U.S. ships arrive in South Korean in show of force, European leaders working toward ending Russia-Ukraine war, Pentagon sending 3,000 more troops to U.S.-Mexico border.
1. A U.S. aircraft carrier and two warships arrived at South Korea’s largest port Sunday in a show of force aimed at deterring North Korean provocations, the South Korean navy said. The USS Carl Vinson pulled into Busan, about 200 miles southeast of Seoul, as part of ongoing efforts by the United States and South Korea to strengthen cooperation and train for threats posed by North Korea, according to a South Korean navy news release. The aircraft carrier was accompanied by the USS Princeton, a guided-missile cruiser, and the USS Sterett, a guided-missile destroyer, the release said. All three warships are homeported in San Diego.
2. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer rallied his European counterparts Sunday to shore up their borders and throw their full weight behind Ukraine as he announced outlines of a plan to end Russia’s war. Starmer said he had worked with France and Ukraine on a plan to end the war and that the group of leaders — mostly from Europe — had agreed on four things. The steps toward peace would: keep aid flowing to Kyiv and maintain economic pressure on Russia to strengthen Ukraine’s hand; make sure Ukraine is at the bargaining table and any peace deal must ensure its sovereignty and security; and continue to arm Ukraine to deter future invasion.
3. The Pentagon is sending about 3,000 more active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border as President Donald Trump seeks to clamp down on illegal immigration and fulfill a central promise of his campaign, U.S. officials said Saturday. His defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has ordered elements of a Stryker brigade combat team and a general support aviation battalion for the mission, the Pentagon announced. The forces will arrive along the nearly 2,000-mile border in the coming weeks. The Defense Department's statement did not specify the size of the deployment, but it was put at about 3,000 by the officials, who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
4. The Philippines' top diplomat to the United States expressed confidence Monday that President Donald Trump’s new administration would continue military patrols in the disputed South China Sea and move ahead with an agreed expansion of the U.S. military presence in the Philippines, as concerns rise over China’s increasingly assertive actions in the region. Ambassador Jose Romualdez, who has had meetings with Trump’s diplomatic, defense and congressional officials, said the U.S. would likely maintain its support to help modernize the Philippine military, which is at the forefront of deterring China’s growing assertiveness in the disputed waters.
5. Israel has cut off the entry of all food and other goods into Gaza in an echo of the siege it imposed in the earliest days of its war with Hamas. The United Nations and other humanitarian aid providers are sharply criticizing the decision and calling it a violation of international law. Hunger has been an issue throughout the war for Gaza’s over 2 million people, and some aid experts had warned of possible famine. Now there is concern about losing the progress that experts reported under the past six weeks of a ceasefire. Israel is trying to pressure the Hamas militant group to agree to what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government describes as a U.S. proposal to extend the ceasefire’s first phase instead of beginning negotiations on the far more difficult second phase. In phase two, Hamas would release the remaining living hostages in return for Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting ceasefire.
- Security