China outraged after Trump State Department deletes key phrase on Taiwan relations
President Donald Trump’s State Department angered Chinese officials last week after deleting a key phrase declaring U.S. opposition to Taiwan’s independence. The State Department’s fact sheet on U.S. relations with Taiwan had previously stated “we do not support Taiwan independence,” but the phrase was removed on Thursday and continues to be absent. Chinese officials called on the U.S. to “immediately correct this mistake,” on Sunday, arguing it “sends a wrong signal to the Taiwan independence forces.” The State Department noted in a statement to NBC News that the U.S. stance on Taiwanese independence has not changed. “The United States is committed to preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” a spokesperson told the outlet Sunday. TRUMP MUST DUMP ‘ONE CHINA’ POLICY AND RECOGNIZE ‘FREE’ TAIWAN, HOUSE REPUBLICANS SAY “We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. We support cross-Strait dialogue, and we expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to people on both sides of the Strait,” the statement continued. TAIWAN FM HAILS IMPORTANCE OF US RELATIONSHIP, SAYS GROUP VISITS ‘CONTRIBUTE TO PEACE AND STABILITY’ The U.S. has long held a delicate stance regarding Taiwan and its relation to the Chinese mainland. It has for decades followed the “One China” policy, in which the U.S. recognizes Beijing as the sole government of China, and acknowledges but does not affirm Beijing’s claim to control over Taiwan. Part of this understanding requires the U.S. to not have any formal diplomatic ties to Taiwan, a policy reflected in the lack of a U.S. embassy on the island. Nevertheless, the U.S. has funded Taiwan’s defense and worked with Western nations to prevent mainland China from taking over. Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stated that he is open to using military force to conquer the island. TRUMP CABINET PICKS DELIGHT TAIWAN, SEND STRONG SIGNAL TO CHINA Taiwan, which has its own democratically elected government, maintains that it is its own independent country. Taiwan first became a self-governed island after pro-democracy forces fled there in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong and his Chinese Communist Party. The U.S. has relied on symbolic rejections of China’s control over Taiwan in recent years. Just last week, two U.S. Navy vessels sailed in the Taiwan Strait between the island and the mainland, as did a Canadian vessel. Both actions drew criticism from Beijing.
Pope’s hospitalisation extended to treat ‘complex’ condition, Vatican says
It remains unclear how long Pope Francis will remain in hospital as he seeks treatment for a respiratory tract infection. Pope Francis’s respiratory tract infection has presented a “complex clinical picture” requiring further hospitalisation, the Vatican says. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Monday that the pope is suffering from a “polymicrobial respiratory tract infection” that has necessitated a change in his drug therapy. There was no timeframe given for his hospitalisation, which has already sidelined Francis for longer than a 2023 hospitalisation for pneumonia. Bruni said the complexity of his symptoms “will require an appropriate hospital stay” and the pope was “in good spirits”. Concerns about the 88-year-old pontiff’s health have increased since his admission to Gemelli Hospital in Rome, Italy, on Friday after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened. Pope Francis’s hospitalisation has already forced the cancellation of some events connected with the Vatican’s Jubilee Holy Year and put others in question. The Vatican said the pope’s planned weekly audience in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday had been cancelled due to his continued stay in hospital. Advertisement The pope’s doctors had earlier ordered complete rest, and Francis was unable to deliver his regular weekly prayer on Sunday to pilgrims in St Peter’s Square or lead a Mass for artists to mark the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year. Pilgrims visiting the Vatican on Monday offered their hopes for the pope’s recovery. “We certainly wish for him to get better very quickly,” said Reverend Tyler Carter, a Catholic priest from the United States. “He is our father and our shepherd, and so we want his continued health and blessing.” Manuel Rossi, a tourist from the Italian city of Milan, said he was “quite worried” when the pope cancelled his appearance on Sunday. “I am 18 years old, so I have seen a few popes in my life and am very close to him,” Rossi said. “I hope he recovers as soon as possible.” Francis had part of one lung removed after a pulmonary infection as a young man. The Argentinian pope is a known workaholic despite his increasingly precarious health. In addition to his frequent bouts of respiratory infections in winter, he uses a wheelchair, walker or cane because of bad knees and suffers from sciatica nerve pain. Adblock test (Why?)
US, Russia confirm high-level Ukraine talks without Kyiv
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Ukraine’s president says he “knew nothing about” high-level talks between the US and Russia to end Moscow’s war.
Which countries are the top military spenders and where does Europe rank?
EXPLAINER The US, the largest military spender in the world, allocates $880bn to its defence – more than the next eight countries combined. European leaders are meeting in Paris for an emergency summit to discuss how to respond to United States President Donald Trump’s decision to hold talks with Russia to end the Ukraine war without European involvement. Monday’s meeting in the French capital follows the Munich Security Conference, which ended on Sunday, where US Vice President JD Vance reiterated Trump’s stance that Europe must increase its defence spending. In January, Trump called on NATO’s European members to allocate 5 percent of their gross national products (GDPs) to defence. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has also encouraged member states to increase their defence spending. How much is global military spending? Global military spending hit $2.44 trillion in 2023, or $306 per person, marking a 6.8 percent increase from the previous year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). This was the largest year-on-year rise since 2009. By comparison, in 2000, global military expenditures were $798bn, or $130 per capita – less than a third of the amount spent today. Advertisement Global military spending is the total money spent by countries on their military forces and related activities. This includes costs for soldiers, operations, weapons, equipment, research and military infrastructure. Which countries spend the most on their militaries? The US is the largest military spender in the world. In 2023, it paid out $880bn – more than the next eight countries combined, according to SIPRI. China is the second highest spender with $309bn, followed by Russia at $126bn, India at $83bn and Saudi Arabia at $74bn. The table below shows the total military spending for each country worldwide as well as their per capita spending and spending as a share of their GDPs and government budgets. Click on the columns to sort the table from highest to lowest. Which nations spend the most on their militaries as a share of GDP? Due to its ongoing war with Russia, Ukraine allocated $62bn to its military in 2023, the highest share of GDP at 36.7 percent. Lebanon ranked second, spending 8.9 percent of its GDP, followed by Algeria at 8.2 percent, Saudi Arabia at 7.1 percent and South Sudan at 6.3 percent. How much does each NATO member spend? NATO, established in 1949 by 12 founding member states, is the world’s most powerful military alliance. Its original purpose was to limit Soviet expansion and promote political unity in Europe. Over the past 75 years, its membership has grown to 32 members with Finland and Sweden becoming the latest countries to join in 2023 and 2024, respectively. (Al Jazeera) In 2006, the alliance’s defence ministers agreed to commit a minimum of 2 percent of their GDPs to defence spending to ensure the military readiness of the alliance. Advertisement Currently, two-thirds of its members (23 of 32) have fulfilled this commitment, raising the money spent on defence by all NATO members to $1.47 trillion in 2024. This is up from just 10 countries meeting the 2 percent guideline in 2023 and three countries meeting the commitment in 2014. The table below shows NATO members’ defence expenditures as a share of GDP, based on NATO’s 2024 report. Adblock test (Why?)
Iran warns Israel and US ‘can’t do a damn thing’ to thwart Tehran nuclear ambitions as tensions escalate
A senior Iranian official on Monday excoriated a meeting between U.S. and Israeli officials, calling it an illegal effort to thwart Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei blasted the meeting as a violation of international law and an effort that, in his view, Washington, D.C., and Tel Aviv remain powerless to stop. “When it comes to a country like Iran, they cannot do a damn thing,” he told reporters Monday, according to a readout provided by state media. Baghaei took aim at the sit-down between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday, just one day earlier. Their meeting reportedly focused heavily on Iran’s nuclear ambitions. INDIAN PRIME MINISTER MODI TAKES PAGE FROM TRUMP, SAYS ‘MAKE INDIA GREAT AGAIN,’ OR ‘MIGA’ Netanyahu, for his part, had signaled growing momentum between the U.S. and his country to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, telling reporters after the Sunday meeting, “I have no doubt we can and will finish the job.” However, this was sharply disputed by Baghaei. “You cannot threaten Iran on one hand and claim to support dialogue on the other hand,” he added. Baghaei’s remarks come after Netanyahu boasted that Israeli military operations have weakened Iran’s proxy groups in the Middle East, including the Palestinian terror group Hamas. “We can and will finish the job,” the Israeli prime minister said. ISRAEL WILL ‘MAKE SURE’ HAMAS DOES NOT STAY IN POWER IN GAZA, DANNY DANON WARNS Some analysts have suggested that Israel’s increasingly bellicose rhetoric, including on Tehran’s nuclear program, could risk derailing Trump’s stated interest in reaching a peace deal with Iran. Rubio said yesterday that the meeting furthered what he described as President Donald Trump’s “bold” plan for Gaza, describing Iran as the single biggest obstacle to peace in the region. “The president has also been very bold about his view of what the future for Gaza should be. Not the same tired ideas of the past, but something that’s bold and something that, frankly, took courage and vision in order to outline,” he said. Netanyahu also said that he and Trump share a “common strategy” for Gaza that includes the complete destruction of Hamas as a political and military force. SAUDI ARABIA CONTRADICTS TRUMP, VOWS NO TIES WITH ISRAEL WITHOUT CREATION OF PALESTINIAN STATE Trump last week suggested removing Palestinians from Gaza, so the territory could be developed under U.S. ownership. He has since said he stands by the plan, despite broad concerns and criticism of further conflict and displacement. “I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza,” Trump said then. “As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it, other people may do it, through our auspices. But we’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that Hamas doesn’t move back.” The U.S.-Israel meeting also served a symbolic purpose. During the sit-down, the U.S. sent a shipment of heavy bombs and munitions to Israel, in keeping with Trump’s promise to do so last month. The munitions and bomb shipments, “represents a significant asset for the Air Force and the IDF,” an Israeli defense official said, “and serves as further evidence of the strong alliance between Israel and the United States.” Fox News’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
Elon Musk says millions in Social Security database are between ages of 100 and 159
Elon Musk indicated in a post on X that millions of people listed in a Social Security database are recorded as centenarians “with the death field set to FALSE!” “According to the Social Security database, these are the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE! Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security,” Musk posted, adding a couple of rolling on the floor laughing emojis. His post features a chart indicating there are more than 20 million listed with ages 100 and higher, including more than 3.9 million in the 130-139 age range, more than 3.5 million in the 140-149 range and more than 1.3 million in the 150-159 range. DUFFY BRINGS UP CLINTON WHILE NOTING SPACEX WORKERS WILL VISIT AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM COMMAND CENTER Fox News Digital reached out to the Social Security Administration for comment on Monday. While the U.S. population count in the 2020 census was more than 331 million, the count of people ages 100 and older was more than 80,000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. DEMOCRATS LOVED IDEA OF DOGE BEFORE TRUMP, WHITE HOUSE QUIPS “The logic flow diagram for the Social Security system looks INSANE. No one person actually knows how it works. The payment files that move between Social Security and Treasury have significant inconsistencies that are not reconciled. It’s wild,” Musk declared in a post on X. In another post, Musk said, “There are FAR more ‘eligible’ social security numbers than there are citizens in the USA. This might be the biggest fraud in history.” TREASURY DEPARTMENT RECOUPS $31 MILLION IN IMPROPER GOVERNMENT PAYMENTS TO DEAD PEOPLE President Donald Trump tapped Musk to spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency, an effort to uncover waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.
Meet the team Trump picked to negotiate ending the Russia-Ukraine war
President Donald Trump announced a team of four U.S. officials will work on negotiating with Russia and Ukraine to end the war that has raged between the two nations since 2022. We “agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday about Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.” “I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday, announcing that Russia was ready to hash out negotiations over the ongoing war. Negotiations over ending the war reportedly kicked off “immediately,” with Trump previewing on Wednesday that he believes they will reach “a cease fire in the not too distant future.” TRUMP SAYS RUSSIA AGREES TO ‘IMMEDIATELY’ BEGIN NEGOTIATIONS TO END WAR IN UKRAINE Fox News Digital took a look at the team of U.S. officials Trump tapped to lead the negotiations as they get underway. Witkoff was tapped as the special envoy to the Middle East and served as a key figure in striking a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel ahead of Trump taking office, according to Trump’s recent remarks to the press and sources who spoke with Fox News Digital. Witkoff traveled to Israel in January to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem before it was announced a ceasefire had been reached between Israel and Hamas. Witkoff recently also traveled to Russia to secure the release of U.S. citizen Marc Fogel, who had been in Russian custody since 2021 when he was arrested for possession of marijuana at an airport. FREED AMERICAN HOSTAGE MARC FOGEL LANDS IN US AFTER YEARS IN RUSSIAN CAPTIVITY Witkoff, similar to Trump, is a real estate mogul, who founded real estate firm the Witkoff Group in 1997. As national security advisor, Trump appointed Mike Waltz, who served as a Republican U.S. congressman representing Florida from 2019 to 2025. Waltz said during a recent interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that conversations to end the war between Ukraine and Russia have weighed heavy on leaders across the globe. RUSSIA SAYS US RELATIONS ‘ON THE BRINK OF A BREAKUP,’ WON’T CONFIRM TRUMP-PUTIN TALK “We need to get all sides to the table and end this war,” he said in the interview. “And it has come up in conversations with President Xi, with Prime Minister Modi, with leaders across the Middle East. Everybody is ready to help President Trump end this war. Let’s get all sides to the table and negotiate.” Waltz is a longtime Trump ally and a decorated retired Green Beret who also served in the National Guard as a colonel. Newly minted CIA Director John Ratcliffe also will lead negotiations on reaching peace in Russia and Ukraine. Ratcliffe served as director of national intelligence from 2020 to 2021, during the first Trump administration. Ratcliff warned during his Senate confirmation hearing to lead the CIA that the nation’s premier foreign intelligence agency was falling behind nations such as Russia and China at leveraging technology for intelligence purposes. OBAMA OFFICIALS, TRUMP CRITICS TARGET HEGSETH’S UKRAINE ‘CONCESSIONS’ AS ‘BIGGEST GIFT’ TO RUSSIA “We’re not where we’re supposed to be,” Ratcliffe told the Senate Intelligence Committee in January. Ratcliffe served in the U.S. House as a Republican representing Texas from 2015 to 2020. Rubio, the first member of Trump’s Cabinet to be confirmed and sworn in under his second administration, serves as the nation’s 72nd secretary of state. Rubio headed to the Munich Security Conference on Thursday – a high-profile annual conference focused on security issues at the international level – where he and Vice President JD Vance met with Zelenskyy on Friday. Trump announced that he also spoke with Zelenskyy on Wednesday and that the Ukraine leader wanted to reach a peace deal. “He, like President Putin, wants to make PEACE. We discussed a variety of topics having to do with the War, but mostly, the meeting that is being set up on Friday in Munich, where Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the Delegation. I am hopeful that the results of that meeting will be positive. It is time to stop this ridiculous War, where there has been massive, and totally unnecessary, DEATH and DESTRUCTION. God bless the people of Russia and Ukraine!” Trump wrote. Rubio served as a Republican U.S senator representing Florida from 2011 to 2025, which included serving as a senior Senate Foreign Relations Committee member, and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Russia and Ukraine have been at war since February 2022, when Russia invaded its neighboring nation. Trump said on the 2024 campaign trail that he would end the war if re-elected, while claiming it would never have begun if he had been in the Oval Office at the time. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the media on Wednesday when asked about the negotiations that Trump views Putin as both a “great competitor” and “at times an adversary.” “I believe this nation views Putin and Russia as a great competitor in the region, at times an adversary,” Leavitt said when asked how Trump views Russia and Putin. “But as the president has said, as well, he enjoys having good diplomatic relations with leaders around the world. Finding that common ground, also calling them out when they are wrong. Leading from a position of peace through strength. That’s the president’s greatest strength.”
DOGE puts DEI on chopping block with termination of over $370M in education department grants
In just 48 hours, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) slashed a whopping $370 million in taxpayer dollars being spent on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at the Department of Education. DOGE, the newly formed department led by Elon Musk to purge spending by the federal government, revealed in a post on X that they terminated 70 DEI training grants within the department. According to DOGE, the grants totaled $373 million. One grant was reportedly funding training for teachers to “engage in ongoing learning and self-reflection to confront their own biases and racism, and develop asset-based anti-racist mindsets,” the cost-cutting department said. DOGE SLASHES OVER $100M IN DEI FUNDING AT EDUCATION DEPARTMENT: ‘WIN FOR EVERY STUDENT’ Over the past several weeks, DOGE has announced the canceling of various streams of funding to DEI in education, including $9.7 million for UC Berkeley to develop “a cohort of Cambodian youth with enterprise driven skills.” DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION WARNS THAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS MUST REMOVE DEI POLICIES OR LOSE FEDERAL FUNDING The latest spending sweep comes just days after DOGE announced the termination of another 89 DOE contracts totaling $881 million, which included more than $100 million in DEI grants. “Hurrah” Heather Higgins, CEO of Independent Women’s Voice, wrote in a post on X in response to the latest DOGE cuts. The Education Department has been cracking down on DEI practices in education, ordering all 50 state education departments last week to remove DEI policies within 14 days or risk losing federal funding. The letter said the “overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this nation’s educational institutions” will no longer be tolerated. Fox News’ Landon Mion contributed to this report.
Trump ally Ramaswamy to make major announcement about his political future
Vivek Ramaswamy will launch his 2026 campaign for Ohio governor in one week, sources confirm to Fox News. The multi-millionaire biotech entrepreneur, who went from long shot to contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination before dropping out 13 months ago and becoming a top supporter and surrogate of now-President Donald Trump, will announce his candidacy on Feb. 24 in his hometown of Cincinnati. Ramaswamy will kick off his campaign – in the race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Mike DeWine – at CTL Aerospace just outside of Cincinnati. AP was first to report the news. Sources with knowledge say CTL Aerospace, a privately held company that specializes in aviation repair and original equipment manufacturing, symbolizes Ramaswamy’s push for a new age of growth of industry in Ohio. RAMASWAMY DONE AT DOGE AS HE HEADS BACK ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL The candidate is expected to make stops over the following two days in the Columbus, Toledo and Cleveland areas. Ramaswamy, who’s now 39 years old, launched his presidential campaign in February 2023 and quickly saw his stock rise. CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON VIVEK RAMASWAMY He campaigned on what he called an “America First 2.0” agenda and was one of Trump’s biggest supporters in the field of rivals, calling Trump the “most successful president in our century.” Ramaswamy dropped his White House bid in January of last year after a distant fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and quickly endorsed Trump, becoming a staple for the former and future president on the campaign trail during the general election. Trump, in the days after his November presidential election victory, named Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, along with Ramaswamy, to steer the Department of Government Efficiency initiative, which is better known by its acronym DOGE. But late last month, as Trump was inaugurated, the new administration announced that Ramaswamy was no longer serving at DOGE. Ramaswamy’s exit appeared to clear the way for Musk, Trump’s top donor and key ally, to steer DOGE without having to share the limelight. “It was my honor to help support the creation of DOGE. I’m confident that Elon & team will succeed in streamlining government. I’ll have more to say very soon about my future plans in Ohio. Most importantly, we’re all-in to help President Trump make America great again!,” Ramaswamy wrote at the time. Ramaswamy and Musk sparked a firestorm among Trump’s hard core MAGA supporters over their support for H-1B temporary worker visas for highly skilled workers from foreign countries. Ramaswamy’s comments criticizing an American culture that he said “venerated mediocrity over excellence” received plenty of pushback from some leading voices on the right as well as some in Trump’s political circle. DeWine announced last month that Lt. Gov. Jon Husted would fill the U.S. Senate seat that was held by JD Vance, Trump’s 2024 running mate, until he stepped down ahead of the inauguration. Before the Senate announcement, Husted had planned to run for governor in 2026 to succeed DeWine. Ramaswamy, for his part, had expressed interest in serving in the Senate. DeWine’s decision to choose Husted to fill the vacant Senate seat appeared to accelerate Ramaswamy’s move toward launching a run for governor. Top members of Vance’s political team – including advisors Andy Surabian and Jai Chabria, who played major roles in Vance’s 2022 Senate race and in his vice presidential campaign last summer and autumn – are helping Ramaswamy as he runs for governor. Tony Fabrizio, the veteran Republican pollster who worked on Trump’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns, as well as Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign, is also on board, as is Arthur Schwartz, a close ally to Vance and Donald Trump Jr. The race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination could be competitive. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, 68, announced last month his candidacy for governor. “This is my heart, my home,” Yost said in a press release announcing his candidacy. “I work for the people of Ohio, and I love my bosses. From the time I get up in the morning until I go to bed at night, I’m thinking about them and our future.” Yost also brought in staff from Trump’s political world, announcing that former Trump campaign official Justin Clark had joined the campaign as a general consultant. Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel, a well-known former Ohio State University head football coach who was sworn in last month to succeed Husted, appears to be mulling a gubernatorial run. Former Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton is currently the only Democrat in the race. Ohio, which was once a top general election battleground, has shifted red over the past decade as Republicans have dominated statewide elections. Ramaswamy was raised in Evendale, Ohio, in suburban Cincinnati by parents who emigrated from India. His father worked as an engineer at General Electric Aviation and his mother was a geriatric psychiatrist. Ramaswamy and his family currently live in suburban Columbus. The soon-to-be candidate filed paperwork on Friday with the Ohio secretary of state’s office ahead of his campaign launch.
Swalwell faces social media backlash for post tying Trump to Georgia small plane crash
Rep. Eric Swallwell, D-Calif., is facing backlash online after suggesting President Donald Trump is to blame for a small plane crash in Georgia this weekend. Swallwell took to social media Monday morning to declare that Trump has had “more planes crash” in his first month in office than any other U.S. president. The lawmaker made the comment in reaction to a small private plane crash that took place this weekend in Covington, Georgia, which left two people dead. Social media users began to pile on immediately, calling out Swallwell for what they saw as an unfair connection to Trump. “Are you suggesting the catalysts for those crashes were all caused by policies changed in the last month?” one user wrote. HARROWING VIDEO FROM MILITARY BASE SHOWS NEW ANGLE OF MIDAIR CRASH CATASTROPHE “You really do have TDS. Grab some coffee and take a walk,” wrote another user who goes by the name of SouthernRepublicanMomma. Swallwell’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. FAA, NTSB TO BRIEF SENATORS ON WASHINGTON, DC, MIDAIR COLLISION Georgia’s crash saw a single-engine airplane take off from the Covington Municipal Airport at 11 p.m. on Saturday. Ground control lost communication with the plane roughly 20 minutes later, at which point police officers located the plane crashed near the runway. The plane’s two occupants were immediately announced dead at the scene. “On February 15, 2025, the Covington Police Department officers responded to the Covington Municipal Airport at approximately 11:21 p.m. after receiving a call from the FAA in reference to a single-engine aircraft that had taken off at approximately 11:00 p.m. There was no further communication from the aircraft after takeoff,” the Covington Police Department said in a statement. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has confirmed they are investigating the crash. The incident comes in the wake of multiple other plane crashes in recent weeks, the most dramatic being the collision of a helicopter and a commercial airliner in the skies over Washington, D.C. last month.