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Trump ousts White House national security adviser Waltz, replaces him with Rubio

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U.S. President Donald Trump ousted his national security adviser Mike Waltz on Thursday and named Secretary of State Marco Rubio as his interim replacement in the first major shakeup of Trump’s inner circle since he took office in January.

Trump, in a social media post, said he would nominate Waltz to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, adding that “he has worked hard to put our nation’s interests first.”

Earlier in the day, multiple sources said Trump had decided to remove Waltz from his national security post. The retired Army Green Beret and former Republican lawmaker from Florida had faced criticism inside the White House, particularly after he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides, Reuters reported.

Rubio will be the first person since Henry Kissinger in the 1970s to hold the positions of secretary of state and national security adviser simultaneously.

“When I have a problem, I call up Marco. He gets it solved,” Trump said at a White House event earlier on Thursday.

A person familiar with the matter said Trump wanted to get to the 100-day mark in his term before firing a cabinet-level official. News of the shake-up on Thursday was so abrupt that State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce learned about it from reporters at a briefing.

The national security adviser is a powerful role that does not require Senate confirmation. Trump had four national security advisers in his first term: Michael Flynn, H.R. McMaster, John Bolton and Robert O’Brien.

Waltz’s deputy, Alex Wong, an Asia expert who was a State Department official focused on North Korea during Trump’s first term, is also being forced from his post, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The Waltz ouster caps a month of personnel turmoil within Trump’s national security establishment. Since April 1, at least 20 NSC staffers have been fired, the director of the National Security Agency has been dismissed and three high-ranking Pentagon political appointees have been shown the door.

The purges have seriously hurt morale in some areas of the national security establishment, according to several officials within or close to the administration. Some elements of the government are low on relevant national security expertise and in some cases it has proven difficult to attract high-level talent, the officials added.

The NSC is the main body used by presidents to coordinate security strategy, and its staff often make key decisions regarding America’s approach to the world’s most volatile conflicts.

Waltz was blamed for accidentally adding the editor of The Atlantic magazine to a private thread describing details of an imminent U.S. bombing campaign in Yemen. The Atlantic subsequently reported on the internal discussions about the strikes.

At a subsequent Cabinet meeting with Waltz in the room, Trump expressed his preference for holding such conversations in a secure setting, a clear sign of his displeasure. But he and others in the White House publicly expressed confidence in Waltz at the time.

Trump so far has expressed confidence in his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, despite the turmoil at the top levels at the Pentagon and his involvement in the Signal controversy.

Waltz also attended Trump’s televised cabinet meeting on Wednesday. In a Reuters photograph from the meeting, Waltz appeared to be using the Signal app on his phone. The photograph appears to show a list of chats he has had on the messaging app with other cabinet members, including Vice President JD Vance and Intelligence Chief Tulsi Gabbard.

Commenting on the photo, White House communications director Steven Cheung said on social media: “Signal is an approved app that is loaded onto our government phones.”

WAVE OF FIRINGS

The NSC that Waltz will leave behind has been thinned by dismissals in recent weeks.

The bloodletting began a month ago, when Laura Loomer, a right-wing conspiracy theorist, handed Trump a list of individuals in the NSC she deemed to be disloyal during a meeting at the White House. Following that meeting, four senior directors were released.

Those four senior directors – who oversaw intelligence, technology, international organizations and legislative affairs, respectively – had a long history in conservative policymaking and no apparent animosity toward Trump, leaving colleagues puzzled by their dismissals, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Some NSC staffers were upset that Waltz did not defend his staff more forcefully, those people said.

Since then, more than 20 additional NSC staffers of various profiles have been let go, typically with no notice, the people said.

The Signal controversy was not the only mark against Waltz in Trump’s eyes, sources said.

A person familiar with the Cabinet’s internal dynamics said Waltz was too hawkish for the war-averse Trump and was seen as not effectively coordinating foreign policy among a variety of agencies, a key role for the national security adviser.

Waltz’s ouster could be of concern to U.S. partners in Europe and Asia who have seen him as supportive of traditional alliances such as NATO and tempering more antagonistic views toward them from some other Trump aides, according to one foreign diplomat in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.N. position he is now being nominated for has been vacant since Trump withdrew the nomination of New York Republican Representative Elise Stefanik because her vote was needed in the House of Representatives, which is narrowly held by Republicans.

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Lebanon says Israeli strikes in south of the country kill at least 11​​​

Iran-backed Hezbollah said in a statement that the attacks would be “met with what they deserve”.

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At least 11 people were killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday, the Lebanese ‌health ministry said, some of the deadliest in the weeks since the country agreed to a U.S.-mediated peace framework with neighbouring Israel, Reuters reported.

The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah infrastructure overnight in what it describes as a security zone in southern Lebanon in response to actions against its soldiers there.

Iran-backed Hezbollah said in a statement that the attacks would be “met with what they deserve”.

The framework leaves ​Israeli troops inside occupied southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed and the Lebanese army takes control, terms the group has rejected as surrender.

Lebanon’s official National News ​Agency said seven people were killed when Israeli warplanes struck a house in the southern village of Ansar, while four others ⁠were killed in a strike on the village of Deir El Zahrani.

The seven people killed in Ansar included three children and two women, NNA said, adding that ​a total of 19 people were wounded in the attacks.

At least 4,300 people have been killed in Lebanon in the latest round of hostilities since March 2.

NNA also reported ​other airstrikes across southern Lebanon, including on a strategic area north of the Litani River known as Ali al-Taher hill. One, targeting a valley next to Ansar, was the deepest strike into Lebanon in two months.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a statement on X, accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire and attacking Israeli soldiers leading to three injuries, read the report.

“The IDF (Israel Defense ​Forces) responded by striking the Hezbollah terror headquarters which ordered the attack,” the statement said. “Only later did the IDF learn that Hezbollah deliberately put civilians in that ​military compound.”

The Israeli military said in a statement it killed Ali Samir Al-Haj Hassan, a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force unit and others when it struck “a central headquarters of the ‌Radwan Force unit,” ⁠in Ansar.

“At the time of the strike, Hassan’s family was also present with him inside the military headquarters and, according to the claim, was harmed in the strike,” the statement added, emphasising that the family was not the target of the strike.

“The martyrs of the Israeli raid on the village of Ansar are not ‘military infrastructure’ and the women and children killed in it are not military targets,” Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said in a post on X.

Nabih Berri, the speaker ​of Lebanon’s parliament, who is a Hezbollah ​ally, called in a statement for ⁠national unity and for the sponsors of the peace talks and ceasefire agreements to assume responsibility for stopping the war before it was too late.

Israel’s military seized a swathe of southern Lebanon during its war with Hezbollah earlier this year, triggered after ​the group fired at Israel two days into the Iran war. Israel has said it will keep its forces there to ​protect the north of ⁠the country from further attacks.

During a visit to southern Lebanon on Thursday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel would not withdraw from areas under its control until Hezbollah was disarmed. A U.S. State Department official said a permanent Israeli military presence there was not consistent with commitments set out in the deal, Reuters reported.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, in a statement on X, said ⁠the attacks ​were a “clear message” aimed at the negotiations and U.S. efforts towards implementing the framework agreement.

Doron Spielman, international ​spokesperson for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, told Reuters Saturday’s strikes would “tighten up” negotiations.

“I think it should make the negotiations more serious and more real, because it highlights the whole reason we got into ​these negotiations in the first place,” he added.

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At least 38 dead after Indonesia’s magnitude-7.7 earthquake, officials say

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At least 38 people died after an earthquake of magnitude 7.7 and ​dozens of aftershocks struck off eastern Indonesia on Saturday, officials said, as rescue workers rushed to reach areas closest to ‌the epicentre.

Tsunami waves of less than 1 metre (3 feet) were recorded in several areas of the Southeast Asian nation after the early morning tremor. The tsunami warning was lifted about three hours after the quake, Reuters reported.

“As of 15:00 (0800 GMT), the recorded figures are 38 fatalities, two people seriously injured, 11 with minor injuries,” Suharyanto, head of the ​National Disaster Management Agency, or BNPB, told a televised press conference. He added that approximately 2,000 people had fled to safer ground.

Earlier, ​rescuers in the port town of Maumere found 20 dead, six injured and two trapped under the rubble, ⁠said Fathur Rahman, head of the city’s rescue agency. Maumere is the main town in Sikka Regency on Flores Island in the east of ​Indonesia’s vast archipelago.

Suharyanto said residents remain trapped in several buildings in earthquake-affected areas and there are reports of landslides blocking several roads.

TEAMS HAVE YET TO ​REACH REGION CLOSEST TO EPICENTRE

Teams have yet to reach Nagekeo, the region closest to the epicentre, and communications signals there had been affected, Fathur told Reuters. Attempts to reach Nagekeo by car were blocked by landslides, while another team was attempting to go by ferry, he said.

About 2,000 residents in Nagekeo evacuated, and damage was reported ​to a number of houses, warehouses and government facilities, the BNPB said. Authorities also reported traffic congestion and power outages affecting parts of the ​regency, it said.

The governor of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, told a press conference at least five people died from collapsing rubble as they ‌slept.

Parts of ⁠a building collapsed into dust and rubble as people screamed and ran in the street, a video on Facebook, verified by Reuters as being at a port in Maumere, showed.

“The quake was massive, the shock was so strong, we were resting at home with family,” said Nona, a 51-year-old resident of Talibura, a village in East Nusa Tenggara. “There were 13 of us inside the house and we all ran to save ourselves.”

Strong shaking was ​felt across East Nusa Tenggara, West ​Nusa Tenggara and parts of ⁠South Sulawesi, and residents in several areas reported shaking lasting about one minute, the BNPB said in a statement.

“Most of the people felt the shock and scattered out of their homes,” it said.

A hospital in the district ​of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara Province was moving patients outside, Kompas TV footage showed, and Kompas.com ​reported at least one ⁠landslide.

Indonesian geophysics agency BMKG recorded the first quake at 4.58 a.m. (2158 GMT) at a depth of 15 km (9 miles), followed by several aftershocks.

In 1992 the same area was hit by a magnitude-7.5 quake, causing extensive destruction at that time, the agency said.

Australia’s tsunami warning centre said the undersea earthquake would pose “no ⁠tsunami threat ​to the Australian mainland, islands or territories”.

Indonesia straddles the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a seismically active ​zone, where different plates on the earth’s crust meet, creating a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.

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Five killed in Michigan shooting; suspect found dead after manhunt

Police did not release the names, ages, or genders of the victims, saying next-of-kin notifications were underway.

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A man suspected of shooting and killing five people in northern Michigan on Friday was found dead after a manhunt, Michigan State Police said in a statement on social media.

One victim remained hospitalized in critical condition, the police said.

Troopers were dispatched around 11:40 a.m. local time (6:40 p.m. Israel time) to a home in Missaukee County, Michigan, after a report of a shooting. Officers found three people dead and a fourth person wounded, the state police said.

The suspect, identified by police as 39-year-old Chad Hickman, fled the scene before troopers arrived, prompting a manhunt. During the search for the suspect, investigators discovered another deceased victim at a second residence.

Troopers later located Hickman’s vehicle near a wooded area close to Whitlock Lake, where they found Hickman and another person dead, police said.

“This situation is heartbreaking for the community and challenging for the investigators involved,” said Lieutenant Ashley Miller, cited in the police statement.

Police did not release the names, ages, or genders of the victims, saying next-of-kin notifications were underway.

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