A source in Hezbollah told Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed: There is dialogue with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, as well as the will for understanding, and the party is open and serious.

Politico is now reporting that, in addition to Dan Caldwell—a senior advisor to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth—Pentagon Deputy Chief of Staff Darin Selnick was also escorted out of the building by security and placed on administrative leave earlier Tuesday. The move comes as part of the same ongoing investigation into “unauthorized disclosures and leaks” within the Department of Defense. Selnick previously held positions in the White House and the Department of Veterans Affairs during President Trump’s first term, and earlier this year served as Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.

Dan Caldwell, a senior advisor to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and a close ally of recently confirmed Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, was escorted out of the Pentagon and placed on administrative leave earlier today due to “an unauthorized disclosure” connected to an ongoing investigation into recent leaks within the Department of Defense. Caldwell was also identified by Secretary Hegseth in last month’s leaked Signal chat, published by The Atlantic, as the “best staff point of contact for the National Security Council” during preparations for the Trump Administration’s current strike campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist group in Yemen.

The narrative war between the U.S. and China is in full swing, fueled by the tariff conflict initiated under Trump. Recently, the Trump administration declared it would not allow China into its “backyard,” referring to Latin America. In response, China fired back, stating that Latin Americans don’t want to be anyone’s backyard. The irony, however, is that China seeks to turn the entire South China Sea into its own backyard—a Pacific region one and a half times the size of the Mediterranean, bordering half a dozen countries. In this clash of great power narratives, hypocrisy seems to be the norm. View quoted note →

Chancellor Wang Yi stated, “The people of Latin America want to build their own future, not be subordinate to anyone. What they seek is independence, not ideologies of control.”

In Rylsk, located in Russia’s Kursk region, a drone strike took place. The impact was followed by visible flames and the sound of an explosion. Authorities have not yet confirmed what exactly caught fire.

Yesterday, Zelensky invited the U.S. President to visit Ukraine. However, today the White House announced that Trump does not plan to travel to Ukraine.

According to i24NEWS, the United States has notified Israel of plans to start a phased withdrawal of its military forces from Syria within the next two months.

The White House spokesperson said that President Trump believes Russia is genuinely interested in ending the war. After all, Putin has publicly stated the same—surely, he wouldn’t be dishonest about that.

In response to recent remarks by White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and the reaction that followed, both the White House and State Department held consecutive press briefings reaffirming President Donald J. Trump’s position: a complete halt to Iran’s nuclear program. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce confirmed that a second round of negotiations between U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araqchi is scheduled for Saturday in Rome, Italy. While both U.S. officials expressed continued openness to dialogue, they firmly reiterated the U.S. demand for an end to all Iranian uranium enrichment and the dismantling of the broader nuclear program.