Republican Kay Granger of Texas living at senior living facility, which she reportedly had not disclosed to public

A Republican congresswoman from Texas has not cast a vote in the US House since July while she has been grappling with “dementia issues” and residing at a senior living facility, according to her family – something they did not disclose to the public before a Dallas media outlet figured out where she was during her prolonged absence.

Kay Granger, 81, has represented Texas’s 12th congressional district, which includes part of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, since 1997. And beginning in January 2023 she spent more than a year as the chairperson of the powerful House appropriations committee.

• Charley Woods, 15, makes first ace on par-3 fourth hole
• Hole-in-one gives Woods clan temporary share of lead

Tiger Woods isn’t the only member of his family to can produce big moments. His 15-year-old son Charlie made his first ace Sunday in the PNC Championship.

Woods was more excited than if he had made the hole-in-one himself.

Authorities arrest Yaoning Sun for allegedly working for Chinese government while trying to get politician elected

A Chinese man was arrested this week on charges of acting as an illegal agent for Beijing while serving as the campaign manager for a Los Angeles-area politician, in a case that highlights rising concerns that the Chinese government has cultivated a network of operatives to influence US politicians and advance their interests.

US authorities on Thursday arrested Yaoning “Mike” Sun, 64, on accusations he worked for the Chinese government while trying to get an unnamed politician elected to a southern California city council.

Pilots recovered alive – one with minor injuries – after ejecting from fighter jet as US military says its guided missile cruiser ‘mistakenly’ fired on the F/A-18

Two US navy pilots were shot down over the Red Sea on Sunday in an “apparent case of friendly fire”, the US military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in more than a year of the country targeting Yemen’s Houthis.

Both pilots were rescued alive after ejecting from their stricken aircraft, with one suffering minor injuries. But the incident underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become amid the ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis despite US and European military coalitions patrolling the area.

The Associated Press and Maya Yang contributed reporting

My colleague and friend, the psychotherapist, author and campaigner Paul Gordon, has died aged 70. While eschewing the limelight, Paul was an influential figure and unique voice in the world of psychotherapy. His political commitment and determination to improve people’s lives led him to train as a psychotherapist at the Institute of Psychotherapy and Social Studies in London in the late 80s, and later at the Philadelphia Association, founded in 1965 by RD Laing and colleagues in order to challenge established ways of thinking about and responding to distress.

Paul became its chair, and was a strong advocate for the unique sanctuary and asylum their therapeutic homes have long offered to anyone in need. Indeed, facilitating access to low-cost or free therapy was important to Paul, who also worked with young people at North London’s Open Door, at Freedom from Torture, and helped to establish the Free Psychotherapy Network.

A series of drone sightings over U.S. military bases "has renewed concerns that the U.S. doesn't have clear government-wide policy for how to deal with unauthorized incursions that could potentially pose a national security threat," reports CNN: "We're one year past Langley drone incursions and almost two years past the PRC spy balloon. Why don't we have a single [point of contact] who is responsible for coordination across all organizations in the government to address this?" the recently retired head of US Northern Command and NORAD, Gen. Glen VanHerck, told CNN. "Instead, everybody's pointing their fingers at each other saying it's not our responsibility...." Over a period of six days earlier this month, there were six instances of unmanned aerial systems, or drones, entering the airspace of the Marine Corps base Camp Pendleton in California, a spokesperson confirmed to CNN, adding that they posed "no threat to installation operations and no impact to air and ground operations." There have also been incidents in the last month at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey; Naval Weapons Station Earle, New Jersey; and Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. A Chinese citizen, who is a lawful permanent resident of the US, was recently arrested in connection to the California incident. The drone incidents are "a problem that has been brewing for over a decade and we have basically failed to address it," said retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Rob Spalding, who previously served as the chief China strategist for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and senior director for strategic planning on the National Security Council. It's unclear what specifically the drones could be doing — the intent could be anything from attempting to gather intelligence on the base or testing its defenses and response time, to gaining a better understanding of how the bases work, or they could simply be harmless hobbyists flying drones too close to restricted areas... Despite the incursions and the risk they could pose, officials say there is no coordinated policy to determine what agency leads the response to such activity, or how to determine where the drones originate. CNN reported this week that government agencies have struggled to keep pace with the development of drones and drone technology, particularly by adversaries like China, though legislation is being discussed and the Pentagon just recently released its strategy for countering unmanned systems... The two heads of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sens. Jack Reed and Roger Wicker, sounded the alarm in a Washington Post op-ed at the beginning of 2024 that the US "lacks adequate drone detection capability" and that agencies "lack clear lines of authority about which agency is responsible for stopping these incursions." Military installations have the authority to protect themselves and respond to threats, but a former senior military official said that if the drone enters the airspace and subsequently leaves, determining where the drone originated from and what it was doing can be difficult. Military law enforcement typically coordinates with civilian law enforcement off base in that instance, the former official said, but are often limited in what they can do given laws that restrict intelligence collection within US borders. But sources also said the lack of ability to do more also stems at times from a failure to prioritize defense against this kind of activity within the US. The topic is "such a relatively new phenomenon that the law has not caught up and the agencies have not adapted quickly enough," [said one Senate aide familiar with discussions on drone defense and policy]. "The need for Congressional action was made clear in a joint statement this week from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigations and Federal Aviation Administration," according to the article. "The agencies said they 'urge Congress to enact counter-UAS legislation when it reconvenes that would extend and expand existing counter-drone authorities to identify and mitigate any threat that may emerge.'"

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