s arrival.
Members of the press traveling with the president observed four Qatari jets flying alongside the starboard side of Air Force One, while White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted a video clip showing four additional jets on the port side.

Wild CCTV footage captured the moment of the assassination attempt on Muhammad Sinwar yesterday in the Gaza Strip.