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Dec 4, 2025 - World

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) insisted that two survivors of the strike on a small alleged drug boat deserved to die because they were trying to "flip" the vessel back over after it was hit.Following a briefing from Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley on Thursday, Cotton defended the Pentagon's decision to continue firing on the boat after the first strike."The second strike and the third and the fourth strike on September 2nd were entirely lawful and needful, and they were exactly what we would expect our military commanders to do," the senator insisted. "What exactly did you see in terms of the video of the second strike?" one reporter asked. "Were there survivors?""I saw two survivors trying to flip a boat, loaded with drugs, bound for the United States, back over, so they could stay in the fight," Cotton replied. "And potentially, given all the contacts we heard, of other narco-terrorist boats in the area coming to their aid to recover their cargo and recover those narco-terrorists, and just like you would blow up a boat, off of the Somali coast or the Yemeni coast and you'd come back and strike it again if it still had terrorists and it still had explosives or missiles."The boat, however, did not have explosives or missiles and was too small to pose a threat to the U.S. mainland from that distance, many experts have said. "I didn't see anything disturbing about it," Cotton told the reporters. "And we're going to continue to strike these boats until cartels learn their lesson that their drugs are no longer coming to America.""But Congressman Himes said that according to what he saw in that video, the two people who survived trying to get back on the boat, there was no way they could have conducted further operations or anything like that?" a reporter pressed. "He may be okay with drug boats running to America," Cotton snapped. "I just disagree with that.""If you think these strikes are justified and righteous, as I do, and I want them to continue, then of course the second strike, when you have two survivors, who are trying to flip their boat back over and continue on their mission, remain in the battle," he added.

Dec 4, 2025 - World

Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands pull out after decision not to hold vote on Israel’s participationIreland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands will boycott next year’s Eurovision after Israel was given the all-clear to compete in the 2026 song contest despite calls by several participating broadcasters for its exclusion over the war in Gaza.No vote on Israel’s participation was held on Thursday at the general assembly of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the body that organises the hugely popular international annual singing competition. Continue reading...

Dec 4, 2025 - World

An investigation found defense secretary put US forces at risk, triggering fresh demands for his resignationThe Department of Defense’s inspector general released the much-anticipated unclassified report Thursday about Pete Hegseth’s disclosure of plans for military airstrikes in Yemen in a Signal group chat earlier this year.It found that Hegseth violated departmental policies when he shared information in the chat, and that if a foreign enemy force intercepted that information it could have endangered the lives of US troops, as the Guardian reported yesterday. “Using a personal cell phone to conduct official business and send nonpublic DoD information through Signal risks potential compromise of sensitive DoD information, which could cause harm to DoD personnel and mission objectives,” the report said. Continue reading...

Dec 4, 2025 - World

Some users jump generations in expanded Wrapped review while Taylor Swift tops UK streams for third yearIt has given some in middle age dubious hope that they have their finger on the cultural pulse. Meanwhile, some younger users have been told their listening habits suggest they are well into retirement.Spotify has confected a wave of intrigue over what our musical preferences suggest about our vintage, with its “your listening age” feature causing delight and consternation. Continue reading...

Dec 4, 2025 - World

‘Information-dense’ AI responses are most persuasive but these tend to be less accurate, says security reportChatbots can sway people’s political opinions but the most persuasive artificial intelligence models deliver “substantial” amounts of inaccurate information in the process, according to the UK government’s AI security body.Researchers said the study was the largest and most systematic investigation of AI persuasiveness to date, involving nearly 80,000 British participants holding conversations with 19 different AI models. Continue reading...