Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced “Operation Southern Spear”—a military campaign he said would target “narco-terrorists” across the Western Hemisphere. Hegseth’s announcement on social media came as the Pentagon said it had blown up another boat in the Caribbean Sea, reportedly killing four people aboard. It’s the 20th such strike, bringing the reported death toll to 80 people. The Pentagon claims the boats were carrying drugs but officials have acknowledged they don’t know who has been killed. The attacks have been condemned as unlawful extrajudicial killings by the U.N.’s human rights chief, governments including Mexico, Colombia and the European Union and U.S. lawmakers, among others.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has denied reports by CNN that the United Kingdom has stopped sharing intelligence on drug trafficking vessels over concerns about the US strikes.

Marco Rubio: “I did see a CNN report yesterday. I’m not going to go into great detail and to say that, it’s a false story, it’s a fake story.”

In Gaza, officials warn more than 900,000 displaced Palestinians face the risk of flooding as a storm system brings heavy rains and colder temperatures to a region where Israeli attacks have left 85 percent of road, water and sewage networks damaged or destroyed. Municipal authorities warn entire neighborhoods are at risk of being flooded by overflow from sewage stations left damaged from Israeli attacks or unable to operate due to a lack of fuel.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian boys in a village north of Hebron and then seized their bodies. Separately, three Palestinians, including a 14-year-old child, were injured after Israeli forces fired on them during a raid southeast of occupied East Jerusalem. This comes amid a record wave of violent attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians during this year’s olive harvest. On Tuesday, masked Israeli settlers stormed a dairy plant near the town of Beit Lid, setting fire to vehicles; and on Thursday settlers set fire to the Hajja Hamida Mosque in the Palestinian village of Deir Istiya. This is local activist Nazmi Salman.

Nazmi Salman: “This attack comes within the framework of the declared war against the Palestinian people by settlers with the support of the occupation government. This attack violated the sanctity of places of worship and mosques. There were racist slogans written on the northern walls of the mosque.”

In Ukraine, at least six people were killed and 30 others injured as Russia launched a massive overnight assault on nearly every district of the capital, Kyiv. Officials said Russia’s attack involved 430 drones and 18 missiles, making it one of the biggest on Ukraine’s capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Many of the attacks struck residential high-rise buildings, scattering debris and sparking huge fires.

Survivor: “I was terrified, so terrified I didn’t know what to do first. Should I rescue myself and my child? Or should I run to help others because many people were screaming and needed help.”

Russian drones also struck Ukraine’s southwestern Odesa region, killing at least two people. Meanwhile, Russian officials say at least one person was injured when Ukraine launched drone attacks on Russia’s Belgorod region, and president Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces had fired long-range cruise missiles into Russia.

This all comes as Zelensky responded to a growing corruption scandal by firing Ukraine’s Justice and Energy ministers, who are accused of taking part in a massive bribery scheme.

Here in the United States, many food banks are reporting record demand, even after the longest government shutdown came to an end with a promise to restore SNAP food assistance benefits that the Trump administration withheld beginning on Nov. 1. A tally by the Associated Press found about two-thirds of states had issued only partial benefits or none at all before the government shutdown ended late Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the White House says the Bureau of Labor Statistics may never release October data on inflation and job losses, blaming the government shutdown. Data from the private sector firm ADP show the US economy lost about 11,000 jobs per week through late October.

Federal agents in Chicago have released preschool teacher Diana Santillana Galeano, a mother of two from Colombia whose arrest by ICE drew international outrage. Her arrest—in front of parents and children by federal agents who did not produce a warrant—came even though she had authorization to work in the day care center and had undergone a background check. She’s returning to work today at the Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center.

Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino has reportedly left Chicago and will travel to North Carolina to oversee a new immigration crackdown in the city of Charlotte. Local officials including the Mecklenburg County sheriff say they were given no advance warning of the deployment. The Trump administration is also reportedly planning to surge federal agents in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has rebuked the Trump administration over its mass deportation policies, calling for an end to what it called, “dehumanizing rhetoric and violence.” The bishops issued their statement after a nearly unanimous vote at their annual fall meeting in Baltimore. This is the conference’s general secretary, Rev. Michael JK Fuller.

Rev. Michael JK Fuller: “In cities across the United States, our migrant brothers and sisters, many of them our fellow Catholics, face a culture of fear, hesitant to leave their homes and even to attend church for fear of being randomly harassed or detained. Holy Father, please know that the bishops of the United States, united in our concern, will continue to stand with migrants and defend everyone’s right to worship free from intimidation.”

At the same meeting, US bishops voted in favor of a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender patients at Catholic hospitals.

The Trump administration has issued new visa restrictions for foreigners and immigrants seeking to visit or live in the United States. Under the latest directive, applicants may be denied a U.S. visa over certain medical conditions such as diabetes or obesity, and lack of economic resources and assets. The State Department has reportedly directed embassy and consular staff to rigorously vet visa applicants to demonstrate they will not seek any public benefits, including food aid, from the U.S. federal government, saying such people could become a “public charge” and drain U.S. resources. Immigration rights advocates have denounced the measure as “dangerous,” saying it will further curtail the already-limited legal pathways for people to come to the U.S.

The rocket company founded by Amazon multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos has successfully landed the first stage of its giant new launch vehicle, in a major challenge to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which dominates the commercial space industry. Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket took off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday afternoon carrying a pair of NASA space probes bound for Mars. By successfully landing its booster stage on a drone ship downrange, Blue Origin seeks to dramatically cut the cost of launching satellites to Earth orbit and beyond. That’s central to plans by Jeff Bezos to build a constellation of internet satellites to compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink, which has about 9,000 operational satellites on orbit.

In Seattle, first-term mayor Bruce Harrell has conceded defeat in his reelection fight against community organizer Katie Wilson, who campaigned on a message of affordability in a city where the cost of living has soared. Wilson’s platform calls for progressive taxation to raise revenue from the wealthiest households and corporations to pay for affordable housing and social programs benefiting families. Wilson spoke to reporters Thursday after mayor Harrell conceded.

Katie Wilson: “I want everyone in this great city of ours to have a roof over their head. I want universal child care and free K through 8 summer care. I want worldclass mass transit. I want great, safe public spaces where kids can run around with abandon. I want stable, affordable housing for renters. I want social housing. I want much more land and wealth to be owned and stewarded by communities instead of corporations. I want a robust economy with thriving small businesses, great living wage jobs, and strong rights for workers.”

More than 1,000 workers at 65 Starbucks stores across the United States held a one-day strike Thursday to protest Starbucks’s campaign of unionbusting and its refusal to negotiate union contracts. The baristas held the action on “Red Cup Day,” typically one of Starbucks’ busiest days of the year. Starbucks Workers United calls the company one of the most egregious violators of US labor law in modern history, with the National Labor Relations Board finding over 500 labor law violations; another 700 pending unfair labor practices charges have yet to be litigated. This is Rey Shao, a 23-year-old barista at a Starbucks store in Manhattan.

Rey Shao: “I’m putting in overtime every week just so I could afford my rent, so I can afford bills. It’s crazy that we’re working a full-time job, and I still can’t afford to pay the basic necessities I need to live. And meanwhile, our CEO is making $96 million, for only four months of work, and meanwhile our CEO is riding in a private jet, and I’m barely able to afford the MTA fare to go to work.”

On Thursday, New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani wrote online, “While workers are on strike, I won’t be buying any Starbucks, and I’m asking you to join us. Together, we can send a powerful message: No contract, no coffee.”