Author: g4pt3xinfo

Survivors of the deadliest Iranian attack on U.S. forces since the war began have disputed the Pentagon’s description of events and said their unit in Kuwait was left dangerously exposed when six service members were killed and more than 20 wounded.

Speaking publicly for the first time, members of the targeted unit offered CBS News a detailed account of the attack and its harrowing aftermath from the perspective of those on the ground.

The members CBS News spoke to disputed the description of events from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who described the drone as a “squirter” — in that it squirted through the defenses of a fortified unit inside Kuwait.

“Painting a picture that ‘one squeaked through’ is a falsehood,” one of the injured soldiers told CBS News. “I want people to know the unit … was unprepared to provide any defense for itself. It was not a fortified position.”

That service member, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because of rigid media restrictions within the military, said that in spite of the carnage that ensued, those inside the charred and splintered compound responded with swiftness, ingenuity and valor that saved lives.

“I don’t think that the security environment or any leadership decision diminishes in any way their sacrifice or their service,” the member of the Army’s 103rd Sustainment Command said in an interview. “Those soldiers put themselves in harm’s way and … I’m immensely proud of them, and their family should be proud of them.”

These first eyewitness accounts, along with photos and videos of the attack’s aftermath obtained exclusively by CBS News, offer the first descriptions of what occurred March 1 at the thinly fortified Kuwaiti port facility on the day of the Iranian drone strike.

President Trump lashed out at Pope Leo XIV in a lengthy social media post Sunday night, calling the pontiff “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”

Leo has been critical of the war in Iran and has previously made statements at odds with other priorities of the Trump administration, such as the ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration.

“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country,” Mr. Trump wrote.

Mr. Trump’s post criticizing the pope came just a short time after “60 Minutes” aired a story discussing the pontiff’s statements and influence with three American cardinals who know him well. Mr. Trump later confirmed to CBS News senior correspondent Norah O’Donnell that he had watched the show, and that he believes the pontiff is “wrong on the issues.”

Leo previously called Mr. Trump’s threat to completely destroy Iranian civilization “truly unacceptable,” and encouraged people to “contact the authorities — political leaders, congressmen — to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war, always.”

Pope Leo addressed Mr. Trump’s latest comments Monday on a flight to Algeria to begin an 11-day trip to Africa.

“The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone, and the message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’” the pontiff said.

He continued, “I will not shy away from announcing the message of the Gospel, of inviting all people to look for ways of building bridges for peace and reconciliation, of looking for ways to avoid war anytime that’s possible. To put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here, I think is … not understanding what the message of the Gospel is, and I’m sorry to hear that.

“But I will continue on with what I believe is the mission of the church in the world.”

He also said, “I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the church is here to do. We are not politicians, we don’t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the Gospel, as a peacemaker. “

Guam and other U.S. island territories in the western Pacific Ocean on Monday braced for the most powerful storm of the year so far, which could bring destructive winds and widespread flooding over the next 48 hours, forecasts show.

Super Typhoon Sinlaku was traveling west-northwest toward the Marianas Islands just after 9 a.m. ET — or 11 p.m. in the local time zone — according to the National Weather Service office in Guam, which is home to three U.S. military bases. The Marianas are an archipelago comprising 15 different islands, including Guam, in the western Pacific, about 1,500 miles east of the Philippines. They are U.S.-held territories.

The typhoon’s maximum sustained winds stabilized at 175 mph as the massive storm approached the island chain, after peaking at 180 mph on Sunday. This is the strongest storm to develop in 2026, behind typhoons Narelle and Dudzai, which respectively peaked at 149 and 147 mph, said CBS News meteorologist Nikki Nolan.

In the Southwest Pacific, “typhoon” is the term used to describe a tropical storm that forecasters would call a hurricane in the U.S. They’re just two different names for the same kind of weather system.

Atlantic hurricanes are ranked on a scale of 1 to 5 that categorizes them by their capacity to cause damage. The highest ranking, Category 5, is assigned to storms that have sustained winds of at least 157 mph. In the Pacific, a typhoon of that intensity is called a “super typhoon.”

Although Sinlaku is expected to weaken before crossing the Marianas near the neighboring islands of Tinian and Sapian later on Tuesday, forecasters say the system could still arrive with winds equivalent to those of a Category 4 or 5 storm.

Residents of islands in or near the typhoon’s path have been advised to prepare for thunderstorms and heavy rain, potentially causing flooding, in addition to extremely strong winds. As of the weather service’s latest update, typhoon-force winds extended outward for up to 80 miles from Sinlaku’s center, and tropical-storm-force winds extended outward for up to 275 miles.

A typhoon warning was in place for the Marianas islands of Rota, Tinian and Saipan, while tropical storm warnings were in place for Guam as well as the islands of Pagan and Alamagan, and a tropical storm watch was in place for the island of Agrihan, according to the weather service. A typhoon watch was also effective for Guam, where officials warned people to remain indoors and out of the water.

A Brazilian senator said on Monday that the country’s former intelligence agency chief Alexandre Ramagem was arrested by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and is pleading for him to get political asylum in the United States.

Ramagem, also a former lawmaker, was sentenced in September to 16 years in prison for his role in the coup attempt by supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in 2023. Brazil’s federal police said he fled the South American nation before he would have started serving his sentence.

Sen. Jorge Seif said in his social media channels that he had informed the U.S. embassy in Brasilia that Ramagem should not remain in custody for he was being persecuted at home. Seif did not give details as to why the former Brazilian intelligence agency chief had been put under custody.

On Monday, Ramagem appeared as in custody in ICE’s online detainee database, although where he is being held was not specified.

“The political persecution against President Bolsonaro, his sons and his allies is now hitting an elected lawmaker in foreign soil,” Seif said. “In our document (to the U.S. embassy) we showed all the reasons that justify and defend the concession of political asylum to Ramagem and his family.”

Ramagem was stripped of his seat in Brazil’s congress in December as a consequence of his conviction in the coup case one month earlier.

Earlier on Monday, Brazil’s federal police said in a statement that ICE had detained “a fugitive from Brazilian justice following his conviction for the crimes of armed criminal association, attempted coup d’etat, and the attempted violent abolition of the rule of law.” The statement did not mention Ramagem by name.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. loves raw milk so much that he downed a shot of it at the White House last year while unveiling his Make America Healthy Again plan. Unsurprisingly, state lawmakers have since rushed to loosen regulations on unpasteurized dairy products.

Last month, Utah passed a law to increase the amount of raw milk producers can sell and ease testing requirements. Legislatures in Iowa, Oklahoma and Michigan are considering similar bills to expand access to these products.

It’s easy to respond to this movement with outrage. After all, it will almost certainly lead to more foodborne illnesses. Still, I think it’s important for public health leaders to take a more measured approach. While they should be clear about the risks of drinking raw milk, it simply is not on the same scale as Kennedy’s other catastrophic decisions, most notably upending long-standing vaccine policy.

Don’t get me wrong: The case against raw milk — euphemistically called “fresh milk” by aficionados — is strong. It can harbor bacteria that cause serious illness, including E. coli, salmonella, listeria and campylobacter. Pasteurization, a simple process that heats milk to at least 161 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 seconds, kills these pathogens. Before pasteurization became standard practice, milk was a major source of infection for Americans and linked to as many as 1 in 4 cases of foodborne illness.

Raw milk enthusiasts argue that modern farming and sanitation practices make it safe to consume. But even farms that follow careful hygiene protocols can’t eliminate risk. Milk can be contaminated at multiple points in the production process, including from bacteria on the animal’s udder, in manure, in soil and water and on farm equipment. Contrary to some claims, labels such as “grass-fed” and “organic” do not render raw milk safe, and testing cannot guarantee that it is free from harmful germs across batches.

Between 1998 and 2018, 202 outbreaks involving more than 2,600 illnesses were linked to raw milk, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. This year, nine people in Idaho became seriously ill after consuming unpasteurized milk, including two children who developed a severe complication that can lead to kidney failure and death. In a separate outbreak, nine people contracted E. coli after consuming cheese made from a California farm’s raw milk. And in a third, a New Mexico infant died of a listeria infection, which health officials attributed to the child’s mother drinking unpasteurized milk during pregnancy.