Pentagon announces another boat strike amid heightened scrutiny – US politics live

<p>Four killed in attack on boat in eastern Pacific as questions continue over earlier double strike</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/04/pentagon-boat-strike-pacific">Pentagon announces it has killed four men in another boat strike in Pacific</a></p></li></ul><p>Hello and thank you for joining us on the US politics live blog.</p><p>The US forces <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/04/pentagon-boat-strike-pacific">conducted another deadly strike </a>on a boat suspected of carrying illegal narcotics on Thursday, the Pentagon said, killing four men in the eastern Pacific as questions continue to mount over the legality such attacks.</p><p>The <strong>supreme court</strong> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/04/us-supreme-court-texas-congressional-maps">ruled on Thursday </a>to allow Texas to use a redrawn that adds as many as five Republican-friendly congressional districts. Texas had redrawn its congressional map this summer as part of an effort that <strong>Donald Trump</strong> initiated to protect Republicans’ slim majority in the House ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.</p><p>A <strong>federal vaccine advisory panel</strong> is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/05/acip-vaccine-panel-vote-hepatitis-b">expected to vote </a>on Friday whether to change the longstanding recommendation that all newborns be immunized against hepatitis B. The panel advises the <strong>US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</strong> (CDC).</p><p>A grand jury <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/04/grand-jury-declines-to-indict-letitia-james">declined to indict</a> <strong>Letitia James</strong> on Thursday, less than two weeks after judge ruled similar case against New York attorney general unlawful. James has been one of Trump’s top political foes ever since she successfully brought a fraud lawsuit against him in New York.</p><p>A man <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/04/dc-pipe-bomb-attack-arrest-january-6">was arrested </a>for planting pipe bombs outside the Republican and Democratic party headquarters on the eve of <strong>the January 6 insurrection.</strong></p><p>A federal appeals court sided with the Trump administration on Thursday and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/04/washingon-dc-trump-national-guard">paused a lower court’s order</a> to end the administration’s deployment of National guard troops in Washington DC.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/dec/05/trump-pete-hegseth-signal-politics-updates">Continue reading...</a>

Read the full article at: The Guardian World →