The U.S. Navy is deploying the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier to the Middle East, joining the USS Abraham Lincoln already stationed in the region, according to multiple sources. This move, confirmed by three U.S. officials, will place two of the Navy's most advanced aircraft carriers in the area as tensions with Iran continue to simmer.
The USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy's newest and most advanced carrier, is expected to depart from the Caribbean, where it has been stationed since November as part of a military buildup near Venezuela. During its time in the Caribbean, the carrier strike group conducted numerous strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats and captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, according to CBS News. The Ford will be accompanied by three destroyers, as reported by ABC News.
The deployment comes after President Donald Trump indicated in an interview with Axios that he was considering sending a second carrier to the Middle East if talks with Iran about its nuclear program did not succeed, ABC News reported. The region is overseen by the U.S. military's Central Command, CBS News noted.
In other news, the search is intensifying for Nancy Guthrie, the mother of "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, who was reportedly kidnapped from her Tucson, Arizona, home on February 1, 2026, according to ABC News. The FBI released photos and videos of an armed person in a mask near her home, appearing to tamper with a security camera.
Meanwhile, Mexico is facing a potential loss of its measles elimination status due to a surge in cases, ABC News reported. Since the beginning of last year, over 9,100 measles cases have been confirmed, with at least 28 deaths, according to Mexico's Secretariat of Health. The majority of cases have occurred in children between ages 1 and 9.
In Puerto Rico, the governor signed a bill recognizing unborn babies as human beings, which opponents argue could lead to outlawing abortion in the U.S. territory, Fox News reported. Gov. Jenniffer González stated the measure "aims to maintain consistency between civil and criminal provisions by recognizing the unborn child as a human being."
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