Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The 35th strike: “The U.S. struck another alleged drug boat in the eastern Pacific on Thursday, killing two people, U.S. Southern Command announced on social media. … The strike is at least the 35th since September but only the second since the U.S. captured Nicolás Maduro, then the president of Venezuela, in a military operation on Jan. 3.”
* Fourteen years later: “A man the U.S. considers a key participant in the 2012 Benghazi attack has been arrested, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday, announcing a break in one of the most politicized foreign affairs events of the Obama administration. Zubayr al-Bakoush was taken into custody overseas and arrived at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland early Friday, authorities said.”
* Another major step backward: “The Trump administration finalized a policy Thursday that creates a new category of federal workers that would make it easier to fire high-ranking career civil servants for their perceived unwillingness to implement the president’s agenda. The new rule, set to be published in the Federal Register on Friday, will affect approximately 55,000 workers.”
* The White House’s use of the word “obliterated” last year was unwise: “Iran appears to have rapidly repaired several ballistic missile facilities damaged in strikes last year, but it has made only limited fixes to major nuclear sites struck by Israel and the United States, a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery suggests.”
* In related news: “Talks held on Friday between Iranian and U.S. officials in Oman were a ‘good start’ and ‘exclusively nuclear,’ Iran’s foreign minister told state media, adding that the two sides had agreed to continue discussions at a later date.”
* Hmm: “Over two days of questioning during his Senate confirmation hearings last year, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeated the same answer. He said the closely scrutinized 2019 trip he took to Samoa, which came before a devastating measles outbreak, had ‘nothing to do with vaccines.’ Documents obtained by The Guardian and The Associated Press undermine that testimony.”
* Whether Trump will change his mind for a fourth time remains to be seen: “President Trump toned down his criticism of a U.K. deal ceding sovereignty over an Indian Ocean island that hosts a U.S. military base, but said the U.S. had the right to secure and strengthen its presence there if it comes under threat. Trump’s social-media post Thursday came less than three weeks after he lashed out at U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer for agreeing to hand over sovereignty of the island of Diego Garcia to Mauritius.”
Have a safe weekend.
