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Ukraine's F-16 fighter jets didn't have enough missiles to shoot down Russian drones and missiles for more than 3 weeks after supplies from Kyiv's partners dried up just as Moscow was preparing a massive winter air campaign, three sources said.

The acute shortage from late November to mid-December, which has not been previously reported, lays bare the vulnerability of Ukraine's air defences which ​rely heavily on Western allies for missiles and defence systems to repel frequent Russian strikes.

Kyiv has often complained about a lack of weapons since the full-scale war began more than four years ago, sounding the alarm over critical shortages in recent months ‌while seeking not to anger Donald Trump's administration.

The strait gives passage to one-fifth of the world’s oil supply and is a key route for other types of commodities like aluminum, sugar and fertilizer.

The Strait of Hormuz, normally jammed with oil tankers and cargo ships, has been nearly emptied by the war in the Middle East. Ongoing strikes by the U.S. and threats from Iran to fire on ships have made the risks of navigating the vital waterway for the global supply chain no longer worth the rewards.

Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday had dropped around 90% compared with last week, according to ship tracker MarineTraffic, as oil and gas tankers cluster just outside of the strait.

Noem decided the contracts instead of allowing a competitive bidding process for the jobs, according to three administration officials and internal communications reviewed by NBC News

Kristi Noem handpicked contractors to lead a $100 million campaign to recruit Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers instead of allowing competitive bidding for the jobs, according to three administration officials and internal communications reviewed by NBC News.

Typically, multiple companies are allowed to bid on a contract and officials who handle government procurement — not the leaders of departments — decide based on who can do the best job for the lowest price.

Donald Trump announced in a social media post Thursday that Noem would leave office effective March 31. Her place in the administration became increasingly unstable following the killing of U.S. citizens during immigration operations in Minneapolis; her fraying relationship with the U.S. Coast Guard, the only branch of the military under her command; and her comments this week in a Congress hearing that rankled Trump.

Democratic-backed measure that would have forced US to withdraw troops failed by a vote of 212-219

The US House of Representatives on Thursday voted down a Democratic-backed measure to halt hostilities with Iran, as Republicans cleared the way for Donald Trump to continue the conflict that has drawn in countries across the Middle East, but criticized as having unclear goals.

By a vote of 212-219, the House voted to reject a war powers resolution proposed by Thomas Massie, a Republican representative, and Ro Khanna, a Democratic representative, which would have forced the US to withdraw from the conflict until Congress authorized military action. The vote was largely along party lines, with two Republicans breaking with their party to support the resolution, and four Democrats voting against it.

The measure’s failure in the House came after the Senate GOP rejected a similar war powers resolution on Wednesday. Republicans control both chambers of Congress and their leaders have made clear that they believe Trump was authorized to initiate the air and naval campaign that began over the weekend, prompting Tehran to launch drones and missiles across the Middle East. Six US troops have been killed, as well as 1,230 people in Iran.

Donald Trump on Thursday said Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin will replace Kristi Noem as Department of Homeland Security secretary.

Trump made the announcement on social media Thursday afternoon saying he was "pleased to announce that the Highly Respected United States Senator from the Great State of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), effective March 31, 2026."

The sources said the president was upset with a particular moment during the hearing when Republican Sen. John Kennedy questioned Noem about a taxpayer-funded $220 million ad campaign. Noem repeatedly suggested the president was aware of the campaign and signed off on it.

Donald Trump’s massive East Wing ballroom project is poised to get its final approval from a government commission that oversees planning for federal buildings and land in the nation’s capital, despite receiving over 32,000 comments from the public overwhelmingly opposing the construction.

The National Capital Planning Commission is expected to take a final vote to approve plans for the ballroom on Thursday, marking the latest clearance for the project in a process that has been on a fast track since Trump suddenly demolished the East Wing last October.

Some 9,000 pages of public comments to the NCPC released ahead of the meeting detailed major objections from Americans who expressed concerns about the project’s size and scope, cost and destruction of history, among other complaints.

Iran launched a new wave of attacks Thursday at Israel, American bases and countries around the region, threatening that the United States would “bitterly regret” torpedoing an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean and calling for “Trump’s blood,” while Israel said it hit multiple targets in Iran.

Israel announced multiple incoming missile attacks and air sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Iranian state television said additional strikes also targeted U.S. bases.

The Israeli military said it had hit 80 targets in Lebanon linked to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group over the past 24 hours and that a wave of strikes on Iran had hit long range ballistic missile launch sites and other targets.

The U.S. is even looking to Ukraine to help its operations against Iran — as Trump rages at Starmer and Sánchez for refusing to back his war.

Donald Trump's German grandparents may have known the word for what some European officials now feel, as they watch him complain that America's traditional allies have let him down: Schadenfreude. 

Having spent a year criticizing, insulting and threatening European leaders, Trump now sees the value of having friends in strategically important places

if they have military assets he can use, anyway.

The hardening position of European leaders on Iran marks a watershed moment, just as U.S. President George W. Bush’s doomed and divisive invasion of Iraq in 2003 undermined transatlantic trust for years. The tensions over such a consequential new conflict in the Middle East may even prove existential for the Western alliance, after 12 months that had already strained U.S.-European relations to the breaking point.

Ukraine has some of the world’s best expertise on intercepting Iranian drones — and now wants to capitalize on it.

Donald Trump's attack on Iran reveals that Ukraine does have some cards to play, after all.

The U.S. president lambasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last year in the White House, telling him: "You don't have the cards right now." One year on, Ukraine is holding talks with polite American officials in Kyiv keen to get a look-in on Ukraine's world-leading anti-drone technology.

“Partners are turning to us, to Ukraine, for help,” Zelenskyy said on Wednesday night. “Requests on this matter have also come from the American side.”

Zelenskyy said he was also talking to Arab nations seeking to upgrade defenses against Iran, such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Bahrain. He was clear that Kyiv was seeking to gain strategic leverage from the talks. ___

Economists have warned that slow-walking the rebates for President Donald Trump’s now-defunct emergency tariffs could result in high costs for the government, given the interest that is accruing on revenues from the illegally collected duties.

On February 20, the Supreme Court ruled that the president was unable to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which had been invoked for the majority of Trump’s global duties.

And according to a new analysis from the free-market-oriented Cato Institute, interest is compounding on the estimated $175 billion owed to importers at a rate of $20 million per day, or $700 million per month.

zerbaijan's foreign ministry lodged an official protest with the Iranian embassy on Thursday after a pair ‌of Iranian drones flew across the border into Azerbaijan and injured two people at an airport in the Nakhchivan exclave.

"This attack on the territory of Azerbaijan contradicts the norms and principles of international law and contributes to increased ⁠tensions in the region," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"We demand that the Islamic Republic of Iran clarify the matter in the shortest possible time, provide an explanation and take the necessary urgent measures to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future."