World News

May 28 (Reuters) – Guatemala has agreed to carry out joint strikes with the United States military inside its territory to target drug trafficking groups, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing three people familiar with the talks. 

Guatemala’s President Bernardo Arevalo last week agreed to airstrikes and other military action in a call with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and operations could start as early as next month, the newspaper said. 

The U.S. Defense Department also intends to press Honduras to accept joint military action, the report said, adding the Trump administration is targeting the two countries to pressure Mexico into accepting joint counter-drug operations. 

The Pentagon said it would not speculate on future operations or discuss matters of operational security. 

“Under Secretary Hegseth’s leadership, the Department will continue working with trusted partners to defend the Homeland and secure the Western Hemisphere,” Pentagon spokesperson Joel Valdez said in an emailed statement. 

The White House’s broader strategy, according to the Times report, is to normalize American military presence across Latin America to gain leverage over Mexico. 

The White House said the “Administration continues to work to carry out the president’s agenda.” 

The embassies of Guatemala and Honduras in the U.S. did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while the Guatemalan government could not immediately be reached. 

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has long maintained she welcomes intelligence-sharing and security cooperation but will not accept U.S. agents or forces participating in operations on Mexican territory.

U.S. President Donald Trump ​has repeatedly called for greater use of U.S. military force to combat Mexican cartels, and has threatened that the U.S. could go it alone if Washington feels Mexico is not doing enough.

(Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan and Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, David Holmes, Rod Nickel)

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BRUSSELS, May 28 (Reuters) – The European Commission praised Bulgaria’s progress in establishing an independent anti-corruption office and said on Thursday the country had to keep up its reform momentum to get the remainder of EU funds from the post-pandemic recovery fund by the end-August deadline.

Under the EU’s recovery scheme, Bulgaria was to receive €6.2 billion ($7.2 billion) in grants, but the money is linked to a series of reforms, including the establishment of the anti-corruption office and shifting its energy production to renewable sources. 

Sofia has already received €3.3 billion of the EU funds, but progress on meeting the milestones and targets for the rest was difficult because in the last three years the country had five parliamentary elections.

“We all know that there is the deadline in August 2026. So, the goal is to unlock resources by then. For this, we must maintain momentum on reforms,” European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said after talks with Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev.

“I very much welcome that the legislative process is already well under way. Your government is therefore delivering on this significant milestone,” she said, noting Bulgaria could get €370 million from the EU once the reform was complete.

She also said the strengthening of the profitable part of the state-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding, in particular the part that is producing clean energy, would be a major step for the improvement of the Bulgarian energy system. 

“In total, there are 1.2 billion euros in the plan for clean energy investments in Bulgaria,” she said.

Apart from the recovery fund, the EU was ready to disburse to Bulgaria €3.2 billion in cheap loans under its SAFE scheme aimed to bolster defence capabilities of EU countries, especially those on the bloc’s eastern flank, that would be exposed to an attack from Russia.

“We will support Bulgaria with more than €3.2 billion under SAFE as we just discussed. And we are ready to sign our loan agreement with Bulgaria at any time,” von der Leyen said.($1 = 0.8583 euros)

(Reporting by Jan StrupczewskiEditing by Keith Weir)

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DUBAI, May 28 (Reuters) – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday they targeted a U.S. airbase at 0450 local time after what they described as an early morning U.S. attack near Bandar Abbas airport, Tasnim news agency reported.

The IRGC did not say where the base is.

They warned that any repeat of what they called aggression would draw a “more decisive” response and said responsibility for the consequences lay with the “aggressor”.

(Reporting by Jana Choukeir; Editing by Sonali Paul)

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WASHINGTON, May 27 (Reuters) – The United States has sanctioned the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, the body Iran has set up to manage the Strait of Hormuz, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

• The authority is a body Iran has set up to manage requests for passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

• Tehran’s grip on the strait, the conduit for about a fifth of the global oil supply, has sent the world economy into turmoil.

• It closed the strait after the U.S. and Israel launched its war against Iran on February 28.

• Anyone cooperating with the authority may be providing support to and receiving services from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and may be sanctioned, the Treasury said in a statement.

• “The Iranian military’s latest attempt to extort global maritime trade is proof that Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

• The Persian Gulf Strait Authority published a map last week reaffirming Tehran’s claims to a wide stretch of water on either side of the choke point.

(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Jasper Ward; Editing by Sonali Paul, Lincoln Feast and Raju Gopalakrishnan.)

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May 28 (Reuters) – Kuwait’s army said on Thursday that its air defences were intercepting hostile missile and drone threats, but did not say where they were coming from.

The army said any sounds of explosions heard in the country were the result of air-defence systems intercepting the threats, and urged people to follow security and safety instructions issued by authorities.

The statement came after U.S. strikes earlier on Thursday on what Washington said was an Iranian drone operation threatening U.S. forces and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran confirmed the U.S. attack and said it had targeted a U.S. air base at 4:50 a.m.(0120 GMT) after what it described as an early morning U.S. strike near Bandar Abbas airport. It did not say where the base was.

Kuwait, which is home to a U.S. air base, did not say the threats were Iranian.

Gulf countries, including Kuwait, saw missile and drone attacks during the U.S.-Israel war on Iran. Hostilities have largely eased since a ceasefire came into effect in April, though drones have since been launched from Iraq towards Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

(Reporting by Enas Alashray; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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By Renju Jose

SYDNEY, May 28 (Reuters) – An Australian woman who returned home in September from a Syrian refugee camp has been charged with allegedly joining Islamic State and entering and remaining in a declared conflict zone, authorities said on Thursday.

The 34-year-old travelled to Syria between 2013 and 2014 with others, including a man, to allegedly join Islamic State, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said in a statement. The man is believed to be in a prison in the Middle East, the AFP added.

The woman is expected to appear in a Melbourne court on Thursday. Both offences carry a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

Kurdish forces detained the woman in March 2019 and she was held with family members in the Al-Hawl refugee camp. Police said she returned to Australia from Lebanon with another woman, 36, and that investigations into both women were ongoing.

“It is important to note that a period of time without charges being laid is not an indicator that investigations have ceased,” AFP Deputy Commissioner of National Security Investigations Hilda Sirec said.

“Investigations are continuing into all the recent adult female returnees from Syrian camps.”

The charges follow the return earlier this month of two women charged with slavery-related offences and a third with terror offences, including allegedly joining Islamic State. A second group of Australian women and children arrived on Tuesday from a Syrian camp with no charges laid on arrival.

The return of both groups has drawn criticism from political opponents, who say the centre-left government failed to stop their travel to Australia. The government says it did not assist their travel and that there are “very serious limits” on preventing citizens from re-entering the country.

Between 2012 and 2016, some Australian women travelled to Syria to join their husbands who were allegedly members of Islamic State. Following the collapse of the caliphate in 2019, many were detained in camps.

(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)

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BEIJING, May 28 (Reuters) – A passenger bus packed with 16 people, well above its nine-seat rated capacity, crashed into the back of a large truck in central China’s Henan province early on Thursday, killing 13 people, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

KEY DETAILS:

• The collision took place at 2:40 a.m. (1840 GMT Wednesday) on a section of the G40 highway running from Shanghai to Xian in Shaanxi province.

• The SAIC MAXUS passenger bus involved in the collision was rated for nine passengers but had 16 people on board.

• The passenger bus rear-ended a semi-trailer truck travelling ahead.

(Reporting by Joe Cash; Editing by Sonali Paul)

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SYDNEY, May 28 (Reuters) – Australia’s health minister said on Thursday the quarantine period for repatriated passengers on a Dutch-flagged luxury cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak will be extended to 42 days total until June 23.

Four Australian citizens, a permanent resident and one resident of ​New Zealand have been quarantined at a facility near Perth in Western Australia since returning on May 15.

They were initially due to remain there until June 5 but the quarantine has been extended following advice from authorities, Health Minister Mark Butler said.

“The passengers have been informed about the advice and the decision of government. I’m happy to say they remain well,” Butler added.

(Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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(WASHINGTON) – President Donald Trump meets with his Cabinet on Wednesday at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after insisting that his administration and Tehran had “largely negotiated” a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux. Closure to his war of choice may be unsatisfactory, putting off many critical issues to be resolved later.

Elsewhere, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton easily defeated four-term Sen. John Cornyn in the latest contest where Trump sought to oust an incumbent he saw as insufficiently loyal. The scandal-plagued Republican now faces Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in November, with control of the Senate an open question.

And, the 79-year-old president emerged from another medical exam saying “Everything checked out PERFECTLY” after working to dismiss concerns about his age and stamina. The White House said his more than three hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center were spent doing preventive medical and dental checkups.

Here’s the Latest:

President Donald Trump will meet with his Cabinet on Wednesday at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after insisting that his administration and Tehran had “largely negotiated” a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux.

As he prepares to huddle with his top aides, Trump is projecting confidence that he’s closing in on a deal that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and provide him a credible argument that Iran’s nuclear capability has been diminished enough to declare victory, winding down a conflict that’s been politically unpopular for Republicans.

The emerging deal puts off many critical issues to be resolved later and has already exposed the president to fierce criticism — even from some of his own supporters — that Iran’s hard-line leaders will emerge from the conflict battered but emboldened.

Yet another White House construction project is underway. Crews are erecting a temporary octagon-shaped cage on the South Lawn for next month’s UFC bout, timed to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary — and President Donald Trump ’s 80th birthday.

Online renderings depict what the completed, wire-mesh-fence-ringed fight space is expected to look like ahead of the June 14 event, ringed by a red, white and blue stage under a towering arch featuring stars and stripes patterns and two large screens carrying the action live. Thousands of temporary seats will surround the cage and stage, including ringside space for a full marching band.

“I have never seen anybody want anything so much as people want those tickets,” Trump said recently. “That’s gonna be something.”

In a social media post, Trump congratulated Paxton on a “tremendous win” and promised that “I will do some nice, big, beautiful rallies for Ken. Texas, this will be FUN!

Trump also congratulated Cornyn “for having run a strong and powerful race but, more importantly, having had a truly great career.”

In his endorsement of Paxton, Trump said Cornyn “was not supportive of me when times were tough” and that “John was very late in backing me.”

But Trump said Wednesday that, “John will remain my friend for a long time to come, as we both watch Ken become a fantastic, common-sense Senator.”

Joe Biden sued the Justice Department on Tuesday in an effort to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of the former president’s interview with a ghostwriter that were obtained by the special counsel who investigated his handling of classified documents.

Biden’s lawyers said in a lawsuit filed in Washington’s federal court that the Justice Department plans to release the files to Congress and a conservative group, the Heritage Foundation, after the department had previously argued that they were exempt from disclosure under the public records law.

Biden’s lawyers argued that the disclosure would “constitute an unwarranted invasion of President Biden’s privacy.”

“Every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home,” his attorneys wrote. “And when the U.S. Department of Justice obtains that private information through a criminal investigation, the Department bears a particular responsibility to protect it from disclosure.”

The Trump administration wants all current and future federal employees to sign nondisclosure agreements, part of a continuing crackdown on leaks to the media.

A proposed notice, announced Tuesday on the Office of Personnel Management website, is expected to be officially published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, seeking comment on a draft NDA to be used by federal agencies for “both new and existing employees.”

“The form is intended to document Federal employees’ acknowledgment of, and agreement to comply with, current legal obligations to safeguard nonpublic, confidential, or proprietary information, created or obtained through their official duties, while expressly preserving the right to make disclosures authorized by law,” the notice said.

The proposed notice seeks comment on several questions, including whether the NDA should cover only unclassified information and what appropriate actions, if any, agencies should consider for new or current employees who choose not to sign the agreement.

Trump is on a winning streak in Republican primaries, but now he must win in the November midterms, when Republicans face a broader electorate that is concerned about the president’s second term and the economy.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, easily defeating four-term Sen. John Cornyn in the latest contest where Trump sought to oust an incumbent he saw as insufficiently loyal.

Trump endorsed Paxton last week, calling him a “true MAGA warrior.” Paxton’s victory in Tuesday’s runoff makes Cornyn — who was first elected to the Senate in 2002 — the first Republican senator from Texas to lose the party’s nomination for reelection.

Cheers rang through the ballroom at Paxton’s election night party when the race was called, and he took the stage to supporters chanting his name. He quickly gave credit to Trump.

“When everyone in Washington told him to abandon me and abandon the people of Texas, he didn’t listen,” Paxton said. “President Trump is the leader of our party, and his endorsement is the most powerful force in politics.”

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MINA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Masses of pilgrims in Saudi Arabia threw pebbles at a large pillar in a symbolic ritual on Wednesday, one of the final days of the Hajj as Muslims around the world started celebrating the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Pilgrims in Mina, Saudi Arabia, at the annual Islamic pilgrimage chanted “Allahu akbar,” or God is great, while throwing pebbles in a ritual seen as a symbolic stoning of the devil. The act also is seen as a symbol of rejecting evil and a commemoration of the Prophet Ibrahim’s rejection of temptation when the devil tried to dissuade him from submitting to God’s will.

Large crowds of pilgrims moved through the sprawling Jamarat complex after arriving from Muzdalifah, where they collected pebbles overnight following a day of worship and prayer at Arafat on Tuesday.

Pakistani pilgrim Aamar Shakur said he saw the pebble throwing as a symbol of confronting personal struggles in which he was “throwing the stone to my own devil.”

The last days of the Hajj in Saudi Arabia coincide with Eid al-Adha, or “Feast of Sacrifice,” which marks the willingness of Ibrahim, known as Abraham to Christians and Jews, to sacrifice his son. During the holiday, Muslims typically slaughter sheep or cattle and distribute some of the meat to poor people.

The Hajj, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is required once in a lifetime of every Muslim who can afford it and is physically able. Performed over several days, the Hajj can be a deeply moving spiritual experience and a chance to seek God’s forgiveness.

This year, the physically demanding Hajj has been held in intense heat, which appeared to take a toll on some as they moved between holy sites. Medical teams stationed across Mina were seen treating several pilgrims.

Many poured water over their heads and faces to cool themselves under the scorching sun, while others carried umbrellas. Some pushed elderly relatives and loved ones in wheelchairs through the crowds toward the pillars so they could complete the ritual.

More than 1.5 million pilgrims have arrived from abroad, a Saudi official said Friday.

This year’s Hajj takes place against the backdrop of a tenuous ceasefire in the Iran war and related uncertainty throughout the region.

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Fam reported from Winter Park, Florida.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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