• Pete Hegseth under fire over alleged financial mismanagement.
• Pentagon chief shared timing of Yemen strikes in Signal group chat.
•  Hegseth is unlikely to be fired immediately, says Nato expert.

WASHINGTON: US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is under mounting pressure from scandals surrounding strikes on alleged drug boats and his use of Signal to discuss sensitive military information, sparking growing criticism and calls for him to quit.

Hegseth — a former Army National Guard major who went from Fox News co-host to leader of the world’s most powerful military — is no stranger to controversy and was only narrowly confirmed by the Senate earlier this year.

The strikes on alleged narcotics smugglers — especially an incident in which survivors of an initial attack were subsequently killed — and his use of commercial messaging app Signal to talk about an impending operation in Yemen, have fuelled further opposition to Hegseth.

“He’s in another difficult position. In fact, his two big problems have now merged,” said Mark Cancian, a retired US Marine colonel and senior adviser at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

“But he seems to retain [US President Donald] Trump’s confidence, even as he’s lost support of some Republicans. So I don’t think he’s in… [a] fatal situation,” Cancian said.

Jim Townsend, former deputy assistant secretary of defence for European and Nato policy during the Obama administration, said Hegseth is “on thin ice” and that Trump has “a secretary of defence that is giving him lots of headaches”.

Townsend agreed that Hegseth is unlikely to be fired immediately, but said if something happens that “really riles up the Republican Party” or embarrasses Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, “they’ll probably try to move him somewhere else.”

Yemen strikes

Hegseth came under fire during his confirmation process over alleged financial mismanagement at veterans’ nonprofits where he previously worked, reports of excessive drinking, and allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in California.

His time as secretary of defence has also been marred by scandals, including one related to strikes on Yemen that were launched in mid-March.

The Atlantic magazine revealed that its editor-in-chief had been inadvertently included in a Signal chat in which officials, including Hegseth, discussed the upcoming operation.

The Pentagon chief sent messages on the timing of strikes hours before they happened and information on aircraft and missiles involved.

The incident sparked an investigation by the Pentagon’s independent inspector general’s office, which concluded in a report released Thursday that Hegseth’s actions could have resulted in “potential harm to US pilots.”

Targeting alleged drug boats

Another controversy stemmed from a September 2 attack on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Pacific. An initial strike left survivors, with a follow-up attack killing those two people.

Hegseth and the White House have repeatedly said the decision for the second strike was made by the operational commander, Admiral Frank Bradley, rather than the defence secretary.

Lawmakers attended a classified briefing on Capitol Hill this week in which they were shown extended video footage of the incident — only a brief part of which has been publicly released — but there are conflicting views about whether the follow-up strikes were justified.

The footage showed “the United States military attacking shipwrecked sailors — bad guys, bad guys — but attacking shipwrecked sailors,” said Democratic Representative Jim Himes.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton — another briefing attendee — described all four strikes on the boat as “entirely lawful and needful,” and said the survivors were attempting to flip the drug-laden vessel back over and “stay in the fight”.

Hegseth has faced calls from some Democratic lawmakers for his resignation or firing over the follow-up strikes and the Signal controversy, but his job seems safe for the moment.

Cancian, however, said that another scandal could push the Trump administration to remove him as defence secretary.

“If there’s maybe another one after this…the White House might lose its patience,” he said, describing the controversies that have already occurred as “very embarrassing”.

LOS ANGELES: Fresh lava fountains spewed in spectacular fashion from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano on Saturday, US volcanologists said, marking nearly a year since one of the world’s most active volcanoes began erupting.

“Sustained lava fountains approximately 50–100 feet (15–30 metres) in height are currently erupting from the north vent,” the US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in a statement, adding that “fountain heights are increasing rapidly.”

The latest episode in the ongoing eruption – the 38th such surge of molten rock and gases from deep underground – began at 8:45 am local time (18:45 GMT), USGS said.

Such activity has been intermittent since an eruption began on December 23, 2024, USGS said, and typically continues for “a day or less.”

All the eruptive activity is “confined to Halema’uma’u crater within the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park,” the service said, and local airports are not expected to be affected by volcanic gas or ash.

Officials are on watch for high levels of volcanic gas and a phenomenon called “Pele’s hair,” in which strands of volcanic glass “often produced by lava fountaining activity” are “carried well over 10 miles (15 kilometres) from the vent.”

Hot glassy volcanic fragments “can fall on the ground within 1–2 miles (1–3 kilometres) of the eruptive vents.”

Kilauea has been very active since 1983 and erupts relatively regularly.

It is one of six active volcanoes located in the Hawaiian Islands, which also include Mauna Loa, the largest volcano in the world.

Kilauea is much smaller than neighbouring Mauna Loa, but is far more active and regularly wows helicopter-riding tourists who come to see its red-hot shows.

• Inquiry ordered as Goa CM inspect devastated Arpora nightclub site.
• Sawant vows toughest action against anyone found responsible.
• Officials confirm tourists among victims of the midnight blaze.

At least 23 people were killed in a fire at a popular nightclub in the Indian resort city of Goa, chief minister Pramod Sawant and other officials said early Sunday.

Several tourists were among the dead in the fire, which broke out at about midnight at a club in Arpora in the North Goa district, according to officials cited by the Press Trust of India.

“Today is a very painful day for all of us in Goa. A major fire incident at Arpora has taken the lives of 23 people,” Sawant wrote on X.

“I visited the incident site and have ordered an inquiry into this incident,” he said. “Those found responsible will face most stringent action under the law — any negligence will be dealt with firmly.”

Sawant told journalists at the scene that “three to four” tourists had died. Three people died from burn injuries, while the others died from suffocation, he said.

Goa, a former Portuguese colony on the shores of the Arabian Sea, lures millions of tourists every year with its nightlife, sandy beaches and laid-back coastal atmosphere.