President Trump helps Navy celebrate 250th birthday; Hamas, Israel prepare for indirect ceasefire negotiations; Hegseth fires Navy chief of staff.
1. President Donald Trump did not let the government shutdown interfere with a stop in Norfolk, Virginia, on Sunday to salute the Navy as it celebrates its 250th anniversary — using his speech to praise both the Navy and himself. Trump delivered remarks that by his own recognition bordered on making it more like a campaign event, generating some cheers from the crowd before closing out with a recording of his theme song, “YMCA” by Village People. With a crowd of about 10,000 sailors in their dress-white uniforms. Navy planes flew overhead as the president began his speech, fueling the crowd’s energy and prompting many of the sailors to chant “USA! USA! USA!”
2. Israel and Hamas prepared for indirect negotiations in Egypt on Monday, as hopes for a possible ceasefire in Gaza grew after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a hostage release could be announced this week. Tuesday marks two years since the Hamas attack that sparked the war. President Donald Trump has welcomed the Hamas statement accepting some elements of the U.S. peace plan. Israel has said it supported the new U.S. effort. Under the plan, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages — about 20 believed to be alive — within three days. It would give up power and disarm. The delegation led by top Israeli negotiator Ron Dermer will leave Monday for the talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Netanyahu’s office said. An Egyptian official said the Hamas delegation had arrived. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to brief reporters, said U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is joining the talks.
3. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired the Navy chief of staff in a sudden shakeup following the confirmation of Hung Cao as the new Navy Under Secretary. “Jon Harrison will no longer serve as the Chief of Staff of the Secretary of the Navy. We are grateful for his service to the Department,” a Pentagon spokesman told Military Times in a statement on Saturday. Harrison was a political appointee of President Donald Trump who had worked with Navy Secretary John Phelan on efforts to streamline the Navy’s policy and budgeting offices after coming into their posts with many of the Navy’s biggest programs years behind schedule.
4. A high-ranking officer who has served more than three decades and has deployed to all Navy theaters of operation worldwide recently took the helm of one of the service’s most active combat regions. Vice Adm. Curt Renshaw assumed command of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. 5th Fleet from Vice Adm. George Wikoff on Sunday in a ceremony at U.S. Naval Support Activity Bahrain. Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, presided over the ceremony, the Navy said in an email Monday. Wikoff took charge of NAVCENT/5th Fleet in February 2024 as attacks on commercial shipping by Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen intensified in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
5. A federal appeals court in Virginia is trying to decide whether a company that worked alongside soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq should be held liable for treatment detainees experienced there. At stake in the case, which has been in litigation for more than 17 years, is a potential $42 million payout that would be the most substantial penalty for the abuse delivered at Abu Ghraib since the public first learned of the scandal months after the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003. At the center of the case is CACI Premier Technology, a Virginia-based defense contractor hired in 2003 by the U.S. government to provide civilian interrogators at Abu Ghraib. The company long has denied its employees took part or were responsible for the notorious events at the prison and repeatedly has moved to have the case dismissed. Three Iraqi plaintiffs — a middle school principal, a fruit vendor and a journalist — have accused the contractor of conspiring with the U.S. military to torture detainees in violation of international laws. They said they experienced physical and psychological abuse at Abu Ghraib, including electrical shocks, food deprivation and threats of dog attacks.
- Honor & Remembrance