Journalists at the Pentagon turned in access badges and cleaned out their workspaces on Wednesday, the price for refusing to agree to new restrictions on their jobs at the seat of U.S. military power. The refusal was near-unanimous, from trade publications, wire services, television networks and newspapers, and included outlets that appeal largely to conservatives like Fox News Channel and Newsmax. Many of the reporters chose to turn in their badges together at the 4 p.m. deadline set by the Defense Department to vacate the building. Reporters said their work will continue despite the loss of access.

President Donald Trump says the U.S. has struck another boat accused of carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela. The Republican president said Tuesday in a social media post six people aboard the vessel were killed. It's the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean as the Trump administration has asserted it's treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force. Frustration with the administration has grown on Capitol Hill. Some Republicans want more information from the White House on the legal justification and details of the strikes. Democrats contend the strikes violate U.S. and international law. Venezuela says the U.S. government knows the drug-trafficking accusations are false.

Fox News, the former employer of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has joined a near-unanimous outpouring of news organizations rejecting new rules for journalists based in the Pentagon. Fox signed on to a statement with ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN saying they would not agree to Hegseth's new rules. It said "the policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections." So far, only the conservative One America News Network has said its reporters would follow the new regulations. Hegseth has said that outlets who don't agree to the new rules by the end of Tuesday, which restrict reporting on news not specifically approved by his team, will be evicted from the Pentagon on Wednesday.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he ordered another strike on a small boat he accused of carrying drugs off Venezuela. It expands what the Trump administration has declared is an "armed conflict" with cartels. In a social media post Friday, Hegseth asserted that the "vessel was trafficking narcotics" and those aboard were "narco-terrorists." He said the strike killed four men but offered no details on who they were or what group they belonged to. This follows the U.S. designating several cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. It's the fourth deadly strike in the Caribbean and the latest since revelations that President Donald Trump said he was treating drug traffickers as unlawful combatants and military force was required to combat them.

President Donald Trump has declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and says the United States is now in an "armed conflict." That's according to a Trump administration memo obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. A person familiar with the matter who's not authorized to comment publicly says Congress was notified about the designation by Pentagon officials Wednesday. The move comes after the U.S. military last month carried out three deadly strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean. At least two of those operations were carried out on vessels originating from Venezuela. The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committees says drug cartels "must be dealt with by law enforcement."

FBI Director Kash Patel says DNA on a towel wrapped around a rifle found near where conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated matches that of the 22-year-old accused in the killing. Patel told Fox News Channel on Monday investigators also have used DNA to link suspect Tyler Robinson with a screwdriver recovered from the rooftop where the fatal shot was fired. Authorities in Utah are preparing to file capital murder charges against Robinson as early as Tuesday in the killing of Kirk, a dominant figure in conservative politics. Patel says Robinson wrote in a note before the shooting that he had an opportunity to take out Kirk. Robinson's family has declined to comment.

A top Florida official says the controversial state-run immigration detention facility in the Everglades will likely be empty in a matter of days, even as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration fights a federal judge's order to shutter the facility dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" by a late October deadline. That's according to an email exchange shared with The Associated Press. Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie says in an email to a South Florida rabbi on Aug. 22 in regard to providing spiritual care at the facility that "we are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days."