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Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, worked with agency-backed military units during US war in Afghanistan

The suspected shooter of two national guard members in Washington DC on Wednesday worked with CIA-backed military units during the US war in Afghanistan, the agency has confirmed.

The alleged gunman, identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, came to the US in September 2021 under an Operation Allies Welcome program that gave some Afghans who had worked for the US government entry visas to the US.

Lakanwal’s ties to the Central Intelligence Agency, which worked alongside US special forces in Afghanistan, were confirmed by the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, to media outlets on Wednesday evening.

Democrat Aftyn Behn could win a special election in Tennessee—and Republicans are freaking out.

A Democrat is on the brink of winning a special election in Tennessee’s deep-red 7th congressional district—leading GOP Republicans and even Trump into a frantic last-minute attack. 

An Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey released Wednesday has Democrat Aftyn Behn nearly tied with Republican Matt Van Epps, 46% to 48%—with 2% voting elsewhere and 5% undecided. 

A victory here would continue an upward trend for Democrats on the local level, as Behn would be yet another Democrat to win on the state level this fall. Both Behn and Van Epps are vying to replace former Republican Representative Mark Green, who resigned from Congress in July.

The attack makes the troops’ Washington DC exit less likely and offers a convenient data point for rightwing narratives

Trump accused his predecessor of allowing millions of violent criminals into the US and launched a xenophobic attack on Somalis in Minnesota: “Hundreds of thousands of Somalians are ripping off our country, and ripping apart that once great state.” Notably, the previous evening, his aide Stephen Miller had decried “the Somalification of America”, telling Fox News: “Look how powerful the Democrat Party became in Minnesota once they flooded it with 100,000 Somalians!”

Then Trump announced a review of the status Afghan nationals in the US. “We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden, and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country.”

Raising the spectre of a newly aggressive crackdown by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), the remarks came as little surprise from a president who has made illegal immigration central to his political identity. The White House regularly sends out lists and images of undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes and could not resist playing up the suspect’s nationality.

Such red meat spectacles are, the administration hopes, a powerful distraction for a Trump base recently fracturing over rising prices and the non-release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. It also goes hand in hand with the president’s authoritarian impulse to militarise US cities.

Trump calls the shooting in Washington an ‘act of terror’, as officials name Rahmanullah Lakanwal as suspected shooter

Donald Trump has called for his government to re-examine every Afghan immigrant who entered the US during Joe Biden’s administration, after law enforcement officials identified the suspect in the shooting of two national guard members in Washington as a man from Afghanistan.

A statement from the Department of Homeland Security named the suspect as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the US under a Biden-era policy allowing Afghans set up after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Immigration authorities granted Lakanwal asylum earlier this year, according to CNN.

The shooting took place near the Farragut West metro station in the capital city, close to the White House, and the two national guard members were in a critical condition.

The suspect came to the U.S. in September 2021, a relative told NBC News. He has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, according to four senior law enforcement sources.

The suspect in the Washington, D.C., shooting that critically wounded two National Guard members was an Afghan national who served alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan, officials and a relative say.

The suspect, identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, according to four senior law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation, opened fire at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday a short distance from the White House, striking two National Guard members who were on patrol.

The suspect was also shot in the incident and is hospitalized, authorities said.

Suspect in custody after two West Virginia guard members shot in ‘targeted’ incident, Washington mayor says

Two West Virginia national guardsmen shot near the White House remained in critical condition on Wednesday in an attack that rattled the country’s capital.

The incident comes amid a controversial deployment of troops to Washington DC ordered by the Trump administration. FBI director Kash Patel, Washington mayor Muriel Bowser and other officials confirmed in a press conference that both the guardsmen were in the hospital and described the shooting as “targeted”.

Officials have identified a suspect, who is currently in custody, as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who entered the United States in September 2021 under a Biden-era policy allowing Afghans to enter the country after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.

A panel of federal judges unanimously denied requests to temporarily block the new map brought by a pair of lawsuits.

A federal court in North Carolina is allowing the state to use a new Republican-drawn congressional map that would help the GOP pick up another seat in the House during next year's midterm elections.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina unanimously denied preliminary injunction requests brought by a pair of lawsuits that said in part that the new map was aimed at diluting the voting strength of Black voters, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The judges found that the challengers "presented no direct evidence" that the North Carola Legislature enacted the map for racially discriminatory purposes.

The administration’s attacks have elevated the six moderate lawmakers who cut an anti-Trump video urging troops to disobey illegal orders.

The president’s attacks on six Democrats who recorded a video encouraging military members to buck unlawful orders are elevating members of a faction that just delivered big off-year wins for their party. Most hail from swing states or districts, identify as centrists and are leveraging their national security backgrounds to argue that Democrats can retake the patriotic lane.

Trump is also boosting some potential 2028 presidential hopefuls, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, while further undercutting the GOP’s attempts to make New York progressives like Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez the face of the Democratic Party.

“Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump are providing Mark Kelly with the kind of visibility that almost no amount of money could buy,” said Barrett Marson, an Arizona-based Republican strategist, referring to the Defense secretary who ordered an investigation of Kelly. “Every 2028 contender wishes they could be attacked like this by the Trump administration.”

Tezepelumab treatment may mean asthmatics for whom inhalers are ineffective can reduce or stop taking steroids

monthly injection could allow people with severe asthma to stop taking daily steroid tablets, a clinical trial has found.

More than 260 million people are thought to have asthma worldwide. While most can control their asthma with inhalers to treat immediate symptoms and preventive ones to reduce inflammation, those with the most severe asthma often take daily doses of oral corticosteroids as well.

But long-term use is associated with serious health conditions, including osteoporosis, diabetes and increased vulnerability to infections.

Now an international clinical trial has found that participants who received injections of tezepelumab every four weeks were able to reduce or even stop taking their steroids entirely with no ill effects.

Two West Virginia National Guard members who deployed to the nation’s capital were shot Wednesday just blocks from the White House in a brazen act of violence that the mayor described as a targeted attack.

FBI Director Kash Patel and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said they were hospitalized in critical condition.

The rare shooting of National Guard members comes as the presence of the troops in the nation’s capital and other cities around the country has been a flashpoint issue for months, fueling court fights and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration’s use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem.

Republicans and Democrats warn Witkoff ‘cannot be trusted’ after reportedly advising officials on peace plan

A handful of US representatives have reacted furiously to a leaked recording in which the special envoy to Ukraine reportedly coached Moscow on how to handle Donald Trump, but most have so far remained mute on the revelation that American officials were advising a US adversary.

Don Bacon, a Republican representative, called for Steve Witkoff’s immediate dismissal. “For those who oppose the Russian invasion and want to see Ukraine prevail as a sovereign & democratic country, it is clear that Witkoff fully favors the Russians,” the Nebraska lawmaker wrote on X.

“He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations. Would a Russian paid agent do less than he? He should be fired.”