By Haley Britzky, CNN

(CNN) — Facing deadly Iranian drone attacks across the Middle East, the US military has been rushing defensive systems into the region while adjusting to a threat that has come to dominates modern battlefields and carries echoes of a weapon that haunted service members during the 20 years of the war on terror.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing this month that the one-way drones were posing a bigger problem than anticipated, and that US air defenses wouldn’t be able to intercept all of them.

A drone was responsible for the first American military deaths of the war, striking a temporary operations center from above, killing six US soldiers and wounding more.

George Barros, director of innovation and open source tradecraft with the Institute for the Study of War, said there was some level of shock within the national security community that the US did not appear fully prepared for the threat given how drones have transformed warfare in Ukraine.

“We were kind of all aghast,” Barros said, “because it was clear the extent to which the American planners had not been truly implementing or properly internalizing the lessons that we thought were learned from the war in Ukraine.”

The US military is working to buttress defenses that were in place ahead of the war, including traditional air defense systems, directed-energy weapons, and other new systems that have been proved on the battlefield in Europe.

The Army purchased 10,000 Merops anti-drone systems in the last couple of months, along with 13,000 Bumblebee counter-drone systems, a US official said. It’s unclear the extent to which those systems were already deployed in the Middle East before operations began in late February, or how many systems have been sent into theater since.

But the urgency over the last few years for the US to adjust to the new reality of the battlefield — an urgency that has become more acute now — is reminiscent of another pressing threat two decades ago: improvised explosive devices.

“Both were new threats that the United States scrambled to adapt to and develop countermeasures, and willing to spend a fair amount of money to do that,” Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies Defense and Security Department, told CNN.

“The difference is that the IEDs were new; we did not anticipate that … but the counter-drone is something we’ve been thinking about for a decade and have started thinking very seriously and much more aggressively since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.”

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell placed blame on the Biden administration for ignoring “the battlefield evidence” of drones, saying it “did not meaningfully increase budgets, organize around drones or field them.” Hegseth “has done all three,” Parnell said, “demanding urgent change when he launched Drone Dominance last July and organizing a coherent defense by establishing [Joint Interagency Task Force]-401 in August.”

The task force has bought “over $262 million of equipment, including thousands of interceptors and sensors,” a task force spokesperson told CNN.

At the start of the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan, the threat of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, was similarly ever-present. By 2006, the bombs were responsible for half of combat casualties in

By Kyle Feldscher, CNN

(CNN) — Team USA and Venezuela are set to meet Tuesday night in the final of the World Baseball Classic, a fitting showdown between two of the top teams on the field from nations that have a long and tense history off it.

Venezuela booked its trip to the final with a semifinal win over Team Italy on Monday, while the USA defeated the Dominican Republic in the tournament’s other semifinal on Sunday, resulting in a third straight trip to the WBC final for the Americans.

On the diamond, it’s a sumptuous pairing. Team USA is chock full of stars who have been extremely serious (some might say too serious) in its pursuit of avenging a loss in the tournament’s 2023 championship game. Venezuela, also star-laden, has been oozing aura throughout its time in the WBC and provided some electric moments in wins over Japan, Italy and a close loss to its Dominican Republic rival earlier in the tournament.

But the final will also carry greater significance for all that’s happened between the two nations in recent – and not-so-recent – history. The two countries have been intertwined over the last year or so, even more intensely since the US military’s raid on Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro’s compound that led to the longtime strongman being captured and taken away to New York to face drug trafficking charges.

Here’s what you need to know about why Tuesday’s WBC final (8 p.m. ET on Fox) is so intriguing.

Off the field: Trump’s focus on Venezuela and the Maduro raid

Suffice to say that the relationship between the United States and Venezuela has been complicated, even adversarial, for decades.

From the beginning of Hugo Chávez’s tenure in 2007 to the capture of Maduro in January, the oil-rich Venezuelan government was constantly at odds with Washington. The tension ramped up beginning in the middle of 2024, when the Biden administration tightened sanctions on the Venezuelan government and forced Caracas to rely more heavily on China, Russia, India, Turkey and other trading partners.

But it was the return of Donald Trump to the presidency that sent a simmering situation to a boil.

After returning to the White House, Trump said he did not consider Maduro to be a democratically elected ruler. He also announced a policy of mass deportations, arguing that many migrants arriving in the US – including Venezuelans – bring crime and other ills with them, and he designated the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization.

In March 2025, tensions between the two governments escalated when the US deported more than 200 Venezuelan migrants, labeling them criminals, to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador.

Later on in the year, the US Treasury Department accused Maduro of leading the Cartel de los Soles, an alleged criminal organization that, according to Washington, engages in drug trafficking and money laundering. In August, the US also raised to $50 million a Read more

CNN, CENTCOM, POOL, EBS+, NATO TV, NATO

By Jessie Yeung, CNN

(CNN) — Frustration is mounting in the White House and among US allies, as countries resist US President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, and as Trump rebuffs Iran’s attempts at diplomacy.

Meanwhile, Israel said that it killed Iran’s security chief, Ali Larijani, in strike on Tehran. Israel is also planning a major ground offensive in Lebanon, alarming Western leaders who warn of “devastating” humanitarian consequences.

Here’s what to know on day 18.

What are the main headlines?

• “Not NATO’s war”: EU foreign ministers decided against expanding their naval operations around the Strait of Hormuz, even as Trump criticized allies who rebuffed his demands for assistance in reopening the critical waterway. He said he will “soon” announce countries that have agreed to help, while acknowledging many have rejected his overtures. On Monday, a spokesperson for the German chancellor said: “It is not NATO’s war.”
• Diplomacy stalled: Iranian officials have reached out to Trump’s Middle East envoy, trying to reopen a diplomatic channel, but Trump said he didn’t want to negotiate now, two senior White House officials told CNN. Part of the reason is because Trump’s administration is not confident that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, “is actually in charge,” one of the officials said. Iran’s foreign minister denied having any contact with the president’s envoy in recent days, as the White House officials claim.
• Israel “eliminates” Larijani: Meanwhile, Israel said it killed Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in a Monday night strike on Tehran. The strike demonstrates Israel’s determination to pursue senior figures in the Iranian regime, even those seen as pragmatists like Larijani. Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, said the military will “continue hunting” Iran’s leadership.
• Patience runs thin: Some American, European and Asian diplomats are growing increasingly frustrated with the Trump administration’s refusal to use traditional diplomatic channels. “If there was more diplomatic engagement on the US side, they might be able to get a more positive outcome,” said Read more

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La red eléctrica de Cuba colapsa tras semanas de bloqueo petrolero. Tormentas invernales en EE.UU. Los más vulnerables ante la política inmigratoria de Trump. Esto es lo que debes saber para comenzar el día. Primero la verdad.

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Mientras el presidente Donald Trump presiona a los aliados de Estados Unidos para que aporten fuerzas navales destinadas a proteger el tráfico marítimo en el estrecho de Ormuz, expertos en la materia afirman que tal iniciativa presenta un riesgo enorme que, incluso si tuviera éxito, podría restablecer solo alrededor del 10 % del tráfico anterior a la guerra a través de la vía marítima. Análisis.

• Trump necesita la ayuda de China para solucionar la crisis del petróleo. Es poco probable que Beijing coopere
• Irán sigue exportando petróleo a través del estrecho de Ormuz, cuando el resto del tráfico está paralizado
• ¿Qué busca Israel en la guerra con Irán? ¿Es diferente de lo que busca Estados Unidos? Análisis
• Trump necesita una coalición. Aquí te explicamos cómo formar una. Análisis

La red eléctrica de Cuba sufrió un colapso total el lunes, informó el operador eléctrico del país, acerca del más reciente apagón a nivel nacional en los últimos años, y el primero desde que EE.UU. cerró el suministro de petróleo hacia la isla de aproximadamente 10 millones de habitantes.

• En medio de la crisis, el Gobierno de Cuba anuncia reformas económicas aunque persisten los obstáculos
• Trump dice que podría tener “el honor de tomar Cuba” sin ofrecer detalles

Más de 250 millones de personas en EE.UU. (casi el 75% de la población del país) se encuentran ante algún tipo de fenómeno meteorológico adverso debido a la tormenta actual. Esto podría manifestarse en forma de tormentas eléctricas potentes, nieve, ventiscas y fuertes vientos generalizados.

La política inmigratoria del segundo mandato de Donald Trump como presidente de Estados Unidos ha tenido objetivos en distintos frentes: desde inmigrantes indocumentados (con y sin antecedentes penales) hasta ciudadanos estadounidenses, residentes, asilados y refugiados (es decir, población con estatus legal). De estos grupos, uno de los más atacados ha sido el de la población refugiada en Estados Unidos. ¿De dónde vienen y qué medidas los afectan?

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Por Lauren Fox, Sarah Ferris y Priscilla Álvarez, CNN

En sus inicios en el Congreso, Markwayne Mullin intentó combinar su chaqueta y corbata con unos vaqueros en la Cámara de Representantes. El entonces presidente de la Cámara, John Boehner, reprendió al joven republicano por infringir el código de vestimenta.

Puede que haya llegado a Washington con una apariencia poco convencional, pero este hombre de 48 años, que todavía usa su sombrero de vaquero ocasionalmente para presidir las sesiones del Senado, ha aprendido mucho desde entonces.

Desde su llegada a Washington en 2013, Mullin se ha forjado una reputación en el Capitolio como un exluchador de MMA directo y sin rodeos, un atípico defensor de la línea política que puede difundir los argumentos de la Casa Blanca en Fox News y luego negociar ocasionalmente con los demócratas.

Este afable oriundo de Oklahoma ha dedicado décadas a forjar sólidas relaciones en ambas cámaras del Capitolio, lo que finalmente le ayudó a entrar en el círculo íntimo del presidente.

Ahora, Mullin ha sido nominado para servir como secretario de Seguridad Nacional del presidente Donald Trump, un puesto que le exigirá cumplir la promesa electoral clave del presidente en materia de inmigración, que se ha convertido en uno de los mayores lastres políticos del partido de cara a las elecciones de mitad de mandato.

También está a punto de poner a prueba hasta qué punto puede mantener su imagen de ajeno al sistema mientras cumple las órdenes de Trump.

Mullin comparecerá ante la Comisión de Seguridad Nacional del Senado el miércoles, apenas dos semanas después de haber sido designado repentinamente para el cargo y más de un mes después del cierre parcial del Gobierno, motivado por intereses partidistas, de la misma agencia que, de ser confirmado, él dirigiría.

Ahora, al otro lado del estrado, se espera que Mullin sea sometido a un duro interrogatorio por parte de los demócratas del Senado, con algunos de los cuales mantiene una larga amistad, pero que están bajo una intensa presión para oponerse a él en medio de la conflictiva política inmigratoria actual.

“Existe una larga tradición de que los senadores nominados para cargos en el Gabinete sean confirmados. Este es un puesto de gran responsabilidad en una administración que ha violado la ley, la tradición, la ética y la Constitución en su aplicación de las leyes de inmigración”, declaró a CNN el senador Chris Coons, demócrata de Delaware. “Markwayne, aunque goza de popularidad, se enfrentará a mayores dificultades debido al cargo y al presidente, no por su persona”.

En cierto modo, Mullin ha llegado a encarnar el mensaje populista de Trump. Abandonó la universidad para hacerse cargo del negocio familiar de fontanería cuando su padre enfermó, y posteriormente obtuvo un título técnico.

Pero también ha demostrado ser un político astuto. Mullin se alineó no solo con Trump, sino también con otros líderes clave, forjando una amistad con el entonces presidente de la Cámara de Representantes, Kevin McCarthy, y luego defendiendo con tenacidad al senador republicano de Dakota del Sur, John Thune, en su candidatura a líder de la mayoría en el Senado.

A pesar de su estilo a veces pomposo, muchos demócratas sostienen que es difícil no llevarse bien con Mullin, quien ahora administra el famoso mostrador de dulces del Senado, donde los miembros de ambos partidos pueden pasar a buscar un dulce (a Mullin, un entusiasta del ejercicio físico, se le ve con frecuencia llevando enormes bolsas de dulces al hemiciclo).

Varios demócratas ya han dado a entender que no votarán por él. Argumentan que cambiar la dirección del DHS —un departamento con más de 260