The U.S. strikes on several fishing boats near Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands earlier this year were part of a secret operation conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA. That’s according to The Washington Post, which spoke to a source anonymously. One of the boats disappeared on January 20 along with eight of its crew members, who are presumed dead, according to the United Nations. Survivors of two other vessels that came under attack in March said they were abducted by U.S. forces, hooded, cuffed and tortured aboard a ship before being taken to El Salvador. No U.S. government agency has claimed responsibility for those strikes, which the Post reports are separate from the Trump administration’s publicly acknowledged strikes on boats off the Caribbean and Pacific. The Pentagon has provided no evidence for its claims the boats were carrying drugs. More than 200 people have been killed in the U.S. strikes since September.

Meanwhile, U.S. Southern Command and Panama have concluded PANAMAX 2026, a series of war games involving at least 17 other countries from across the Americas. It was the first time joint U.S. military exercises took place in Panama since 2012.

In Gaza, Israeli attacks killed two Palestinians and injured several others on Thursday, with reports of airstrikes, mortar attacks and live fire. The strikes came as human rights groups warned Israel is conducting a massive effort to clear tens of thousands of tons of rubble from the Gaza Strip. The debris resulted from Israel’s near-daily attacks on Gaza since October 2023, which have killed at least 73,000 Palestinians. Some of the rubble is from cemeteries and other locations where human remains are known to exist, leading human rights groups to accuse Israel of attempting to erase evidence of war crimes.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers are continuing to besiege the Palestinian village of Qusra, with Israeli soldiers stopping activists from bringing in aid. Among those who’ve come under attack is a Palestinian American. That prompted rare criticism from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who called the siege a “horrific act of terror.” A top humanitarian official at the U.N. said this week conditions in the West Bank have reached a “breaking point.”

In southern Lebanon, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed Wednesday his forces would maintain their occupation indefinitely.

Defense Minister Israel Katz: “We will clear this area and ensure the security of the residents of the north. And under no circumstances will we withdraw from security zones, not in Lebanon, not in Syria and not in Gaza.”

Katz’s remarks came after Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Israel’s demolition of homes in southern Lebanon represented a serious violation of international law.

Iran’s military has rejected the Trump administration’s claims that ships are freely passing through the Strait of Hormuz, saying no one can pass without Iran’s permission.

This comes as the Pentagon has announced it will send a new aircraft carrier to the Middle East to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln amid reports of deteriorating conditions aboard the vessel. The USS George Washington is set to relieve the Lincoln, which has been deployed for over eight months. On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed reports in Stars and Stripes and the Military Times about a growing mental health crisis aboard the Lincoln, where sailors face moldy showers, backed-up plumbing and shortages of nutritious food, toiletries and other supplies. Despite Hegseth’s denials, a U.S. official confirmed that a sailor jumped overboard from the Lincoln in early August, saying the person was quickly rescued. The sailor had missed the birth of his daughter five months ago and reportedly complained to his higher-ups about mental health challenges before attempting suicide. On Thursday, the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s top Democrat, Richard Blumenthal, demanded answers about problems aboard the Lincoln.

The New York Times reports the Trump administration carried out an expansive surveillance program targeting left-leaning groups in Minnesota, infiltrating group chats, spying on meetings at libraries and churches and secretly obtaining financial records of organizations that were never accused of crimes. Among groups targeted were labor unions, including the Communications Workers of America, the SEIU and the AFL-CIO, and climate activists with the Sunrise Movement. The massive spying operation began last winter as hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans joined protests demanding an end to a violent mass deportation campaign by ICE and other federal agencies. Government documents reveal DHS characterized the protesters as “violent opportunists and agitators,” alleging they were involved in a widespread conspiracy. The surveillance operation arose from a White House directive known as National Security Presidential Memo 7, which identifies a potential domestic terrorist as someone expressing “anti-Christian,” “anti-capitalism” or “anti-American” views. The civil liberties advocacy group Defending Rights and Dissent called the surveillance “a disturbing, invasive, and utterly unjustifiable attack on freedom of expression and political dissent.” Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen responded, “These are the actions of an authoritarian state.”

In New Jersey, ICE has confirmed the death of a third immigrant in Newark that was first disclosed by Democratic Congressmember Rob Menendez last week. José Chajón Raxón from Guatemala reportedly suffered what appeared to be seizures and later died at the hospital, according to DHS. Chajón Raxón was detained at the privately run ICE jail known as Delaney Hall after being arrested on July 18. ICE claimed he was released from custody four days later, but provided no further details. ICE previously failed to notify of his death due to a new policy that no longer requires the agency to report on deaths that occur within 30 days after an immigrant is released from custody. This is the third reported death connected to Delaney Hall since December, as detainees and advocates have widely condemned chronic medical neglect inside the facility. Nationwide, more than 50 immigrants have died in ICE custody since Trump returned to office.

In Washington state, over 140 immigrants are entering the third day of a hunger strike at the notorious Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. That’s according to the advocacy group La Resistencia, which confirmed the action began on August 11. Among their demands is proper medical care, as several detainees with broken or dislocated bones reportedly have not received treatment. Northwest and Delaney Hall are both operated by the for-profit prison company GEO Group.

In Texas, bulldozers have rolled into Big Bend National Park to tear down portions of the environmental landmark as part of the Trump administration’s $46.5 billion effort to expand a massive border wall and other security infrastructure along the border with Mexico. Protesters gathered Thursday at Big Bend seeking to block construction of the wall, after the Department of Homeland Security waived requirements that federal contractors comply with a broad slate of environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act.

Meanwhile, in southern Arizona, a protest camp predominantly led by queer and femme activists in the small border town of Lochiel is seeking to protect ancient cottonwood trees, as federal contractors race to build another portion of Trump’s border barrier with Mexico at a cost of about a half a billion dollars. At the center of the protest camp is a 200-year-old cottonwood known as a “grandmother” tree.

Ukraine has proposed a deal with Russia that would see both sides halt attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea. Reuters reports the offer came as part of an effort to reopen a crucial grain corridor amid warnings that the attacks are driving up global food prices, which are already at their highest levels since early 2023. The United Nations reports more civilians were killed or injured in Ukraine in July than in any month since Russia’s full-scale invasion, with at least 437 deaths and over 2,600 injuries in Ukraine in July.

Poland’s prime minister says authorities have arrested a Russian national who was preparing to assassinate a Ukrainian American citizen in Warsaw. Donald Tusk called it Russia’s first attempted attack on a U.S. citizen in a NATO country.

In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday blasted Vladimir Putin over the Russian president’s first-ever visit to the disputed Kuril Islands. It’s one of four islands claimed by both Russia and Japan.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi: “This latest visit to Iturup by the incumbent president of Russia runs contrary to Japan’s consistent position regarding the Northern Territories. Furthermore, it hurts the feelings of the Japanese people and is absolutely unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, President Trump shared a video on Instagram Thursday showing former U.S. Marine Robert Gilman aboard a plane with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, following Gilman’s release from Russian custody. He had been jailed by Russia for over four years.

Indiana’s governor has declared a statewide disaster emergency and deployed the National Guard, following severe storms that brought what officials called a “once-in-a-millennium” flooding event. More rain is expected this week in Indiana and neighboring Illinois, which also suffered flooding. Some 36 million people across the Midwest were under flood alerts on Thursday.

A federal judge has dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit accusing Harvard University of failing to combat antisemitism on campus. The government had argued the university failed to protect Jewish community members during campus protests over Harvard’s ties to Israel’s assault on Gaza and Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. A U.S. district judge in Massachusetts called incidents of antisemitism “isolated and episodic.”

The Congressional Black Caucus is calling on the Department of Justice to investigate the mysterious death of Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old Black college athlete whose body was found in July on a barrier island in Mississippi. Wells vanished after taking a boat to the island with a group of white friends over the July Fourth holiday. His body was recovered several days later. Authorities say Wells may have accidentally drowned, but his family has questioned the official story, in part because Wells’s cellphone was found not with his body, but in the possession of one of his friends, who returned home. This is Georgia Democratic Congressmember Lucy McBath.

Rep. Lucy McBath: “This brings back so many vivid memories for me and my own family, having lost Jordan to unnecessary gun violence in November 2012, Black Friday, simply because he was Black and playing loud music in his car. And so, here we are again today, here for the loss of another Black young man in our community, and we find ourselves asking the same questions.”

In Washington, D.C., the board of directors for the Kennedy Center has voted to once again inscribe Donald Trump’s name on the building — and to shutter it for two years, allegedly to make renovations to the performing arts institution. Thursday’s vote by Trump’s hand-picked board comes despite a federal judge’s order barring closure of the Kennedy Center and ordering the Trump administration to remove Trump’s name from the building.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are seeking an audit of spending on the White House East Wing and ballroom, after The Washington Post reported the Trump administration plans to spend at least $900 million on new construction. When Trump announced his plans to build a ballroom last year, he repeatedly promised the project would be funded entirely by private donors.