WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that, a month into the war, Iran still has the ability to launch offensive missiles, despite ongoing U.S. and Israeli efforts to weaken Tehran’s military capabilities and weapon programs. “Yes, they will shoot some missiles, but we will shoot them down,” Hegseth told reporters at a Pentagon briefing, acknowledging…
WASHINGTON — President Trump threatened Monday to destroy vital Iranian energy and water infrastructure if a peace deal is not reached, as Tehran continued to deny negotiations were taking place and said it was preparing for a ground invasion following the arrival of thousands of American troops in the region. If a ceasefire agreement is not reached…
HAVANA — Yenisey Taboada’s small apartment on the outskirts of Havana is filled with photos of her imprisoned son. Duannis was 22 and watching soccer at a cafe when he spontaneously joined Cuba’s biggest antigovernment street protest in decades. He was beaten by security forces, arrested and sentenced to 14 years in prison. His mother’s apartment is…
Two days after Mexican forces killed the leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel last month, Gladdys Uribe was in her California home, anxiously tracking her parents’ movements in Mexico. The capture and death of the world’s most wanted drug trafficker — Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes — triggered a violent retaliation that spread…
President Trump on Thursday continued projecting confidence in the U.S. war effort in Iran, suggesting online and during a high-level Cabinet meeting that Iran has been “obliterated,” that its leaders were “begging” for a deal, and that the U.S. is “roaming free” over Iran and “NEEDS NOTHING” from its European allies. His description of the…
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Tuesday that Iran wants to “make a deal” with the United States to end the war in the Middle East, saying that negotiations are ongoing with the conflict in its fourth week. Iran has publicly denied that talks are happening. But Trump told reporters during an Oval Office event that negotiations are…
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday ordered the government to return to the U.S. a California DACA recipient who was deported last month to Mexico. U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins in Sacramento gave the government seven days to return Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez, 42, and restore her protections under the Obama-era program Deferred Action for…
President Trump and Iranian officials gave conflicting statements Monday about a possible deal to end the war — with Trump extending a deadline he’d set for bombing Iranian power plants and claiming negotiations were underway, while Iran denied having any dialogue with Trump officials. “We are in the throes of a real possibility of making…
HAVANA — Reggaeton boomed in a neighborhood bar in Old Havana on a recent night, when, suddenly, the music stopped and everything went dark. The customers groaned. Another blackout. A U.S. blockade on oil shipments to Cuba has plunged the island into its worst energy crisis in modern history. The country’s already cratering economy now teeters on…
During President Obama’s first term, when the U.S. and Cuba initially made attempts to thaw our icy relationship, I visited the island country as part of an educational delegation. We met with government officials including Mariela Castro, the daughter of then-President Raul Castro, as she was working on pro-LGBTQ+ legislation. We visited the burial site…