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White House officials have grown increasingly frustrated with Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace, accusing her of complicating efforts to evacuate Americans stranded in the Middle East by attempting to conduct her own rescue missions, according to people familiar with the matter.

The irritation with Mace has been building for days after she traveled to the region to try to transport US citizens across international borders and engaged with foreign governments without informing the state department, which has been coordinating evacuation flights.

Trump administration officials have taken particular issue with Mace’s outreach to Saudi Arabia, where she unilaterally engaged with officials to facilitate departures for Americans – and then asked the state department to requisition a Saudi commercial plane to transport 300 people.

“Secretary Rubio, I am asking you directly: please authorize this Saudi aircraft mission without delay. I have done the diplomatic work and secured the commitment,” Mace wrote in a 16 March letter, addressed to Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, reviewed by the Guardian.

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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has none of President Trump’s penchant for controversy or headline-grabbing language — but these days, he’s putting emphatic distance between Berlin and Washington all the same.

Merz is not only declining to answer Trump’s call for help in reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz. He is being scathing of the president’s decision to wage war on Iran in the first place.

“To this day, there is no convincing plan for how this operation could succeed,” Merz told German legislators on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

“Washington has not consulted us and did not say European assistance was necessary. … We would have advised against pursuing this course of action as it has been pursued.”

Trump’s call for help has found few takers elsewhere.

French President Emmanuel Macron said at a Tuesday Cabinet meeting that his nation would “never take part” in efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz while the current conflict rages.

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Israel's Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir has authorised residents of Jewish neighbourhoods in Jerusalem to carry firearms, local media reported on Monday.

Under Ben Gvir’s order, residents of 41 Jewish neighbourhoods in the city can now apply for a licence to carry a gun, part of the far-right minister’s wider policy of expanding civilian gun permits. 

Reports suggest that around 300,000 Jewish residents of Jerusalem could now be eligible.

Previously, only those living near the separation wall were permitted to carry firearms, as the areas were deemed high-risk due to their proximity to the occupied West Bank. The latest expansion now includes the western neighbourhoods of the city.

"Especially amid the war and during Ramadan, Jerusalem residents have a basic right to defend themselves and their families," Ben Gvir told Israel Hayom on Sunday before issuing the order the day after.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that 201 Ukrainian military experts are currently deployed in the Middle East and Gulf region, helping to defend against Shahed drones, with another 34 specialists ready for deployment.

The Ukrainian President made this statement during an address to members of the UK Parliament, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“Right now, there are 201 Ukrainians in the Middle East and Gulf region, and another 34 are ready to deploy. These are military experts – experts who know how to help, how to defend against Shahed drones. Our teams are already in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and on the way to Kuwait,” Zelensky said.

He noted that Ukraine is also cooperating with several other countries and that relevant agreements have already been concluded.

“We do not want this terror of the Iranian regime against its neighbors to succeed,” he emphasized.

The President added that he had sent the military experts at the request of partners, including the United States. According to him, this is effectively part of a drone-related agreement proposed by Ukraine to the U.S., which is still on the table.

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Ukrainian forces struck a major Russian microelectronics factory in Bryansk with Storm Shadow cruise missile air-launched missiles, damaging a facility that produces critical components for Russia’s missile systems, Ukraine’s military said.

Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed the strike on the Kremniy El Group plant, describing it as part of a broader campaign to reduce Russia’s military-industrial capacity.

“Kremniy El is a critically important link in the chain of production of Russian ‘high-precision’ weapons,” the General Staff said in a statement.

“The plant specializes in discrete semiconductor devices and integrated microchips that serve as the ‘brains’ and ‘nervous system’ of modern weapons.”

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Officials in Cuba reported an island-wide blackout Monday in the country of some 11 million people as its energy and economic crises deepen and its power grid continues to crumble.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines on X noted a "complete disconnection" of the country's electrical system and said it was investigating, noting there were no failures in the units that were operating when the grid collapsed.

It was the third major blackout in Cuba over the past four months.

Tomás David Velázquez Felipe, a 61-year-old resident of Havana, said the relentless outages make him think that Cubans who can should just pack up and leave the island. "What little we have to eat spoils," he said. "Our people are too old to keep suffering."

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