‘Cannot in good conscience’: Trump’s counterterrorism chief quits over Iran war

WASHINGTON — Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, abruptly resigned Tuesday, becoming the most senior national security official to break publicly with the Trump administration over its military campaign against Iran.

In a statement posted on social media, Kent said he “cannot in good conscience” continue serving in the administration, contending that Iran had “posed no imminent threat to our nation” and that the United States had been drawn into the conflict through “pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

“I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justified the cost of American lives,” Kent wrote in a letter addressed to President Donald Trump. “I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for.”

Trump, speaking in the Oval Office, dismissed Kent’s concerns, telling reporters that he had long believed Kent — whom he nominated to the post in February 2025 — was “very weak on security.” The president insisted that Iran has “been a threat for a long time” to the United States, and said that it was a “good thing that (Kent’s) out.”

—Los Angeles Times

Ring cameras now can tell you if a fire threatens your neighborhood

SAN DIEGO — With San Diego County under a heat advisory and fire season approaching, Ring is launching a new feature that lets neighbors and first responders share real-time wildfire information through the company’s app, the company announced Tuesday.

The new feature is called Fire Watch. Built into the Ring app, the integration combines the wildfire intelligence of Watch Duty — a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating emergency information — with on-the-ground perspectives from Ring camera owners.

The combined data works to bring real-time information to fast-moving fires.

The integration will alert homeowners if a fire breaks out nearby. It also gives users the option to share live photos and videos with neighbors and first responders during a fire.

—The San Diego Union-Tribune

‘Dry to the bone’: Drought squeezes Everglades airboat operators

MIAMI — Instead of whizzing through the open marsh of the Everglades like he usually does, Tristan Tigertail steers his airboat alongside the man-made canal along Tamiami Trail.

On one side, cars speed past on the two-lane road that bisects the southern part of the state. A telecommunications tower looms above the landscape. On the other, shrubs, marsh grasses and tree islands stretch out toward the vast field.

Tigertail, 36, who captains airboat tours through the Everglades, is navigating his boat through the only route available given how dry the park has gotten this year. This is the driest he’s seen the Everglades in a decade and the first time since the family business opened about 30 years ago that this canal is the only viable route.

But if he doesn’t take his boat down the canal, Tigertail Airboat Tours would be forced to shut down like some of the other airboat operators that line the road. The Herald spoke with half a dozen operators. Many had to stop tours temporarily because of the drought or reroute their tours to the canal, though a few operators on the southern side of Tamiami Trail said that their area still has enough water to reach the greater Everglades.

—Miami Herald

At least 23 killed in coordinated blasts in Nigeria

LAGOS, Nigeria — At least 23 people were killed and more than 100 injured in three near-simultaneous explosions in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, police said.

The blasts struck busy locations across the Borno state capital on Monday evening, police spokesman Nahum Kenneth Daso said, adding that the attacks were likely carried out by suicide bombers.

A market, the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and a busy overpass in the city center were the targets, Daso said. No group had claimed responsibility as of Tuesday morning.

Borno state has been plagued for more than 15 years by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which frequently carries out attacks in the region. Maiduguri is considered a stronghold of the group.

—dpa