A leading Ukrainian drone and missile manufacturer said on Monday that it has named former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo to its newly launched advisory board, a move aimed at tightening oversight while it is investigated by anti-corruption authorities.
Fire Point, whose FP-1 drone has been critical to Ukraine’s long-range strikes on Russia, said it was “aligning our governance framework with leading international standards” by appointing Pompeo, who served from 2018 to 2021 in the first administration of president Donald Trump.
The firm, which has also developed the Flamingo cruise missile Ukraine hopes to scale up as it grows its arms industry, is the subject of a probe by Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies into inflated pricing, according to local newspaper the Kyiv Independent.
“Secretary Pompeo’s strategic insights and deep understanding of global affairs will be invaluable as we continue to grow and strengthen our governance practices,” the company said in a statement, without mentioning the probe.
The Kremlin said on Monday that it hoped another summit between Russian president Vladimir Putin and US president Donald Trump could take place as soon as the necessary preparation had been completed.
Putin and Trump last met in August at a summit in Alaska, where they failed to reach a resolution on the war in Ukraine.
Last month they announced plans for a summit in Budapest but Trump cancelled it soon afterwards.
A group of 17 transgender US air force members has sued the Trump administration for denying them early retirement pensions and benefits.
The complaint, submitted in federal court, describes the government’s move against them as “unlawful and invalid”.
The legal action follows the air force’s confirmation it would deny early retirement benefits to all transgender service members with 15 to 18 years of military experience, a decision that effectively pushes them out of the military with no retirement support at all.
“The Air Force’s own retirement instruction provides that retirement orders may only be rescinded under very limited circumstances, none of which were present here,” the lawsuit says.
President Trump is set to meet with the White House Task Force at 2pm ET today, as plans ramp up ahead of next summer’s soccer World Cup.
The meeting will take place in the Oval Office at the White House.
It comes as one of Donald Trump’s closest sporting allies created what some are calling football’s version of the Nobel peace prize, only weeks after the US president was snubbed for the real thing.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino announced the creation of the Fifa peace prize, to be awarded each year to “individuals who help unite people in peace through unwavering commitment and special actions”.
The inaugural award will be presented on 5 December during the World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, a high-profile event that Trump is expected to attend.
US attacks another alleged drug boat in Pacific, killing three
The United States conducted another attack on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three people aboard, the Pentagon said on Sunday.
“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” the US Southern Command announced in a post on social media.
It came as Donald Trump said the US may open talks with Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president, who faces escalating pressure from Washington amid a huge US military buildup in the Caribbean.
“We may be having some discussions with Maduro, and we’ll see how that turns out. They would like to talk,” the US president said on Sunday, in one of the first signs of a possible path to defusing the increasingly tense situation in the region.
The US has accused Maduro of ties to the illegal drug trade, which Maduro denies.
The US Southern Command’s post on Sunday said the boat was in international waters when it was struck by the Southern Spear joint taskforce. It did not give details on where the vessel was traveling from or what organization it was associated with.
The latest operation was the 21st known attack on drug boats by the US military since early September in what it has called a justified effort to disrupt the flow of narcotics into the US.
The strikes have killed more than 80 people, according to Pentagon figures. Lawmakers in Congress, human rights groups and US allies have raised questions about the legality of the attacks.
The Trump administration has said it has the legal authority to carry out the strikes, with the justice department providing a legal opinion that justifies them and argues that US military personnel who carry out the operations are immune from prosecution. The administration also has not publicly explained the legal justification for the decision to attack the boats rather than stop them and arrest those on board.
The latest deadly strike came as the US navy announced its most advanced aircraft carrier had arrived in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday in a display of power that raised questions about what the new influx of troops and weaponry could signal for the Trump administration’s intentions in South America.
The arrival of the USS Gerald R Ford and other warships rounds off the largest buildup of US firepower in the region in generations. With its arrival, the Operation Southern Spear mission includes nearly a dozen navy ships and about 12,000 sailors and marines.
The carrier strike group, which includes squadrons of fighter jets and guided-missile destroyers, transited the Anegada Passage near the British Virgin Islands on Sunday morning, the navy said.
Trump says he plans to meet with New York City mayor Mamdani
President Donald Trump indicated Sunday that he plans to meet with New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and said they will “work something out”, AP reported.
Trump has for months slammed Mamdani, falsely labeling him as a “communist” and predicting the ruin of his hometown, New York, if the democratic socialist was elected. He also threatened to deport Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and became a naturalized American citizen, and to pull federal money from the city.
Mamdani rose from an obscure state lawmaker to become a social media star and symbol of the resistance against Trump during his mayoral campaign. He campaigned on an array of progressive policies and a message that was stark in its opposition to the aggressive, anti-immigrant agenda Trump has rolled out in his second White House term.
The 34-year-old appealed to a broad cross-section of New Yorkers and defeated one of its political heavyweights, former governor Andrew Cuomo, by nearly 9 percentage points.
In his election night victory speech, Mamdani said he wanted New York to show the country how to defeat the president. But the day after, while speaking about his plans for “Trump-proofing” New York once he takes office in January, the incoming mayor also said he was willing to work with anyone, including the president, if it can help New Yorkers.
Trump dismisses Marjorie Taylor Greene's claim that his attacks put her in danger
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I am Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with the news that president Donald Trump doubled down on his attacks against Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene on Sunday, despite his reversal on resisting the release of the Epstein files.
He continued to dismiss her claim that his criticism was endangering her and said he did not believe anyone was targeting her. Greene said on Saturday that Trump’s online criticism had unleashed a surge of threats directed at her.
On Sunday morning, she told CNN that Trump calling her a traitor was the “most hurtful” part of his remarks. Trump repeated the insult hours later.
“Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene,” he said, referring to the lawmaker. “I don’t think her life is in danger... I don’t think anybody cares about her,” the president told reporters before boarding Air Force One on Sunday night for a return to Washington, DC from his Mar-a-Lago social club in Florida.
Greene, a US House of Representatives member from Georgia who was long known as a Trump loyalist, has recently taken positions at odds with the president. She said on Saturday she has been contacted by private security firms warning about her safety and that harsh attacks against her have previously resulted in death threats.
The public fallout came as Trump urged his fellow Republicans in Congress to vote for the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reversing his earlier resistance to such a move.
Trump’s post on his Truth Social came after House speaker Mike Johnson said earlier that he believed a vote on releasing justice department documents in the Epstein case should help put to rest allegations “that he [Trump] has something to do with it”.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday: “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide.
“And it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown’” he said.
Although Trump and Epstein were photographed together decades ago, the president has said the two men fell out before Epstein’s convictions. Emails released last week by a House committee showed the disgraced financier, who died by suicide in jail in 2019, believed Trump “knew about the girls,” though it was not clear what that phrase meant.
Read the full story here:
In other developments:
The United States conducted another attack on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific on Saturday, killing three people aboard, the Pentagon said on Sunday. “Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” the US Southern Command announced in a post on social media.
Trump said the US may open talks with Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan president, who faces escalating pressure from Washington amid a huge US military buildup in the Caribbean. “We may be having some discussions with Maduro, and we’ll see how that turns out. They would like to talk,” the US president said on Sunday, in one of the first signs of a possible path to defusing the increasingly tense situation in the region.
Trump on Sunday brushed aside concerns about conservative commentator Tucker Carlson‘s recent interview with a far-right activist known for his antisemitic views, which has caused a schism within the Republican party. Trump defended Carlson, saying the former Fox News host has “said good things about me over the years.” He said if Carlson wants to interview Nick Fuentes, whose followers see themselves as working to preserve America’s white, Christian identity, then “people have to decide.” Trump did not criticize Carlson or Fuentes.
Trump indicated on Sunday that he plans to meet with New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and said they will “work something out”, in what could be a detente for the Republican president and Democratic political star who have cast each other as political foils. Trump has for months slammed Mamdani, falsely labelling him as a “communist” and predicting the ruin of his hometown, New York, if the democratic socialist were elected.
A group of 17 transgender US air force members has sued the Trump administration for denying them early retirement pensions and benefits. The complaint, submitted in federal court, describes the government’s move against them as “unlawful and invalid”.
Updated
