Hegseth orders makeup studio installed at Pentagon (April 2025)
www.cbsnews.com

... Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently ordered modifications to a room next to the Pentagon press briefing room to retrofit it with a makeup studio that can be used to prepare for television appearances, multiple sources told CBS News.

The price tag for the project was several thousand dollars, according to two of the sources, at a time when the administration is searching for cost-cutting measures. ...

With Iran war exit elusive, Trump aides vie to affect outcome
www.reuters.com

... A complex tug-of-war inside the White House is driving U.S. President Donald Trump's shifting public statements on the course of the Iran war, as aides debate when and how to declare victory even as the conflict spreads across the Middle East.

Some officials and advisers are warning Trump that surging gasoline prices could exact a political cost from the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, while some others are pressing him to maintain the offensive against the Islamic Republic, according to interviews with a Trump adviser and others close to the deliberations.

Their observations offer a previously unreported glimpse inside White House decision-making as it adjusts its approach to the biggest U.S. military operation since the 2003 Iraq war.

The behind-the-scenes maneuvering underscores the high stakes Trump, who returned to office last year promising to avoid "stupid" military interventions, faces nearly two weeks after plunging the nation into a war that has rattled global financial markets and disrupted the international oil trade.

The jockeying for Trump's ear is a feature of his presidency, but this time the consequences are a matter of war and peace.

Shifting from the sweeping goals he framed in launching the war on February 28, Trump in recent days has emphasized that he views the conflict as a limited campaign whose military objectives have mostly been met.

But the message remains unclear to many, including the energy markets, which have lurched in both directions in response to Trump's statements.

He told a campaign-style rally in Kentucky on Wednesday that "we won" the war, then abruptly pivoted: "We don't want to leave early, do we? We've got to finish the job." ...

US Allies Near China on Edge as Weapons Shift From Asia to Iran
www.bloomberg.com

... When the US pulled its only aircraft carrier based in Asia to support the military surge in Afghanistan back in 2010, allies in the region had little concern that China or North Korea might look to take advantage.

Today things are different.

As the US continues to pour weapons into the Middle East for military operations against Iran, current and former defense officials in Asia are growing concerned that more American firepower will be shifted over time if the war drags on.

And even if fighting wraps up soon, they warned that depleted stockpiles of munitions could also take years to replace, leaving Taiwan and other places vulnerable. ...

US To Get Blizzard, Polar Vortex, Heat Dome, Atmospheric River All at Once
www.newsweek.com

... Nearly every part of the United States is getting walloped by wild weather, or is just about to be.

Days of downpours have begun in Hawaii. The Southwest will soon bake with day after day of record 100-degree-plus (38 Celsius-plus) heat. Two storms will dump snow by the foot over northern Great Lakes states. And the dreaded polar vortex will again invade the Midwest and East with soul-crushing Arctic chill.

This forecast of extremes comes as weather whiplash already hit much of the East. On Wednesday, Washington, D.C. residents walked around in shorts in record-breaking 86 degrees Fahrenheit (about 30 Celsius). On Thursday, it snowed. ...