Missing US Navy Seals declared dead following raid to seize Iranian weapons bound for Houthis, says American military
Two US Navy Seals who went missing during a night-time raid on a boat off Somalia have been declared dead after a 10-day search failed to find them, military officials have said.
The unnamed pair were reported missing in the Gulf of Aden after commandos targeted the vessel, which was carrying Iranian-made weapons to the Houthi rebels in Yemen, US Central Command (Centcom) said on X.
As the team was boarding the dhow on 11 January, one of them fell into the water during rough seas, and a colleague dived in to help, officials said.
The US military displayed some of the Iranian-made missile components it says it seized in the raid. Pic: Centcom/AP
Centcom said in a statement: “We regret to announce that after a 10-day exhaustive search, our two missing US Navy Seals have not been located and their status has been changed to deceased.
“The search and rescue operation for the two Navy Seals reported missing during the boarding of an illicit dhow carrying Iranian advanced conventional weapons… concluded and we are now conducting recovery operations.”
Centcom commander General Michael Erik Kurilla said: “We mourn the loss of our two naval special warfare warriors, and we will forever honour their sacrifice and example.
“Our prayers are with the Seals’ families, friends, the US Navy, and the entire special operations community during this time.”
In the raid, commandos seized an array of Iranian-made weaponry, including cruise and ballistic missile components such as propulsion and guidance devices and warheads, as well as air defence parts, Centcom said.
The Seals are described on navy.com as “a nimble, elite maritime military force suited for all aspects of unconventional warfare”. Their roles include “conducting insertions and extractions by sea, air or land to accomplish covert, special warfare/special operations missions”.
21,000 square mile search
Spain and Japan helped US teams search more than 21,000 square miles of ocean for the pair, but the 10-day mission had now moved from rescue to recovery, according to Centcom.
Iran is the key backer of the Houthis, the Shia fighters who have been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea in support, they say, of Hamas which is being attacked by Israeli forces in Gaza.
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As fears the Israel-Hamas war will lead to a wider regional conflict grow, the US appears to be getting further embroiled.
On Saturday, a number of US soldiers were wounded when Iran-backed armed groups attacked the al Assad airbase in Iraq.
It came hours after Tehran vowed revenge and blamed Israel for a deadly attack on a building housing its elite forces in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria have increased since Israel began retaliating, with Washington’s support, for Hamas‘s 7 October massacre last year.
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‘Two-state solution is dead’
More than 140 attacks on US assets and personnel by Iranian-backed proxy groups have been recorded, the broadcaster Voice Of America reported.
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The US has carried out a string of strikes against Houthi targets in response to the fighters’ attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea that have disrupted global trade and raised fears of supply bottlenecks.
On Saturday, US forces hit a Houthi anti-ship missile aimed into the Gulf of Aden and ready to fire, and earlier this month, US forces killed 10 Houthi fighters in the Red Sea.
On Sunday, John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the UN, told Sky News the US could send several Iranian ships helping the Houthis “to the bottom of the Red Sea”.
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Israel strikes Hezbollah targets
He said: “We could attack air defence sites inside Iran. We could go after military headquarters of the Quds Force. We could go after camps where weapons and training have been transferred to various militia groups.
“Our attacks wouldn’t necessarily threaten the mullahs in Tehran, but as long as they are engaged in all this activity in the region – cost free to them – they will continue to do it.
“We have no deterrence now in the region, not even for goodness sake, against the Houthis.”
Watch new foreign affairs show The World with Yalda Hakim from Monday to Thursday between 9pm and 10pm on Sky News.
US
Donald Trump ‘not thinking about Melania’ when he paid off Stormy Daniels, says ex-lawyer Michael Cohen
Donald Trump “wasn’t thinking about (his wife) Melania” when he paid off a former porn star, his former lawyer has testified.
Michael Cohen told a court Mr Trump personally approved $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels over an alleged 2006 sexual encounter.
The payout isn’t illegal, but Mr Trump is accused of falsifying records to hide it – a claim he denies.
On Monday, his trial in New York heard from Mr Cohen, once a lawyer and self-described “fixer” for the ex-president.
Mr Trump’s lawyers have painted the hush money as an attempt to protect his wife from rumours and upset.
Michael Cohen has himself been jailed over the payment to Daniels. Pic: Reuters
However, Mr Cohen said his boss was purely concerned with keeping the claims quiet as he ran for the presidency.
“He wasn’t thinking about Melania. This was all about the campaign,” he said, prompting Mr Trump to shake his head in response.
Mr Cohen told the court he’d heard Stormy Daniels was considering selling her story and he told his boss swift action was required.
Mr Trump denies the affair and his lawyers say Mr Cohen acted on his own – a claim he denied in court.
He told jurors in Manhattan that “everything required Mr Trump’s sign-off” and he was ordered to “just do it”.
Mr Cohen said he stumped up the $130,000 himself after Mr Trump told him he would pay him back.
He said he set up a shell company – listed as a “real estate consulting company” – to make the payment.
Stormy Daniels, pictured in January. Pic: AP
Prosecutors say Mr Trump later paid the money back and covered it up by recording it as a legal retainer fee.
He faces 34 counts of falsifying business records over the claims.
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Hear Trump and his lawyer discuss hush money
The court also heard a recording of a conversation between Mr Trump and Mr Cohen over hush money said to have been paid to another woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who he also allegedly had an affair with.
Mr Cohen suggests in the recording setting up another company to repay David Pecker – who said he provided the $150,000 to cover up the story.
The former National Enquirer boss previously testified he bought the story to keep it hidden and eventually decided against seeking reimbursement.
Later in the recording, Mr Trump can be heard suggesting the $150,000 might be better off being paid in cash.
Mr Cohen told the court this was to “avoid any type of paper transaction”.
The 57-year-old – who once said he would take a bullet for Mr Trump – worked for him for nearly a decade.
Stormy Daniels, pictured in January. Pic: AP
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He pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance law in 2018 over the Stormy Daniels payment and was jailed, but at the time prosecutors did not bring charges against Mr Trump.
Mr Cohen’s credibility is in the sights of defence lawyers as he has previously admitted lying under oath.
Mr Trump – who will take on Joe Biden in his bid to become president again in November – is unlikely to face a custodial sentence if found guilty.
His other cases are potentially more damaging but mired in delays.
They concern allegations of keeping stacks of secret documents after leaving office and trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat. He denies the claims.
A livestream portal between Dublin and New York was temporarily shut down after “inappropriate behaviour” in the Irish capital.
Thousands of people have visited the two-way portal, which allows people on either side to see and interact with each other.
And while there have been a number of wholesome moments – including Irish dancing and even a proposal – a handful of people have behaved “inappropriately”, Dublin City Council has said.
Videos on social media have shown people on the Irish side flashing body parts, and displaying images of 9/11 and swear words on phone screens.
A woman was also escorted away by police after being seen grinding against the portal.
In a statement issued on Monday evening, a spokesperson for Dublin City Council said “technical solutions” to address this are being implemented in the next 24 hours.
People in each city could be seen greeting each other when the portal opened last week. Pic: Reuters
“We will continue to monitor the situation over the coming days with our partners in New York to ensure that Portals continue to deliver a positive experience for both cities and the world,” they said.
“The team at portals.org and partners are still working on improving the software for better stability and to prepare for Portals to expand to more locations on Earth.
“Those works are being done mostly at night and during those hours, the livestream might be paused.”
Dublin City Council noted there has been an increase in footfall since the Portal was unveiled in north Dublin, facing O’Connell Street. The New York portal is at the busy Manhattan junction of Broadway, Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street.
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Most interactions via the portals have been wholesome. Pic: Reuters
“The overwhelming majority of interactions are positive,” the spokesperson added. “We have seen families and friends unite, dancing moves being shared as well as new friendships being made. There was even a successful marriage proposal.
“The Portal offers a window to other cities and is connecting people and cultures in a unique manner – what we are seeing between Dublin and NY is reflective of a wider narrative of cultural behaviour.”
The Portals Organisation said: “We do not intend to suggest people to interact with Portals in any particular way – our goal is to open a window between far away places and cultures that allows people to interact freely with one another.
“We encourage people to be respectful and from our position as observers, we see that the absolute majority of experiences is on the bright side.”
In an earlier statement, they confirmed the livestream had been paused so they could “update the software used on the Portal”.
The new version of the ChatGPT AI chatbot has been unveiled and offers near-instant results across text, vision and audio, according to its maker.
OpenAI said it was much better at understanding visuals and sounds than previous versions.
It offers the prospect of real-time ‘conversations’ with the chatbot, including the ability to interrupt its answers.
The firm says it “accepts as input any combination of text, audio, and image and generates any combination of text, audio, and image outputs”.
GPT-4o is to be rolled out over the next few weeks amid a battle by tech firms to develop ever-more advanced artificial intelligence tools.
Monday’s announcement showed tasks such as real-time language translation; using its vision capability to solve a maths question on a piece of paper, and to guide a blind person around London.
GPT-4o can respond to audio in as little as 232 milliseconds, with an average of 320 milliseconds, which the company says is similar to human response time.
To try to ease concerns over bias, fairness and misinformation, the Microsoft-backed company says the new version has undergone extensive testing by 70 external experts.
It comes after Google earlier this year had a major PR blunder over images generated by its Gemini AI system.
GPT-4o model will be free, but premium ‘Plus’ users get a greater capacity limit for messages.
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Previous versions of the chatbot have caused unease in schools and universities due to some students using it to cheat by producing convincing essays.
When it launched two years ago, ChatGPT was said to be the fastest-ever app to reach 100 million active monthly users.
The announcement also stole a march on Google, which is expected to tomorrow show off its own new AI features at its annual developers’ conference.
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