Month: October 2025

The U.S. military carried out another series of strikes on four vessels in the eastern Pacific on Monday — killing 14 people and leaving a single survivor — as part of the administration’s broader campaign against groups it holds responsible for trafficking narcotics to the United States.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X that the attacks were carried out in three separate actions against boats, which the Pentagon stated were operating along known smuggling routes. Hegseth said the operations were conducted at the direction of the president and posted footage of the strikes online. In his message he described the mission this way: “Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out three lethal kinetic strikes on four vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations (DTO) trafficking narcotics in the Eastern Pacific.” He added that the strikes brought the campaign’s overall death toll in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific to more than 50.

According to Hegseth’s account of the incidents, the three strikes hit different boats carrying suspected traffickers: “Eight male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessels during the first strike. Four male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the second strike. Three male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the third strike. A total of 14 narco-terrorists were killed during the three strikes, with one survivor. All strikes were in international waters with no U.S. forces harmed.”   Hegseth said U.S. forces launched immediate search-and-rescue efforts for the lone survivor, and that Mexican authorities accepted responsibility for coordinating that rescue.

The strikes have also generated sharp debate in Washington about the legal and political limits of using U.S. military force at sea against suspected smugglers. The White House has framed the operations as a hardline effort to disrupt transnational drug networks; and Hegseth echoed that stance, stating that “these narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than Al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same. We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them.”

President Trump, who is traveling in Asia, has said the administration will brief Congress on the strikes but does not intend to seek a formal declaration of war. In remarks last week, Trump said, “I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. OK? We’re going to kill them. You know? They’re going to be like, dead.” His comments, and the expanded use of lethal force at sea, have drawn criticism from some lawmakers who called the operations “extrajudicial killings” and complained of limited transparency from the administration.

Officials say the campaign has also included increased naval activity in the region: last week the U.S. ordered the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and additional air assets into waters near Central and South America as part of efforts to pressure criminal organizations and governments accused of enabling trafficking. While Pentagon officials say some units are being reduced in other places, they emphasize the United States will continue recruiting and deploying forces for “key strategic areas” where it sees the greatest need to protect American interests.

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Amazon announced Tuesday that it plans to cut roughly 14,000 positions from its corporate and technology workforce as part of a broad effort to simplify its structure, reduce bureaucracy, and redirect resources toward its most important priorities, including artificial intelligence.

The announcement comes just ahead of Amazon’s quarterly earnings report, as the company continues to reshape itself to stay competitive in an increasingly AI-driven economy. The company plans to invest $118 billion in AI and cloud development in 2025, underscoring its shift toward automation and advanced technology.

The layoffs, which will affect about 4% of Amazon’s 350,000 corporate and tech employees, represent one of the largest workforce reductions in the company’s 30-year history. Amazon employs about 1.54 million people globally, with most working in warehouses and logistics.

Beth Galetti, Amazon’s senior vice president of People Experience and Technology, detailed the restructuring in a company blog post, describing the move as a continuation of the streamlining process that began in 2024. She wrote: “last year, [Amazon CEO] Andy Jassy posted a note about strengthening our culture and teams — explaining how we want to operate like the world’s largest startup, the importance of having the right structure to drive that level of speed and ownership, and the need to be set up to invent, collaborate, be connected, and deliver the absolute best for customers.”  Jassy, who has overseen about 27,000 layoffs since taking the helm four years ago, warned earlier this year that further workforce reductions were likely as Amazon leans more heavily on generative AI to improve efficiency. He has encouraged employees to experiment with AI tools and “learn how to get more done with scrappier teams.”

Galetti added that the latest changes are intended to “get even stronger by further reducing bureaucracy, removing layers, and shifting resources to ensure we’re investing in our biggest bets and what matters most to our customers’ current and future needs.”

Employees impacted by the cuts will receive support over the coming weeks and months, and those who do not secure another position will be offered severance packages, health benefits, and outplacement services to assist with the transition. Galetti said “we’re working hard to support everyone whose role is impacted, including offering most employees 90 days to look for a new role internally (the timing will vary some based on local laws), and our recruiting teams will prioritize internal candidates to help as many people as possible find new roles within Amazon.”

Amazon emphasized that while certain divisions are being downsized, it will continue hiring in “key strategic areas”  as it ramps up investment in artificial intelligence – which Amazon described as the most transformative technology since the internet, which is reshaping the way companies innovate and operate. Galetti said: “What we need to remember is that the world is changing quickly. We’re convicted that we need to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business.”

Despite the cuts, Galetti said Amazon remains optimistic about its future: “I don’t know of any other company with the breadth of Amazon, the number of exciting bold bets we’re making, and all the ways we can make customers lives better and easier around the world.”

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Hurricane Melissa intensified into a Category 5 hurricane as it neared Jamaica with maximum sustained winds near 175 mph, and the storm is expected to have ‘catastrophic impact’ on the country with up to 40 inches of rain, 13 feet of storm surge and 160 mph sustained winds — with landfall expected sometime Tuesday morning. Forecasters warned the storm could dump up to 30 inches of rain and produce a life-threatening storm surge along Jamaica’s southern coast. The storm is also expected to hit Cuba and bring severe weather to other parts of the Caribbean, including the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.

Category 5 is the most extreme classification on the Saffir-Simpson scale, reserved for storms with sustained winds above 157 mph—powerful enough to level homes and infrastructure. Melissa more than doubled in strength over the weekend, increasing its winds by 70 mph in just 24 hours. The outer bands of the storm have already lashing Jamaica with wind and rain, and the National Hurricane Center warned that Melissa can potentially cause “extensive infrastructure damage” that will cut off communities.

Daryl Vaz, Jamaica’s transport minister, warned that Melissa could be the island’s most powerful hurricane in decades, with cleanup efforts likely hindered by flooding, landslides, and impassable roads. “Don’t make foolish decisions. We are in a very, very serious time over the next few days.”

Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for vulnerable coastal areas of Jamaica ahead of what will likely be the strongest storm on record to hit the country. Melissa is expected to be the strongest storm to hit Jamaica since Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 and has already killed three people in Haiti and one person in the Dominican Republic.

Western Haiti could receive up to 16 inches of rain, bringing a severe risk of flash floods and landslides, the hurricane center said. The storm has already killed at least three people in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.

Desmond McKenzie, deputy chairman of Jamaica’s Disaster Risk Management Council, said in a statement: “I want to urge Jamaicans to take this seriously. Do not gamble with Melissa. It’s not a safe bet.”

Forecasters said the storm surge along Jamaica’s southern coast could reach 13 feet above ground level near and east of where Melissa makes landfall. Across Kingston and other areas, residents filled sandbags and cleared drains as crews prepared flood channels.

Melissa was also expected to make another landfall Tuesday in eastern Cuba. Hurricane warnings were issued for Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, and Holguín provinces, with up to 20 inches of rain and dangerous coastal flooding anticipated. About 1,000 U.S. military personnel were evacuated from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Navy ships in the area were moved out of the storm’s path, a U.S. defense official told CBS News.

In the Dominican Republic, heavy rainfall damaged more than 750 homes and displaced over 3,700 people, officials said. Schools and government offices in several provinces under red alert remained closed Monday, and flooding cut access to at least 48 communities.

In Haiti, the storm destroyed crops across multiple regions, including 37 acres of maize, worsening an already dire food crisis. More than 5.7 million Haitians face crisis-level hunger, with 1.9 million at emergency levels, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.  Forecasters warned Melissa would continue to unleash torrential rain over southern Haiti and the southern Dominican Republic in the coming days, heightening the risk of additional flooding and damage.

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President Donald Trump confirmed Monday that he underwent an MRI earlier this month at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, describing the results as “perfect” but offering no details about why the test was performed.

Speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One during his Asia trip, the 79-year-old acknowledged he had the imaging test as part of a second physical evaluation this year – following his previous exam in April. Trump said when asked whether he’d had an MRI: “I did. I got an MRI. It was perfect.” When pressed for more information, he declined to elaborate, saying only, “I think they gave you a very conclusive — nobody has ever given you reports like I gave you.” (per CNN).

According to the White House, Trump’s personal physician, Dr. Sean Barbabella, oversaw the evaluation and reported that the president was in “excellent health.” In a memo following the visit, Barbabella wrote that Trump’s “cardiac age was found to be approximately 14 years younger than his chronological age.” The doctor added that Trump underwent “advanced imaging, laboratory testing, and preventive health assessments,” noting that “comprehensive laboratory studies performed in conjunction with the visit were exceptional, including stable metabolic, hematologic, and cardiac parameters.”

In July, White House press secretary Karoline Levitt disclosed that Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency—a condition in which the veins in the legs have difficulty circulating blood back to the heart, sometimes causing swelling, pain, and cramping. It remains unclear whether that diagnosis was related to the MRI performed this month.

While aboard Air Force One, Trump also addressed speculation about another presidential run. Although the 22nd Amendment bars presidents from serving more than two terms, he hinted he was not entirely ruling out the idea. Trump said, according to ABC News: “I would love to do it I have my best numbers ever. It’s very terrible. I have my best numbers. Am I not ruling it out? You’ll have to tell me. All I can tell you is that we have a great, a great group of people, which [Democrats] don’t.”

Trump suggested that his continued political ambitions are tied to his health. “And if I didn’t think [the testing] was going to be good, either, I would let you know negatively. I wouldn’t run. I’d do something. But the doctor said some of the best reports for the age, some of the best reports they’ve ever seen. It was perfect.”

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