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1. Suncor selling off stakes in N.L.’s Terra Nova, White Rose and West White Rose for $1.2B  cbc.ca
2. Ithaca Energy to Buy Offshore Canada Oil Assets From Suncor Energy for Up to $1.1 Billion  WSJ
3. Suncor to sell offshore Canada oil stakes to Ithaca for $842 million  Reuters
4. Suncor sells stakes in three Canadian East Coast oil projects for up to $1.5-billion  The Globe and Mail
5. Suncor selling non-core offshore assets to Ithaca Energy  ca.finance.yahoo.com

President Trump is campaigning in Nebraska, continuing his tour of reliably red states where Republicans are in heated contests. CBS News' Taurean Small reports.

Phase 2 of Canada’s LNG journey launches, expanding opportunities in Canada and beyond Canada took a significant step closer to […]

Monday Morning Pit-Stop is a weekly NASCAR column that runs on OutKick.com and Fox News Digital. If you're looking for a normal NASCAR recap, go check out insufferable ESPN ... assuming they still know NASCAR exists.

Five races down, five to go in the NASCAR Cup Series postseason. That's right. Feels like we just started these playoffs, and now this new version of The Chase is nearing the finish line.

Serious question ...

How do we feel about it? This is the first year NASCAR hasn't had it's usual win-and-advance format in over a decade, and I'm genuinely curious how everyone feels.

NASCAR RACE INCLUDES HALF THE FIELD WRECKING, FURIOUS DRIVERS & HOLLYWOOD ACTOR RIPPING A 'LEFTIST, WOKE' MOVE

Have you watched more? Less? The same? Do these races have the same fire they used to when every third race was an elimination race? Has it made any difference at all for you?

I'll be honest ... I miss the old format. I do. I knew I would. Chase Briscoe won yesterday at Las Vegas. Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick crossed the line while wrecking after Larson hit the wall trying to chase down Briscoe on the final turn.

It was a decent race, and a fun finish ... but I just feel like it's lost some juice. The stakes don't feel quite as high to me. I still enjoy it, but these playoffs — or Chase, whatever NASCAR wants us to call them — have just felt sort of neutered.

And yes, I stole that word from Tony Stewart, who is currently viral right now for some eyebrow-raising comments he made about NASCAR earlier this year. You'll see.

RISING NASCAR STAR JUMPED, ATTACKED & BEATEN AT AMERICA'S MOST FAMOUS HOT DOG SHACK

What else? I've got Kasey Kahne, amazingly, coming out of retirement, a scorned wife going after a NASCAR driver after she seduced her husband (true story), and Brad Keselowski has been pushed out the door by his own team, which makes no sense given the team stunk before Brad got there and was actually respectable the past few years.

Dummies. I'm not surprised, though, given his partners are associated with my Red Sox, and they're run just about as poorly as any professional sports team on the planet right now.

Four tires, a splash of that Sunoco racin' fuel, and maybe a few more horses for Tony Stewart ... Monday Morning Pit-Stop — the 'NASCAR's Been Neutered' edition — is LIVE!

Look, we're gonna break down yesterday's race at Vegas here in a bit. I promise. It was an OK race, with a decent finish that probably would've been a lot better if the cars weren't horrible.

Take a look at Saturday's O'Reilly Series ending to see what I mean.

But first, I do want to dive into these comments from Tony Stewart, which made the internet rounds over the weekend. Tony, who retired from full-time Cup racing in 2016, has never been known to mince words.

I agree with a lot of his takes. I don't agree with others. For instance, he weirdly bashed fans and the media for mourning Kyle Busch earlier this year because he claimed we didn't care about Kyle Busch "the person" when he was alive. It was odd.

So no, I don't always agree with the man they call "Smoke," but I do 100000% agree with him here.

Take a look:

"I’ll be honest, I don’t even watch anymore," Stewart told the Oil and Whiskey podcast. "It is, it is so neutered. I mean, they’re driving cars with 500 horsepower. When I, at the peak when I was running, we were at 875 horsepower, those things. And then they cut the nuts off of them. We went down to a 775 horsepower package and I was miserable. I’m like, these things are pieces of s–t.

"I’m going to do a commercial tomorrow with Dodge and Ram and we’re promoting a truck that has 777 horsepower that you can buy off a showroom floor. And you can go to Talladega to the truck race and outrun that thing by theory with more power from a street truck that you can buy.

"It’s like, NASCAR, wake the f–k up. What are we doing?"

Yeah, I mean — it's tough to argue with Tony Stewart on anything he just said. It's all true. It's all correct. The funny thing is, Tony is actually getting back in a car later this month! He's set to race the No. 25 Ram for Kaulig Racing in the Truck Series race at Talladega on Oct. 23.

It's funny because Tony notoriously HATED restrictor plate race when he drove. HATED them. Mocked them all the time. And now he's gonna be back in a truck at 'Dega because he needs to promote Dodge.

Everyone has a price!

Speaking of drivers making stunning comebacks to the sport ...

Where in the world did THIS come from?

Per Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic, Kasey Kahne, now 46, is set to come out of retirement and drive a Spire truck full-time next season.

Why? I have no earthly idea. None.

Kahne hasn't raced since 2018, and he's only made six Truck Series starts over his career. For those who forget, the 31-time race winner retired at the end of that 2018 season due to health reasons, pointing towards dehydration as a big factor. As Bianchi noted, the Truck races are the shortest of all three, so it does make sense for Kahne to return to that specific series.

Personally, I just hope we get more commercials like this next season with NASCAR's biggest heartthrob back behind the wheel:

Man, we had it so good back then, and we just pissed it all away. Remember how great NASCAR commercials used to be? Heck, any commercial, for that matter.

Now, they're all just Ozempic ads and Big Pharma crap. Disgusting. What a fall from grace.

OK, let's quickly jam the pedal to the floor and rapid-fire through a couple quickies on the way out ...

First? Here's how yesterday's race ended, which is extra special because you get to see Kyle Larson racing Kyle Busch's iconic No. 5 Kellogg's scheme from back in the day:

See? Solid finish. Solid race! Could you make an actual pass? Not really. Dirty air still rules all, unfortunately. It's undefeated in this Next Gen car, and I fear it will always be.

But it is what it is at this point. Not much you can do about this until the offseason:

Ooooooooooof. Just a brutal clip. Don't let Tony see it! He'll freak out.

Next? On the way out, let's go ahead and check in on Brad Keselowski, who is leaving his own RFK race team after this month:

Pretty shocking news out of the NASCAR world late last week. Brad Keselowski came in to Roush-Fenway Racing five years ago and really, I thought, turned that place around. They were pretty irrelevant before Brad arrived, and this year they had two of the three cars in the Chase.

Brad said his five-year contract expires this year, so that's part of the reason he's leaving. Obviously, there's a lot more meat on this bone, because the results have been good. I've seen some rumblings that the organization wanted him to transition into a more managerial role, while he preferred to keep racing.

If that's the case, I'm with Brad. He's a NASCAR champ and a future Hall of Famer. If you wanna keep racing ... keep racing. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise!

OK, that's it for today. Solid week. A weird one, but a solid one.

On the way out, here's NASCAR Truck Series driver Jennifer Jo Cobb owing the wife of spotter Clayton Hughes a whopping $850,000 after she won a civil court case in which she accused Cobb of seducing her husband before their ultimate divorce in 2021.

Most expensive sex ever, if you ask me!

See y'all at Charlotte.

Microsoft and Wells Fargo landed upgrades, and there's some encouraging M&A activity.

Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, who represented Illinois for two decades in Congress and was later jailed for violating banking laws, has died.

HARDY gave fans a unique song with his latest release.

The popular country music singer has carved a nice lane for himself in the industry with his country rock style.

His music is much more aggressive than your stereotypical country tracks, but there's no question it's worked well for him.

GAVIN ADCOCK DROPS NEW SINGLE 'THE DAY I HANG IT UP' AND COUNTRY MUSIC FANS ARE FIRED UP

Now, he's done it again.

HARDY released his latest single – "Man In The Box" – late last week, and to call it a roller coaster of a song would be an absolute understatement.

The song successfully blends essentially two completely different vibes into one.

The first half is more traditional country music, but as the track advances, it turns into a true rock tune. It's also just very fun.

Give it a listen below, and let me know your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.

As you'd expect, people in the comments on YouTube had plenty to say. One fan wrote, "If you’re a country music fan you’ll dig the first part of the song. If you’re a rock music fan you’ll dig the 2nd half of the song. If you’re a music lover you’ll dig the entire song."

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Another commented, "Hardy is a lyrical genius."

A third added, "I’ve said it once and I’ll say it time and time again. Hardy doesn’t miss!"

RILEY GREEN DROPS 19-TRACK ALBUM 'THAT'S JUST ME' AND COUNTRY MUSIC FANS CAN'T GET ENOUGH

Like I said above, HARDY managed to do it again by releasing a new song that has country music fans going crazy. Let me know your thoughts on "Man In The Box" at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.

As Houthi militants in Yemen attacked ships with missiles and drones in the Red Sea early last year, top U.S. officials gathered at the Pentagon to prepare military options for President Donald Trump. Their meetings repeatedly grew tense.

On one side were Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, then overseeing U.S. operations in the Middle East, and other hawks ready for action. The general was keen on military action not only against the Houthis, but also against Iran, which had backed the Yemeni paramilitary group for years with weapons and training, according to people familiar with the matter. Like others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal government deliberations.

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On the other side were officials hesitant to launch military strikes so early in the second Trump administration, including the Joint Chiefs chairman, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., who suggested that new U.S. assessments of what military action might yield would be wise before presenting the president with military options.

That triggered an abrupt response from Kurilla, people familiar with the matter said.

“General,” Kurilla said, “the time for assessments is over.”

The exchange, which has not previously been reported, surprised some in the room. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, then new to his role, agreed with Kurilla, people familiar with the matter said.

The disagreement came as other Pentagon appointees, including then-senior adviser Dan Caldwell and policy official Alex Velez-Green, repeatedly raised questions in meetings about how an extended military campaign against the Houthis could deplete stocks of key U.S. munitions, the people familiar with the discussions said. That issue has since grown in prominence as the Trump administration burned through its arsenal of cruise missiles and interceptors in a war with Iran that is now seven months old.

In recent weeks, the Iranian-backed Houthi militants have launched a new offensive in Yemen, seizing control of the strategically important Bab al-Mandab Strait, reigniting civil war and targeting critical energy infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. With Iran’s proxies weakened elsewhere, the group has emerged as the most powerful element of Tehran’s “Axis of Resistance” against the United States and Israel.

In March 2025, weeks after the disagreement between the generals, Trump announced Operation Rough Rider, a 51-day bombing campaign against the Houthis that almost immediately was embroiled in scandal when then-White House national security adviser Mike Waltz accidentally invited a reporter into a group chat on Signal, the unclassified messaging application.

More than 1,000 targets were hit over the course of Rough Rider, including key Houthi commanders and weapons stocks. But the aerial bombing also resulted in significant civilian casualties, human rights groups said.

Trump and Hegseth touted the campaign as a resounding success, but other senior Pentagon officials, including Caldwell and Joe Kasper, Hegseth’s first chief of staff, questioned whether the campaign had clear and obtainable objectives, the people familiar with deliberations said.

The U.S. went on to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in Operation Midnight Hammer in June 2025 and, along with Israel, launched a sprawling war against Iran this February.

A spokesperson for Hegseth, Kingsley Wilson, said in a statement that Rough Rider “achieved decisive success against Houthi forces,” with U.S. forces launching strikes that “severely degraded radar networks, air-defense systems, ballistic-missile and drone launch sites, weapons depots, and production facilities while removing multiple mid- and senior-level commanders from the battlefield.”

The military action, Wilson added, “substantially reduced immediate threats to vital international shipping lanes, compelled a clear tactical shift by the adversary, and helped create conditions for a ceasefire that strengthened freedom of navigation in the region.”

She declined to comment on the possibility of any future action in Yemen, but she said the Pentagon’s role is to “develop and present military options to the President, and he makes the final choice.”

The White House and Pentagon both released statements defending the management of weapons stockpiles after The Washington Post shared its reporting that some administration officials had concerns about it before Rough Rider began. U.S. officials have said that while the U.S. military has a deep arsenal of weapons, it is increasingly running low on specific munitions, such as ship-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot air-defense interceptors.

“The United States Military has enough munitions and ammo to serve all of the Commander-in-Chief’s strategic goals and beyond,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly wrote in a statement.

Kasper and Caldwell declined to comment, while Velez-Green could not be reached for comment.

Kurilla, who retired in August 2025, did not respond to requests for comment about the exchange with Brown or the objectives of Rough Rider.

Brown declined to comment through a spokesperson, but a person familiar with his thinking said he did not dispute the account of the testy Pentagon deliberations. It’s common, that person said, for a top commander to push for quick military action while the Joint Chiefs chairman considers a wider range of issues, including making sure all necessary plans and requirements are in place and that the president’s options are preserved.

Brown was fired and forced into retirement just before Rough Rider, as Hegseth pushed to remove top Biden-era generals. An official with Hegseth’s office declined to say whether Brown’s caution about the Houthis played a role, saying that “out of respect for our senior military leaders,” they do not discuss “the nature of their retirements.”

An abrupt ceasefire

The military campaign in Yemen abruptly ended in May 2025 with a ceasefire brokered by Oman. Trump claimed victory and said that the Houthis “don’t want to fight anymore.”

“They gave us their word that they wouldn’t be shooting at ships anymore, and we honor that,” Trump said.

The end of combat operations, officials and analysts said, came after the Houthis showed remarkable resiliency in the face of American airpower. No U.S. troops were killed during the operation, but the militants shot down at least seven MQ-9 Reaper drones, and U.S. forces lost two F/A-18 fighter jets in mishaps at sea. The operation, people familiar with the effort said, was followed by the administration’s near-total abandonment of Yemen.

“It was like … a cord being pulled out of a socket,” said a former U.S. official who worked on Yemen issues at the time. Trump “wanted to scratch Yemen off the list and move on.”

When the mission was declared over, the former official said, some in U.S. Central Command, which Kurilla then oversaw, were “apoplectic,” believing that they had been making progress. A U.S. special envoy position for Yemen issues was never filled by the Trump administration, and Washington’s assistance to the impoverished country was slashed.

At the time, the former official said, they warned colleagues: “You ignore Yemen at your own peril.”

‘Folkloric status’

The disagreements at the Pentagon about how to proceed on Yemen underscore the competing views in the U.S. government about how to handle the persistent threat the Houthis have posed since they seized power in northern Yemen in 2014.

The Shiite militia, which formed in the 1990s, aims to control Yemen, a country of 35 million at the southwest tip of the Arabian Peninsula. From 2015 to 2022, the Houthis, with support from Iran, fought a bloody civil war against Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia.

That war ended with a fragile truce that left the Houthis holding large swaths of the country’s north and the government coalition in control of the south.

But the group has much larger ambitions, including ousting the U.S. from the Middle East and destroying the state of Israel.

April Longley Alley, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, said that Houthis “see themselves as the tip of the spear in the Arab world.”

Dan Shapiro, who served as U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Obama administration, described the Houthis as “an enduring problem” for decades to come.

“We’re kind of stuck with this bad actor on this maritime choke point, able to activate and try to use their position or leverage at the moment of their choosing,” said Shapiro, who later became a Pentagon official during the Biden administration.

After the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, the Houthis started firing missiles at Israel in retaliation for the resulting military campaign in Gaza.

That is when the Houthis took on an almost “folkloric status,” said Tim Lenderking, the U.S. envoy to Yemen during the Biden administration.

“It really bolstered their standing and their brand in the Arab world,” he added.

But the Houthis took it too far, he said, firing on U.S. and Israeli ships, killing international mariners and disrupting the flow of commercial traffic in the Red Sea.

The Biden administration launched military strikes against the Houthis beginning in January 2024. The Houthis appeared undeterred.

Trump launched Rough Rider on March 15, 2025. A few days later, he declared that “tremendous damage” had been inflicted on the “Houthi barbarians” and would get worse.

“It’s not even a fair fight, and never will be,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “They will be completely annihilated!”

Unclear objectives, mounting costs

The costs and questions quickly mounted. Over the course of the operation, estimated at more than $1 billion, the Houthis continued to target U.S. warships in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways.

U.S. forces struck a migrant detention center in Yemen in April 2025, reportedly killing more than 68 civilians and injuring dozens more, according to Human Rights Watch.

The operation also was dogged by the “Signalgate” scandal, in which senior Trump administration officials, including Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance, communicated about Rough Rider in a group chat that accidentally included Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg.

The revelation was especially damaging for Hegseth, who had shared specific, advance details about how the bombing would begin through the unclassified Signal app. A review by the Pentagon inspector general released in December found that Hegseth’s actions “created a risk to operational security,” though the secretary of defense and his team claimed “total exoneration.”

The Trump administration began looking for an exit from Rough Rider after just a couple weeks into the bombing campaign, said Alley of the Washington Institute. There had been an assumption going into the campaign that “you could go in and coerce the Houthis with overwhelming power to change [their] behavior.”

But Trump lacked a clear exit strategy, Alley said, so when Oman - long a mediator in the region - approached the administration saying that the Houthis wanted a truce, Trump took it.

One of the people familiar with internal deliberations at the Pentagon said that the abrupt end to Rough Rider bolstered the belief among internal critics that the offensive’s objectives were never clear in the first place.

“It almost seemed,” this person said, “that Trump had buyer’s remorse.”

The deal, Trump said at the time, was simple: The Houthis would stop firing at U.S. ships if the U.S. stopped firing at the Houthis.

“We hit them very hard and they had a great ability to withstand punishment,” Trump said in announcing the ceasefire. “You could say there was a lot of bravery there.”

‘They rebuilt it all’

Yemen’s Saudi-backed coalition government was supportive of Rough Rider and caught off guard when it ended, according to a Yemeni official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

“The Trump administration did not read the situation strategically,” said the official. “They just wanted a quick win.”

It was not long, the person said, before the Houthis “rebuilt everything.”

In recent weeks, the Houthis have repeatedly attacked oil infrastructure and military bases in Saudi Arabia, which also saw its key East-West oil pipeline attacked by Iraqi militias.

As Saudi Arabia - long a key U.S. ally - faces its biggest threats in years, it has confronted Trump’s unwillingness to get more involved and looked to new partners for help in confronting the Houthis.

Nadwa Al-Dawsari, a Yemeni researcher and conflict analyst, said the Trump administration never should have seen the truce as a win.

“The Houthis have learned how to use negotiations, ceasefires and truces as a tactic to preserve their power, rebuild their capabilities and prepare for the next round of conflict,” she said.

Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam said that Rough Rider “sparked widespread resentment regarding the U.S.” and led to an influx of volunteers.

Yemen, he said in a written statement to The Post, is known as the “graveyard of invaders.”

“Anyone who has attempted to colonize or occupy the country,” he said, “has left burdened by woes, sorrow, failure, and defeat.”

Trump struck a conciliatory tone in recent weeks when talking about the Houthis, saying last month in Ireland that the Houthis “called us, and they don’t want to fight us.”

“Everything will work out very well,” he said.

The Yemeni official said that they fear the Trump administration still does not understand the threat that the Houthis pose, noting that the group is already working extensively with al-Shabab in Somalia and have clearly stated intentions to push the U.S. out of the region and destroy the state of Israel.

“The lesson I learned over the past 10 years is to take the Houthis seriously,” the official added. “I am not sure if the United States learned the same lesson.”

Alley said that Trump’s decision last year to forge a truce with the Houthis had the unintended consequence of showing the militant group the limits of Trump’s willingness to escalate - giving them additional room to maneuver.

“Trump may be done with the Houthis,” she said, “but the Houthis are not done with Trump.”

Susannah George contributed to this report.

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This article originally appeared on Washington Post at https://washingtonpost.com/world/2026/10/05/pentagon-dispute-trumps-first-war-foreshadowed-iran-challenges/

Russian authorities said the situation was under control and that all known contacts of the dead woman had been identified, examined and placed under medical supervision.

1. Israeli officials say FlyDubai co-pilot planned attack before joining airline  cbc.ca
2. Multiple Security Failures Allowed FlyDubai Pilot Into Cockpit  WSJ
3. Flydubai co-pilot planned to crash plane into airport, reports suggest  BBC
4. Flydubai hijacking attempt exposes worrying gaps in aviation security  CNN
5. FACT FOCUS: What's known about the FlyDubai attack probe and the red flags about the suspect  Toronto Star

Pixel 11 users are getting some nasty Google Maps bugs in Android Auto  Android Police

Pixel 11 users are getting some nasty Google Maps bugs in Android Auto  Android Police

Blake Monroe made her in-ring debut on "Friday Night SmackDown" as WWE fans eagerly awaited her entrance and what she would be able to do against an opponent like Giulia.

When Monroe was in NXT, her entrance was lauded. The cameras would show Monroe looking at herself in a vanity mirror before turning around and entering the ring. Fans had hoped the mirror would eventually come with her when she made her SmackDown debut. It didn’t happen on Friday.

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Monroe came out with a sheer robe around her shoulders with showgirl-style feathers on the ends. Needless to say, fans were disappointed, but they didn’t know the story behind it. Monroe explained all of it in an Instagram post.

"My journey started 9 years ago. I remember the night before my first class - I was so nervous. I had done theatre for years and never felt anything close to this level of fear," she wrote. "I pulled up outside the school gym that morning and didn’t even want to get out of my car. My heart was thumping and my stomach was in knots. I was ready to turn back, and then I saw a feather on my windshield.

"A few months earlier, after years of battling illness, my grandmother passed away. She was the coolest, toughest woman I had ever met. She wore a mini skirt and rollers in her hair until the very end. They say feathers are a message from someone in heaven. It sounds silly, but in that moment I felt like my grandmother was with me, telling me to step through those doors and give my dreams a chance."

She said chasing her dreams was the "best decision I have ever made."

"Now here we are, my Smackdown debut," she continued. "I know you waited 5 months… I waited 9 years, and pretty much my whole life for this moment! But sadly, a few weeks before my debut, my lovely grandad passed away. I didn’t get to say goodbye. It was heavy in my heart.

THE CRAIG CARTON SHOW–UNFILTERED, UNAPOLOGETIC AND UNMISSABLE. DOWNLOAD HIS DAILY PODCAST NOW!

"I didn’t tell anyone, I didn’t cancel anything. I just tried to push on as normal because I didn’t know how to handle the grief. I sat in the salon the next day getting my hair done for TV, trying to hold in tears, when my hairdresser found a feather in my hair. I truly have no idea how it got there. But I felt like it was my grandad saying hello.

"My new beautiful feathered fan entrance on Smackdown might seem like a burlesque and Great Gatsby dream, but it’s also so much more. Last night I felt like my grandparents, who are together again now, were holding my hands for one of the biggest moments in my life. In a country where I am all alone, following such crazy dreams. It’s easy to feel lonely and scared, but last night I had never felt so strong. They were with me in those wonderful feather fans.

"Thank you for supporting me in my dreams. Last night was for you. I love you and miss you so deeply."

Monroe defeated Giulia in her first WWE main-roster match. Monroe thwarted Giulia’s attempt at a move from the top turnbuckle. Giulia hit her head and was knocked out. Monroe scored the pin.

Monroe joined WWE last year and made her NXT debut in June 2025. She was an NXT women’s North American champion before getting called up.

Britain's former Prince Andrew is challenging the validity of search warrants issued for his homes prior to his arrest over his dealings with Jeffrey Epstein.

A trial is expected to start Monday in B.C. Supreme Court where author and former professor Steven Galloway says he was defamed by false accusations of sexual assault. 

In what's believed to be a first in U.S. courts, Pelkey's family used AI to create a video of his likeness to give him a voice.

TOKYO (AP) — The arrest of a U.S. Marine on suspicion of robbing and killing a local woman on Okinawa has drawn condemnation from Japan's leaders and renewed protests against the heavy American military presence on the southern island.

The alleged killing could complicate Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s push to strengthen Japanese military defense on the island and to work more closely with the U.S. military to deter China in the region.

Okinawa prefectural police said they arrested Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, who is stationed at Futenma Air Station, on suspicion of strangling Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel in the island’s capital city of Naha early Saturday and stealing her wallet and backpack. He has denied the allegations, according to Japanese media.

Security camera footage showed a man wearing a black top, trousers and white sneakers entering the hotel with the woman and later leaving alone.

Ballard was arrested when a patrolling officer saw him walking later Saturday in an entertainment district in Okinawa City, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of Naha. His shaved head and the tattoos on his arms matched those of the man in security footage, Kyodo news agency reported.

“I’m outraged and flabbergasted to hear that a suspect came to the (entertainment area) after committing a murder,” Kenji Higa, who lives in Okinawa City, told the Okinawa Times.

There is longstanding anger over the behavior of some Americans

People in Okinawa have long been wary of the U.S. presence on the island but many have come to see its strategic value due to what is widely viewed as a growing threat from China.

Okinawa was under U.S. occupation from World War II until 1972. Today it hosts 70% of America’s military facilities and most of the 50,000 U.S. troops based in Japan today.

There has been anger over increasing crime linked to the U.S. military on the island. The number of U.S. military-related criminal cases rose to 101 last year from about 40 in 2020, according to prefectural police.

After the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old girl by three U.S. service members, huge crowds protested the heavy U.S. troop presence on Okinawa. There was also anger over the rape of a teenage girl by a U.S. service member in 2024 and the delayed disclosure of the crime.

About 160 people gathered at a protest Sunday in Naha, condemning the crime and renewing demands that U.S. military bases be removed from the island.

One sign read: “We’ve had enough of this!”

Japanese officials condemn the crime

“The case deals a major shock and adds fear to the Okinawans who have already been forced to live next to U.S. bases,” newly elected Okinawa Gov. Genta Koja told reporters Sunday night in Naha. “It is absolutely unforgivable and we are outraged.”

Koja said the case underscored the ineffectiveness of past disciplinary measures taken by the U.S. military following similar crimes.

“I’m enraged by the loss of a precious life of an Okinawan resident,” Koja told Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, and U.S. Consul General in Naha, Andrew Ou on Monday when he summoned them to the prefectural government. He demanded that U.S. officials take effective preventive measures.

Watson replied: “I recognize the serious incident caused significant concern and anxiety among the residents of Okinawa, our neighbors” and that “we are committed to being good neighbors … and earning the trust of the Okinawan people.”

In Tokyo, Takaichi condemned the crime and demanded full cooperation and tougher disciplinary and preventive measures by the United States.

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi also summoned U.S. Forces Japan Commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost to his ministry, while Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi expressed his outrage to the U.S. ambassador to Japan, George Glass.

The suspect will face Japanese justice

Glass, on X, expressed his condolences Sunday to the victim's family and said the United States is cooperating with Japanese authorities.

On Monday, he said he is telling U.S. military commanders of the need “to hold our American service members to the very highest levels of discipline and integrity" and that he and Watson discussed the “next steps in strengthening that bond of trust with our Japanese partners and base-hosting communities.”

Under a bilateral status of forces agreement, the case is being handled by the Japanese authorities because the suspect was not on duty and was arrested off base.

Japanese prosecutors started examining the suspect's case on Monday to determine whether to press formal charges in coming weeks.

If convicted, he could face life in prison or the death penalty.

This article originally appeared on Associated Press at https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/anger-japan-grows-us-marine-124256915.html

1. Teenager loses hand picking up grenade in France school protests  CTV News
2. More than 400 schools in France to be closed on Monday as more protests planned  theguardian.com
3. Teenager's hand blown off as French school protests enter third week  Reuters
4. France closes up to 500 schools Monday over student protests  BBC
5. John Ivison: France is in flames and it’s a gift to the far right  National Post

1. Teenager loses hand picking up grenade in France school protests  CTV News
2. Student reportedly loses hand from police grenade amid France's education protests  cbc.ca
3. 15-year-old loses hand during French schools protest as clashes with police continue – Europe live  The Guardian
4. France’s student protest movement is ‘out of control,’ Paris police chief  The Globe and Mail
5. France closes up to 500 schools Monday over student protests  BBC