In Yemen, fighters with the Houthi movement have escalated their offensive against government forces with fierce clashes in the province of Taiz. The fighting has left dozens of Yemeni government troops dead in recent weeks. That has reportedly prompted Saudi Arabia to consider support for a Yemeni government counteroffensive to retake the Houthi-held Red Sea coast. The renewed fighting in Yemen comes as an unclassified Pentagon assessment of civilian casualties found the U.S. killed 153 civilians in Yemen last year, while wounding another 243.

Military families are demanding congressional action over a growing mental health crisis onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, after at least six incidents in which sailors attempted to jump overboard amid an extended deployment. The Lincoln has been at sea for over 260 consecutive days – a modern-day naval record – while supporting U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran. Families say sailors have been forced to endure excruciatingly long shifts and shortages of food and basic supplies like toothpaste and soap.

Former U.S. officials say the CIA had “low confidence” in an Israeli claim that Iran was plotting to assassinate President Trump last month as he returned to the U.S. from a NATO summit in Turkey. Despite that finding, the Secret Service executed a covert deception operation that saw Trump smuggled off of Air Force One and onto a smaller military aircraft aboard a catering truck. Later in the broadcast, we’ll speak with Dan Lamothe, the Washington Post journalist who broke the story.

Firefighters in Lebanon are accusing the Israeli military of starting wildfires in the south of the country. The Israeli military dropped flares in a wooded area on Tuesday, and when firefighters came to extinguish the flames, a drone struck nearby, forcing them to withdraw. According to video and testimony from emergency services in Lebanon, the Israeli military has caused fires in olive groves and on agricultural land since the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah back in June.

In northern Gaza, an Israeli airstrike killed one person and wounded five others. Gaza’s Civil Defense said the strike targeted a tuk-tuk transport vehicle. Meanwhile, MSF is claiming that Israel is blocking crucial supplies from entering Gaza. These supplies keep hospital generators, ambulances, water pumps and water trucks running. MSF’s head of mission in Palestine said, “What we are witnessing in Gaza is not a series of isolated shortages, it is a policy of attrition by design. For more than two years, we have observed Israel’s policies restricting the entry of supplies. These policies do not merely delay aid; they dismantle the very systems people rely on to survive.”

In the occupied West Bank, dozens of settlers besieged three Palestinian families in Qusra, cutting off water, power and essential supplies for a fourth day. A top humanitarian official at the United Nations Security Council Tuesday said that conditions in the occupied West Bank have reached a “breaking point.” This is a Palestinian whose house has been besieged by settlers.

Ruqaya Reeda: “The settlers established an outpost close to the house, around six meters away. Since that day, we have been subjected to daily attacks by the settlers, night and day, and harassment on the road. They tried to cut off water and electricity networks many times. We fix it, and they cut it off again two days later and attack the workers who come to do maintenance.”

Colombia has authorized joint military operations with the United States against armed Colombian groups, following the inauguration of far-right President Abelardo de la Espriella. On Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth welcomed Colombia to the U.S. counternarcotics coalition known as the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, or A3C. Hegseth warned that the International Criminal Court could investigate U.S. attacks on alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean — which human rights groups have condemned as extrajudicial killings and murder — and called on partners to reject the ICC.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: “That’s why I strongly encourage every A3C member to leave the ICC and reject their attempts to rob your governments and your courts of your sovereignty. I know as a soldier I swore an oath to the Constitution, not some fake and illegitimate international court.”

The New York Times reports that fishermen from Ecuador say they’re being attacked by English-speaking assailants using drones. According to the U.N., one fishing boat has been lost at sea since January, with eight people still missing and presumed dead. The survivors say the assailants wore matching uniforms with American flag patches. Some of the other fishermen say they’ve been dragged out of their boats, questioned and handed over to the El Salvador Navy before being released. The U.S. Coast Guard and the Pentagon have denied any involvement.

The Trump administration said this week it’s terminating federal funding for the Arctic Report Card, the flagship report on how the climate crisis is transforming Earth’s northern latitudes. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had issued the report annually for the past 20 years, documenting how human activity is causing the Arctic to warm faster than any other region. In response, former NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad blasted the Trump administration for “imposing ignorance on the system.” Dartmouth College professor and polar researcher Melody Brown Burkins told The Washington Post, “It’s like not allowing your primary care doctor to tell you how you’re doing. Taking away the checkup doesn’t stop the changes from happening.”

A review of financial disclosures from the nonprofit advocacy group Court Accountability finds that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito gained up to $2.9 million from his fossil fuel interests between 2005 and 2024. This comes as the Supreme Court is about to hear a case with two oil companies, Suncor Energy and Exxon. These companies want the court to rule that federal law prevents state governments from suing them over climate damage caused by their products. Court Accountability and other groups are calling for the Senate to investigate Justice Alito. They point out that he’s the only Supreme Court justice who owns stock in energy companies, and they say he should step aside from cases involving those companies.

President Trump announced Wednesday that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will leave her post at the end of the month. Leavitt was just 25 years old when Trump named her press secretary in November 2024, making her the youngest press secretary in U.S. history. Trump said she’s leaving the role to spend more time with family after giving birth to her second child.

The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation filed a lawsuit Wednesday against President Trump and his staff, seeking to halt plans by Trump’s media company to monetize the president’s social media posts. Under the scheme, Trump’s Truth Social platform would charge up to $100,000 per month for early access to the president’s posts, which frequently drive stock market volatility. In announcing the lawsuit, Ben Muessig, editor-in-chief of The Intercept, said, “Trump is trying to enrich himself by privatizing government information that he has no right to sell. We won’t let it stand.” This comes as the Trump Media & Technology corporation, which owns Truth Social, announced a $238 million loss during the second quarter of this year. Meanwhile, The New York Times reports the number of monthly visitors to Truth Social was down about 36% from a year ago.

The Justice Department arrested the South Poverty Law Center’s former chief financial officer, Heidi Beirich, on Wednesday. Federal prosecutors charged her with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to submit false statements to a federally insured bank and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. Back in April, the Justice Department had charged the SPLC over its now-defunct program in which it paid informants to infiltrate white supremacist groups.

Beirich’s lawyer said in a statement, “A free and fair society does not use the justice system to silence its political opponents. Heidi Beirich has dedicated her life to fighting hate groups and extremist movements like the KKK, neo-Nazis, and other white supremacists. … Her decades-long record of success dismantling hate groups — and the resulting threats to her life — speak volumes. For this, she has been indicted.”

In North Carolina, the daughter of a pastor jailed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement says her father suffered “stroke-like symptoms” that left him partially paralyzed just weeks after his arrest. Gabri Johnson says she has only been briefly able to speak with her 55-year-old father, Gabriel Johnson, since he was taken to a Texas hospital on July 30. In a now-viral video, she said she’s worried her father’s condition continues to worsen due to medical neglect.

Gabri Johnson: “This is not love. This is not care. This is not America. It’s torture. And they’re trying to not only take people out of their homes and break up families; they’re trying to kill them on the way there. Please, if anybody is within the state of Texas or works in immigration law and reform, I will do anything. Just please help bring my father back home to Cary, North Carolina.”

In more immigration news, an ICE agent filmed pushing an elderly activist to the ground near Chicago last year has pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor battery charge. Adam Saracco was sentenced Wednesday to 12 months of court supervision for the assault. In December, Saracco had recently completed a shift and was off duty when he assaulted 68-year-old attorney Robert Held in a gas station parking lot. Held had been recording video of Saracco filling his gas tank.

A widely circulated video shows an ICE agent in Falls Church, Virginia, pointing a gun at a driver who yelled at officers as they detained people on a sidewalk nearby. Video filmed by the driver shows masked ICE agents repeatedly accusing her of trying to run them over with her car and threatening to arrest her. When she contradicted their claims and said dash camera video would vindicate her, the agents walked away.