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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked the Army’s chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, to step down from the post and retire immediately, a Pentagon official told The Hill on Thursday.

The Army did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

The Pentagon confirmed George’s retirement, who served as the Army’s 41st chief of staff.

“The Department of War is grateful for General George’s decades of service to our nation. We wish him well in his retirement,” Pentagon chief spokesperson, Sean Parnell, said in a statement.

The Army’s current vice chief of staff is Lt. Gen. Christopher LaNeve, who was previously Hegseth’s military aide, will serve as the acting chief of staff, a Pentagon official told The Hill.

“General LaNeve — a generational leader — will help ensure the Army revives the warrior ethos, rebuilds for the modern battlefield and deters our enemies around the world,” Hegseth said of LaNeve in January.

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Pam Bondi is out at the Justice Department. And all roads to replace her lead through one place: the U.S. Senate.

The impending political brawl on Capitol Hill to supplant the embattled attorney general, fired by President Donald Trump on April 2, as the nation's chief law enforcement officer is already getting underway.

For a litany of reasons, it won't be easy or quiet, regardlesBondi's replacement will have to answer for much bigger changes at the traditionally apolitical Justice Department, which for the first time in recent history has actively pursued investigations into the president's political enemies under Bondi's leadership.

In extraordinary legal moves, Democratic senators, the former FBI director and the New York state attorney general have all been targeted. The controversial pattern has drawn the ire even of some GOP senators whom the White House will need on board with another DOJ chief.

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Palestinians across the occupied West Bank observed a general strike on Wednesday in protest against a new Israeli law allowing the execution of prisoners, as international condemnation mounted.

Fatah, the movement led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, called for the strike, describing the legislation as a “dangerous escalation” against Palestinians.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/general-strike-leaves-west-bank-streets-empty-over-death-penalty-bill
“This criminal law will not break the will of our people or the determination of our prisoners, but will instead strengthen our resolve to continue the struggle for their freedom and legitimate rights,” it said in a statement.

The Knesset approved the bill in its final readings on Monday by 62 votes to 48, despite international calls to abandon it.

The legislation has drawn widespread criticism for violating the right to life and for its potentially discriminatory application.

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Snow surveys taking place across the American west this week are offering a grim prognosis, after a historically warm winter and searing March temperatures left the critical snowpack at record-low levels across the region.

Experts warned that even as the heat begins to subside, the stunning pace of melt-off over the past month has left key basins in uncharted territory for the dry seasons ahead. Though there’s still potential for more snow in the forecast, experts said it will probably be too little too late.

“This year is on a whole other level,” said Dr Russ Schumacher, a Colorado State University climatologist, speaking about the intense heat that began rapidly melting the already sparse snowpack in March. “Seeing this year so far below any of the other years we have data for is very concerning.”

Acting as a water savings account of sorts, snowpacks are essential to water supply. Measurements taken across the west during the week of 1 April are viewed as important indicators of the peak amounts of water that might melt into reservoirs, rivers and streams and across thirsty landscapes through the summer.

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A magnitude 7.4 earthquake has struck the Northern Molucca Sea region in Indonesia, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.

The quake, which hit early on Thursday local time, had depth of 35km and its epicentre was 127km (79 miles) west-northwest of Ternate, Indonesia, the USGS said.

The US tsunami warning system said tsunami waves were possible with 1,000km of the epicentre, along the coasts of Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia. It warned that tsunami waves reaching 0.3 metres to 1 metre (3.2ft) above the tide level were possible for some of the Indonesian coastline.

In further advice, the US tsunami warning system forecast waves of less than 30cm above tide level for the coasts of Guam, Japan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Taiwan.

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Authorities have ruled that the death of Nurul Amin Shah, a 56-year-old Rohingya refugee from Myanmar who was left by immigration agents at a restaurant in Buffalo, was a homicide.

Shah, who was visually impaired, died on 24 February, five days after US Border Patrol agents dropped him off in the parking lot of a Tim Hortons on a cold winter night without notifying his family or attorney.

In a statement, the Erie county medical examiner’s office said the cause of death was “complications of a perforated duodenal ulcer precipitated by hypothermia and dehydration”, and ruled the manner of death a homicide. The office said the final determination was made on 31 March.

The examiner added that, for death certification purposes, “homicide” refers to a death resulting from the actions of another person, including negligent acts or omissions, and does not imply intent to cause harm or establish criminal liability.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) appears to have dropped his demand that a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security include money for ICE and Border Patrol, accepting a deal he disparaged as unacceptable only days earlier.

If Johnson lets the House pass the bill, it will mean the end of a seven-week shutdown that’s caused many DHS workers to miss multiple paychecks. It’s a significant retreat for Johnson and House Republicans, though it also means Democrats could soon have little leverage in the push for reforms at the two immigration enforcement agencies.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) announced they would be “fully funding the entire Department of Homeland Security” through two separate tracks, one a long-term budget process and the other a more immediate appropriation. President Donald Trump seemed to endorse the plan in a post on his website.

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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian released a letter addressed to “the people of the United States of America” on Wednesday, hours before President Trump is scheduled to address the nation about the U.S. military’s ongoing operations against Iran.

“Today, the world stands at a crossroads,” Pezeshkian wrote in a letter posted on the social platform X.

“Continuing along the path of confrontation is more costly and futile than ever before,” the Iranian official continued. “The choice between confrontation and engagement is both real and consequential; its outcome will shape the future for generations to come.”

The conflict has now stretched into a fifth week, after the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on Feb. 28 amid nuclear deal negotiations. The strikes have taken out several key Iranian leaders, including former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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