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The Independent
14 minutes ago
- The Independent
Hegseth reposts video on social media featuring pastors saying women shouldn't be allowed to vote
The man who oversees the nation's military reposted a video about a Christian nationalist church that included various pastors saying women should no longer be allowed to vote and should 'submit' to their husbands. The extraordinary repost on X from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, made Thursday night, illustrates his deep and personal connection to a Christian nationalist pastor with extreme views on the role of religion and women. In the post, Hegseth commented on an almost seven-minute-long report by CNN examining Doug Wilson, cofounder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, or CREC. The report featured various pastors of the denomination advocating the repeal of women's right to vote from the Constitution and parishioners saying that women should 'submit' to their husbands. 'All of Christ for All of Life,' Hegseth wrote in his post that accompanied the video. Hegseth's post received more than 12,000 likes and 2,000 shares on X. Some users agreed with the pastors in the video, while others expressed alarm at the defense secretary promoting Christian nationalist ideas. Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell told The Associated Press on Friday that Hegseth is 'a proud member of a church' that is affiliated with CREC and he 'very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson's writings and teachings.' In May, Hegseth invited his personal pastor, Brooks Potteiger, to the Pentagon to lead the first of several Christian prayer services that Hegseth has held inside the government building during working hours. Defense Department employees and service members said they received invitations to the event in their government emails. 'I'd like to see the nation be a Christian nation, and I'd like to see the world be a Christian world,' Wilson said in the CNN report. ___
Daily Record
14 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Police Scotland ‘planning' for US vice president visit as he holidays in UK
Mr Vance and his family are thought to be planning a visit to Ayrshire but would not stay at Mr Trump's Turnberry resort. Scottish police are thought to be on notice for a visit by the US vice president, who is on holiday in the UK with his family. JD Vance's unconfirmed appearance north of the border would follow president Donald Trump's five-day trip last month, when he hosted Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at his golf resorts at Turnberry in South Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire. Mr Vance is holidaying in the Cotswolds but travelled to the Foreign Secretary's Chevening House retreat in Kent on Friday, where the Republican joined David Lammy carp fishing at the countryside estate. A Police Scotland spokesperson said: 'Planning is under way for a potential visit to Scotland by the vice president of the United States. 'Details of any visit would be for the White House to comment on, however, it is important that we prepare in advance for what would be a significant policing operation.' Mr Vance and his family are thought to be planning a visit to Ayrshire but would not stay at Mr Trump's Turnberry resort, according to Sky News. In Kent, Mr Vance said he had a 'love' for the UK but joked he had committed a diplomatic faux pas as he began his holiday. 'Unfortunately, the one strain on the special relationship is that all of my kids caught fish, but the Foreign Secretary did not,' he said. He described Mr Lammy as a 'very, very gracious host'. Mr Trump's visit to Scotland ended less than two weeks ago, after he met with both Sir Keir and First Minister John Swinney.
Times
15 minutes ago
- Times
Ukraine may have to swap some territories with Russia, Trump says
Ukraine must accept some 'swapping' of territory, President Trump has said after President Putin demanded the eastern region of Donetsk as the price for ending the war. The US president told President Zelensky to 'get ready to sign something' as he piled pressure on Ukraine to cede land. Speaking at the White House, where he announced a truce between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Trump confirmed he would meet Putin in the coming days and said the venue for the summit would be announced 'very soon'. 'There'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both,' he said. Trump's comments came after Putin relaxed his initial demand to annex the five eastern-Ukrainian provinces of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea. During a meeting in Moscow this week, the Russian president told Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy, that he would settle for Donetsk in addition to the captured provinces of Crimea and Luhansk, officials briefed on the call told the Wall Street Journal. Ukraine would have to withdraw its troops from Donetsk, and Crimea would be recognised as sovereign Russian territory, according to the report. In exchange, Russia would commit to a full ceasefire. Ukraine still controls about one quarter of Donetsk, a coal-rich province that has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the war. Under Putin's proposal, Zelensky would have to withdraw his troops entirely from Donetsk, abandoning Ukraine's layered defences and potentially leaving Kyiv vulnerable to further attacks. Trump said the two sides were 'close' to a deal. 'Putin, I believe, wants to see peace,' he said. Flanked by Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, and Nikol Pashinyan, the prime minister of Armenia, Trump announced a separate peace deal ending the protracted conflict between the two ex-Soviet neighbours. The two countries have been locked in a dispute over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Historically, Nagorno-Karabakh had a majority ethnic Armenian population despite being located within Azerbaijan's borders. But in 2023, Azerbaijan effectively annexed Nagorno-Karabakh after a blitzkrieg offensive, expelling more than 100,000 Armenians. Armenia, which is predominantly Christian, has accused Azerbaijan, which is largely Muslim, of ethnic cleansing. The US peace proposal includes a 27-mile-long road — dubbed the 'Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity'— to connect Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan, its enclave in southern Armenia. At a White House signing ceremony, Trump claimed victory not only in resolving the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, but also in negotiating an end to fighting between India and Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, Thailand and Cambodia, and Serbia and Kosovo. Asked whether he was hoping to win the Nobel peace prize, Trump said: 'I'm not doing it for that … I want to save lives.'
