BILLIONAIRE Changpeng Zhao has been pardoned by President Donald Trump after he was sentenced to prison for enabling money laundering.
Trump announced the pardon of the one of the most powerful people in the crypto world on October 23.
Trump pardoned Zhao on October 23Credit: Getty
Zhao previously pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering while leading his company, Binance.
The cryptocurrency mogul pleaded guilty in November 2023 and was charged with failing to “implement an effective anti-money-laundering program and for willfully violating U.S. economic sanctions in a deliberate and calculated effort to profit from the U.S. market without implementing controls required by U.S. law,” according to the Department of Justice.
He was sentenced to four months in jail on April 2024.
Zhao stepped down from his role at Binance following a $4.3 billion settlement with the Department of Justice, CNBC reported.
Binance was charged with violating the International Emergency Powers Act and conspiracy.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the pardon in a statement.
“President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
“In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden Administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims.”
Leavitt noted that federal prosecutors sought to extend Zhao’s prison sentence under Biden.
“The Biden Administration sought to imprison Mr. Zhao for three years, a sentence so outside Sentencing Guidelines that even the Judge said he had never heard of this in his 30-year career,” she continued.
“These actions by the Biden Administration severely damaged the United States’ reputation as a global leader in technology and innovation.
“The Biden Administration’s war on crypto is over.”
Zhao founded the cryptocurrency company Binance in 2017 and it has since become one of the largest crypto companies in the space.
In 2023, the company wrote a blog post taking responsibility for its “misguided decisions.”
“Binance grew at an extremely fast pace globally, in a new and evolving industry that was in the early stages of regulation, and Binance made misguided decisions along the way,” the company wrote in a lengthy post.
“Today, Binance takes responsibility for this past chapter.”
Zhao is now one of the richest people in the world with a net worth of $55 billion.
The move could boost investor confidence but problems such as inefficiency and political interference must be tackled, say experts.
Garuda Indonesia is one of Indonesia’s state-owned enterprises. (Photo: AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
Indonesia’s move to allow foreigners to fill top positions in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) could boost investor confidence and the adoption of international best practices, but it still needs to tackle longstanding issues such as bureaucratic inefficiency and political interference, experts said.
President Prabowo Subianto announced last week that expatriates could now lead Indonesian SOEs for the first time in the country’s modern history.
“I have changed the regulations. Expatriates and non-Indonesians can now lead our SOEs,” he said on Oct 15 at the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Jakarta.
The president was referring to amendments to Indonesia’s SOE Law, officially passed by parliament on Oct 2.
On the same day, Rosan Roeslani, chief executive officer of Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund Danantara, announced that airline Garuda Indonesia had appointed two foreigners to its top management.
Balagopal Kunduvara, who spent more than 25 years at Singapore Airlines, was named Garuda’s chief financial officer, while seasoned aviation executive Neil Raymond Mills was appointed director of transformation.
Rosan said the airline – which has been operating at a loss for the past three years – needed professionals of Kunduvara and Mills’ calibre to restore profitability.
“We have long been trying to recover Garuda, but we haven’t had the best results. What’s most important is to have someone who not only has great plans but can execute them quickly,” Rosan said at a press conference, as quoted by The Jakarta Globe.
The Danantara chief did not disclose the nationalities of the two new executives.
Garuda’s website lists Kunduvara as being born in India and Mills in South Africa, but did not state their nationalities.
CNA has reached out to the airline for comment.
FOREIGNERS BARRED FROM LEADING STATE FIRMS SINCE 1960
Indonesia has not allowed foreigners to hold C-suite and director positions at SOEs since 1960, when it first passed a law to regulate the country’s state-owned companies.
Efforts to lift the restriction date back to at least 2017, but previous attempts were repeatedly blocked by opposition lawmakers who viewed the hiring of foreigners as a potential threat to national interests.
Prabowo has made reforming Indonesia’s sprawling SOEs one of his top priorities. With the majority of lawmakers under his big-tent governing coalition, he has amended the SOE law twice in his first year as president.
The first amendment, passed in February, paved the way for the creation of Danantara, Indonesia’s second sovereign wealth fund, which would later assume control of more than 1,000 state-owned firms and their subsidiaries.
The second amendment, passed this month, downgraded the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises to a regulatory body known as the SOE Management Agency (BP BUMN).
Although Article 15 of the new law still requires nominees for director positions to be “Indonesian citizens,” BP BUMN now has the authority to override this requirement when deemed necessary.
The president also said at the Forbes Conference that he wants the number of SOEs and their subsidiaries, which Danantara reported to be more than 1,000, to be slashed to a “more rational figure” of between 230 and 240 companies.
Danantara officials have said that more than half of Indonesia’s SOEs are currently operating at a loss. The fund is therefore seeking to merge overlapping entities and liquidate those deemed beyond rescue.
However, based on media reports, there are several strategic SOEs like Garuda, state pharmaceutical company Indofarma and steel producer Krakatau Steel that Danantara is determined to save, even if doing so requires a major overhaul.
CORE ISSUE “ISN’T THE PASSPORT”
Observers say allowing foreigners to lead Indonesia’s SOEs could inject international best practices in management, transparency, and innovation into the firms – many of which have been mired in debt, inefficiency and corruption scandals.
It could also boost investor confidence in publicly-traded SOEs, they said.
“The presence of expatriates is expected to bring improvements in governance,” said Toto Pranoto, an economist from the University of Indonesia.
Tauhid Ahmad, a senior researcher at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF), said the removal of the decades-old ban was long overdue.
“If Indonesia wants to become a global player, it needs people with international experience. Those with such backgrounds can help accelerate progress more quickly,” he said.
Indonesia could benefit from recruiting expatriates with experience in transforming the state-owned enterprises of other countries, he added.
“By learning from the experiences of those countries, the pace of transformation can be much faster,” Tauhid said.
BP BUMN chief Dony Oskaria said the government will be selective in hiring foreigners for state firms.
“It depends on the needs. For certain sectors, we need to carry out transformations in how our SOEs are managed. So don’t focus on whether someone is an Indonesian or a foreign national,” Dony told reporters on Oct 20, as quoted by news portal Detik.
State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi also suggested the Garuda appointments may not be the last.
“We also need many talents in the mineral and oil industries. If we feel that we require the skills and competencies of someone who happens to be a foreign national, why not?” Prasetyo said on Oct 17, as quoted by Tempo.
Garuda Indonesia is an appropriate starting point for the new policy, experts said.
Despite having the potential to become a leading regional carrier, Indonesia’s flag carrier has long struggled with financial difficulties that have necessitated repeated government bailouts.
Danantara, which has a 64.5 per cent stake in Garuda, recently pledged to inject a total of US$1.8 billion into Garuda after the airline reported a US$142.8 million loss in the first half of 2025. Garuda also disclosed a US$737 million debt load – exceeding its total assets of US$581 million.
“I think Garuda is a good example of a state-owned enterprise that could benefit from having expatriates,” said Toto Pranoto of the University of Indonesia.
“The airline serves both domestic and international routes and must compete with other global and regional carriers. Garuda also operates in an environment heavily influenced by exchange rates and other financial pressures — so their expertise could prove crucial.”
The talent pool for Indonesia’s aviation sector is also limited, with only two major airline groups, Garuda and Lion Air, dominating the market.
Toto expressed confidence that the two new foreign executives would push for reforms at Garuda. “They certainly would not want to risk their professional reputations,” he said.
Others, however, are less certain.
At the same extraordinary stakeholders’ meeting on Oct 15, Danantara and other shareholders also appointed Garuda’s new chief executive officer: Glenny Kairupan, a 76-year-old former army general and member of Prabowo’s Gerindra party. He replaced Wamildan Tsani Panjaitan, a former Air Force captain who served as Garuda CEO for just under a year. No reason was given for the change.
“Political and vested interests remain strong at the very top level,” said Bhima Yudhistira, executive director of the Center of Economics and Law Studies (CELIOS).
As a result, directors could end up performing administrative rather than strategic roles, and their attempts at institutional reforms could be blocked by political interests, he said. “That’s why I see the appointment of expatriates as largely window dressing.”
Agreeing, economist Achmad Nur Hidayat of the Jakarta National Development University said hiring experienced foreigners may not resolve structural problems like political interference, overlapping mandates and bureaucratic inefficiency.
“I believe the core issue isn’t the passport (of an SOE director), but governance, organisational culture, and incentives,” said Achmad.
“The government should focus on fundamental reforms: Improving incentives, fostering competition, and strengthening governance,” he said.
“Social mandates must be properly compensated, executive pay tied to results, regulations designed to encourage innovation and audits strengthened.”
Meanwhile, Wana Alamsyah of the non-for-profit Indonesia Corruption Watch said legal challenges could arise in corruption cases involving foreign SOE executives.
Cooperation with other countries is needed to prosecute foreign nationals, trace the assets stashed overseas and provide evidence for trials in Indonesia, he said.
Spokesman for the Indonesian Attorney General’s Office, Anang Supriatna, however said no one would be above the law.
“As long as the crime is conducted within Indonesia’s jurisdiction, our law applies. Meaning, anyone can be prosecuted,” Anang said on Oct 17, as quoted by Tempo.
SHOULD THERE BE EXCEPTIONS?
SOEs should also be careful how they take in top foreign executives, experts cautioned.
The policy should not be applied across the board and should be limited to SOEs that are viable, and in sectors where Indonesia lacks specialised expertise, they said.
“Garuda needs people with experience in the international aviation market, and there aren’t that many qualified talents at home. But for SOEs in sectors such as finance, telecommunications and mining, it is important to prioritise local talents,” said Tauhid of INDEF.
Agreeing that Danantara should streamline Indonesia’s SOEs, Tauhid said: “We are paying expatriates a lot of money, so they should only be hired for companies that still have the potential to perform well. Those that cannot be saved should be merged, closed, or sold to the private sector.”
The hiring of foreigners for top management positions should also be avoided in certain cases, said Toto of the University of Indonesia.
Some strategic SOEs such as munitions manufacturer Pindad handle sensitive state and trade secrets, and Toto said they should remain under local leadership.
The same applies, he added, to public service enterprises like train operator Kereta Api Indonesia, where social obligations often take precedence over profit.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visiting the memorial wall at a ceremony to award state commendations to the commander and combatants of the Korean People’s Army’s Overseas Operational Forces, who took part in military operations in Kursk Oblast of western Russia, at the headquarters building of the Central Committee of the The Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang on Aug 22, 2025. (File photo: AFP/STR/KCNA/KNS)
North Korea has begun constructing a memorial for its soldiers killed fighting in Russia’s war with Ukraine, state media reported on Thursday (Oct 23), as leader Kim Jong Un hailed a “historic peak” in ties with Moscow.
The so-called Memorial Museum of Combat Feats will be built in the capital Pyongyang, where Kim and Russia’s ambassador to North Korea attended a groundbreaking ceremony, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
Kim, addressing Thursday’s event, said the museum “is a sacred sanctuary dedicated to the immortality of true patriots.”
North Korea, one of the world’s most insular nations, has become a key Russian ally since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
It has sent thousands of soldiers and container loads of weapons to help the Kremlin push Ukrainian forces out of western Russia.
At least 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded, according to estimates from South Korea.
In remarks carried by KCNA, Kim praised his country’s troops for helping Russia achieve a “decisive victory”.
“Our heroes destroyed the fiendish neo-Nazi invaders with their staunch spirit not to tolerate any aggression but to annihilate the aggressors,” Kim said.
North Korea and Russia’s relationship was “now rising to its historic peak”, he added.
Kim said the memorial would feature sculptures dedicated to the North Korean soldiers who have fought in Russia, as well as photos and artwork portraying the combat.
Moscow’s ambassador to North Korea, Aleksandr Matsegora, and other Russian embassy officials attended Thursday’s ceremony, KCNA reported.
Several North Korean government and military officials were also present, along with families of soldiers who have died in Russia.
Images released by state media showed Kim embracing visibly emotional soldiers at the ceremony in Pyongyang.
Russia and North Korea last year agreed to a strategic partnership agreement that obligates each side to provide “military and other assistance” should either of them be attacked.
Mum-of-four Afua Kyei says the Bank of England supports parents in the workplace
Afua Kyei, the Bank of England’s chief financial officer, has been named the UK’s most influential black person.
The 43-year-old is one of the UK’s most senior finance leaders, in charge of the financial governance of the Bank’s £1 trillion balance sheet and funding reforms.
The BoE executive director topped the 2026 Powerlist, which recognises the most powerful people of African, African Caribbean, and African American heritage in the UK.
Other influential names include former footballer Ian Wright, who’s new to the list, make-up artist Dame Pat McGrath and actor Idris Elba.
Kyei, who was recruited by the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in his former role as the governor of the Bank of England, said topping the list was “incredibly humbling”.
The mum-of-four said growing up she saw obvious differences in the workplace.
She said: “I didn’t see so many women in big leadership roles who had families and I know that there are lots of women who think that they need to choose between work and having a family.
“What I love about the Bank of England is that we really support working families and working parents.”
Kyei studied chemistry at Oxford University and was also awarded a junior research fellowship by Princeton University in organic chemistry.
‘You don’t need to be a mathematician’
During the global financial crisis, she was an investment banker before joining Barclays Bank where she was the Chief Financial Officer for Mortgages.
She joined the Bank of England in 2019 and is at the core of the Bank’s leadership and decision making.
She said her parents, who moved to the UK from Ghana to go to university at 18, have been her biggest role models.
“My mother came to Liverpool, trained to become a midwife and enjoyed a 40-year plus career working for the NHS.
“My father has enjoyed a long career in the oil industry. I saw them juggling work and home. They instilled really strong values in us,” she added.
Kyei hopes to inspire more young people to consider banking as a career.
“You don’t need to be a mathematician, you don’t need to be an accountant and you don’t need to be an economist. What we’re looking for is fresh perspectives and we want the best people”.
Kyei takes the place of tech CEO Dean Forbes at the head of the list.
Family members hold pictures of victims of the 1972 ‘Bloody Sunday’ atrocity
A former member of the Parachute Regiment has been found not guilty of murder and attempted murder in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday more than 50 years ago.
That day 13 people were shot dead and at least 15 others injured on 30 January 1972 at a civil rights demonstration in the Bogside area of Derry.
Soldier F, whose anonymity is protected by a court order, faced charges of murdering James Wray, 22, and William McKinney, 26, as well as five charges of attempted murder.
The judge said members of the Parachute Regiment had shot unarmed civilians as they ran away, but the evidence against Soldier F had fallen well short of what is required for conviction.
Judge Patrick Lynch told Belfast Crown Court that the members of the Parachute Regiment who had entered Glenfada Park North had “totally lost all sense of military discipline”.
They had, the judge said, shot “unarmed civilians fleeing from them on the streets of a British city”.
“Those responsible should hang their heads in shame,” he said.
The public gallery was filled with the friends and families of those who were killed and injured on Bloody Sunday, with many travelling from Derry early in the morning, as well as supporters of Soldier F.
Speaking outside court Mickey McKinney, whose brother William was shot dead, said the families are filled “with incredible sense of pride”, despite the verdict.
Liam Wray, whose brother Jim was also killed, said it was a “tough, sad and emotional” day, adding that, while “justice had not been achieved”, he “appreciated the difficulties the judge faced in the case”.
“It takes you back to the horror of [Bloody Sunday]” he said. “[To] The wounds Jim had, the situation, the fear, the terror.”
A solicitor representing some of the Bloody Sunday families, Ciarán Shiels, said Soldier F was “the most protected serial killer in British legal history”.
“He has enjoyed every comfort that a victim should enjoy,” he added.
The Bloody Sunday relatives who travelled to Belfast for the verdict arrived back to Derry’s Bogside on Thursday afternoon.
They held a short silence at the memorial near the spot where many of the victims were killed 53 years ago.
Northern Ireland’s veterans’ commissioner David Johnstone said the trial had brought into focus the “deep pain” events of 50 years ago still cause.
He said the Bloody Sunday families and all families who lost relatives in the Troubles, “continue to experience pain”, adding “we should not forget that today”.
Speaking outside court, Paul Young, of the Northern Ireland Veterans’ Movement, said soldiers who served in Northern Ireland with “honour and courage” had been “hounded”, but added they would be “heartened” by the verdicts.
The case had presented “complex legal and evidential issues”, according to the director of public prosecutions in Northern Ireland.
Stephen Herron said those “difficulties have been recognised by the courts” previously in regards to decisions over who to prosecute in regards Bloody Sunday.
He added: “Our thoughts today are foremost with the Wray and McKinney families, those who were wounded, and the loved ones of all killed and injured on Bloody Sunday.”
What’s the reaction been Soldier F’s acquittal?
First Minister Michelle O’Neill said it was “deeply disappointing” that the Bloody Sunday families faced a “continued denial of justice”.
“For more than five decades, they have campaigned with dignity and resilience for justice for their loved ones, their deeply cherished sons and fathers, uncles and brothers,” the Sinn Féin deputy leader said.
Foyle Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MP Colum Eastwood said it was a “difficult day” for the Bloody Sunday families, but said they could “hold their heads up high”.
“It is absolutely clear that those soldiers, including Soldier F, shot and killed people on Bloody Sunday,” Eastwood said.
“These were innocent people, no weapons, just on a civil rights march, mowed down by the Parachute Regiment of the British Army. That’s what happened and that’s absolutely clear.”
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson welcomed the “common sense judgement”, but said the trial had been “a painful and protracted process”.
“There needs to be a better way of dealing with the legacy of the past and to ensure no rewriting of it,” he said.
Other unionists also criticised the prosecution – Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister said the acquittal raised the “fundamental question why this veteran was put through this ordeal” while Ulster Unionist assembly member Doug Beattle described it as a “show trial”.
However, the chief commissioner of the body dealing with legacy cases in Northern Ireland rejected those claims.
Sir Declan Morgan told BBC News NI’s The View that the judge’s rejection of several defence applications to have the case dismissed showed it “was not hopeless from the start”.
“If that had been the case then the judge would have acceded to the defence application,” he added.
Sir Declan, the chief commissioner for the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), also said it would be wrong to assume justice cannot be served because of the passage of time.
He pointed to advances in forensic evidence, which allows for some of cases to be “candidates for prosecution”.
The government said it noted Thursday’s judgement, adding the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had “provided legal and welfare support throughout”.
“We are committed to finding a way forward that acknowledges the past, whilst supporting those who served their country during an incredibly difficult period in Northern Ireland’s history,” a spokesperson said.
Who is Soldier F?
Soldier F is the only military veteran who has been prosecuted over the shootings.
The five charges of attempted murder related to two teenagers at the time 16-year-old Joe Mahon and 17-year-old Michael Quinn as well as Joseph Friel, who was 20, and Patrick O’Donnell, 41, and an unknown person.
The case was heard by a judge sitting without a jury at Belfast Crown Court and lasted five weeks.
To protect his identity, Soldier F was screened from public view and his name not disclosed, as a result of a court order.
The crash was caught on the dashcam of Singh’s Freightliner tractor-trailer combination that slammed into the SUV, killing at least three people and injuring several others.
Police said Singh never hit the brakes before slamming into the traffic jam.
A 21-year-old Indian man– an illegal immigrant in the US– has been accused of causing a fiery semi-truck crash that killed three people in Southern California. The man, identified as Jashanpreet Singh, was arrested on charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated after smashing his big rig into slow-moving traffic on a San Bernardino County freeway, according to US news reports.
Singh reportedly crossed the southern US border in 2022. He had his first encounter with Border Patrol agents in California’s El Centro Sector in March 2022, but was released into the interior of the country by the Biden administration under the “alternatives to detention” policy– where illegal immigrants were released pending hearings.
The crash was caught on the dashcam of Singh’s Freightliner tractor-trailer combination that slammed into the SUV, killing at least three people and injuring several others.
The three people killed in the crash have not been publicly identified yet. Those injured included Singh and a mechanic who was assisting with the tyre change of a vehicle.
Police said Singh never hit the brakes before slamming into the traffic jam, as he was under the influence of drugs. Police said his toxicology tests confirmed the impairment.
“He was eventually transported to the hospital, and he was checked out by the medical staff, and our officers determined he was driving under the influence of drugs,” said CHP Officer Rodrigo Jimenez, as quoted by ABC7 News.
The US Department of Homeland Security also confirmed that Singh does not have a lawful immigration status in the US, and according to a Fox News report, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (USICE) has lodged an immigration detainer against him following his arrest.
Trump’s decision comes after he accused Ottawa of misquoting former president Ronald Reagan in an advertising campaign against tariffs.
Trump has “terminated’ all trade talks with Canada, weeks after Mark Carney visited the White House to mend trade ties with Washington.(AFP)
US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he was immediately ending all trade talks with Canada. Trump’s decision comes after he accused Ottawa of misquoting former president Ronald Reagan in an advertising campaign against tariffs.
“The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs,” said Trump.
“They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts. TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED.” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Reagan ad escalates tensions
In Ontario, an anti-tariff ad was issued using an address made by former US president and Republican Ronald Reagan.
The one-minute ad excerpts a 1987 radio address by Reagan to justify imposing 100 percent tariffs on Japanese electronics over a trade dispute over semiconductors.
In the advert, Reagan’s address also warned on the long term perils of tariffs on foreign imports to the US.
It’s official: Ontario’s new advertising campaign in the U.S. has launched.
Using every tool we have, we’ll never stop making the case against American tariffs on Canada. The way to prosperity is by working together.
“High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. Then the worst happens. Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industries shut down and millions of people lose their jobs,” Reagan narrates in the advertisement.
The advertisement was aired on Newsmax and Bloomberg.
Announcing the ad, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said – “I’m a big Ronald Reagan fan . . . We’re going to launch a $75 million ad, and we’re going to repeat that message to every Republican district there is, right across the entire country.”
US Canada tariff row
Following Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff hikes, Canada found itself subject to new levies on steel, autos, digital services and more.
In a bid to mend ties and diffuse the trade tensions. Canadian prime minister Mark Carney visited Washington DC earlier this month.
During this visit, the two leaders agreed to “work out their differences.”
Earlier this year, the US imposed a 25 percent tariff on Canadian exports, and 10 percent on energy product exports from Canada.
India at UN lauds Trump’s Gaza ceasefire deal, urges sustained talks, supports Palestinian rights, highlights aid to Gaza, Syria, Yemen, and peacekeeping roles in UNDOF and UNIFIL
Permanent Representative of India to the UN, Parvathaneni Harish, at the UNSC Open Debate on Situation in the Middle East on Thursday. (ANI/X)
India at the United Nations on Thursday called US President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire deal a “landmark initiative” and emphasised that the “talks must continue” for the agreement to hold.
Indian envoy to the UN Parvathaneni Harish said: “Today’s Open Debate comes in the backdrop of the Gaza Peace Summit at Sharm el-Sheikh on October 13, 2025. India participated in the Summit and we welcomed the signing of the landmark Peace Agreement.”
“Peace and calm on the Palestinian front have implications for the wider region. India stands for lasting peace in the entire Middle East. It is important for the Agreement to hold and the ceasefire to sustain and for the parties to honour their respective commitments. Talks must continue, and there must be abiding faith in the efficacy of dialogue and diplomacy…,” he said.
He lauded Trump for playing an “instrumental role in forging the Agreement”. “India also commends the role of Egypt and Qatar towards achieving this end. India remains firm in its view that dialogue and diplomacy and the two-state solution are the means to achieve peace. The landmark initiative of the United States has generated diplomatic momentum towards peace and all parties must adhere to their obligations. We also remain firmly opposed to any unilateral moves by parties concerned.”
#WATCH | Permanent Representative of India to the UN, Parvathaneni Harish’s complete address at the UNSC Open Debate on Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question
Pointing out India is committed to its stance on developments since October 7, 2023, the Indian envoy said: “India has condemned terrorism; stressed there must be an end to destruction, despair and suffering of civilians and sought the immediate release of all hostages; held that humanitarian assistance must flow into Gaza in an unimpeded manner; and emphasised the need for a ceasefire. India envisions the Peace Agreement as an enabler and a catalyst in this regard.”
He emphasised that India underscores its “unwavering support to the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, national independence, and sovereignty”.
“Since India’s recognition of the State of Palestine in 1988, India has consistently advocated certain critical parameters – a sovereign, independent, viable State of Palestine, living side by side in peace and security with Israel, within secure and recognised borders… Aid is essential for rehabilitation and reconstruction. Palestinian people cannot rebuild their lives without the support of the international community… The total support by India to the Palestinian people is over USD 170 million, which includes projects worth USD 40 million in various stages of implementation,” Harish said.
He further said: “… We have implemented human-centric projects bilaterally and also partnered with the UN and the Palestinian Authority in this regard. Over the last two years, India has provided relief assistance of nearly 135 metric tons of medicines and supplies. These initiatives must be coupled with the creation of economic frameworks and mechanisms that are conducive for social development, investment and employment.”
Speaking on the Middle East situation, the envoy said that the humanitarian challenges are an important dimension and it is important to address these on priority.
“India’s commitment in this regard is also manifested in its supply of 5 metric tons of essential medicines to the friendly people of Syria as recently as July 2025. India continues to stress a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process. While taking positive note of progressive normalisation of Syria’s relations with its Arab neighbours, India also pledges its support to the regional efforts towards finding a long-term solution in Syria,” he said.
He added: “Indian troops in UNDOF remained steadfast in executing their mandate even during extreme challenges experienced during the recent conflict, including supreme sacrifice by Acting Force Commander Brigadier General Amitabh Jha in December 2024. India is the third largest contributor to this Mission.”
The Permanent Representative of India to the UN pointed out the importance of safety and security of peacekeepers at the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
“At a broader level, the peacekeepers serve a very critical function of the UN, and they cannot become casualties of conflicts and escalations. India remains hopeful that the Lebanese Armed Forces will be equipped to discharge the entire spectrum of its responsibilities once the UNIFIL sunset clause becomes operational towards the end of 2026″ he said.
The Trump administration defends its controversial $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications, citing the need to prioritize American workers and reduce fraud within the system.
H-1B visas are designed to allow US-based employers to temporarily hire highly skilled workers of “distinguished merit and ability” when they cannot find that talent domestically.
The Trump administration, facing multiple lawsuits challenging the $100,000 fee imposed on new visa applicants, once again justified the fee hike, stating that the policy aims to prioritise American workers and curb fraud in the H-1B system. “The president’s main priority has always been to put American workers first and to strengthen our visa system,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday defending the move.
“The administration will fight these lawsuits in court. The president’s main priority has always been to put American workers first and to strengthen our visa system. For far too long, the H-1B visa system has been spammed with fraud, and that’s driven down American wages. So the president wants to refine this system, which is part of the reason he implemented these new policies. These actions are lawful, they are necessary, and we’ll continue to fight this battle in court,” Leavitt told presspersons at the White House press briefing.
The US Chamber of Commerce has challenged the Trump administration’s $100,000 fee on H-1B visa petitions. Besides, unions, employers, and religious groups have filed lawsuits in California and Washington, DC, federal courts, arguing the fee is unlawful and harms US industries.
The Chamber has argued that the new fee is unlawful because it overrides provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act that govern the H-1B program, including the requirement that fees be based on the costs incurred by the government in processing visas, according to an official statement by the CoC.
“The new $100,000 visa fee will make it cost-prohibitive for US employers, especially start-ups and small and midsize businesses, to utilize the H-1B program, which Congress created expressly to ensure that American businesses of all sizes can access the global talent they need to grow their operations here in the US,” said Neil Bradley, Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer at the US Chamber.
“President Trump has embarked on an ambitious agenda of securing permanent pro-growth tax reforms, unleashing American energy, and unravelling the overregulation that has stifled growth. The Chamber and our members have actively backed these proposals to attract more investment in America. To support this growth, our economy will require more workers, not fewer,” his statement added.
The H1B visa allows IT companies to hire skilled foreign workers. The increased fees are set to affect Indian IT professionals, who comprise the largest group receiving H-1 B visas.
The new USD 100,000 annual fee represents a significant increase from current H-1B processing costs, which typically amount to a few thousand dollars. Companies will pay this fee in addition to existing vetting charges, with the administration still determining whether to collect the full amount upfront or on an annual basis.
The Times reported that attractive Chinese and Russian spies are infiltrating US tech companies by seducing employees to steal trade secrets. Tech magnate Elon Musk reacted to the report in his usual memelord style.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk (Photo: Getty)
SpaceX CEO and tech billionaire Elon Musk has weighed in on a new report claiming that Chinese and Russian operatives are using seduction and deception to infiltrate America’s technology sector.
Reacting to the revelations on X, Elon Musk quipped, “If she’s a 10, you’re an asset.”
The tongue-in-cheek remark, part humorous and part cautionary, quickly went viral.
According to an investigation by The Times (UK), “sex warfare” has emerged as a covert strategy among foreign intelligence agencies, with operatives posing as entrepreneurs, investors, or romantic partners to extract sensitive data from US tech insiders.
The report alleges that Chinese and Russian agents are targeting innovation hubs from Silicon Valley to Seattle, seeking access to confidential research, defence technology, and artificial intelligence projects.
LUST AND LIES AS TOOLS OF ESPIONAGE
According to the report, US counterintelligence agencies are alarmed by what they describe as a wave of “seductive spies” deployed to extract trade secrets and intellectual property from American technology firms.
Experts say these operations blur the line between human intelligence (HUMINT) and cyber espionage, relying on emotional manipulation rather than hacking tools to breach sensitive systems.
“China is targeting our startups, our academic institutions, our innovators,” Jeff Stoff, a former US national security analyst, told The Times. “It’s all part of China’s economic warfare strategy — and we’ve not even entered the battlefield.”
James Mulvenon, Chief Intelligence Officer at Pamir Consulting, told the publication, “It’s the Wild West out there.” He described receiving a flurry of LinkedIn requests from “the same type of attractive young Chinese woman,” suggesting a coordinated intelligence effort.
THE RISE OF ‘SEX WARFARE’
US counterintelligence officials warned that this so-called “sex warfare” extends beyond flirtation. In several cases, operatives have reportedly married targets, including aerospace and defence employees, as part of long-term intelligence-gathering missions.
One former official cited by The Times described a “beautiful Russian woman” who married an American engineer and later moved into crypto and defence-tech circles, calling it a “lifelong collection operation”.
“They have an asymmetric advantage when it comes to sex warfare,” Mulvenon admitted, noting that US agencies, constrained by law and ethics, are less willing to use such tactics.
CHINA’S ‘WHOLE-OF-SOCIETY’ ESPIONAGE STRATEGY
US intelligence officials claimed Beijing’s approach to spying has gone mainstream, using civilians — from students to businesspeople — as potential intelligence assets.
“We’re not chasing KGB agents in smoky rooms anymore,” one senior official told The Times. “Our adversaries, especially the Chinese, are using a whole-of-society approach.”
The financial stakes are staggering. The Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property estimates that economic espionage and trade secret theft cost the US economy up to $600 billion annually, with China responsible for the majority of cases.
In one instance, German national Klaus Pflugbeil allegedly tried to sell Tesla’s stolen blueprints for $15 million to undercover agents in Las Vegas. Prosecutors said the data could have bolstered China’s electric vehicle ambitions.
PITCH TRAPS AND HONEYTRAPS
Beyond romance, US authorities warn of economic “honeytraps” or so-called innovation competitions or “pitch events” run by Chinese entities that lure startups into revealing intellectual property.
Some competitions allegedly record participants, collect personal data, and then use it for industrial espionage.
“It’s a counterintelligence risk,” one US official said. “They may simply take your idea, exploit it, and patent it — stealing your financial future.”
A biotech CEO told The Times that after winning $50,000 in one such contest, he later found his federal funding frozen. “They recorded everything,” he said. “Every word, every detail.”
While seductive espionage is as old as the Cold War, when Soviet “swallows” and “ravens” entrapped Western officials, analysts say the battleground has shifted.
Today’s spies aren’t seeking state secrets in embassies. They’re targeting data scientists, AI engineers, and startup founders — people who hold keys to future technologies with national security value.
The actress has battled countless traumas and rejections during her life
Freer than ever Demi Moore poses in a cage-style dressCredit: Thomas Whiteside
DEMI Moore poses in a cage-style dress — but says she feels freer than ever.
The screen star, 62, was in celebratory mood after being named one of Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year.
It comes after she won a Best Actress Golden Globe for her role in horror flick The Substance.
Demi was interviewed by Substance co-star Margaret Qualley for the mag.
She said: “With everything I’ve been through, which has been a lot, I wouldn’t trade where I am today.”
She added a difference with her younger self is the “freedom to know I don’t have to have the answer, and life is not going to be completely stolen from me if I somehow don’t know”.
During Demi Moore’s emotional Golden Globes acceptance speech, she spoke of having been at a “low point” and not thinking she was “enough”.
The actress has battled countless traumas and rejections during her life – including her biological dad leaving before she was born, saving her drug addicted mum from suicide, two spells in rehab and being raped aged 15.
The star of Ghost, Indecent Proposal and A Few Good Men’s return to form in the satirical horror movie The Substance is one of the greatest Hollywood comebacks of all time.
Having struggled to land a hit movie over the past couple of decades, Demi thought “this was it.”
And when you learn of what the mother-of-three has been through, you’ll know why her best actress win at the Globes on Sunday meant so much.
Intelligence sources suggest that similar attacks are a calculated strategy to control the flow of money generated by the music industry
The attack on Kahlon carries immense symbolic intimidation value and serves as a public warning to the entire Punjabi music industry and diaspora event circuit. (Image: X)
The targeted shooting of Punjabi singer Teji Kahlon in Canada has been linked to a brutal, transnational turf war between Indian organised crime networks, specifically factions loyal to the Lawrence Bishnoi–Rohit Godara syndicate, top intelligence sources told CNN-News18 on Wednesday.
Kahlon was reportedly shot in the stomach—an attack method interpreted by sources as a clear “sign of warning” rather than an outright execution, mirroring previous intimidation tactics, such as the attack on comedian Kapil Sharma’s cafe. The incident highlights the alarming operational reach of these Indian gangster networks abroad, demonstrating their capability to carry out targeted strikes.
The Punjabi Music Industry: A Battleground for Gang Finance
Initial reports indicate that Kahlon’s social affiliations, through event and industry circles, connected him to members of rival gangs. This relationship, whether formal or informal, is at the heart of the conflict.
The attack on Kahlon carries immense symbolic intimidation value and serves as a public warning to the entire Punjabi music industry and diaspora event circuit. Gangsters believe these music figures often maintain informal ties or financial dealings with rival syndicates.
The HI-B visa allows highly-skilled workers to reside and work in the US for up to three years at a time, also providing for a three-year extension.
The clarification from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) came as a major relief to Indian tech professionals and students in the US.(REUTERS)
United States on Tuesday issued a clarification regarding the $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications. The President Donald Trump-led administration stated that recent international graduates sponsored for H-1B status while already in the country would not be required to pay the fee. The H-1B visa allows highly-skilled workers to reside and work in the US for up to three years at a time, also providing for a possible extension for up to three years.
The clarification from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) came as a major relief to Indian tech professionals and students in the US, who form the backbone of the H-1B program. Around 300,000 Indian workers currently in the US on H-1B visas, mostly employed in technology and services industries.
How does the fee impact Indian workers?
Indians form a major chunk of about 70% of all news H-1B visa allocations, followed by Chinese nationals, who account for about 11-12%, according to data by the US administration. 85,000 new visas are awarded through a lottery system under the program each year.
The visa has also played a key role in making Indian-Americans one of the most educated and highest-earning communities in America, according to researchers behind The Other One Percent, a seminal study on Indian-Americans.
H-1B visa holders, including dependents, make up around one-fourth of the 3 million Indian-Americans, with Indian IT companies using the program to deploy engineers to US client sites. American companies also recruit heavily on the basis of the H-1B visas, taking many Indian students from US universities.
Foreign nationals seeking change in visa status not liable to pay H-1B fee
The existing foreign nationals who are seeking a change in visa status will not have to pay the new $100,000 fee, the USCIS confirmed.
This means that those foreign nationals who travel or have travelled to US on a different visa – for example F-1 for international students and L-1 for international companies – will not have to pay the $100,000 fee if they switch to H-1B while in the US. They can also re-enter the US on the H-1B and would not be fined. The exception also extends to current H-1B visa holders seeking renewals or extensions.
An AI-generated video recreating the $100 million Louvre heist has gone viral, with users comparing the robbery to Bollywood film ‘Dhoom 2’.
The jewellery stolen from the Louvre in Paris was valued at more than $100 million.(X/@Fraim_Labs)
An AI-generated video recreating the $100 million Louvre heist is going viral on social media, with many users drawing parallels to the Bollywood film ‘Dhoom 2’.
The video shared on X surfaced online after the dramatic daylight robbery at the Louvre in Paris, where a group of thieves pulled off a smash-and-grab inside the Apollo Room – home to the museum’s historic royal jewels – before fleeing within minutes. The museum reopened for visitors on Wednesday, but the heist room remains sealed as authorities continue their search for what officials have called a gang of “experienced criminals”.
Amid this, an AI-generated video reimagining the heist in cinematic style has caught the internet’s attention.
Social media users were quick to draw parallels between the robbery and Bollywood’s 2006 hit movie ‘Dhoom 2’, which features a Louvre-set heist pulled off by Hritik Roshan’s character Aryan.
“There’s a theft at the Louvre Museum, but the contents are all from the movie Dhoom 2,” one user wrote.
“It is interesting that despite being 48 hours since the Louvre Museum robbery, neither the culprits are arrested nor the robbed jewellery recovered More to prove that movies are not fiction. Good plotline for Dhoom 4,” commented another.
“Crazy Shit !! They did Dhoom 2 style heist on Louvre,” remarked a third user.
“if Aryan from Dhoom 2 was actually a real person, like he would 100% rob the Louvre in broad daylight just for the love of the game,” quipped one user.
A police officer mistakenly shot at troops taking part in a large-scale Bundeswehr training exercise in the southern German city of Erding, injuring a soldier.
A Bundeswehr soldier has been injured after a mistaken shooting in the German city of ErdingImage: Michael Bihlmayer/CHROMORANGE/picture alliance
A solider was shot by police during a large-scale exercise of the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, in the southern Bavarian city of Erding, officials said on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the Bundeswehr’s Operational Command told German media that a misunderstanding had led to a shot being fired between troops taking part in the exercise and police who had been called by local residents.
The soldier has since been discharged from hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries, according to the spokesperson and local police.
Why did German police shoot at military troops?
As part of an exercise called Marshal Power, the Bundeswehr is currently carrying out an exercise involving some 500 military police as well as hundreds of first responders from police, fire and rescue services.
The drills are being conducted in public spaces in a dozen Bavarian towns and cities to the north of Munich, including in Erding, to rehearse for an attack on a NATO member state.
Bavarian police said they had been responding to reports of a man carrying a weapon and deployed multiple units to the southeast of Erding, including a helicopter, early on Wednesday evening.
According to German daily Bild, the military police fired practice ammunition at the arriving police officers, believing this was part of the military exercise.
The timeline of the sanctions brings the EU’s full LNG embargo forward by a year.
A model of a pump jack is seen in front of the displayed word “Sanctions”, EU and Russia flag colours in this illustration taken March 8, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
The European Union has approved a 19th package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, including a ban on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, the Danish presidency of the EU said on Wednesday (Oct 22).
“We are very pleased to announce that we have just been notified by the remaining member state that it’s now able to lift its reservation on the 19th sanctions package,” the presidency said in a statement.
Slovakia was the final hold-out, agreeing to the package after receiving assurances from the European Commission on high energy prices and the impact on carmakers and heavy industry.
“Consequently, a written procedure for Council approval has been launched. If no objections are received, the package will be adopted tomorrow by 8am,” it added.
LNG BAN AND NEW RESTRICTIONS
The LNG ban will take effect in two stages: short-term contracts will end after six months, and long-term contracts from Jan 1, 2027. The timeline brings the EU’s full LNG embargo forward by a year from the European Commission’s previous roadmap to end dependence on Russian fossil fuels.
A cargo ship full of shipping containers is seen at the port of Oakland, California, U.S., August 4, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria Purchase Licensing Rights
The Trump administration is considering a plan to curb a dizzying array of software-powered exports to China, from laptops to jet engines, to retaliate against Beijing’s latest round of rare earth export restrictions, according to a U.S. official and three people briefed by U.S. authorities.
While the plan is not the only one being deliberated, it would make good on President Donald Trump’s threat earlier this month to bar “critical software” exports to China by restricting global shipments of items that contain U.S. software or were produced using U.S. software.
On October 10, Trump said in a social media post that he would impose additional tariffs of 100% on China’s U.S.-bound shipments, along with new export controls on “any and all critical software” by November 1 without further details.
To be sure, the measure, details of which are being reported for the first time, may not move forward, the sources said.
But the fact that such controls are being considered shows the Trump administration is weighing a dramatic escalation of its showdown with China, even as some within the U.S. government favor a gentler approach, according to two of the sources.
“I will confirm that everything is on the table,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters at the White House Wednesday when asked about software curbs on China. “If these export controls – whether it’s software, engines or other things – happen, it will likely be in coordination with our G7 allies.”
U.S. stock indexes dipped following the Reuters report, before paring losses. The S&P 500 closed down 0.5% while the Nasdaq was about 1% lower at the market’s close.
Emily Kilcrease, a former trade official now at the Center for a New American Security, said software was a natural point of leverage for the U.S. Still, such controls would be extraordinarily difficult to implement and would lead to blowback for U.S. industry, she said.
“You would hope they are only putting threats on the table that they would carry out and stick with,” Kilcrease said.
The White House declined to comment. The Commerce Department, which oversees export controls, did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy did not comment on the specific U.S. measures under consideration but said China opposed the U.S. “imposing unilateral long-arm jurisdiction measures” and vowed to “take resolute measures to protect its legitimate rights and interests” if the U.S. proceeds down what it views as a wrong path.
MEASURE COULD BE USED TO PRESSURE CHINA
Administration officials could announce the measure to put pressure on China but stop short of implementing it, one of the sources said. Narrower policy proposals are also being discussed, two of the people said.
“Everything imaginable is made with U.S. software,” one of the sources said, highlighting the broad scope of the proposed action. The sources declined to be named because the matter was not public.
The move could disrupt global trade with China, especially for technology products, and could come at a cost to the U.S. economy if fully implemented.
It echoes restrictions the Biden administration imposed on Moscow after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Those rules restricted exports to Russia of items made globally using U.S. technology or software.
Trump’s Truth Social post came just three weeks before a previously announced meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, and a day after China dramatically expanded its export controls on rare earth elements. China dominates the market for such elements, which are essential to tech manufacturing.
The U.S. military killed five alleged drug smugglers in strikes against two vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday, in an expansion of the Trump administration’s use of the armed forces in its counter-narcotics campaign.
On Wednesday afternoon, Hegseth said the military attacked a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean and killed two men on Tuesday. It was the first known U.S. military operation in the Pacific since President Donald Trump kicked off a new offensive against the drug trade.
Hours later, Hegseth said the military had struck another vessel in the eastern Pacific on Wednesday, killing three men.
The strikes came on top of at least seven others in the Caribbean in a campaign that has raised U.S. tensions with Venezuela and Colombia.
“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route and was carrying narcotics,” Hegseth said, without providing evidence, after the latest strike.
He posted videos of around 30 seconds in length of the two strikes on X; both appeared to show a vessel traveling in the water before exploding.
The strikes in the Caribbean have killed at least 32 people, but the Trump administration has provided few details, such as how many alleged drugs the targeted vessels were carrying or what specific evidence it had to suggest they were carrying drugs.
News of the Tuesday strike in the eastern Pacific was first reported by CBS News.
“The attack on another boat in the Pacific, we don’t know if it’s Ecuadorean or Colombian, killed people,” said Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who is in the midst of a spat with Trump over the boat strikes and tariffs. “It is murder. Whether in the Caribbean or Pacific, the U.S. government strategy breaks the norms of international law.”
The Pentagon is seen from the air in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 3, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Colombia’s Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement the U.S. must halt the attacks.
Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa, who has declared war on gangs in his country, has expressed support for Trump’s anti-narcotics efforts.
Trump, asked about the strike by reporters in the Oval Office, said his administration had the legal authority to carry it out and that he believed each strike saved American lives.
Trump also reiterated plans to strike targets on the ground in Venezuela, which would be an escalation. He said if he takes this step, his administration likely would inform the U.S. Congress.
“We’ll probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we’re doing when we come to the land,” Trump said. “We don’t have to do that, but I think … I’d like to do that.”
Legal experts have questioned why the U.S. military is carrying out the strikes, instead of the Coast Guard, which is the main U.S. maritime law enforcement agency, and why other efforts to halt the shipments are not made before resorting to deadly strikes.
The US has announced new sanctions targeting Russia’s two largest oil companies – Rosneft and Lukoil – in an effort to pressure Moscow to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine.
“Every time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations and then they don’t go anywhere. They just don’t go anywhere,” President Donald Trump said, after a meeting with Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte to discuss peace negotiations.
The sanctions announcement came one day after Trump said a meeting planned with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest would be shelved indefinitely.
Earlier Wednesday, Russia unleashed an intense bombardment on Ukraine that killed at least seven people, including children.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the new sanctions were needed due to “Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war”. He said these oil companies fund the Kremlin’s “war machine”.
“Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” Bessent said in a statement.
Speaking alongside Rutte in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump criticised Putin for not being serious about making peace and said he hoped that the sanctions would help force a breakthrough.
“I just felt it was time. We waited a long time,” Trump said.
He called the sanctions package “tremendous”, and added that he hoped they could be swiftly withdrawn if Russia agrees to stop the war.
Rutte also praised the move, saying it was “putting more pressure” on Putin.
“You have to put pressure, and that is just what he did today,” Rutte said.
Trump and Putin met in Alaska in August in hopes of ending the war in Ukraine. A second meeting has now been shelved.
The move comes as key differences between US and Russian proposals for peace became increasingly clear this week. Trump has indicated that a key sticking point has been Moscow’s refusal to cease fighting along the current front line.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US still wanted to meet Russia.
Last week, the UK slapped a similar sanctions package on Rosneft and Lukoil.
“There is no place for Russian oil on global markets,” UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves said while announcing the move.
Responding to the UK, Russia’s embassy in London said targeting its country’s major energy companies would disrupt global fuel supplies and drive up costs worldwide.
It also said the sanctions would have “a detrimental impact on the energy security” of developing and underdeveloped countries, adding “pressure only complicates peaceful dialogue and leads to further escalation”.
The two Russian oil firms export 3.1 million barrels of oil per day. Rosneft is responsible for nearly half of all Russian oil production, which makes up 6% of the global output, according to estimates from the UK government.
Oil and gas are Russia’s biggest exports, and Moscow’s biggest customers include China, India and Turkey. Trump has also urged these countries to halt purchases of Russian oil in a bid to put economic pressure on the Kremlin.
Trump’s move was praised by UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who said the US sanctions are “strongly welcome”.
Children among victims in Russian strikes, hours after Trump-Putin talks shelved
Why Trump made breakthrough in Gaza but can’t with Putin over Ukraine
EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen posted on X that she spoke by phone to Bessent on Wednesday about “Russia’s lack of commitment to the peace process”.
She also praised a new sanctions package approved by the European Union on Wednesday, which includes a ban on Russian liquefied natural gas imports.
“With the imminent adoption of the EU’s 19th package, this is a clear signal from both sides of the Atlantic that we will keep up collective pressure on the aggressor,” she wrote.
Earlier this year, the UK and US also sanctioned major Russian energy companies Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas.
At the White House, Rutte was expected to discuss a 12-point plan formulated by European NATO allies and Kyiv, which would see the current front lines frozen, a return of deported children as well as a prisoner exchange between the two warring countries.
The plan also includes a war recovery fund for Ukraine, as well as security pathways and a clear pathway for Ukraine to join the EU, as well as increased military aid to Kyiv and economic pressure on Moscow.
Earlier this week, Trump said he did not want a “wasted meeting” with Putin in Budapest, and suggested a main point of contention is Moscow’s refusal to cease fighting along the current front lines of the war.
He last met with Putin in Alaska for a summit the White House hoped would lead to the end of the conflict. Instead, the fighting has continued.
A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was also shelved. The meeting this week was no longer “necessary” after a “productive” call, the White House said.
Trump has repeatedly endorsed proposals to freeze the fighting along current frontlines.
“Let it be cut the way it is,” he said on Monday. “I said: cut and stop at the battle line. Go home. Stop fighting, stop killing people.”
Europe’s leaders back Trump call for frontline freeze but Russia says no
Russia has pushed back against that idea, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying that “the consistency of Russia’s position doesn’t change” – a reference to its desire for Ukrainian troops to leave the Donbas region in Ukraine’s east.
President Trump on Wednesday appeared to rule out providing Ukraine with Tomahawk cruise missiles, arguing that the long-range weapons are too complex for Kyiv to deploy without substantial US training.
“The problem with the Tomahawk is – a lot of people don’t know – It’ll take a minimum of six months, usually a year, to learn how to use,” Trump told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
“The only way a Tomahawk is going to be shot is if we shot it,” the president added.
President Donald Trump points to a reporter to ask a question as he meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House. AP
“And we’re not going to do that.”
Trump added there is a “tremendous learning curve” when it comes to using the “highly complex” weapons, and he signaled that he wouldn’t want the US military to train other nations on how to effectively fire the “very accurate” missiles.
“It takes a year of intense training to learn how to use it, and we know how to use it, and we’re not going to be teaching other people.”
With a range of more than 1,500 miles, Tomahawk missiles would enable Ukraine to hit critical military, logistical and energy targets deep inside Russia, severely limiting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ability to continue the 32-month-long war.
The US has more than 1,000 Tomahawks available, though some experts believe Washington wouldn’t sell more than 50 to Ukraine, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly lobbied Trump for access to the missiles, but returned to Kyiv empty-handed after a White House meeting Oct. 17.
Trump’s interest in providing Ukraine with Tomahawks faded rapidly after a call with Putin the day before his meeting with Zelensky.
Earlier this week, Zelensky argued that US-provided Tomahawks should be viewed as a “major investment in diplomacy,” arguing that Putin’s willingness to end the war fizzled out after it became clear that Trump would not be offering the weapon to Ukraine in the immediate future.
“The frontline can spark diplomacy. Instead, Russia continues to do everything to weasel out: as soon as the issue of long-range capabilities for Ukraine became less immediate, their interest in diplomacy faded,” Zelensky wrote on X Tuesday.
“This signals that deep strike capabilities may hold the key to peace.”
Palestinian militants have so far released the remains of 15 hostages that were held in Gaza for the past two years as part of the ceasefire agreement in the Israel-Hamas war. But the process of returning the bodies of the last 13 remaining hostages, as called for under the truce deal, has progressed slowly as militants release just one or two bodies every few days.
Hamas says it has not been able to reach all of the remains because they are buried under rubble left behind by Israel’s two-year offensive in the Gaza Strip. Israel has accused the militants of dragging their feet and threatened to resume military operations or withhold humanitarian aid if all of the remains are not returned.
Hamas last week freed the last 20 living hostages taken during its Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
In return, Israel has so far released the bodies of 165 Palestinians back to Gaza. Israel didn’t provide any details on their identities, and it is unclear if they were killed in Israel during the attack on Oct. 7, Palestinian detainees who died in Israeli custody, or bodies that were taken from Gaza by Israeli troops during the war. Gaza’s Health Ministry has struggled to identify the bodies without access to DNA kits.
Here’s a look at the hostages whose remains have not been returned.
Sahar Baruch, 25
Sahar Baruch, from Kibbutz Be’eri, loved science, Dungeons & Dragons, the card game Magic: The Gathering and fantasy books. He competed in chess competitions and was set to begin an electrical engineering degree when he was abducted. He previously served in the military as a mechanic. He and his brother, Idan, were at their mother’s house on Oct. 7. Idan was killed in the attack.
Three months into Sahar’s captivity, the Israeli military said he was killed during an attempted rescue mission. He is survived by his parents and two other siblings.
Itay Chen, 19
Itay Chen was an Israeli American originally from Netanya, in central Israel, who was abducted along with two other members of his tank battalion: Daniel Peretz, who also died, and Matan Angrest, who survived and was released from captivity on Monday. Chen loved basketball and studying human biology, according the Hostages Families Forum.
Chen was killed on Oct. 7 and his body was taken to Gaza. His father, Ruby Chen, has met frequently with American leaders about getting all of the hostages returned to Israel, including the remains of the dead. Itay Chen is survived by his parents and two brothers.
Amiram Cooper, 84
Amiram Cooper was one of the founders of kibbutz Nir Oz, an economist and the author of three poetry books, according to the Hostages Families Forum. Cooper was abducted alive on Oct. 7 from Nir Oz along with his wife, Nurit, who was released after 17 days. Cooper was featured in a Hamas video, filmed under duress, with two other elderly hostages. In June 2024, Israel confirmed that Amiram had been killed. He leaves behind Nurit, three children and nine grandchildren.
Oz Daniel, 19
Oz Daniel was an Israeli soldier who was killed on Oct. 7. His body was taken from his tank along with three others. He was a gifted guitarist who started playing at age 9. He practiced long hours even during his army service and dreamed of being a professional musician. His favorite band was Guns N’ Roses, according to the Hostages Families Forum. He is survived by his parents and twin sister.
Meny Godard, 73
Meny Godard was a professional soccer player before enlisting in the Israeli military and serving in the 1973 Mideast War, according to Kibbutz Be’eri. He served in a variety of different positions in the kibbutz, including at its printing press.
On the morning of Oct. 7, Godard and his wife, Ayelet, were forced out of their home after it was set on fire. She hid in the bushes for a number of hours before militants discovered her and killed her. She was able to tell her children that Meny had been killed before she died. The family held a double funeral for the couple. They are survived by four children and six grandchildren.
The United Nations chief delivered a strong defense of science and meteorology on Wednesday, praising the U.N. weather agency for helping save lives by keeping watch for climate disasters around the world.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke to the World Meteorological Organization as science faces an assault in the United States: President Donald Trump’s administration has led an anti-science push, and Trump has called climate change “ a con job.”
A longtime advocate for the fight against global warming, Guterres spoke at a special WMO meeting aimed to promote early-warning systems that help countries rich and poor brace for floods, storms, forest fires and heat waves.
“Without your long-term monitoring, we wouldn’t benefit from the warnings and guidance that protect communities and save millions of lives and billions of dollars each year,” he said, alluding to “the dangerous and existential threat of climate change.”
Last week, the weather agency reported that heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere jumped by the highest amount on record last year, soaring to a level not seen in human civilization and causing more extreme weather.
Guterres called WMO staffers the “quiet force that illuminates all the rational climate decisions that we take.”
“Scientists and researchers should never be afraid to tell the truth,” he added.
The Trump administration has carried out deep cuts to the National Weather Service and fired hundreds of weather forecasters and other employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
President Donald Trump couldn’t help but favorably compare himself to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in a rambling speech in the Rose Garden on Tuesday.
“Hey, they didn’t put out eight wars, nine coming,” he said. “We put out eight wars, and the ninth is coming, believe it or not.”
The moment came when Trump began to brag about his tacky “Walk of Fame” addition to the White House Rose Garden, which features portraits of most of the presidents (Joe Biden’s “portrait” is a photo of an autopen). He noted the line of presidents goes from George Washington to himself, but sadly conceded that even he would have to rank himself behind Washington.
Trump then recalled a person “on television” who said he was the “third best president” behind Washington and Lincoln.
“I got extremely angry at this man,” Trump, 79, admitted.
It’s unclear who the “person on television” Trump was referring to with this story is. In February, he said in an interview with Fox’s Bret Baier that someone told him a Washington/Lincoln ticket couldn’t beat him in an election.
After bringing up his mysterious television offender, Trump tried to get Sen. John Thune’s attention in the crowd.
“It’s gonna be, it’s gonna be tough to beat—Mr. Senator—it’s gonna be—John—it’s gonna be tough to beat Washington and Lincoln, but we’re gonna give it a try.“
Trump then dropped his favorite boast about “ending eight wars” to dangle over the ghosts of Lincoln and Washington.
Trump said the sound of The White House getting demolished was
Trump is consistently ranked near the bottom of presidential rankings. C-SPAN’s 2021 poll of historians found Trump ranking fourth-worst (beating out Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, and James Buchanan) while Lincoln and Washington ranked first and second, respectively. A 2024 poll of executives from the American Political Science Association ranked Trump worst.
Furthermore, Trump’s oft-repeated boast of having “ended eight wars” has been widely fact-checked and found to be an embellishment at best.
Trump says he has ended wars with economic pressure, but several wars he claims to have ended, such as the DRC and Rwanda conflict and the Israel/Hamas conflict, still erupt in violence. Other “wars,” such as Serbia/Kosovo and Egypt/Ethiopa, were never wars in the first place.
While people in Karnataka’s tier-2 and tier-3 cities continue to gravitate towards Gulf countries for employment opportunities, those in Bengaluru are eyeing jobs in European countries like Poland, Hungary, Luxembourg and Austria, according to industry insiders.
Image showing an advertisement for a job. For representational purposes. Credit: iStock Images
Bengaluru: Shady recruiting agencies in Bengaluru are taking advantage of the growing demand for blue-collar jobs in Europe, as the working class looks for employment beyond the Gulf countries.
Under the guise of providing work visas, these fly-by-night operators are scamming jobseekers out of lakhs of rupees and shutting up shop within months.
While people in Karnataka’s tier-2 and tier-3 cities continue to gravitate towards Gulf countries for employment opportunities, those in Bengaluru are eyeing jobs in European countries like Poland, Hungary, Luxembourg and Austria, according to industry insiders.
“The Gulf was popular among Bengalureans about a decade ago, but in the last eight-odd years, there hasn’t been much improvement in the standard of living of blue-collar immigrants in these countries,” a government official told DH. “These illegal agencies are using this opportunity to lure in people with “well-paying jobs in Europe”.
While a driver making Rs 30,000 a month in Bengaluru may earn just Rs 10,000-15,000 more in any Gulf country, the pay in Europe is around Rs 1 lakh.
“The jobs are varied — from kitchen help to warehouse workers, janitors to supermarket salesmen and so on. Due to the high salary, people end up falling for the trap,” the official said.
Investigations by the Protector of Emigrants (PoE) office in Bengaluru led to a crackdown on two such unlicensed consultancies in September. Several similar cases have been filed in 2025.
Currently, Bengaluru has only 37 active registered overseas recruitment agencies. According to the Emigration Act, the agencies are permitted to charge a service fee of Rs 30,000, plus GST. Dozens of others operate under the radar, according to the official.
Donald Trump has said he did not want a “wasted meeting” after a plan to have face-to-face talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine were put on hold.
The US president indicated that a key sticking point remained Moscow’s refusal to cease fighting along the current front line, in remarks at the White House on Tuesday.
Earlier, a White House official had said there were “no plans” for a Trump-Putin meeting “in the immediate future”, after Trump said on Thursday that the two would hold talks in Budapest within two weeks.
Key differences between US and Russian proposals for peace became increasingly clear this week, appearing to have dashed chances of a summit.
Trump and Putin last met in Alaska in August, during a hastily organised summit which yielded no concrete results.
The White House decision to shelve plans for a second Trump-Putin meeting may be seen as an attempt to avoid another similar scenario.
“I guess the Russians wanted too much and it became evident for the Americans that there will be no deal for Trump in Budapest,” a senior European diplomat told Reuters.
A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was due to be held this week – but the White House said the two had had a “productive” call and that a meeting was no longer “necessary”.
On Monday, Trump embraced a ceasefire proposal backed by Kyiv and European leaders to freeze the conflict on the current front line.
“Let it be cut the way it is,” he said. “I said: cut and stop at the battle line. Go home. Stop fighting, stop killing people.”
Russia has repeatedly pushed back against freezing the current line of contact.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the idea had been put to the Russians repeatedly but that “the consistency of Russia’s position doesn’t change” – referring to Moscow’s insistence on the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the embattled eastern regions.
Moscow was only interested in “long-term, sustainable peace”, Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday, implying that freezing the front line would only amount to a temporary ceasefire.
The “root causes of the conflict” needed to be addressed, Lavrov said, using Kremlin shorthand for a series of maximalist demands that include the recognition of full Russian sovereignty over the Donbas as well as the demilitarisation of Ukraine – a non-starter for Kyiv and its European partners.
European leaders released a statement with Zelensky earlier on Tuesday saying that any talks on ending the war in Ukraine should start with freezing the current front line and accused Russia of not being “serious” about peace.
Zelensky said discussions about the front line were the “beginning of diplomacy”, which Russia was doing everything to avoid.
The only topic that could make Moscow “pay attention” was the supply of long-range weapons to Ukraine, he added.
Trump had discussed a summit in the Hungarian capital over the phone with Putin, a day before meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.
Some reports suggested those talks had been a “shouting match”, with sources suggesting Trump had pushed Zelensky to give up large areas of territory in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, known collectively as the Donbas, as part of a deal with Russia.
However, Zelensky has always said Ukraine cannot relinquish the parts of the Donbas it still holds, on the grounds that Russia could later use the area as a springboard for further attacks.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead a federal watchdog agency, Paul Ingrassia, withdrew on Tuesday following a report that Ingrassia described himself as having a “Nazi streak.”
Ingrassia said in a social media post that he was pulling out of a scheduled Thursday hearing before a Senate panel that was set to consider his nomination because “I do not have enough Republican votes at this time.”
A view of the dome of the U.S. Capitol building, during a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on a stopgap spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown that would otherwise begin October 1, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. U.S., September 19, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
“I appreciate the overwhelming support that I have received throughout this process,” Ingrassia said in a post on X.
The post came after Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday called for the White House to pull the nomination. Thune’s remarks marked a rare sign of opposition in a Republican-controlled Senate that has shown little interest in challenging Trump’s nominees and his agenda.
Ingrassia also denounced the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in private text messages, according to a report in Politico.
“He’s not going to pass,” Thune told reporters on Monday night, according to media reports. Thune’s office confirmed on Tuesday that he called for the White House to withdraw the nomination.
Ingrassia also called for an end to other holidays that celebrate Black culture in the U.S. including Juneteenth and Black History Month, according to the report.
In another message in the same chat, Ingrassia wrote “I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time,” Politico reported.
Politico said it obtained the text chain and confirmed the messages with two participants in the chat. Reuters has not independently verified the messages.
Senator Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, on Tuesday called the messages “foul and disqualifying.”
Republicans, who hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, have rarely resisted Trump’s nominees and offered little pushback as Trump has moved aggressively to expand executive power.
Former Representative Matt Gaetz, Trump’s first nominee for attorney general, and E.J. Antoni, Trump’s pick to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are two other rare exceptions whose nominations were pulled before coming to a Senate vote.
By blaming India, the military establishment gains a convenient external scapegoat
Top intelligence sources and security analysts view Field Marshal Munir’s statements as a calculated and familiar ‘textbook diversion’ from profound internal crises. (Representational pic/Reuters)
Pakistan’s security crisis, marked by surging militant violence and deteriorating law and order, has prompted a high-level intervention by the country’s military leadership, CNN-News18 has learnt.
Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, the Army Chief, has adopted a combative stance, unequivocally blaming India for sponsoring terrorism in the highly restive provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Official Line: ‘Indian Proxies’
During a visit to Balochistan amid rising security concerns, Field Marshal Munir alleged that India is actively working to destabilise Pakistan on “two fronts.” He designated the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as “Indian proxies”, labelling them with loaded religious and ideological terms: the BLA as Fitna-ul-Hindustan (Treachery/Strife of Hindustan) and the TTP as Fitna-ul-Kharij (Treachery/Strife of the Kharijites).
The Army Chief vowed that “all necessary steps will be taken to eliminate terrorist proxies”, framing the security challenge as an externally sponsored campaign of “anti-people propaganda” and violence. While in Balochistan, he also engaged in a patriotic overture, calling the province the “pride of Pakistan” and urging the youth to play a role in its development and stability.
The Counter-Narrative: A Text-Book Diversion
Top intelligence sources and security analysts, however, view Field Marshal Munir’s statements as a calculated and familiar “textbook diversion” from profound internal crises. This strategic externalisation of blame comes at a time when Pakistan is reeling from multiple domestic failures:
Internal Failures: The country is facing the blowback from its perceived failures in Afghanistan, a severe economic collapse, internal rifts with religious-political groups like the TLP, and rapidly growing anti-army sentiment in ethnic regions like Balochistan and KP.
The Army’s Role: Analysts suggest the military’s repeated operations and widespread practice of enforced disappearances in these provinces have triggered mass discontent, creating the very vacuum that militant and separatist groups exploit.
LeBron’s recovery time could play a role in his retirement decision
LeBron James upset during a game against the Chicago Bulls in the 2024-25 seasonCredit: Getty Images
LEBRON JAMES is worried about destroying his legacy as he enters a record-breaking 23rd NBA season.
A former coach of the LA Lakers icon, who has worked with him throughout his incredible career, has told The U.S. Sun the 40-year-old is seriously frustrated at missing tonight’s big tip-off against the Golden State Warriors with a sciatica issue.
When James finally takes the court in a few weeks, he will become the first player in NBA history to play in 23 consecutive seasons.
The League’s all-time top scorer played 70 times in the last campaign, but was unable to steer the Lakers past the first round of the playoffs.
Time is catching up with one of basketball‘s greats – and with younger stars snapping at his heels, the insider says James won’t want to stick around when he’s not wanted.
He says the four-time NBA champion feels that his body is “getting really, really tired” and the feeling of being injury-prone is bothering him.
Recovery times have lengthened as “Father Time” begins to weigh heavily on his shoulders.
“LeBron wants to enjoy what’s left,” the former coach, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The U.S. Sun.
“He doesn’t want to play too long and have his body damaged too much for doing the extra season that could damage his legacy.
“He won’t want to be the old guy trying to keep up with the young guys, staying in the league just to be there and have the spotlight but not being competitive.”
The friend says seeing stars in the NFL stay in the game for too long is heavily influencing his retirement schedule.
“He hates to see other sportsmen push their career way too much and play extra years but look ridiculous and out of pace in a game,” the experienced NBA coach added. “His legacy is super important to him, and he wouldn’t accept to be in the league just to be in the league, old, slow, and not being able to impact the game he wants to anymore.”
James snapped up a whopping $52.6 player option for the new season and wants the Lakers to be competitive in what could be an emotional swansong.
It will be his eighth campaign in Los Angeles – his longest stint ever with a team after seven years in Cleveland the first time around, followed by four in Miami and another four back in his hometown.
Having son Bronny in the Lakers roster is also keeping James keen for more.
But wife Savannah, according to the source, has warned her husband about not doing any long-term damage to his body, which could impact his life once that retirement call is made.
“Her position is very important for him,” confirmed the friend, “and she also knows that she is important to have her help to transition when he is done playing.”
The Western Conference will be highly competitive for the 2025-26 season, but with Luka Dončić fully settled and the arrivals of Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart, and Jake LaRavia in the City of Angels, no one is ruling the Lakers out.
“There is a big, big possibility that it will be his last season, to wrap up the best way and enjoy it the most,” concluded the insider. “His goals are to pass the torch to Luka Doncic, and to keep mentoring Bronny so he can be an important player and stay many years in the NBA.
India had withdrawn its officials from its embassy in Kabul after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
Afghan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar (Image: Times Now)
India and Afghanistan marked a new chapter in diplomatic ties as New Delhi upgraded its technical mission in Kabul to the status of an embassy. This comes over a week-and-a-half after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said during his meeting with Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi that India will upgrade its diplomatic presence in Kabul. The upgradation is being seen as part of broader efforts to deepen its bilateral engagement with Kabul.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the Indian embassy in Kabul will further augment India’s contribution to Afghanistan’s comprehensive development, humanitarian assistance, and capacity-building initiatives.
“In keeping with the decision announced during the recent visit of the Afghan foreign minister to India, the government is restoring the status of the technical mission of India in Kabul to that of the Embassy of India in Afghanistan with immediate effect,” it said in a statement. The MEA said the decision underscores India’s resolve to deepen its bilateral engagement with the Afghan side in “all spheres of mutual interest”.
“The Embassy of India in Kabul will further augment India’s contribution to Afghanistan’s comprehensive development, humanitarian assistance, and capacity-building initiatives, in keeping with the priorities and aspirations of Afghan society,” it said in a statement.
The mission will be headed by a diplomat in the rank of Charge d’affaires, reported PTI.
Why India Withdrew From Kabul
India had withdrawn its officials from its embassy in Kabul after the Taliban seized power in August 2021. In June 2022, India re-established its diplomatic presence in the Afghan capital by deploying a “technical team”. Now, the technical mission has been upgraded to the status of an embassy.
The annoucement was made during Muttaqi’s meeting with Dr Jaishankar in New Delhi. “India is fully committed to the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Afghanistan. Closer cooperation between us contributes to your national development, as well as regional stability and resilience. To enhance that, I am pleased to announce today the upgrading of India’s Technical Mission in Kabul to the status of Embassy of India,” said Jaishankar in his bilateral meeting with Afghanistan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi earlier this month.
Arie Zalmanowicz and Master Sergeant Tamir Adar’s bodies have been returned by Hamas
Israel’s military says the bodies of two hostages returned by Hamas on Tuesday have been identified as Arie Zalmanowicz and Master Sergeant Tamir Adar.
Mr Zalmanovich, 85 at the time of his death, was abducted from his home in kibbutz Nir Oz and killed in captivity on 17 November 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
Mr Adar, 38 when he died, was a member of Nir Oz’s community security squad and was killed while fighting Hamas gunmen during the 7 October attack.
The return of their remains means that Hamas has transferred 15 out of 28 deceased Israeli hostages under the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire deal earlier this month.
Their coffins were handed over to troops in the Palestinian territory by the Red Cross, which had earlier received them from Hamas.
The IDF said the coffins – which were escorted by the military – had crossed into Israel and will be taken to be formally identified in Tel Aviv.
Hamas has handed over a Palestinian body in a previous hostage transfers, which it said was accidental due to difficulties locating the bodies.
All 20 living hostages were released shortly after the agreement was reached.
Before the latest remains were identified, the IDF stressed that “Hamas is required to uphold the agreement and take the necessary steps to return all the deceased hostages”.
There has been outrage in Israel that Hamas has not yet returned all the deceased hostages.
The Palestinian group says it is trying to do this but that it faces difficulty finding bodies under rubble of buildings bombed out by the IDF in Gaza.
Under the ceasefire and hostage release agreement, Israel has freed 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza, and returned 15 bodies of Palestinians for every Israeli hostage’s remains.
The first phase of the agreement has also seen an increase of aid into Gaza, a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces, and a halt in fighting – though deadly violence flared up over the weekend as both sides accused one another of breaching the terms of the deal.
The IDF launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 others hostage.
More than 68,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the UN as reliable.
Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, leading to frequent blackouts
The Ukrainian city of Chernihiv is in total blackout following what the authorities describe as a “massive” assault by Russian missiles and drones, with hundreds of thousands of people affected.
Across the wider Chernihiv region, four people are reported to have been killed as residential neighbourhoods were struck in the town of Novhorod-Siverskyi.
Ten others were injured, including a 10-year-old girl.
The country’s most northerly region is the latest to be hit in an intensifying series of attacks on civilian infrastructure as Russia targets energy supplies, the rail network, homes and businesses in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Chernihiv city resident spoke in matter-of-fact terms about a night filled with the low whine of Iranian-designed Shahed drones, a sound now being increasingly heard far from the war’s front lines.
“Unfortunately, our region is very close to our scheming neighbour,” he said, adding an expletive for good measure.
The Chernihiv region shares a border with both Russia and Belarus, giving the air defences here less time to react to any incoming attacks.
In a raid involving more than 100 Shahed drones – each of which carry a 50kg warhead – and six ballistic missiles, the direct strikes on Chernihiv’s electricity generating facilities left the whole city without power, as well as large parts of the surrounding area.
Andriy Podorvan, the deputy head of the Chernihiv Regional Military Administration, told the BBC that it was part of a pattern across much of the country, with things getting much worse in recent months.
“For around half a year we have been experiencing targeted strikes on the energy infrastructure in our region,” he said.
“The number of attacks has significantly increased over the last two months.”
When I asked him if he believed that any of the targets were of military value – Moscow’s usual justification for these sorts of attacks – he pointed out that Russia has even been targeting petrol stations.
“I can only see strikes on civilian infrastructure,” he said.
The attack on the electricity grid has also meant the loss of power to water pumping stations, seriously impacting supplies. Residents have been told to stock up on bottled water or are having to rely on emergency deliveries.
With the attacks ongoing in the morning, electrical engineers had to delay their initial response – but were later able to begin working to restore power.
The wider concern is that, if the intensity of Russia’s bombardment continues, it risks rapidly depleting the country’s energy resilience, taking a heavy toll on the economy and – with a harsh winter ahead – dealing a psychological blow to the public too.
Up until now, the country’s generating companies – working together in a war-time spirit of co-operation – have been able to restore power relatively quickly, but stocks of replacement equipment are not unlimited.
A single transformer can take more than a year to produce, with added time for transportation and installation.
The country is having to look for all the help it can get.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington may have been seen as a strategic disappointment, coming away without having secured a supply of long-hoped for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
But his meetings with the heads of leading US energy companies, in which they discussed ways of helping Ukraine to shore up and modernise its energy sector, were reportedly a success.
Some estimates put the total cost of the damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure so far at more than $16bn (€13.7bn; £11.9bn).
People sit in front of a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul on Oct 22, 2025. North Korea fired at least one ballistic missile on Oct 22, Seoul’s military said, its first such launch in months. (Photo: Jung Yeon-je/AFP)
North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles on Wednesday (Oct 22), its first such launch in months and just a week before world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, descend on South Korea for a summit.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it had “detected several projectiles, believed to be short-range ballistic missiles”.
The missiles were fired around 8.10am Wednesday (7.10am Singapore time) from an area south of the capital Pyongyang, Seoul’s military said.
They flew for around 350km, Seoul added.
Earlier, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the launch was towards the sea off North Korea’s east coast. North Korea last launched ballistic missiles on May 8 when it fired multiple short-range missiles from its east coast.
It is also Pyongyang’s first launch since South Korean President Lee Jae-myung took office in June.
Trump has said he hopes to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, possibly this year, following several meetings during the Republican president’s first term.
The North’s state media has indicated that Kim is open to future talks, with caveats that the United States give up its “delusional” demand that Pyongyang relinquish its nuclear arsenal.
North Korea showcased its latest and “most powerful” intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) earlier this month at a parade attended by top officials from Russia and China.
Pyongyang has said that the strike range of the new Hwasong-20 “knows no bounds”.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also oversaw in September a test of a solid-fuel engine used for long range nuclear missiles.
State media said it was the ninth and final test of the engine, indicating that a full test-fire of the new ICBM could be conducted in coming months.
“GROWING AND ACTIVE” MISSILE PROGRAMME
The launch was “a response to Trump and his recent moves”, Park Won-gon, a professor at Seoul’s Ewha Womans University, said.
Kim is also “asserting his regime’s presence during an event hosted by Seoul, as he’s done before”, he added.
Trump is expected to arrive in South Korea on Oct 29 for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum.
North Korea has for years staged test flights of long-range missiles apparently able to reach the continental United States.
The US demand that Kim give up his banned weapons has long been a sticking point between the two countries.
But Pyongyang has also recently indicated a fresh openness to talks with the US.
Kim met Trump three times for high-profile summits during the US leader’s first term, before talks collapsed in Hanoi in 2019 over what concessions Pyongyang was prepared to make on its atomic weapons.
KING Tutankhamun’s tomb is on the brink of collapse and could crumble down in a devastating disaster, archaeologists have warned.
The priceless 3,300-year-old burial site may not stand the test of time because of cracks, water damage and fungi.
Egypt’s antiquities chief Zahi Hawass (3rd L) supervises the removal of the lid of the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun in his underground tomb in the famed Valley of the Kings in LuxorCredit: AFP
Archaeologists at the University of Cairo have now found that the tomb is plagued with several cracks and damage caused by water seepage, that have put the burial site at risk of collapse.
Sayed Hemeda, a Professor of Preservation of Architectural Heritage at Cairo University, told the Daily Mail: ““There are current and future risks facing the cemetery, which will affect its structural integrity in the long term.”
Tutankhamun is buried in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, situated by the River Nile opposite Luxor.
It is currently known to house 63 tombs and chambers of varying sizes, and was used as the final resting place for pharaohs and other ancient bigwigs for almost 500 years.
One of the most famous archaeological sites in the world, the valley has been the subject of many excavations and houses a modern tourist centre.
King Tut’s tomb (categorised KV 62) is unusually small considering his status, which hints at an unexpected death before a grander final resting place could be completed.
Hemada explained that the tombs’ location at the foothills of the valley’s mountains exposed them to flash floods resulting from heavy rains that carried “debris, stones and soil along the way.”
Particularly problematic is a major fracture traversing the ceiling of the burial chamber and entrance.
It all started when a major flood in 1994 caused water to seep in, raising humidity levels and prompting the fungi.
While the tomb won’t crumble in the near future, Hemeda said he feared that the “cemetery may not last for thousands of years as it was built”.
Mohamed Atia Hawash, Professor of Architectural Conservation at Cairo University’s Faculty of Archaeology, told Independent Arabia: “‘A disaster could strike at any moment, and if the Valley of the Kings is to be preserved, action must be taken before it is too late.”
Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh who ruled from 1332-1323 BC.
He was just nine years old when he took the throne and ruled for approximately ten years, presumably aided by powerful advisers or priests.
During his reign, he restored the supremacy of the Egyptian god Amun, after the worship of the deity was banned during his father’s reign.
To honour his preferred god, the pharaoh changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun, which means Living Image of Amun.
And he moved Egypt’s capital to Thebes, modern Luxor, the location of Amun’s major cult.
When he became king, he married his half-sister Ankhesenpaaten, and they had two stillborn daughters.
Study of Tutankhamun’s mummy revealed he was slight, and around 5ft 11 inches tall.
Ukraine’s European allies are rallying around Zelenskyy after mixed messages from Trump. The prospect of talks in Budapest leaves the EU uneasy.
EU leaders are stressing that they will continue supporting UkraineImage: Hans Lucas/AFP/Getty Images
News that a highly anticipated meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has been put on hold will offer some relief to Ukraine’s EU allies, who were left rattled by the prospect of the bloc’s most Russia-friendly member playing host to talks on the future of Europe’s security.
Key summits in Brussels and London later this week could now test Europe’s capacity to deliver as it tries to unlock fresh financial support for Kyiv, and convince Trump to pile more pressure on Moscow.
“Russia’s stalling tactics have shown time and time again that Ukraine is the only party serious about peace. We can all see that Putin continues to choose violence and destruction,” the leaders of Ukraine, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Sweden — plus top EU officials — wrote in a statement on Tuesday.
“We must ramp up the pressure on Russia’s economy and its defence industry, until Putin is ready to make peace. We are developing measures to use the full value of Russia’s immobilised sovereign assets so that Ukraine has the resources it needs,” the leaders said.
‘No place for war criminals in Europe?’
EU states often insist Europe must have a seat at the table for talks on Ukraine’s future, but you can bet they weren’t banking on that table being in Budapest.
After all, if the meeting ever goes ahead, they would mark the first time Putin steps foot on EU soil since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine — and since the International Criminal Court indicted him over suspected war crimes.
“The only place for Putin in Europe, that’s in The Hague — in the tribunal. Not in any of our capitals,” Lithuania’s top diplomat Kestutis Budrys told reporters in Luxembourg on Monday, adding: “There is no place for war criminals in Europe.”
Ireland’s Simon Harris said the planned meeting place was “provocative” but stressed that efforts toward peace are welcome — while France’s foreign minister said Putin’s presence on EU soil “only makes sense if it leads to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.”
Hungary, however, has been celebrating its role as hosting hopeful. Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote on X that his country was the “only suitable” place in Europe for talks on Ukraine’s future — citing its “pro-peace” stance.
But Budapest’s habit of delaying and diluting EU sanctions on Russia and railing against the bloc’s backing for Ukraine have led political scientist Reinhard Heinisch to a different conclusion on Hungary’s stance.
“Many in the European Union have regarded Orban as a sort of Trojan horse for Russian interests,” Heinisch, a Salzburg-based professor, told DW earlier this year when other locations for future peace talks — from Switzerland to Saudi Arabia — were being discussed.
Could Putin be arrested on EU soil?
Under international law, Hungary is still technically obliged to arrest Vladimir Putin if he ever does arrive in the country. Though Budapest announced it was quitting the International Criminal Court in June, the rules still apply on paper.
“States still have obligations for one year after leaving, which includes arresting individuals who are under arrest warrants,” Mathias Holvoet, a lecturer in International Criminal Law at the University of Amsterdam, told DW.
But Holvoet says there’s no real prospect of that happening. In fact, Hungary already defied ICC rules this year by hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in defiance of the warrant for his arrest.
Hungary would follow a long line of other states which have ignored the rules they signed up to — from Italy failing to arrest a suspected Libyan war criminal in January, to South Africa failing to arrest Sudan’s indicted ex-president Omar Al-Bashir more than a decade ago.
“There are not really any consequences when states fail to uphold those obligations,” Holvoet explained. The Trump administration’s hostility to the ICC, including its sanctions on judges, have also curbed the court’s capacity to carry out its work.
Can Putin even fly through EU airspace?
Putin may feel safe on Hungarian soil, but getting there could be more problematic. Though the EU’s sanctions against Putin himself do not include a ban on travelling to the bloc, the EU banned Russian aircraft from its airspace in 2022.
That means Putin’s plane would need special permissions to fly over EU countries if talks in Budapest do go ahead. “Such derogations must be issued by the member states individually,” EU Commission spokesperson Anitta Hipper told reporters on Friday.
Hungary is landlocked and shares borders with EU members Romania, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. Romania says it hasn’t received any airspace entry requests from Moscow — nor has nearby Bulgaria, though its foreign minister reportedly said the country was open to allowing Putin to fly over.
Hungary’s southern neighbour Serbia may also be a key gateway, since it is not a member of the EU and has refused to align with EU sanctions against Russia. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban welcomed Serbia’s president Alexander Vucic to Budapest on Tuesday, welcoming the opportunity to “reconnect” with a “strategic partner.”
The US Vice President is in Israel to shore up the fragile ceasefire after deadly strikes over the weekend. Meanwhile, the UN says the amount of aid entering Gaza is falling far short of what is needed. DW has more.
Vance visited Israel with White House envoy Steve Witkoff (center) and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner (right)Image: Ammar Awad/REUTERS
US Vice President JD Vance is in Israel with the task of steadying a delicate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Vance has held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top US envoys to push negotiations into the next stage and secure the release of remaining hostages.
Vance has said that the ceasefire is going “better than expected” as he appealed for patience for the return of the remaining deceased hostages.
He also insists that no US troops would be deployed to Gaza.
The visit comes after a weekend surge in violence that has cast doubt on the durability of the truce, with each side accusing the other of breaching the terms.
At the same time, the UN World Food Programme said the ceasefire needs to last for people to be fed, with too little aid currently entering Gaza.
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Here is a round-up of developments in Israel, Gaza and the wider Middle East on Tuesday, October 21:
Vance says he believes Gaza plan going to last, urges patience for return of bodies
JD Vance told reporters in Israel that he thinks the Gaza peace plan is going to last but repeated President Donald Trump’s claims that, if Hamas does not cooperate, it will be “obliterated.”
Vance urged a “little bit of patience” amid growing Israeli frustration with Israeli hostage families share details of ordeals Hamas’ pace of return of deceased hostages.
“Some of these hostages are buried under thousands of pounds of rubble. Some of the hostages, nobody even knows where they are,” Vance said. “It’s just a reason to counsel in favor of a little bit of patience.”
He added that “a lot of this work is very hard” as he faced questions over next steps, and he urged flexibility.
Hamas militants have so far released 13 bodies of hostages that were held in Gaza for the past two years as part of the ceasefire agreement in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
German defense minister Boris Pistorius hopes to persuade NATO ally Canada to collaborate on a joint defense project to strengthen the North Atlantic alliance against Russia. Iceland also has an important role.
German submarines, seen here at a German navy base in 2016, are among the country’s main arms exportsImage: Morris MacMatzen/Getty Images
In the Canadian capital, Ottawa, on Monday, the defense ministers of Norway and Germany, Tore Sandvik and Boris Pistorius , received military honors from their Canadian counterpart, David McGuinty, at the start of what might informally be described as a sales presentation.
Sandvik and Pistorius want to convince the Canadians to join a German–Norwegian project that has been running since 2023, to procure standardized, modern submarines. They hope to secure an order from Canada of up to 12 units over the next 10 years.
This would provide a significant boost to the German and Norwegian companies that are building these submarines. As McGuinty pointed out, if Canada came on board, production numbers could be substantially increased, and this would reduce the cost of each submarine.
The German delegation believes that going into partnership on submarine construction would clearly signal a strengthening of North Atlantic naval cooperation. Last year, Germany, Norway, and Canada formally established a maritime security partnership, which Denmark also joined this year.
A new Cold War
After the end of the Cold War, submarines in the Atlantic were no longer considered a priority, and Germany drastically reduced its fleet.
However, with Russia once again regarded as a significant threat in the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic, the submarine fleet is growing. And the emphasis is not just on submarines. German defense minister Pistorius said that northern NATO countries were strengthening their commitment to protect critical infrastructure, such as undersea cables and offshore wind farms, and detect Russian submarines in the North Atlantic.
“Russia’s ambition will not stop in eastern Ukraine or at the eastern flank,” he said. “The civilian and military lines of communication across the North Atlantic are vitally important […] for our economy and our defense alliance with Canada and the United States.”
Tracking Russian submarines from Iceland
The German navy is to increase its presence, with more ships in the waters around the Arctic Circle. Special P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft, which can detect submarines over great distances, will be deployed more frequently from Iceland.
Pistorius co-signed a declaration of intent to this effect while on a brief visit to Reykjavik on Sunday, with Iceland’s foreign minister, Katrin Gunnarsdottir.
The US navy operates the large Keflavik base in Iceland, from which the North Atlantic is monitored. Various NATO countries send reconnaissance aircraft to Keflavik, in rotation. The US shut down the base in 2006, but reopened it in 2016 in view of the growing threat from Russia.
Although Iceland is a member of NATO, it does not have a military of its own, so any external support is very welcome. In return, it provides logistical assistance at its ports, accommodation, and training grounds for German soldiers.
Rare earths as well as defense
During the talks in Canada, Pistorius also pushed for an expansion of the strategic and economic partnership. This partnership was only formalized in August, when the Canadian prime minister Mark Carney was in Berlin to meet with the German chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Canada could, for example, export more liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to Europe. Germany is keen to reciprocate by assisting with the exploration and extraction of coveted rare earth elements.
These metals are needed primarily for high-end electronics and microchips. At the meeting in Ottawa, the Canadian side commented that its European allies were keen to reduce their dependence on China — and the United States.
US President Donald Trump has imposed high tariffs on Canadian imports. Until recently, the US was by far the largest customer for Canada’s goods and raw materials, accounting for 75% of its volume of trade. That is now starting to change. Canadian diplomats say Canada will be focusing more on Europe in future.
Is the Bundeswehr overextended?
When asked by a journalist whether the German Bundeswehr (armed forces) risks becoming overextended, with so many foreign commitments — in Lithuania, the Baltic Sea, Canada, and Iceland — Pistorius responded with a smile. This, he said, was “a typically German question.” He pointed out that Germany was the largest NATO country in Europe, and, as such: “We have to bear more of the burden. We have to demonstrate that.”
Pistorius explained that the Bundeswehr can’t be everywhere. It has to prioritize. “Just as other NATO countries focus more on the south — the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, or North Africa — we are focused on the Baltic Sea, the Baltic region, the eastern flank, and the Nordic countries.”
He then affirmed that: “We will be in a position to manage all this with our current personnel, and the personnel we will add in future.”
North West showed off another bold look on social media after her mother, Kim Kardashian, defended her eldest child’s freedom to express her personal style.
In multiple TikTok videos, West, 12, rocked fake face tattoos, including a star under her right eye and her name in cursive on her left cheek. She also wore her long, blue hair in braids while sporting a black grill over her teeth, a faux septum ring and colored eye contacts.
West’s outfit consisted of a baggy black T-shirt, long shorts, chunky sneakers and multiple silver chains.
“Fake piercings and fake tatts 4 life,” she captioned one TikTok.
West also wore a faux septum ring, a black grill and long blue braids. kimandnorth/TikTok
The pre-teen and her gal pals posed together on a private jet and also shared a snap of themselves backstage at a concert.
The comments were turned off for all of West’s TikToks.
In August, Kardashian, 45, was criticized for letting her oldest daughter wear a corset, a miniskirt, and platform boots while on a family vacation in Rome.
“Not a fan of a bustier on a 12 year old. Love Kim and North but it would have been a no ma’am for me,” wrote one user.
“OK, Kim, she’s 12 …,” another critic added.
The Skims co-founder admitted to making a “mistake” with West while simultaneously defending the budding fashionista during her “Call Me Daddy” interview last week.
“It’s really hard and it’s really interesting because all the kids are wearing the same things,” Kardashian said. “But then my daughter tries to wear it, and then I’m like, ‘OK, we’re never wearing that again.’ Unfortunately, we made that mistake in front of the whole world.”
Senior department officials who were defense lawyers for the president and those in his orbit are now in jobs that typically must approve any such payout, underscoring potential ethical conflicts.
Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general; Attorney General Pam Bondi; and Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, with President Trump in the Oval Office last week.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times Devlin Barrett
President Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay him about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him, according to people familiar with the matter, who added that any settlement might ultimately be approved by senior department officials who defended him or those in his orbit.
The situation has no parallel in American history, as Mr. Trump, a presidential candidate, was pursued by federal law enforcement and eventually won the election, taking over the very government that must now review his claims. It is also the starkest example yet of potential ethical conflicts created by installing the president’s former lawyers atop the Justice Department.
Mr. Trump submitted complaints through an administrative claim process that often is the precursor to lawsuits. The first claim, lodged in late 2023, seeks damages for a number of purported violations of his rights, including the F.B.I. and special counsel investigation into Russian election tampering and possible connections to the 2016 Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the claim has not been made public.
The second complaint, filed in the summer of 2024, accuses the F.B.I. of violating Mr. Trump’s privacy by searching Mar-a-Lago, his club and residence in Florida, in 2022 for classified documents. It also accuses the Justice Department of malicious prosecution in charging him with mishandling sensitive records after he left office.
Asked about the issue at the White House after this article published, the president said, “I was damaged very greatly and any money I would get, I would give to charity.”
He added, “I’m the one that makes the decision and that decision would have to go across my desk and it’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself.”
Lawyers said the nature of the president’s legal claims poses undeniable ethics challenges.
“What a travesty,” said Bennett L. Gershman, an ethics professor at Pace University. “The ethical conflict is just so basic and fundamental, you don’t need a law professor to explain it.”
He added: “And then to have people in the Justice Department decide whether his claim should be successful or not, and these are the people who serve him deciding whether he wins or loses. It’s bizarre and almost too outlandish to believe.”
The president also seemed to acknowledge that point in the Oval Office last week, when he alluded vaguely to the situation while standing next to the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and her deputy, Todd Blanche. According to Justice Department regulations, the deputy attorney general — in this case, Mr. Blanche — is one of two people eligible to sign off on such a settlement.
Acclaimed new film The Mastermind, starring Josh O’Connor, tells the story of an art robbery gone wrong. It’s inspired by a wave of similar thefts during a decade known for upheaval.
In May 1972, two men walked into the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts and hurried out carrying four paintings by Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso and a supposed Rembrandt (now believed to be the work of one of his students), holding a group of visiting high school students at gunpoint and shooting a security guard in the process. With the stolen artworks’ worth tallying up to $2m (£1.5m), the New York Times ranked it among “the largest art robberies in modern times”. Some say it even inspired a far more famous crime nearby: the 1990 heist at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, in which $500m (£370m) of art was looted, making it the costliest theft in US history full stop, with the crime remaining unsolved.
The Worcester heist was orchestrated by career criminal Florian “Al” Monday, but the game was up after the two thieves he hired for the raid boasted about their exploits in their local bar. Within a month, the paintings were safely retrieved from a pig farm in Rhode Island and returned to the gallery. “Ironically, Monday – before he was an art thief – had a band, and I have the 45 of his record,” writer-director Kelly Reichardt tells the BBC. Her new film The Mastermind, which is released in the US this weekend, is loosely inspired by the chain of events that followed the Worcester robbery, as well as the wave of art heists that followed over the course of that decade.
Praised by The Guardian’s film critic Peter Bradshaw for locating “the unglamour in the heist”, Reichardt’s thoughtful art crime caper dismantles the usual rules of the glitzy, sensationalised heist movie. Blockbusters have long popularised the idea that there is something classy about this category of crime, particularly when it involves art: think, for example, of the 1999 version of The Thomas Crown Affair, in which Pierce Brosnan plays a very suave billionaire orchestrating a raid on New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Reichardt’s take on the genre adopts a slower pace and more exacting eye for the way in which its art robbery cataclysmically unfolds. Josh O’Connor takes the title role as the brains behind the operation: JB Mooney, a middle-class, well-educated art school drop-out now ailing as an underemployed carpenter in Massachusetts. Under pressure from his well-to-do parents – a retired judge (Bill Camp) and a socialite (Hope Davis) – to repay their loans to him, he cases the fictional Framingham Art Museum for a heist. But from the moment that one of his henchmen asks how he plans to sell on the stolen paintings – which would be difficult due to their recognisability – the scheme begins to go awry.
If you start to get down into the minutiae of a robbery like this and don’t concentrate on the bigger strokes, then by nature it becomes de-glamorised – Kelly Reichardt
Reichardt came across an article about the 50-year anniversary of the Worcester Art Museum robbery while working on her previous film, Showing Up (2002), a comedy drama about two rival sculptors, and decided to use the story as the foundation of her next feature. All that was left to do was to create the character of JB. “The political ideas, the genre ideas – these are things you think about and study, but then you have to let go of all that and concentrate on the details of the film you’re making with what your character situation is like,” says Reichardt. “If you start to get down into the minutiae of those things and don’t concentrate on the bigger strokes, then by nature it [becomes] de-glamorised.”
Reading about the 1972 robbery brought back memories for Reichardt of the “many smash-and-grabs at the time” that frequently appeared in newspaper headlines. Mere months after the Worcester Art Museum heist, a robbery since dubbed the “skylight caper” took place in Canada – the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts was raided by three armed robbers, who clinched $2m (£1.5m) of paintings, jewels and valuable objects, marking the largest theft in the nation’s history. Across the Atlantic, in 1976, 119 of Picasso’s final works were pilfered from France’s Palais des Papes by three thieves while they were on show during a visiting exhibition.
Then there was the case of Rose Dugdale, an Oxford University graduate and heiress turned fierce Irish republican, who was the focus of Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy’s high-octane 2023 art-heist drama Baltimore. In 1974, together with several IRA members, she took 19 paintings by the likes of Johannes Vermeer and Peter Paul Rubens from Ireland’s Russborough House, and held them to ransom, hoping for the release of imprisoned IRA members. Lawlor told Cineuropa: “There was something incredibly well organised about it and really badly thought out. They are so driven but completely blind to the wider political reality.”
The history of art theft
Before this spate of burglaries, history had seen countless other lootings and plunderings of prized art pieces, from the 1473 theft by pirates of Hans Memling’s The Last Judgment from a ship bound for Florence, to the infamous purloining of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911 by Vincenzo Peruggia, an embittered former employee at the gallery. When he was caught two years later, he only served a six-month prison sentence.
Yet the Massachusetts robbery undeniably signalled a gear change for the art heist industry. According to art historian Tom Flynn, the surge in heists in the 1970s “coincides with the boom of the art market”. Citing the 1977 launch of Antiques Roadshow – the long-running BBC TV show in which a team of experts appraise art pieces and objects – and its ensuing popularity, Flynn adds: “It’s a cultural change where we start to see works of art as the equivalent of money.”
Meanwhile, criminals were becoming aware of the flimsiness of museum security, making works of art seem an easy target. News reports in the early 1970s warned of funding “crises” for museums and cutbacks in security, particularly amid high inflation. Smaller-scale thefts, such as the stealing of Francisco Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from London’s National Gallery in 1961 and the disappearance of three Rembrandts from Dulwich Picture Gallery in 1966, revealed how straightforward it could be simply to lift a painting from gallery walls undetected.
Part of the appeal of these characters is their outsmarting the establishment. The fact that art heists usually don’t involve private individuals makes it more acceptable – Susan Ronald
Like the guard injured during the Worcester Art Museum robbery, security employees rarely carried arms – and, as portrayed mockingly in The Mastermind, they could often be dozy “retirees” or “acid heads”, as Reichardt says, with limited training. She adds: “Museums used to have these cool circular drives out front, which made the getaway pretty handy.” And, while the film features an FBI art crime investigator reminiscent of real-life agent Robert Wittman – who recovered $300m (£225m) worth of art over the course of his career – the actual FBI Art Crime Team was only founded in 2004.
Argentina’s central bank said on Monday it signed a $20 billion exchange-rate stabilization agreement with the U.S. Treasury Department, six days ahead of a key midterm election.
The central bank’s statement, opens new tab said the agreement sets forth terms for bilateral currency swap operations between the U.S. and Argentina, but it provided no technical details.
An armored truck drives past Argentina’s Central Bank in Buenos Aires, Argentina April 11, 2025. REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas Purchase Licensing Rights
The central bank, the BCRA, said: “Such operations will allow the BCRA to expand its set of monetary and exchange rate policy instruments, including the liquidity of its international reserves.”
The Argentine peso closed at a record low, down 1.7% on the day to end at 1,475 per dollar.
The BCRA said the pact was part of a comprehensive strategy to enhance its ability to respond to foreign exchange and capital markets volatility.
The U.S. Treasury did not respond to a request for details on the new swap line and has not issued its own statement about the arrangement.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week the arrangement with banks and investment funds would be backed by International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights held in the Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund that will be converted to dollars.
Bessent has said the U.S. would not put additional conditions on Argentina beyond President Javier Milei’s government continuing to pursue its fiscal austerity and economic reform programs to foster more private-sector growth.
Bessent has announced several U.S. purchases of pesos in recent weeks, but has declined to disclose details.
Currency traders said that since the Treasury first purchased pesos on October 9, sales of dollars into the peso market have reached hundreds of billions of dollars, though the source of the selling has not been disclosed.
Brad Setser, a former U.S. Treasury official who is now a senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, said there was a “preponderance of evidence is that the peso is significantly over-valued,” an assessment shared with other analysts but which Bessent rejects.
Setser said these indicators include strong import and outbound tourism growth, Argentines purchasing cheaper goods in neighboring countries and the central bank’s failure to meet the IMF’s reserve accumulation targets.
“It does seem to me that the Treasury is taking an unusually large risk of losing money” in supporting the peso, he added.
On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that a group of U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), opens new tab, Bank of America (BAC.N), opens new tab and Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab, was hesitant to lend $20 billion to Argentina without guarantees or collateral. The banks did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. ELECTION THIS WEEKEND
Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo said last week he hoped the swap deal framework would be finalized before the October 26 midterm parliamentary vote, in which Milei’s party will seek to grow its minority presence in the legislature.
An image of a hangman’s noose hanging from a gallows, that was set up outside the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021 by rioters, is displayed over the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol and Republican members Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) as the committee holds their final public meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington,… Purchase Licensing Rights
A group of dozens of officials from across the federal government, including U.S. intelligence officers, has been helping to steer President Donald Trump’s drive for retribution against his perceived enemies, according to government records and a source familiar with the effort.
The Interagency Weaponization Working Group, which has been meeting since at least May, has drawn officials from the White House, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Justice and Defense Departments, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Communications Commission, among other agencies, two of the documents show.
Trump issued an executive order, opens new tab on his inauguration day in January instructing the attorney general to work with other federal agencies “to identify and take appropriate action to correct past misconduct by the federal government related to the weaponization of law enforcement and the weaponization of the Intelligence Community.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard earlier this year announced groups within their agencies to “root out” those who they say misused government power against Trump.
Shortly after Reuters asked the agencies for comment on Monday, Fox News reported the existence of the group, citing Gabbard as saying she “stood up this working group.” Key details in the Reuters story are previously unreported.
Several U.S. officials confirmed the existence of the Interagency Weaponization Working Group to Reuters in response to the questions and said the group’s purpose was to carry out Trump’s executive order.
“None of this reporting is new,” said a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
ODNI spokeswoman Olivia Coleman said, “Americans deserve a government committed to deweaponizing, depoliticizing and ensuring that power is never again turned against the people it’s meant to serve.”
The existence of the interagency group indicates the administration’s push to deploy government power against Trump’s perceived foes is broader and more systematic than previously reported. Interagency working groups in government typically forge administration policies, share information and agree on joint actions.
Trump and his allies use the term “weaponization” to refer to their unproven claims that officials from previous administrations abused federal power to target him during his two impeachments, his criminal prosecutions, and the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
The interagency group’s mission is “basically to go after ‘the Deep State,’” the source said. The term is used by Trump and his supporters to refer to the president’s perceived foes from the Obama and Biden administrations and his own first term.
Reuters could not determine the extent to which the interagency group has put its plans into action. The news agency also could not establish Trump’s involvement in the group. BIDEN, COMEY, OTHERS REPORTEDLY DISCUSSED
Among those discussed by the interagency group, the source said, were former FBI Director James Comey; Anthony Fauci, Trump’s chief medical advisor on the COVID-19 pandemic; and former top U.S. military commanders who implemented orders to make COVID-19 vaccinations compulsory for servicemembers. Discussions of potential targets have ranged beyond current and former government employees to include former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, the source said.
A senior ODNI official disputed that account and said there was “no targeting of any individual person for retribution.”
“IWWG is simply looking at available facts and evidence that may point to actions, reports, agencies, individuals, etc. who illegally weaponized the government in order to carry out political attacks,” the official said.
Lawyers for Comey and Hunter Biden did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and there was no immediate response from Fauci.
Reuters reviewed more than 20 government records and identified the names of 39 people involved in the interagency group. Five of the records concerned the interagency group, five pertained to the Weaponization Working Group that Bondi announced in February, and nine referred to a smaller subgroup of employees from DOJ and several other agencies that remain focused on the January 6, 2021, attack by Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol.
The source said an important player in the interagency group is Justice Department attorney Ed Martin, who failed in May to win Senate support to become U.S. attorney for Washington after lawmakers expressed concern about his support for January 6 rioters. Martin, who also oversees Bondi’s DOJ weaponization group, is the department’s pardon attorney.
Martin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other people working in or with the group include COVID-19 vaccine mandate opponents and proponents of Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, according to a Reuters review of their social media accounts and public statements.
A Justice Department spokesperson acknowledged that Bondi and Gabbard were ordered by Trump to undertake a review of alleged acts of “weaponization” by previous administrations but did not comment specifically on the Interagency Weaponization Working Group’s activities.
Reuters could not determine whether the group has powers to take any action or instruct agencies to act or if its role is more advisory. RUSSIA PROBE AND JAN.6 PROSECUTIONS WERE ISSUES
The source said ODNI official Paul McNamara was a leading figure in the interagency group. McNamara is a retired U.S. Marine officer and an aide to Gabbard. Two other sources said McNamara oversees Gabbard’s Directors Initiatives Group (DIG), as first reported by the Washington Post. He is among at least 10 ODNI officials associated with the interagency group, two documents show.
McNamara did not respond to an email making a request for comment.
Senators from both parties have already raised questions about the DIG’s operations, with Republicans and Democrats approving a defense budget bill this month containing a measure requiring Gabbard to disclose the group’s members, their roles and funding and how they received security clearances.
The source recalled the group being told that the ODNI, which oversees the 18-agency U.S. intelligence community, had begun using what they called “technical tools” to search an unclassified communications network for evidence of the “deep state” and hoped to expand its search to classified networks known as the Secure Internet Protocol Router, or SIPRnet, and the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System, or JWICS.
The ODNI official disputed this as inaccurate and “not how the systems operate.” Reuters could not obtain independent information about the tools.
A “big pillar they pushed” at the interagency group, said the source, was purging officials involved in investigating Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election and in compiling a 2017 multi-agency U.S. intelligence assessment that determined Moscow attempted to sway the race to Trump.
Gabbard said in July that the DIG had found documents showing former President Barack Obama ordered intelligence agencies to manufacture the 2017 assessment – charges an Obama spokesperson rejected as “bizarre.”
The 2017 assessment’s conclusion was corroborated by a bipartisan Senate intelligence committee report released in August 2020 and by a review ordered earlier this year by CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Another focus for the interagency group was retribution for the prosecution of the Jan. 6 rioters, said the source.
Bondi tasked the DOJ Weaponization Working Group with reviewing the J6 prosecutions. Some of the documents seen by Reuters show that a smaller sub-set of employees from across the government have been convening on the topic. The Justice Department denied in its statement to Reuters that a separate January 6 group exists.
Among other issues the source recalled being discussed were the Jeffrey Epstein files, the prosecutions of Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, and the possibility of stripping security clearances from transgender U.S. officials. Reuters could not independently confirm these were the subject of discussions.
The White House official said the Epstein files “have not been part of the conversation.” The official also disputed Reuters’ characterization of what the working group has focused on.
The senior ODNI official also denied the group discussed the Epstein files, revoking security clearance for transgender officials or Bannon and Navarro’s cases.
Bannon did not respond to a request for comment. Navarro said his case was an example of Biden’s weaponization of government.
Trump’s remarks followed Israel’s announcement that it had begun “renewed enforcement” of the Gaza ceasefire after conducting air strikes in retaliation for alleged Hamas attacks.
US President Donald Trump. (Image: AP/file photo)
US President Donald Trump on Monday warned Hamas of “eradication” if it violated the ongoing ceasefire in Gaza, a day after Israel accused the militant group of breaching the truce.
Speaking at the Oval Office, Trump said Hamas must “be good” and “behave” to avoid facing severe consequences. “We have peace in the Middle East for the first time ever. We made a deal with Hamas that, they gonna be very good. They’re going to behave, they’re going to be nice, and if they’re not… we’re going to eradicate them if we have to. They’ll be eradicated — and they know that,” Trump said.
He accused Hamas of past violence and claimed the group no longer enjoys the same level of support from Iran or other nations. “They went in and killed a lot of people. They’re violent people. Hamas has been very violent. But they don’t have the backing of Iran anymore. They don’t have the backing of really anybody anymore. They have to be good, and if they’re not good, they’ll be eradicated,” Trump said.
President Trump is not playing games with Hamas.
Listen to this scorching warning he just sent them:
“They’re going to behave. They’re going to be nice. And if they’re not, we’re going to go and we’re going to eradicate them if we have to. They’ll be eradicated.”
The President clarified that the United States would not deploy troops for any such action, saying there would be “no involvement of US forces.” His comments came during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Oval Office, where both leaders signed a multi-billion-dollar deal on critical minerals and defence cooperation.
Trump’s remarks followed Israel’s announcement that it had begun “renewed enforcement” of the Gaza ceasefire after conducting air strikes in retaliation for alleged Hamas attacks. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the strikes targeted weapons storage sites, firing positions, and tunnels used for planning assaults.
The incident happened as Trump sat alongside Australian PM Anthony Albanese, announcing $8.5 billion critical minerals deal between the two nations.
US President Donald Trump (R) speaks during a meeting with Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (L) in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington, DC. (IMAGE: AFP)
A high-profile White House press conference briefly descended into farce on Monday when US President Donald Trump halted mid-sentence to scold a cameraman who accidentally struck a 400-year-old mirror in the Cabinet Room.
The interruption occurred as Trump sat alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, announcing a landmark $8.5 billion critical minerals deal between the two nations. The pact aims to bolster supply chains and reduce dependence on Chinese exports of rare earth materials vital to defence and clean energy production.
Trump had been outlining the scope of the partnership when a sudden clatter drew his attention.
“We’re here to talk about trade, submarines, lots of other military equipment,” he began, before abruptly stopping. Turning to the source of the noise, he exclaimed, “Oh, you got to watch that. Watch that. You’re not allowed to break that. That mirror is 400 years old. A camera just hit the mirror. Ay yay yay!”
The president then defused the tension with a quip in his trademark style, “I just moved it up here, special from the vaults, and the first thing that happens is the camera hits it. Hard to believe, isn’t it? Hard to believe, but these are the problems in life.” Laughter rippled across the room as Trump resumed his remarks.
MIRROR MISHAP: President Trump scolds a reporter who accidentally bumps a 400-year-old mirror with a camera:
TRUMP: “You’re not allowed to break that! That mirror is 400 years old…”
“I just moved it up here special from the vaults, and the first thing that happens is a camera… pic.twitter.com/8DcHvzseZh
The circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear
CHESS MATE Chess influencer & Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky dies at 29 leaving gaming community gutted over loss of ‘genius player’
THE chess world has been left heartbroken after the sudden death of beloved grandmaster and commentator Daniel Naroditsky at just 29.
The shocking news was confirmed earlier this morning, sending waves of grief through players and fans across the globe.
Naroditsky, who lived in Charlotte, North Carolina, had been serving as Grandmaster-in-Residence at the Charlotte Chess Center since 2020.
“It is with great sadness that we share the unexpected passing of Daniel Naroditsky,” the center announced in an emotional post.
“Daniel was a talented chess player, educator, and cherished member of the chess community. He was also a loving son, brother, and loyal friend.”
Chess.com later confirmed his passing, calling it a devastating loss to the sport.
Tributes have been pouring in for the young star, known not only for his skills on the board but also for his warmth, humor, and teaching.
Chess.com’s Chief Chess Officer Danny Rensch described Naroditsky as “more than an amazing, inspirational face of our game.”
“Danya was a friend and brother,” Rensch said.
“The news is devastating for the chess world and all who knew him. It’s impossible to put words to this kind of loss. My love, thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
Ukrainian grandmaster Oleksandr Bortnyk, who had played thousands of games against Naroditsky online, was among those grieving.
“RIP my great friend Daniel Naroditsky, I still can’t believe,” Bortnyk wrote on X.
However, the circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear, as neither the authorities nor his family have released any details.
Born in San Mateo, California, on November 9, 1995, Naroditsky discovered chess at the age of six, taught by his father, Vladimir, a Ukrainian immigrant.
By 11, he had already made headlines after becoming the youngest player to win the Northern California K-12 Chess Championship.
That same year, he claimed the World Youth Chess Championship title for boys under 12 in Turkey, a breakout victory that stunned his classmates back home.
In a 2010 interview with The Mercury News, a teenage Naroditsky revealed his disciplined approach to the game: “I think of myself as playing against the board, and not against my opponent. I really don’t think of my opponent as a personality, just as someone who moves the pieces around.”
At just 14, he published his first chess book, quickly earning recognition as one of America’s brightest young minds in the game.
He became a grandmaster in 2013 at age 18, the highest title in chess, and reached a peak rating of 2647 in 2017.
After graduating from Stanford University in 2019 with a degree in history, Naroditsky relocated to Charlotte, where he became a key figure in developing local chess talent.
Beyond tournaments, he became one of the most popular chess educators online, with more than 482,000 YouTube subscribers and 340,000 followers on Twitch.
Russia is rejecting anything that does not see them take the entire Donbas
Russian military training in the Donetsk – which Moscow wants complete control ofCredit: Reuters
KREMLIN has rejected the peace proposal Donald Trump tabled after his White House meeting with President Zelensky descended into a shouting match.
Trump on Sunday suggested freezing the frontline and drawing new borders along it – which would mean Ukraine handing vast swathes to Russia.
The US President said on Sunday: “We think that what they should do is just stop at the lines where they are — the battle lines.”
This would give Putin almost full control of the Donbas – which he has demanded as a condition for ending the war – but for a small stronghold still under Ukrainian control in the Donetsk oblast.
Russia has so far failed to capture Ukraine’s sturdy “fortress belt” – but is adamant that any peace settlement will see it handed over.
Despite Trump’s proposition giving Putin almost everything he wants, the stubborn Kremlin has rejected it.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “This topic was repeatedly raised in various forms during contacts between Russia and the US.
“The Russian side answered every time, this answer is well known: the consistency of Russia’s position doesn’t change.”
So it seems that neither side was willing to get behind Trump’s latest peace-brokering effort.
Meanwhile, Trump publicly said does not believe Ukraine will win the war – after reportedly warning behind closed doors that Moscow could crush Kyiv.
During Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to the White House, Trump said: “I don’t think they will [win it].”
But he then added: “They could still win it, I never said they would win it… War is a very strange thing, a lot of bad things happen.”
The closed-door White House meeting on Sunday ended with Trump shouting and swearing at Zelensky as he told him to accept Putin’s terms for ending the war, sources told the Financial Times.
They claimed that Trump’s position had been influenced with a last-minute call he held with Putin the previous day – and which resulted in another planned meeting between the US and Russian leaders.
The paper was told that Trump regurgitated to Zelensky the points pushed by Putin – including that Ukraine surrender the entire Donbas region to end the war.
But Trump insisted on Sunday that he “never discussed” Ukraine giving up more land, and that he instead wants to see new borders drawn at the current battle lines.
He said: “We think that what they should do is just stop at the lines where they are — the battle lines.
“The rest is very tough to negotiate if you’re going to say: ‘You take this, we take that.’ There are just so many different permutations.
US President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese Monday signed an agreement on Australia’s rare earth minerals.
The agreement comes as China puts new restrictions on rare earth exports, prompting Trump to impose an additional 100% tariff on imports from China from next month.
“In about a year from now, we’ll have so much critical mineral and rare earths that you won’t know what to do with them,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Trump was hosting Albanese this morning at the White House and the leaders signed the document before the media.
Albanese described the deal as an $8.5 billion pipeline “that we have ready to go.”
Donald Trump is hosting Australia’s Anthony Albanese at the White HouseImage: Yuri Gripas/UPI Photo/Newscom/picture alliance
US and Australia sign critical minerals pact
Under the critical minerals pact, both the US and Australia are to each invest $1
billion over the next six months into mining and processing projects that will be available immediately, the prime minister’s office said.
The projects are divided into three groups — joint investments between the US and Australia; sole projects in Australia; and joint projects between the US, Australia and Japan.
Trump signals support for AUKUS nuclear submarine deal
Trump also signaled support for an arrangement under a trilateral security partnership called “AUKUS” to sell Australia nuclear-powered submarines by 2032.
Australia would then build a new submarine class with the UK, according to the pact that was reached in 2023 under then-President Joe Biden.
Security experts and analysts closely followed the meeting to learn more on the AUKUS deal since there were fears that it could be scrapped.
“We have them moving very, very quickly,” Trump said, referring to the AUKUS deal, which would see Australia spend $239 billion on the submarines over three decades.
Trump tells Kevin Rudd he doesn’t like him and ‘probably never will’
In an awkward moment, Trump told Kevin Rudd, Australia’s ambassador to the US and a former prime minister, that he doesn’t like him and “probably never will.”
Trump was asked by an Australian reporter whether Rudd’s past comments about him impacted his views of the administration of Anthony Albanese.
From a very young age, Eileen Collins wanted to be an astronaut
She’s the astronaut who smashed through the glass ceiling. And kept on going.
Eileen Collins made history as the first woman to pilot and command a spacecraft – but despite her remarkable achievements, not everyone will know her name.
Now a feature-length documentary called Spacewoman, which chronicles her trailblazing career, looks set to change that.
We meet Collins at London’s Science Museum. She’s softly spoken, warm and very down to earth – but you quickly get a sense of her focus and determination. She clearly has inner steel.
“I was reading a magazine article on the Gemini astronauts. I was probably nine years old, and I thought that’s the coolest thing. That’s what I want to do,” she says.
“Of course, there were no women astronauts back then. But I just thought, I’ll be a lady astronaut.”
But that little girl set her sights even higher – she wanted to be at the controls of a spacecraft.
And the only way to achieve this was to join the military and become a test pilot.
In the Air Force, she stood out from the crowd and was selected to join the astronaut programme. She was to fly Space Shuttles – Nasa’s reusable “space planes”.
She knew the eyes of the world were on her when her first mission launched in 1995.
“As the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle, I worked very hard at that because I didn’t want people to say, ‘Oh look, the woman has made a mistake’. Because it wasn’t just about me, it was about the women to follow me,” she says.
“And I wanted there to be a reputation for women pilots that was: ‘Hey, they’re really good’.”
She was so good in fact that she was soon promoted to commander, in another space first.
Collins was also a parent to two young children. The fact that she was a working wife and mother was frequently brought up in press conferences at the time, with some journalists seemingly astonished that she could be both.
But Collins says being a mum and a commander were “the two best jobs in the world”.
“But I’m going to tell you it is harder to be a parent than to be a space shuttle commander,” she laughs.
“The best training I ever had for being a commander was being a parent – because you have to learn how to say no to people.”
Nasa’s Space Shuttles, which flew for three decades, reached breathtaking highs, but also some terrible lows.
In 1986, the Challenger spacecraft suffered a catastrophic failure seconds after launching, killing all seven crew members on board.
And in 2003, the Columbia shuttle broke up in the skies over Texas at the end of its mission, killing its crew of seven as well.
A piece of insulating foam on Columbia’s fuel tank broke loose during launch, damaging the heat shield with devastating results.
Columbia was unable to withstand the fiery re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, disintegrating as the world watched on in horror.
Collins shakes her head at the memory of the disaster, and of the friends whose lives were lost.
But with her job as commander, she had to pick up the mantle – she was to be in charge of the shuttle’s following flight.
Did she think about quitting at that point?
“People throughout the shuttle programme were counting on the commander to stick with it,” she says quietly.
“I think quitting the mission would have been the opposite of brave… and I wanted to be a brave leader. I wanted to be a confident leader. I wanted to instill that confidence in other people.”
A Su-35 fighter jet – the model Australia says was used by the PLA in Sunday’s encounter – seen at the 2024 Zhuhai Air Show in China
Australia has accused a Chinese military aircraft of releasing flares “in close proximity” to its patrol jet over the South China Sea.
The Australian government has raised its concern with Beijing over the “unsafe and unprofessional” manoeuvre, the defence department said in a statement on Monday.
There was no damage to Australia’s P-8A aircraft and its personnel were unharmed after Sunday’s encounter.
A Chinese military spokesperson said the Australian jet “illegally intruded” into China’s airspace and had to be expelled.
The Australian aircraft’s actions “seriously infringed upon China’s sovereignty”, Senior Colonel Li Jianjian, spokesperson for China’s Southern Theater Command Air Force said, urging Canberra to “immediately cease its infringing and provocative actions”.
Australia Defence Force said it expects all countries, including China, to operate their militaries in a safe and professional manner.
This is the latest in a string of encounters between the two countries’ militaries in the region, where China’s vast claims over islands and outcrops overlap with those of its neighbours.
Sunday’s incident also occurred as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was heading to the US for a meeting with President Donald Trump, where the two leaders are expected to discuss the Aukus – a multi-billion dollar submarine deal between Australia, the US and the UK.
A Chicago-based elementary school teacher mocked Charlie Kirk’s assassination by using a sickening gun gesture at a No Kings protest over the weekend.
Lucy Martinez, a teacher at Nathan Hale Elementary School, put a finger to her neck and pretended to pull a trigger when a man driving by in a pickup truck waved a flag calling the late podcaster a “hero,” video shows.
Multiple demonstrators flipped the bird at the counter-protester.
Lucy Martinez, a Chicago public school teacher, was filmed mocking Charlie Kirk’s assassination during a No Kings protest over the weekend. Instgram/that84bullnose
Kirk, 31, was killed when Tyler Robinson allegedly shot him in the neck while the Turning Point USA founder was speaking at Utah State University last month.
It’s unclear if Martinez was fired or faced any disciplinary action. The school’s website was taken down after the incident surfaced online.
Chicago Public Schools said it “remains committed to creating and maintaining a welcoming, safe and inclusive teaching and learning environment, free from harassment, bias, or harm of any kind.”
“While CPS does not comment on specific personnel matters the District follows a consistent process when allegations of misconduct are reported. Employees found to have violated Board policy are subject to disciplinary action.”
A spokesperson for the district referred The Post to the statement when asked if Martinez was fired.
Video of the horrifying gesture quickly went viral, leading to outrage.
“This is who we trust with our children & then wonder why they become radicalized as adults,” Libs of Chicago posted.
“This woman teaches children. Lucy is now the perfect face of the “No Kings” movement — a movement that preaches “love” but celebrates death. Evil always exposed itself,” Ryan Fournier, co-founder of Students for Trump, wrote on X.
Michelle Ritter leaves a star-studded LA party with Schmidt. Diggzy/Jesal / SplashNews.com
The 31-year-old former mistress of Eric Schmidt has accused the ex-Google CEO of stalking, abuse and “toxic masculinity” — claiming that he subjected her to an “absolute digital surveillance system” as the pair have secretly tussled over cash, a failed AI startup and access to a sprawling Bel Air mansion, The Post has learned.
Michelle Ritter — the latest publicly known extramarital paramour for Schmidt, who for years has reportedly maintained an open marriage with Wendy Schmidt, his wife of 45 years — filed for a temporary restraining order against the 70-year-old tech titan late last year, according to bombshell court documents obtained by The Post.
In early December, Ritter and Schmidt — whose net worth is estimated by Bloomberg at $44.8 billion — struck a “written settlement agreement” that required Schmidt to make “substantial payments” to Ritter but whose details remain under seal, according to a Sept. 8 filing in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
But just a week later on Dec. 11, Ritter filed an explosive “domestic violence restraining order” against Schmidt — only to withdraw it three weeks later on Jan. 6 after the two sides apparently came to a fresh agreement, court documents show.
In the since-withdrawn TRO request, Ritter claimed that the tech tycoon days earlier had locked her out of the website of her startup Steel Perlot — an AI-focused venture firm into which Schmidt had plowed $100 million, a source close to the situation told The Post.
“Please note Eric’s technical background,” Ritter alleged in the filing. “I literally cannot have a private phone call or send a private email without surveillance.”
The budding tech entrepreneur, 39 years his junior, also claims in the filing that Schmidt demanded that she agree to “a gag order on any sexual assault or harassment allegations and sign a knowingly false declaration that any such allegations never happened.”
Ritter didn’t elaborate on those allegations in the unredacted portions of her filing.
Skip Miller, an LA-based lawyer for the 31-year-old, declined to comment. A spokesman for Eric Schmidt also declined to comment.
In an 82-page response on Oct. 8, lawyers for Schmidt claimed that “Michelle Ritter’s demonstrably false Complaint is a blatant abuse of the judicial system.” But the vast majority of the legal riposte has been redacted ahead of a court hearing in downtown Los Angeles that’s slated for Dec. 4.
The billionaire’s legal team — headed by hard-charging LA litigator Patricia Glaser — filed a motion on Oct. 8 to seal the court documents, but a final ruling has not yet been issued on the matter.
In her December TRO filing, Ritter alleged, “Unfortunately, my former partner is extraordinarily powerful and capable and has used every mean[s] to block me from getting access to secure data, devices, finances, or businesses, or to simply live my life in peace.”
Two days before the December filing, Ritter’s parents allegedly were followed to and from dinner at an LA restaurant by a pair of private eyes. The cops were called and when officers questioned the PIs, one said he worked for a “billionaire’s private security detail” and was “not going to wake him up,” according to the filing.
The filing also indicated Ritter had been staying at 1060 Brooklawn Dr. — a 15,000-square-foot Bel Air mansion that Schmidt had scooped up for $61 million from heirs of the Hilton hotel dynasty. In the filing, Ritter asked that she be given exclusive access to the lavish compound — also requesting court protection for her dog, a German Shepherd named Henry.
In an August 2024 article by tech news site The Information, Ritter was reportedly still holed up at the 13-bedroom mansion, “with its old Hollywood touches including a sweeping staircase, marble coffee table and well-tended gardens, complete with a koi pond.”
Ritter herself had added “a red couch in the shape of a pair of lips” and “a glass case holding her guitars,” according to the story. Outside, “a large rainbow-colored ‘Love’ sign that a friend of Schmidt’s created for one of their trips to Burning Man,” stood near a wrought-iron gate at the end of the driveway, the tech site reported.
The article added that Ritter said she was “taking the next logical step to separate her life from Schmidt’s by preparing to move out.”
Last month, Ritter — a 2021 Columbia Law School grad who recently has represented herself in the case — listed an address for what appeared to be a relatively modest apartment in Beverly Hills located upstairs from a Jersey Mike’s sandwich shop.
Ritter claimed in the filing that on Dec. 17, less than a week after she filed for the restraining order, she and Schmidt struck an amended settlement agreement. She pulled the TRO request a few weeks later, but Schmidt has since failed to live up to his end of the bargain, she claimed.
Instead, Schmidt allegedly has been pressing an arbitration proceeding that’s currently pending against her whose $75,000 fee she says she cannot afford to pay, calling it “a cynical effort to protect the dispute and win by economic and resource attrition,” according to court papers.
Ritter most recently made the pages of The Post in May 2024 when Schmidt showed up to a swanky LA party with his wife instead of her. But the fresh court filings claim an explosive back story: Just a month earlier, a long-simmering conflict between them had exploded when an April 4, 2024 legal mediation session took a wrong turn, according to court documents.
President Donald Trump is expected to leave for Asia at the end of the week, betting that an around-the-world journey will help him untangle big issues that he can’t afford to get wrong.
At stake is nothing less than the future of the global economy, which could hinge on whether he’s able to calm trade tensions during an expected meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. A misstep could send shock waves through American industries that have already been rattled by Trump’s aggressive tariffs, government layoffs and political brinkmanship.
Trump’s strategy of improvisation has had both hits and misses since he returned to office in January. Hamas returned hostages to Israel but the ceasefire in the Middle East remains fragile; a trade war with China has ebbed and flowed this year; and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hasn’t slowed down despite Trump’s efforts to resolve the conflict.
There’s been some mystery around Trump’s trip, with no official announcements from the White House about much of his itinerary. The president said Monday that he plans to go to Malaysia, which is hosting a regional summit, then Japan, where he’s trying to nail down foreign investment.
He’ll also visit South Korea, where he’s working on more trade issues and expects to sit down with Xi. Beijing has yet to confirm that they’ll meet, and the two leaders have recently exchanged threats of tariffs and export restrictions.
“I have a very good relationship with President Xi of China,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. He offered to lower tariffs but “they have to give us some things too,” including buying U.S. soybeans, reducing the flow of fentanyl ingredients and ending limits on rare earth minerals that are critical for high-tech manufacturing.
Trump expressed even more confidence on Monday, saying, “I think we’re going to end up having a fantastic deal with China” and “it’s going to be fantastic for the entire world.”
This will be Trump’s first trip to Asia in his second term
With just days to go before Trump leaves, there’s an unusual level of ambiguity even for a president who loves to keep people guessing about his next move.
“The whole trip has seemed so uncertain from the beginning,” said Bonnie Glaser, a managing director at the German Marshall Fund, a Washington-based think tank.
It’s Trump’s first trip to Asia since returning to office. Although he’s hosted leaders from the region at the White House, he hasn’t forged the kind of foundational relationships that he has on other continents.
Anna Kelly, a spokesperson for the president, responded to a list of questions about Trump’s plans by saying he “will participate in meetings and events in Asia that will result in many great deals for our country.” She added, “Stay tuned!”
Trump’s approach to Asia has focused on using tariffs to realign what he describes as unfair trade practices, unnerving countries that depend on the United States as the world’s largest market for exports. There’s also anxiety about Trump’s meeting with Xi, and the potential that a feud between the two leaders could send the international economy into a tailspin.
“There will be some appreciation for the fact that he’s there, but I don’t think it will go far enough to quell the doubts that are pervasive in the region,” Glaser predicted.
The Republican president has downsized his foreign policy team since his first term, eschewing the typical array of advisers at the National Security Council in favor of a core group of loyalists.
“There’s not very many White House staff to do this kind of work,” said Rush Doshi, who worked on China policy under President Joe Biden. “All of this puts us in uncharted waters.”
Michael Green, who worked on President George W. Bush’s National Security Council and now leads the United States Studies Centre in Sydney, Australia, said there’s been no clear Asia strategy from Trump.
“Everyone is waiting to see where he’s going to come down on all of this,” he said.
Demolition crews on Monday began tearing down part of the White House to build President Donald Trump’s long-desired ballroom despite his pledge that construction of the $250 million addition wouldn’t “interfere” with the existing building.
Construction teams were demolishing a portion of the East Wing, with a backhoe ripping through the structure, according to a photo shared with The Washington Post and two people who witnessed the activity and spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe it.
A cluster of people, including members of the Secret Service, stood on the steps of the Treasury Department to watch the construction unfold, said one of the people. Sounds of construction were also audible on the White House campus, although the project was not easily visible to the public given fencing on the grounds.
Trump acknowledged the project in remarks Monday afternoon in the White House’s East Room, gesturing to the wall behind him.
“Right on the other side, you have a lot of construction going on, which you might hear periodically,” the president said at an event honoring the Louisiana State University and Louisiana State University at Shreveport baseball teams. He subsequently posted on his Truth Social platform that the “much-needed project” had begun.
“For more than 150 years, every President has dreamt about having a Ballroom at the White House to accommodate people for grand parties, State Visits, etc.,” the president wrote.
Democrats panned the project, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other lawmakers arguing that Trump’s priorities and preferences were not aligned with average Americans.
“Trump’s billionaire ballroom. This is a disgrace. Welcome to the Second Gilded Age,” Rep. Darren Soto (D-Florida) wrote on social media.
Trump has long touted his plans for a 90,000-square-foot structure that would nearly double the footprint of the main building and its East and West wings. He had also suggested that the construction would not affect the existing White House.
“It won’t interfere with the current building. It won’t be. It’ll be near it but not touching it — and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of,” Trump said during an executive order signing in July. “It’s my favorite. It’s my favorite place. I love it.”
A White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe construction on the ballroom, confirmed that the demolition process on the East Wing began Monday. Other parts of the project, such as efforts to preserve objects of historical value, have been underway for several weeks, the official said.
Officials declined to provide an explanation for Trump’s earlier comments that the new construction would not interfere with the existing building. Officials have separately said that the ballroom would replace the East Wing, noting the many changes made to that structure long before Trump’s presidency.
“The East Wing was constructed in 1902 and has been renovated and changed many times, with a second story added in 1942,” the White House said in July.
The administration also said that it expected construction to begin by September, detailing plans to make some of the most significant changes to “the People’s House” in a century. Trump originally estimated the project would cost $200 million to build but has since upped that to $250 million.
The National Park Service, which manages the White House grounds, did not respond to inquiries about how much of the East Wing would be destroyed. In a 56-page document about maintaining the fundamental character of the White House and the surrounding grounds, the Park Service said in 2014 it would work with presidential administrations, the U.S. Secret Service and other agencies “to ensure both the preservation and use of one of the most recognized houses in the world.”
The East Wing has traditionally been used by the first lady and her team. Offices for the president and his top deputies have long been located in the West Wing.
Trump last week also touted his planned ballroom during a dinner with executives from the tech, finance and defense industries, telling them that the project was fully financed after receiving donations as large as $25 million from dozens of companies, including Apple, Amazon, Lockheed Martin and Coinbase. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal has ended as a UN-backed resolution – that endorsed the deal – expired Saturday. With this, Tehran now regains the nuclear freedoms, as Western powers warn of increased regional and global risks.
Iran’s landmark 2015 nuclear deal has officially come to an end, coinciding with the end of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 on Saturday. The UN resolution had officially endorsed the nuclear deal.
Speaking about the collapse of the nuclear deal, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said, “With the end of Resolution 2231 on October 18, its provisions have officially terminated,” with Tehran describing it as the final collapse of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Baghaei told reporters at a weekly briefing that Iran had informed the UN about the expiry of the resolution, adding that the country’s nuclear rights, including uranium enrichment and research, “remain valid”.
He described the JCPOA as “a temporary and conditional understanding”, and accused the United States of violating international law by withdrawing from the agreement in 2018.
European governments, Baghaei said, had “failed to meet their own obligations” by following Washington’s lead.
“Iran had implemented the JCPOA in good faith and with full precision, while the United States had grossly violated international law by reimposing unilateral sanctions,” he wrote in a letter to the Secretary-General and the Security Council president.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also formally notified the UN that Iran would no longer adhere to its remaining commitments under the deal.
Iran’s Nuclear Deal Ends – What It Means
The expiry of Resolution 2231 means that the UN oversight of Iran’s nuclear activities has formally ended, removing the last layer of restrictions endorsed under the JCPOA.
Analysts say that the lapse effectively restores Iran’s freedom to enrich uranium, expand research, and pursue nuclear development without any international constraints.
For Western powers, the expiry of the resolution means the loss of a crucial diplomatic tool that had offered transparency and monitoring through the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Observers warn that the absence of these mechanisms risk reigniting regional tensions and leading to a global fallout.
A Western diplomat noted that it “does not just close a chapter – it removes the last barrier to a new, uncertain phase”.
What Tehran Says About Its Nuclear Programme
Tehran, however, insists that its nuclear programme remains peaceful and within its sovereign rights. This is a stance backed by Russia and China, both permanent members of the Security Council.
Health officials have confirmed three cases of a new, more dangerous strain of mpox in California, raising concerns about its higher transmissibility and potential for severe illness. The new variant appears to spread faster and may cause more intense symptoms, including fever, swollen lymph nodes, painful rash, and lesions.
New, More Dangerous Mpox Strain Found in 3 Californians
An extremely dangerous strain of mpox virus that leads to painful lesions and flu-like symptoms has been detected in three people in California who did not travel abroad. According to health officials, this is the first known local spread of the severe form in the United States.
The strain – clade 1 has caused tens of thousands of infections and hundreds of deaths in central and eastern Africa. Officials said till now, it had never spread from one person to another inside the US. However, a relatively milder strain – Clade 2, was responsible for the 2022 mpox outbreak that infected more than 30,000 Americans and continues to circulate at low levels. A few cities in California – including Los Angeles, have reported an uptick in cases, with 118 infections confirmed in 2025.
Officials said the new Clade 1 cases were found in one person in Long Beach and two in Los Angeles. All three were hospitalized and have since been discharged and are currently recovering at home. Authorities said all the three cases were unrelated. “It’s still too early to tell, but we’re concerned there will be more severe disease,” Dr Sonali Kulkarni of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health told The Times.
Three patients are bisexual
According to the doctors treating the patients, all three are gay and bisexual men – a group that remains at higher risk of mpox infection. Even though it is not classified as a sexually transmitted infection – doctors say mpox spreads through close or intimate contact, shared items or ongoing household exposure.
Doctors say even though the overall risk to the public remains low, everyone should be alert as the person-to-person community spread can be happening.
The only previous US case of Clade 1 mpox occurred last year, when a California resident who had recently traveled to East Africa was infected but did not spread the virus.
What is mpox?
Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, is a flu-like disease caused by a virus that causes rashes all over the body. The infection spreads with the Orthopoxvirus monkeypox virus with small pieces of genetic information in a protective coating. Doctors say the rash is similar to the one caused by a related virus, smallpox. Cases of mpox happen regularly in parts of Africa, where it is endemic. However, outbreaks do sometimes happen in other places around the world. There are two known subtypes of mpox:
Clade 1 which is endemic to Central Africa and causes more serious illness than clade 2.
Clade 2 is endemic to East Africa. There’s been a global outbreak of clade II mpox since 2022.
Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport’s cargo complex – which stores fabrics, garment accessories, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and other imports – was left in ruins.
Firefighters douse fire at the cargo terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, a day after the blaze in Dhaka on Oct 19, 2025. (Photo: AFP/Munir Uz Zaman)
Bangladeshi traders on Sunday (Oct 19) assessed heavy losses after a devastating fire tore through the cargo complex of the country’s main international airport, as the government opened an investigation into possible arson.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) gave an initial assessment of “devastating” direct and indirect costs of as much as US$1 billion.
Firefighters had brought the blaze under control and flight operations resumed late Saturday, airport executive director S M Ragib Samad told AFP, after thick black smoke swept across the runway, forcing authorities to briefly suspend flights.
But Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport’s cargo complex – which stores fabrics, garment accessories, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and other imports – was left in ruins.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) also said it was assessing the damage.
Bangladesh is the world’s second-biggest garment manufacturer, and textile and garment production accounts for about 80 per cent of exports.
“We have witnessed a devastating scene inside. The entire import section has been reduced to ashes,” said Faisal Samad, director of the BGMEA.
“The entire import section has been reduced to ashes. We fear the losses might well exceed US$1 billion.”
He said around 200 to 250 factories export products by air every day.
“RESOLUTE RESPONSE”
Smoke was still rising from the charred remains on Sunday.
“The fire spread to every corner – I don’t know if any consignment could escape,” said one exhausted firefighter, whose uniform was greyed and hands blackened.
“We were supposed to deliver the consignments to our clients today. All burnt to ashes, I guess,” said importer Anand Kumar Ghosh, who said he had lost 52 consignments.
Moinul Ahsan, a senior official at the Directorate of Health, said four people had been taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.
But the government said it was aware of growing public concern following a string of major fires in recent days – including in Chittagong’s export processing zone and a chemical and garment factory in Dhaka, where 16 people were killed.
The government said the security services were investigating all incidents “thoroughly”, and warned that “any credible evidence of sabotage or arson will be met with a swift and resolute response”.
“No act of criminality or provocation will be allowed to disrupt public life or the political process,” it said, urging calm.
The South Asian nation of 170 million people has been in political turmoil since Sheikh Hasina was ousted as prime minister by a student-led revolt in August 2024, and is gearing up for hotly contested elections slated for February 2026.
MSS (Ministry of State Security) logo and Chinese flag are seen in this illustration taken on May 6, 2025. (Photo: REUTERS/Illustration/Dado Ruvic)
China on Sunday (Oct 19) accused the United States of conducting cyberattacks on Beijing’s national time centre that could have caused severe damage to critical financial and telecommunications infrastructure.
Beijing has stepped up espionage warnings in recent years as relations with the United States and other Western nations have worsened.
Chinese authorities found “irrefutable evidence” of efforts by the US National Security Agency (NSA) to hack the National Time Service Center, between 2022 and 2024, according to a statement published on the official Ministry of State Security WeChat account.
The facility is responsible for coordinating clocks around the country used by everything from computer servers to train stations and power grids.
The ministry accused the NSA of exploiting weaknesses in the messaging service of an unspecified foreign mobile phone brand in order to steal login credentials from employees at the time centre.
The attacks could have jeopardised power grids, transport, and even space launches, the ministry said.
Chinese authorities have since “severed attack chains, upgraded protective measures, and eliminated potential threats”.
“In recent years, the United States has aggressively pursued cyber hegemony, repeatedly trampling on international cyberspace rules,” the ministry said in its statement.
It urged Chinese citizens to be vigilant of foreign attacks and to report suspicious activity to the authorities.
Western countries have accused hacker groups allegedly supported by China of conducting a global cyber espionage campaign against figures critical of Beijing, democratic institutions, and companies in various sensitive sectors.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is investigating claims Russian hackers stole hundreds of sensitive military documents and published them on the dark web.
The Mail on Sunday first reported the files on the dark web – an area of internet that can only be accessed through particular software – hold details of eight RAF and Royal Navy bases as well as MoD staff names and emails.
Maintenance and construction contractor Dodd Group confirmed it suffered a ransomware incident and it was taking the claims “extremely seriously”.
The MoD said in a statement it was “actively investigating the claims that information relating to the MoD has been published on the dark web”.
“To safeguard sensitive operational information, we will not comment any further on the details,” it added in a statement.
The Mail on Sunday reported the documents hold information about a number of sensitive RAF and Navy bases, including RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, where the US Air Force’s F-35 jets are based.
A Dodd Group spokesperson said: “We can confirm that the Dodd Group recently experienced a ransomware incident whereby an unauthorised third-party gained temporary access to part of our internal systems.
“We took immediate steps to contain the incident, swiftly secure our systems and engaged a specialist IT forensic firm to investigate what happened.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in New York City at Saturday’s “No Kings” protest
This weekend’s “No Kings” demonstrations drew an estimated crowd of millions across the US to protest President Donald Trump’s policies and his willingness to push the boundaries of presidential authority.
It was a moment for likeminded Democrats, liberals and some anti-Trump Republicans to rally together at a time when the American left has little formal power in national politics.
But where do they go from here?
By most accounts, the turnout at Saturday’s events – in major US cities like Chicago, New York, Washington and Los Angeles, as well as hundreds of smaller towns – was higher than expected and surpassed the first “No Kings” rally in June.
Congressional Republicans had warned that the demonstrations would be “anti-American”, and some conservative governors had put their law enforcement and National Guard on alert in case of violence.
The massive rallies turned out to be peaceful – a carnival, not carnage. In New York City, there were no protest-related arrests, and the gathering in Washington DC featured families and young children.
“Today all across America in numbers that may eclipse any day of protest in our nation’s history, Americans are saying loudly and proudly that we are a free people, we are not a people that can be ruled, our government is not for sale,” Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said in his speech to the Washington DC rally.
Just down the street from the No Kings gathering in the nation’s capital, the White House responded to the protests with derision.
“Who cares,” deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson wrote in response to multiple media inquiries about the marches.
Trump shared several AI-generated videos on his Truth Social website of him wearing a crown, including one where he was flying a jet that dumped what appeared to be human waste on the protesters.
While Republicans may be downplaying the significance of the marches, the scale of the turnout – along with Trump’s net negative approval rating in major opinion polls – hints at a Democratic opportunity to rebound from last year’s electoral defeats.
The party still has a long way to go, however.
Polls suggest only a third of Americans view it favourably – the lowest for decades – and Democrats are divided over how to mount an effective opposition to Trump when they no longer control either chamber of Congress.
Liberals took to the streets on Saturday for a variety of reasons. Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement, his tariff policies, his government cuts, his foreign policy, his deployment of National Guard in US cities and his norm-breaking use of presidential authority were all frequent topics of concern and outrage.
Some of the frustration was also directed at Democratic leaders.
“We’re just taking it on the chin, and we’re not speaking out,” one march attendee in Washington DC told NBC News on Saturday. “You know, I think we need to throw some more elbows. Unfortunately, the high road doesn’t work.”
The Democrats have been more combative over the ongoing government shutdown, which is about to enter its fourth week. They have been unwilling to approve a short-term extension of current federal spending without a bipartisan agreement to address health-insurance subsidies for low-income Americans set to expire at the end of the year.
Because of Senate parliamentary rules, Democrats have some power despite being in the minority – and, at least so far, the public seems to be assigning at least as much, if not more, blame for the impasse to Trump and the Republican majority.
But the strategy comes with risks too. The pain from the shutdown – particularly for those in the Democratic coalition – is only going to increase as the weeks go by.
Many federal workers have missed paycheques and are facing financial hardship. Funding is expected to run out for low-income food support. The US judicial system is scaling back its operations. And the Trump administration is using the shutdown to order new cuts to the federal workforce and suspend domestic spending, targeting Democratic states and cities.
The reality is that Democratic leaders in the Senate will ultimately have to find a way out of the crisis. But they may be hard-pressed to reach terms that the protesters who took to the streets on Saturday will find acceptable.
“If we shake hands with President Trump on a deal, we don’t want him then next week just firing thousands more people, cancelling economic development projects, cancelling public health funds,” Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said on Sunday in an interview on NBC’s Meet The Press. “So we are trying to get an agreement that a deal is a deal.”
There is a chance the government shutdown will still be happening in early November when voters in some states will head to the ballot box for the first time since last year’s presidential contest.
Elections for governor and state legislatures could provide a barometer for whether the anti-Trump sentiment on display at the “No Kings” protests translates into electoral success for Democrats.
Four years ago, a Republican won the governor’s race in Virginia, an electoral battleground that has trended left in recent presidential elections, providing an early sign of voter dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden. This time around, the Democrat – former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger – is leading her Republican opponent in the polls.
While Trump lost New Jersey in last year’s presidential election, the margin of defeat – less than 6% – was dramatically down from Biden’s 16% victory in 2020 and Hillary Clinton’s 14% margin in 2017. November’s governor’s election shows a similarly close race.
At the No Kings rally in Montclair, New Jersey, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin urged attendees to vote in the upcoming election.
“It is one thing to show up at these protests,” he said. “And it’s another to move the needle and get back some power.”
This November’s elections will be a test of whether antipathy toward Trump is enough to get left-wing voters to support Democratic candidates.
They are, however, just a prelude to next year’s midterm elections, which will decide which party controls both chambers of the US Congress and could provide Democrats with a real check on Trump’s power for the last two years of his presidential term.
The priority at Saturday’s protests was to unite around a Stop Trump message. Of less concern, at least for the moment, was what Democrats could do once they get back to power.
There have, however, been some indications that cracks remain within the party coalition.
Taiwan ’s main opposition Nationalist Party chose a former lawmaker as its new chairperson on Saturday in a competitive election clouded by allegations of China’s meddling.
By a wide margin, Cheng Li-wun — the only female candidate in the race who positioned herself as a reformist — defeated former Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin and four others contesting the leadership of the China-friendly party. The Nationalists, also known as the KMT, maintain strong political influence in Taiwan despite losing three consecutive presidential elections to the independence-leaning ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
The KMT holds enough seats to form a majority bloc with its allies in the legislature and survived two recall elections just months ago that were sparked by concerns over their lawmakers passing changes seen as diminishing the power of the executive and favoring China, which considers the island as its own territory.
Scheduled to take office in November, Cheng could influence how Taiwan handles its relationship with Beijing and other key policies and domestic and international political matters. She will also anchor the party in the 2026 local elections. The KMT is also likely to field a candidate challenging President Lai Ching-te’s DPP in the 2028 race.
During her campaign, Cheng pledged to turn KMT from a flock of “sheep” into “lions,” opposing Lai’s proposal to boost defense budget to 5% of GDP, or gross domestic product, local media reported. She was once a DPP member.
In a news conference after the win, the party’s second elected female chair said the Nationalists would uphold the principles of equality, respect and mutual benefits in handling external relations.
“We must not let Taiwan become a troublemaker. Second, we must not let Taiwan become the sacrifice of geopolitics,” she said, adding her party would also be a peacemaker.
Beijing has a particularly strained relationship with Lai, whom it accuses of being a separatist. It has threatened to use force to bring Taiwan under its control, if necessary, and has increasingly mobilized military, diplomatic and economic pressure in an attempt to undermine Lai’s administration.
Traditionally, KMT has had warmer ties with Beijing, with Chinese politicians visiting for exchanges. Supporters of the KMT see the ties as beneficial to the island democracy’s stability and economy, but its critics are wary of the influence Beijing exerts.
Over the past week, Jaw Shaw-kong, Hau’s supporter in the party, alleged that China was involved in an organized interference, citing videos attacking Hau and supporting Cheng.
The head of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, Tsai Ming-yen, said it found over 1,000 videos discussing the election on TikTok, in addition to 23 YouTube accounts posting related content, with over half of the YouTube accounts based outside of Taiwan. He did not say which candidates these videos supported or directly answer whether they were based in China.
Cheng rejected the allegations of China’s influencing her party as “very cheap labels,” urging politicians to return the island’s politics to rationality.
Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said Wednesday that Cheng’s election was the party’s internal affair and the views of some mainland Chinese internet users did not represent the government’s position.
President Donald Trump waves after arriving on Air Force One, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Americans are growing increasingly concerned about their ability to find a good job under President Donald Trump, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds, in what is a potential warning sign for Republicans as a promised economic boom has given way to hiring freezes and elevated inflation.
High prices for groceries, housing and health care persist as a fear for many households, while rising electricity bills and the cost of gas at the pump are also sources of anxiety, according to the survey.
Some 47% of U.S. adults are “not very” or “not at all confident” they could find a good job if they wanted to, an increase from 37% when the question was last asked in October 2023.
Electricity bills are a “major” source of stress for 36% of U.S. adults at a time when the expected build-out of data centers for artificial intelligence could further tax the power grid. Just more than one-half said the cost of groceries are a “major” source of financial stress, about 4 in 10 said the cost of housing and health care were a serious strain and about one-third said they were feeling high stress about gasoline prices.
The survey suggests an ongoing vulnerability for Trump, who returned to the White House in January with claims he could quickly tame the inflation that surged after the pandemic during Democratic President Joe Biden’s term. Instead, Trump’s popularity on the economy has remained low amid a mix of tariffs, federal worker layoffs and partisan sniping that has culminated in a government shutdown.
Linda Weavil, 76, voted for Trump last year because he “seems like a smart businessman.” But she said in an interview that the Republican’s tariffs have worsened inflation, citing the chocolate-covered pecans sold for her church group fundraiser that now cost more.
“I think he’s doing a great job on a lot of things, but I’m afraid our coffee and chocolate prices have gone up because of tariffs,” the retiree from Greensboro, North Carolina, said. “That’s a kick in the back of the American people.”
Voters changed presidents, but they’re not feeling better about Trump’s economy
The poll found that 36% of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling the economy, a figure that has held steady this year after he imposed tariffs that caused broad economic uncertainty. Among Republicans, 71% feel positive about his economic leadership. Yet that approval within Trump’s own party is relatively low in ways that could be problematic for Republicans in next month’s races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, and perhaps even in the 2026 midterm elections.
At roughly the same point in Biden’s term, in October 2021, an AP-NORC poll found that 41% of U.S. adults approved of how he was handling the economy, including about 73% of Democrats. That overall number was a little higher than Trump’s, primarily because of independents — 29% approved of how Biden was handling the economy, compared with the 18% who currently support Trump’s approach.
The job market was meaningfully stronger in terms of hiring during Biden’s presidency as the United States was recovering from pandemic-related lockdowns. But hiring has slowed sharply under Trump with monthly job gains averaging less than 27,000 after the April tariff announcements.
People see that difference.
Four years ago, 36% of those in the survey were “extremely” or “very” confident in their ability to get a good job, but that has fallen to 21% now.
Biden’s approval on the economy steadily deteriorated through the middle of 2022 when inflation hit a four-decade high, creating an opening for Trump’s political comeback.
Electricity costs are an emerging worry
In some ways, Trump has made the inflation problems harder by choosing to cancel funding for renewable energy projects and imposing tariffs on the equipment needed for factories and power plants. Those added costs are coming before the anticipated construction of data centers for AI that could further push up prices without more construction.
Even though 36% see electricity as a major concern, there are some who have yet to feel a serious financial squeeze. In the survey, 40% identified electricity costs as a “minor” stress, while 23% said their utility bills are “not a source” of stress.
Kevin Halsey, 58, of Normal, Illinois, said his monthly electricity bills used to be $90 during the summer because he had solar panels, but have since jumped to $300. Halsey, who works in telecommunications, voted Democratic in last year’s presidential election and described the economy right now as “crap.”
“I’ve got to be pessimistic,” he said. “I don’t see this as getting better.”
At a fundamental level, Trump finds himself in the same economic dilemma that bedeviled Biden. There are signs the economy remains relatively solid with a low unemployment rate, stock market gains and decent economic growth, yet the public continues to be skeptical about the economy’s health.
Some 68% of U.S. adults describe the U.S. economy these days as “poor,” while 32% say it’s “good.” That’s largely consistent with assessments of the economy over the past year.
In addition, 59%, say their family finances are “holding steady.” But only 12% say they’re “getting ahead,” and 28% say they are “falling behind.”
People see plenty of expenses but few opportunities
The sense of economic precarity is coming from many different directions, with indications that many think middle-class stability is falling out of reach.
The vast majority of U.S. adults feel at least “minor” stress about the cost of groceries, health care, housing, the amount they pay in taxes, what they are paid at work and the cost of gas for their cars.
In the survey, 47%, say they are “not very” or “not at all” confident they could pay an unexpected medical expense while 52% have low confidence they will have enough saved for their retirement. Also, 63%, are “not very” or “not at all” confident they could buy a new home if they wanted to.
THIS is the shocking moment Donald Trump blasts a drug-filled vessel and kills three “narco-terrorists”.
The strike comes just days after the US bombed a narco-smuggling submarine – as the country continues to wage war on drugs.
The boat is incinerated in the blastCredit: X
Footage posted by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth shows the boat careering through the ocean.
A massive blast erupts from the water as a precision weapon strikes the vessel.
Moments later, it is engulfed in flames and a thick cloud of smoke before being totally incinerated.
Hegseth said Friday’s strike targeted a vessel linked to Colombia‘s ELN guerrilla group – a prominent drug cartel he likened to the “Al-Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere”.
He said the vessel was travelling along a “known narco-trafficking route” and was carrying “substantial” amounts of drugs.
Three “narco-terrorists” aboard the ship were killed in the blast, he added.
Hegseth didn’t specify where the strike took place, but said the boat was operating in an area overseen by the Southern Command, which oversees US military operations in Latin America.
The operation comes just days after the US blasted a drug-smuggling submarine off the coast of Venezuela.
Trump celebrated the operation online and said it was a “great honour” to destroy the sub, which was apparently “loaded up with mostly fentanyl”.
Trump this week announced he would deploy 10,000 US troops, nuclear-capable bombers, and America’s most elite special operations unit — the “Night Stalkers” — to the waters off Venezuela.
He is taking the fight to the all-powerful drug cartels, who he claims are backed by Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro.
The Caribbean is now bracing for its most explosive showdown in decades as Maduro whips his country into a war footing and vows to repel any US attack.
In a dramatic escalation, three B-52 bombers — the same heavy bombers used in Iraq and Syria — flew for hours off Venezuela’s coast this week.
Meanwhile, MH-6 Little Birds and MH-60 Black Hawks from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the Night Stalkers, carried out low-level flights just 90 miles from Venezuelan territory.
The storied unit, famed for the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, specialises in lighting-fast, low-altitude night missions and often carries Green Berets, Navy SEALs and Delta Force operators into battle.
Most of the American force is based in Puerto Rico, with about 2,200 Marines stationed on amphibious assault ships.
The Pentagon has also deployed F-35B stealth fighters, P-8 Poseidon spy planes, and MQ-9 Reaper drones to the region.
Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro has sent a stern response to Washington as he fumed the US wants to oust him and install a “puppet government”.
Maduro stared down Donald Trump’s declaration of war against the cartels, which the President insists are “poisoning” Americans with fentanyl and other drugs.
Trump has accused tyrannical Maduro of being in bed with the “terrorist” narco-cartels – and he has given himself the right to eliminate their members without trial.
Reports say the US is gearing up to seize ports and airfields in Venezuela.
ISRAEL says ceasefire has been restored in Gaza after 46 were killed in a day of violence which threatened to plunge the Strip back into war.
The IDF blitzed “terror targets” in southern Gaza with a wave of airstrikes this morning after it accused Hamas of a “blatant violation of the ceasefire”.
Palestinians said they heard explosionsCredit: Getty
Hamas fired an anti-tank missile and guns towards IDF troops this morning in Rafah, Israel claimed.
Two soldiers – Yaniv Kola and Itay Yavetz – were announced to have been killed.
Hamas denied breaching the ceasefire, saying it was “unaware of any events or clashes” in Rafah and insisting it was still committed to the ceasefire.
In response, the IDF announced a “wave of strikes” in southern Gaza, reporting that “dozens of terror targets” were eliminated.
Reports suggest that six Hamas fighters were killed, and a hospital told the BBC that 44 Gazans died in total today.
Israel also blocked aid from flowing into the Strip – and all this just days after a US-brokered peace deal was declared.
This evening, the IDF said it had “renewed enforcement” of the ceasefire deal – which includes an end to all fighting and aid flooding into Gaza.
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “will retaliate forcefully” to Hamas attacks on its forces.
Netanyahu met with his defence minister and top security chiefs and ordered them “to act forcefully against terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip,” his office said.
An Israeli military official said Hamas fighters launched “multiple attacks” beyond the yellow line marking Israeli military zones, calling it “a blatant violation of the ceasefire.”
These reportedly included an RPG strike and sniper fire against Israeli forces.
The IDF said earlier that on Friday “several terrorists” opened fire on Israeli soldiers in Rafah — causing no injuries — and that troops had struck another group approaching them in Khan Younis.
The military warned it would “continue to operate to remove immediate threats.”
Palestinians in Rafah told Reuters they heard explosions and heavy gunfire, while witnesses in Khan Younis reported a wave of airstrikes and Israeli tank fire near the town of Abassan.
Hamas, for its part, is trying to claim it is sticking to the peace deal.
Its armed wing said it remained committed to the ceasefire “in all areas of Gaza” and claimed it was unaware of any clashes in Rafah.
It said the area was under Israeli control and that “communication with all groups there had been cut off since March.”
“Therefore, we have no connection to any events taking place in those areas, and we cannot communicate with any of our fighters there, if any of them are still alive,” the terror group added.
The Hamas-run media office accused Israel of 47 ceasefire violations since the deal was signed.
It claimed violations included “direct shooting at civilians” and “deliberate shelling.”
Both sides are trading blame, but Israel insists it was Hamas that shattered the truce first.
It comes as the United States warned that Hamas is plotting an “imminent” attack on civilians in Gaza, in what it said would be a serious breach of the ceasefire deal.
The State Department said on Saturday it had “credible reports” that the terror group was preparing a fresh assault against Palestinians, describing it as a “direct and grave violation” of the US-brokered truce.
“Should Hamas proceed with this attack, measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire,” the department said.
The stark warning comes as evidence mounts that Hamas is refusing to abide by the peace agreement it signed last week — a deal that required it to disarm, release hostages and halt all attacks.
Instead, Hamas has continued executing Palestinians in public and is now accused of planning new violence against the very people it claims to represent.
President Donald Trump, whose 20-point plan brought nearly two years of bloodshed to an end, issued a blunt threat: “If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not part of the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them.”
As tensions mount, preparations have been under way for the second phase of President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
Azerbaijan has reportedly joined Indonesia in pledging troops to an Egypt-led international stabilisation force that could be deployed to Gaza, with UN Security Council authorisation expected in the coming days.
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and Vice President JD Vance will travel to Israel on Monday for talks on Gaza’s future governance.
JENNIFER Lopez’s first husband has accused her of cheating on him after she claimed she had never been loved by any of her exes.
Personal trainer Ojani Noa, 51, hit out after US broadcaster Howard Stern asked four-times wed J-Lo if she had ever “truly been loved” and she said “no”.
Jennifer Lopez’s first husband has accused her of cheating on himCredit: Instagram
She added: “What I learned, it’s not that I’m not lovable. It’s that they’re not capable. They don’t have it in them.”
But Ojani, who was married to J-Lo from 1997 to 1998, hit back on social media, saying: “Stop putting us down.
“Stop putting me down with your victim card. The problem is not us. Not me.
“The problem is you. You’re the one who couldn’t keep it in your pants.
“You have been ‘loved’ a few times. You have been married four times. And have had countless relationships in between.
“You’ve had good relationships. Me for example. I was in love with you. I moved out of state to support, protect and care for you.
“I’m an amazing, loving person, great human being.
“Honest, faithful to you, never lied, never misbehaved, never cheated on you. I was too good for you. I’m too good of a man for you.
TWO people have died after a plane careered off a runway and plunged into the sea at Hong Kong airport.
The Boeing 747-400 reportedly struck a car before skidding off course and into the water in the early hours on Monday.
The plane crashed into a car before plunging into the sea in Hong KongCredit: Reuters
The four crew members on board were rescued, the international airport said in a statement.
One ground staff member was rescued as well, while another was missing.
The Emirate SkyCargo flight EK9788, operated by Turkish carrier Air ACT, reportedly veered off the airport’s north runway at around 3:50am.
Local reports said the plane struck a vehicle during landing and tore off one of its wheels.
Emergency services rescued two men at around 5am. One was rushed to North Lantau Hospital where he was treated for life-threatening injuries.
The other passenger was tragically pronounced dead at the scene.
A rescue operation remains in full swing with a helicopter, fire crew, and marine police scouring the area.
The freighter had departed from Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai and was due to land in Hong Kong.
A Cathay Pacific flight was later forced to abort an attempted landing and divert to the south runway after the horror crash.
Shocking pictures show the aircraft partially submerged in the water.
A huge chunk of the plane’s tail appears missing.
The north course remains shut following the incident but the south and centre runways are continuing to operate.
The horror incident comes just days after a budget airliner narrowly escaped hurtling into the ocean at 300mph just moments after take off from an Italian holiday island.
The leaders of Vietnam and Laos were among the foreign dignitaries attending the event marking the 80th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party in PyongyangImage: KCNA/KNS/AFP
North Korea recently celebrated the 80th anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers’ Party, rolling out the red carpet for high-ranking political figures from its allies like China and Russia who were invited to the event.
The leaders of Southeast Asian countries Vietnam and Laos were among the foreign dignitaries attending the huge parade, which involved tens of thousands of troops showcasing Pyongyang’s extensive arsenal of weapons.
The visit by To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, marks the first time a Vietnamese leader has traveled to North Korea in 18 years.
As his party’s general secretary, Lam holds the equivalent position to the one held by North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in the North Korean Workers’ Party.
A diplomatic win for North Korea?
North Korean state media outlet KCNA later reported that Pyongyang and Hanoi had agreed to boost bilateral cooperation, particularly in the areas of defense and health care.
Mark S. Cogan, an associate professor of peace and conflict studies at the Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan, said Lam’s visit was a diplomatic victory for the heavily-sanctioned North Korea.
“It was a sign of legitimacy, as it was the first time a high-ranking Vietnamese official had been on North Korean soil in almost two decades,” he told DW.
“For both sides, the visit is a win-win, as they provide services to each other in a difficult environment. Vietnam has been the corridor for illegal goods from North Korea into the region, bypassing the heavy Western sanctions on the regime,” Cogan said.
Similar political ideology, different economic systems
North Korea and Vietnam are also celebrating the 75th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations in 2025.
Both countries are nominally communist and have similar ideologies on how to rule their population. However, they differ in their economic approaches, said Edward Howell, political scientist and lecturer at the University of Oxford.
“Vietnam and North Korea are not the same. Vietnam’s ideologically communist but economically capitalist system is something that Kim Jong Un does not want to emulate,” said Howell, who is also a Korea Foundation Fellow at think tank Chatham House.
“The fact that North Korea and Vietnam have pledged stronger cooperation in defense, health care and aviation highlights how at least on the surface, Pyongyang wants to find yet another source of material goods,” he underlined.
Pyongyang is still heavily dependent on Beijing, with China being the North’s top trading partner for more than two decades, accounting for roughly 98% of North Korea’s official total trade in 2023, according to a report by the Council on Foreign Relations.
For Hanoi, strengthening cooperation with Pyongyang could be a way to develop economic ties with the North, particularly in the agriculture and culture sectors, Howell said.
But with North Korea being one of the world’s poorest and most reclusive states, its small and centrally planned economy offers limited opportunities for trade.
South Korea’s central bank has estimated that the North’s economy was worth just $24.5 billion (€22.8 billion) in 2022, relying heavily on a few sectors such as mining, agriculture and its massive defense apparatus.
The defense sector is one of the largest employers in the highly centralized totalitarian state, with an estimated 2 million workers out of a population of 26 million.
Originally just a supplier to its own military, North Korea has found a few key overseas customers for its weapons and ammunition — mostly former Soviet countries or those in sub-Saharan Africa.
Deepening ties with Laos
Vietnam’s neighbor Laos was also represented at the Workers’ Party’s 80th anniversary celebrations in Pyongyang, with Thongloun Sisoulith, Laos’ president and general secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, attending the festivities.
North Korean state media reported that Pyongyang and Vientiane had also agreed to deepen their partnership. The two countries have maintained strong diplomatic ties for five decades, but bilateral trade remains negligible.
Still, Laos helps the North in ways other countries will not, Howell said.
“The bolstering of ties between Pyongyang and Vientiane serves to highlight how North Korea has yet another country willing to assist it in evading international sanctions,” he underlined.
Laos also reportedly allows North Korean IT and construction workers to be employed in the country despite international sanctions. The wages earned by these workers generate foreign revenue for the North Korean regime that is allegedly used to support Pyongyang’s military programs.
Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department said in a statement on Monday that the aircraft had “deviated from the north runway after landing and ditched into the sea.”
The northern runway at the world’s busiest cargo airport is closed after the incident.
A cargo plane flying from Dubai skidded off the runway into the sea while landing at Hong Kong International Airport early on Monday, the city’s airport operator said, with local media reporting the deaths of two people.
Photos taken after the accident showed a Boeing 747 cargo aircraft with AirACT livery partially submerged in water near the airport’s sea wall with an escape slide deployed and the nose and tail sections separated.
The four crew members on board the plane were rescued, the Hong Kong airport said in a statement. Two people who were inside a ground vehicle near the runway that was suspected to have been struck by the aircraft have died, the South China Morning Post reported, citing police.
Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The northern runway at the world’s busiest cargo airport is closed after the incident, Hong Kong International Airport said, adding the south and central runways would continue to operate.
The accident occurred around 3:50 am Hong Kong time on Monday (1950 GMT on Sunday).
Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department said in a statement on Monday that the aircraft had “deviated from the north runway after landing and ditched into the sea.”
“Two ground staff were affected and fell into the sea, and their conditions are pending confirmation.”
Emirates said in a statement that flight EK9788 sustained damage on landing in Hong Kong on Monday and was a Boeing 747 cargo aircraft wet-leased from and operated by ACT Airlines.
“Crew are confirmed to be safe and there was no cargo onboard,” Emirates said.
ACT Airlines is a Turkish carrier that provides extra cargo capacity to major airlines. It did not respond immediately to a request for comment outside normal business hours.
“I spoke with Prime Minister Modi of India, and he said he’s not going to be doing the Russian oil thing,” Trump said, reiterating what he said in the past week.
Trump last week said PM Modi had assured him that day that India would stop its Russian oil trade.
US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his claim that India has agreed to restrict its Russian oil purchases. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, the US leader threatened to impose “massive tariffs” on Indian goods unless New Delhi agreed to his terms and halted its purchases.
“I spoke with Prime Minister Modi of India, and he said he’s not going to be doing the Russian oil thing,” he said, reiterating what he said in the past week.
India last week rejected Trump’s claim that he had a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over New Delhi’s Russian oil imports. When asked about India’s assertion, he replied, “But if they want to say that, then they’ll just continue to pay massive tariffs, and they don’t want to do that.”
US Tariffs On India
The remarks came amid growing US pressure on Russia’s trade partners, particularly in the energy sector, which Washington argues indirectly funds Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine.
India has become the biggest buyer of seaborne Russian oil sold at a discount after Western nations shunned purchases and imposed sanctions on Moscow for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Washington has already imposed a sweeping 50 per cent tariff on a large basket of Indian exports. The US tariffs – among the highest in the world – include a 25 per cent penalty for transactions with Russia that are a key source of funds for its war in Ukraine.
Trump has repeatedly said that those duties would remain on India or even increase if New Delhi does not halt its crude trade with Moscow.
Trump’s Claims And India’s Reply
Trump last week said Prime Minister Modi had assured him that day that India would stop its Russian oil purchases.
India’s foreign ministry, however, rejected the claim, saying it was not aware of any telephone conversation between the leaders that day but said that New Delhi’s main concern was to “safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer.”
A White House official said on Thursday that India has halved its purchases of Russian oil, but Indian sources said no immediate reduction had been seen.
The sources said Indian refiners already placed orders for November loading, including some slated for December arrival, so any cut may start showing up in December or January import numbers.
The incident occurred on October 16, during flight UA1093, which was carrying 140 passengers and crew.
United Airlines confirmed that no passengers were injured.
A United Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight travelling from Denver to Los Angeles was forced to make an emergency landing after its windshield cracked midair, injuring one of the pilots.
The incident occurred on October 16, during flight UA1093, which was carrying 140 passengers and crew. The plane was flying at 36,000 feet when the damage was discovered.
According to reports, the aircraft descended to 26,000 feet before safely landing at Salt Lake City International Airport. Passengers were later rebooked on another aircraft, a Boeing 737 MAX 9, and reached Los Angeles after a six-hour delay.
Windshield SHATTERS on Boeing 737 MAX flying from Denver to LA
Windshield cracks, while rare, do happen in aviation. But details surrounding the cause and the pilots’ injuries make this case an unusual one.
Images shared online allegedly show burnt marks on the cracked windshield and bruising on one pilot’s arm. This means that it was not a routine structural crack.
The aircraft was around 322 kilometres southeast of Salt Lake City when the crew spotted the damage and decided to divert. The pilots quickly followed emergency procedures, descending and landing safely.
Aviation enthusiasts believe that space debris or a small meteorite might have caused the impact, based on the scorch marks and unusual damage pattern on the windshield.
Typically, aircraft windshields are designed to withstand bird strikes and major pressure changes, but an object travelling at high speeds could easily breach the threshold.
Trump reportedly shouted, cursed, and tossed maps while urging Zelenskyy to accept Vladimir Putin’s terms, warning that Russia would “destroy” Ukraine if he refused.
US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy. (Reuters File Image)
In a stormy White House meeting, US President Donald Trump reportedly urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s terms for ending the war, warning that Moscow would “destroy” Ukraine if it refused.
According to a Financial Times report, quoting officials, the encounter devolved into a “shouting match”, marked by Trump’s expletive-laden outbursts and erratic behaviour, including throwing away maps of the Ukrainian front line.
‘Accept the deal or be destroyed,’ Trump tells Zelenskyy
During the meeting, Trump is said to have pressed Zelenskyy to surrender the entire Donbas region to Russia, echoing the Russian leader’s position almost verbatim. “Putin told me it’s a special operation, not even a war,” Trump reportedly said, urging Zelenskyy to “cut a deal or face destruction.”
European officials familiar with the conversation said the US leader appeared to parrot Putin’s arguments from a phone call held the day before. Despite publicly declaring earlier that Russia’s economy was on the brink of collapse, Trump allegedly praised its performance during the meeting, saying Moscow was “doing great.”
The US President’s volatile approach, they added, left Zelenskyy stunned and his team frustrated. The Ukrainian leader, who had sought Washington’s approval to receive long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, returned empty-handed after Trump declined the request.
The tense exchange reached a boiling point when Trump reportedly threw aside maps of Ukraine’s battlefield, saying he was “sick” of seeing them. “This red line – I don’t even know where this is. I’ve never been there,” he reportedly exclaimed, dismissing Zelenskyy’s attempts to explain the military situation.
Observers, as quoted by Financial Times, said the episode highlighted Trump’s unpredictable stance on the conflict, alternating between calls for peace and deference to Putin’s “maximalist” demands. It also revived fears among US allies that Trump could undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty in future negotiations.
Putin’s proposal and Ukraine’s refusal
As per reports, Putin has proposed that Ukraine surrender the remaining parts of Donbas still under its control, in exchange for limited territorial concessions in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The offer is seen as a softened version of the proposal Putin presented in their earlier Alaska meeting, which also ended acrimoniously.
However, Ukrainian officials have ruled out any such agreement. Oleksandr Merezhko, head of Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said, “To give the Donbas to Russia without a fight is unacceptable for Ukrainian society, and Putin knows that. It’s about dividing and destroying us from within.”
Trump’s combative stance and apparent sympathy for Putin’s reasoning have rattled Ukraine’s European backers. “Zelenskyy was very negative after the meeting,” said one European diplomat, adding that leaders are now “planning next steps pragmatically, not optimistically.”
The use of word “border” in Qatar’s ceasefire statement upset the Afghan officials, prompting the latter to revise the statement.
A general view shows the Durand Line, an Afghanistan-Pakistan border, in the Shorabak district on October 12, 2025. (AFP)
The recent flare-up between Pakistan and Afghanistan has brought in limelight the Durand Line, boundary between the two countries. The mention of Durand Line as “border” in the ceasefire statement released by Qatar reportedly upset the Afghan officials, prompting the Qatar to issue a revised statement.
In an earlier statement, Qatar said, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the State of Qatar’s hope that this important step will contribute to ending tensions on the border between the two brotherly countries and form a solid foundation for sustainable peace in the region.”
However, the statement was revised to remove the phrase “on the border between the two brotherly countries” and said, “”The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the State of Qatar’s hope that this important step will contribute to ending tensions between the two brotherly countries and form a solid foundation for sustainable peace in the region.”
What is Durand Line?
The boundary line was established in the Hindu Kush in 1893 that connected Afghanistan and British India via tribal lands.
It is a legacy of the 19th-century Great Game between the Russian and British empires in which Afghanistan was used as a buffer by the British against a feared Russian expansionism to its east.
In 1893, the agreement demarcating what became known as the Durand Line was signed between the British civil servant Sir Henry Mortimer Durand and Amir Abdur Rahman, then the Afghan ruler.
Abdur Rahman became king in 1880, two years after the end of the Second Afghan War, in which the British took control of several areas that were part of the Afghan kingdom. His agreement with Durand demarcated the limits of his and British India’s “spheres of influence” on the Afghan “frontier” with India.
The seven-clause agreement recognised a 2,670-km line, which stretches from the border with China to Afghanistan’s border with Iran.
With independence in 1947, Pakistan inherited the Durand Line, and with it also the Pashtun rejection of the line and Afghanistan’s refusal to recognise it.
Why was Afghanistan upset over “border”?
While Islamabad recognises Durand Line as the international border, Afghanistan refuses to do so. Successive Afghan governments, including the Taliban, have dubbed it an artificial division that splits Pashtun tribal lands that undermines the Afghan sovereignty.
In the recent years, the border line has been a flashpoint between the two countries with Islamabad fencing it and Afghan guards tearing down parts of it. While Afghans reject the line as a “colonial relic”, it is a matter of territorial integrity for Pakistan.
Brother of the late Virginia Giuffre calls on King to strip Andrew of the title ‘prince’
Prince Andrew was forced to cancel a birthday party for his wife Sarah Ferguson at the last minuteCredit: Getty
PANICKING Prince Andrew cancelled a birthday party for wife Sarah Ferguson at the last minute as the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal engulfed him.
Fergie had been due to celebrate turning 66 last Wednesday with a lavish bash at their mansion in Windsor.
But Andrew axed it as he faced calls to give up his royal titles, including Duke of York and his role as a member of the prestigious and historic Order of the Garter.
And last night, the brother of the late Virginia Giuffre — who said she had sex with Andrew in London when she was just 17 — called on the King to go even further and strip him of the title “prince”.
He told BBC Newsnight “We would call on the King to potentially go ahead and take out the prince in the Andrew.”
Last night royal author Ingrid Seward said: “People are furious. He might not be a Duke any more, but he still lives like a Prince.
“How can he possibly continue to live on the Windsor Park estate in a 30-room mansion?
“The time has come for the King to tell Andrew to pack up and tell him: ‘I’m sorry, take the money you’ve put into Royal Lodge and start a new life elsewhere.’
“His actions have played a large part in disgracing his family. Does he really want to be the man to play a part in bringing down the monarchy?”
Andrew reportedly paid £12million to settle the legal case brought by Virginia in 2022.
‘Victory for Virginia’
But announcing his titles axe on Friday, he again declared: “I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
Prince William, meanwhile, is said to want to ban Andrew from his future coronation as King — and even exclude him from other royal and state occasions.
He considers his uncle’s presence in royal life a “threat” to the monarchy that could send the wrong message to abuse victims, according to The Sunday Times. It is understood he will also ban Sarah Ferguson from royal events.
In her book Nobody’s Girl — due out on Tuesday, following her suicide in April — Virginia talked about living with an “emotional time bomb” over her ordeal at the hands of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and the prince.
She said she suffered recurring nightmares and flashbacks of “disturbing images”, including “greedy, heaving men”.
In a post on social media, Trump said that two terrorists were killed while two other surviving terrorists were returned to Ecuador and Colombia.
Trump said that the submarine was loaded with fentanyl and other drugs.
President Donald Trump said Saturday the United States was sending two suspected drug traffickers back to their native Ecuador and Colombia, after a military strike on their “drug-smuggling submarine” in the Caribbean that killed two others.
“It was my great honor to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating towards the United States on a well known narcotrafficking transit route,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform, adding that the vessel was loaded with fentanyl and other drugs.
“Two of the terrorists were killed. The two surviving terrorists are being returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia, for detention and prosecution.”
📹 DESTROYED: Confirmed DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE navigating towards the United States on a well-known narcotrafficking transit route.
“Under my watch, the United States of America will not tolerate narcoterrorists trafficking illegal drugs, by land or by sea.” – President Trump pic.twitter.com/N4TAkgPHXN
Colombian President Gustavo Petro confirmed that the Colombian suspect had been repatriated.
“We are glad he is alive and he will be prosecuted according to the law,” Petro said on social media platform X.
The strike, which Trump had announced on Friday, was the latest in an unprecedented US military campaign that he says is aimed at choking the flow of drugs from Latin America to the United States.
At least six vessels, most of them speedboats, have been targeted by US strikes in the Caribbean since September, with Venezuela alleged to be the origin of some of them.
Washington says its campaign is dealing a decisive blow to drug trafficking, but it has provided no evidence that the people killed — at least 27 so far — were drug smugglers.
The passengers are being booked on flights on or after Monday.
Air India said all passengers have been provided hotel accommodations.
Hundreds of passengers returning to India from Italy for Diwali were in for a rude shock on Friday when they were told their Air India flight had been cancelled and they would be booked on flights only on the day of the festival or after that.
Air India said flight AI138 from Milan to Delhi was cancelled because of a technical issue.
“Flight AI138 from Milan to Delhi on 17 October 2025 was cancelled due to an extended technical requirement on the aircraft scheduled to operate the flight, prioritising the safety of all passengers and crew,” an Air India spokesperson said.
The airline said all passengers have been provided hotel accommodations but it had to be arranged outside the immediate vicinity of the airport for some.
“Passengers have been rebooked on alternative flights on or after October 20, 2025, based on seat availability with Air India and other airlines,” the spokesperson said. Monday, October 20, is Diwali.
The airline said one passenger, whose Schengen visa is expiring on Monday, has been rebooked on another airline’s flight on Sunday.
This would set the stage for Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader Sanae Takaichi to be Japan’s first female prime minister.
Leader of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party Sanae Takaichi enters a room to meet Japan Innovation Party’s co-leader Fumitake Fujita (not in the photo) at Japan’s National Diet Building in Tokyo, Japan on Oct 17, 2025. (Photo: Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon)
Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Japan Innovation Party have broadly agreed to form a coalition government, setting the stage for the country’s first female prime minister, Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday (Oct 19).
Sanae Takaichi, leader of the conservative LDP, and Hirofumi Yoshimura – who is the head of the smaller right-leaning group known as Ishin – are set to sign an agreement on their alliance on Monday, Kyodo said.
Ishin’s co-head, Fumitake Fujita, raised expectations for a deal on Friday, saying the two parties had made “big progress” in coalition talks.
Ishin lawmakers will vote for Takaichi in an election to choose the prime minister in parliament on Tuesday, but the party does not plan to send ministers to Takaichi’s Cabinet initially, the news agency said.
Takaichi’s path to succeed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba had seemed all but certain after she won her party’s presidency early this month. But then the long-ruling LDP’s junior partner, Komeito, quit their 26-year coalition, setting off a flurry of negotiations with rival parties to select the next premier.
In an effort to get Ishin on board, the LDP offered to keep working towards banning donations from companies and other organisations and exempting food items from Japan’s sales tax, Kyodo said.
Ishin has proposed eliminating the tax on food items for two years.
Beijing is standing firm in its trade dispute with Washington — and finding new partners along the way. The higher the tariffs, the more China’s confidence seems to grow.
Despite a recent truce in the US-China tariffs spat, many trade issues remain unresolvedImage: imago images/Dreamstime
A recent picture that’s gone viral in the United States captures the prevailing mood among Americans: a clear plastic bag containing an American flag, labeled “Made in China.”
For supporters of US President Donald Trump, it’s proof that something is deeply wrong with the US economy. They’ve called on “patriots” to boycott Chinese goods.
But can America really afford to cut ties? Is the free flow of mutually traded goods like rare earths, smartphones, soybeans and microchips at risk of becoming a victim of the fight for geopolitical dominance?
Deep economic ties
Were all trade between the two world powers to cease, experts say the US economy would struggle more than Chinese economy. Scott Kennedy of the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C. said the mutual dependence of both sides “remains quite high.”
“Despite economic security concerns, both sides still gain significantly from trade,” he told DW.
However, the US-China trade gap is quite significant. Over the past decade, the US trade deficit with China has widened from $295 billion (€252 billion) to $382 billion. In 2024, China exported goods worth $526 billion to the US — more than triple what it imported.
Chinese products are part of everyday life in America. Of those imports, $127 billion were smartphones and computers. Any new tariffs would hit US consumers directly.
Of tariffs and counter-tariffs
Trump’s 100% tariffs have angered Beijing, but unlike Europe, China is responding with defiance. Government officials in Beijing have vowed to “fight to the end” and urged Washington to “correct its approach,” warning in an October 13 statement on social media platform X that “threatening high tariffs is not the right way to deal with China.”
Beijing has already retaliated by imposing counter-tariffs and export restrictions, including on the rare-earth minerals critical to electric vehicles, semiconductors and defense technology. The US depends on imports for more than 90% of its rare earth supply — over 80% of which comes from China. Beijing controls about 60% of global rare-earth production and nearly 90% of refining capacity.
The US-China rift extends beyond minerals. Since May, China hasn’t bought a single soybean from the US, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Last year, those exports were worth nearly $13 billion. Now, China buys from Brazil and Argentina instead.
The soybean boycott and rare-earth restrictions are Beijing’s response to Washington’s tightening chip export controls, first imposed in 2022 to curb China’s access to advanced technology and artificial intelligence (AI).
Christina Otte from the German state-run foreign investment agency, Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), argues the US is likely more dependent on China than the other way around.
“While the US remains a key market for Chinese goods, its importance has steadily declined since Trump’s first term,” she told DW.
New markets, new strategy
According to news agency Bloomberg, China has successfully redirected exports once bound for the US to other regions.
Between September 2024 and September 2025, shipments to Africa rose 56%, the agency reported — to Southeast Asia 16%, to the EU 14%, and to Latin America 15%.
“The US now ranks behind ASEAN [Southeast Asian trade bloc] and roughly on par with the EU,” said Otte. “In the first half of 2025, bilateral trade fell more than 10% year over year.”
Chinese firms are also “expanding production in countries like Vietnam and Malaysia to keep supplying the US market indirectly,” she added.
In addition, China is also cutting financial ties to the heavily indebted US. Its holdings of US Treasury securities have dropped from $1.3 trillion in 2013 to $765 billion this year, according to data from the US Federal Reserve. China now ranks behind Japan and the UK among foreign holders of US debt.
Experts say that consumers are likely to face even tighter controls but as long as safeguards are clear and proportionate, with a proper avenue for recourse, there is no need to be concerned.
Some consumers feel the authorities are being overly cautious and argue that tighter safeguards are only meant to protect a small pool of naive individuals, at the detriment of everyone else. (Illustration: CNA/Nurjannah Suhaimi)
When 29-year-old Kenneth Lee noticed an investment opportunity in a Telegram channel earlier this year, it appeared legitimate enough.
At first, he made small transfers of S$500 or S$1,000 – and even saw small “profits” reflected in the app. Encouraged, he sent larger amounts of S$5,000, S$10,000, and finally larger sums of S$20,000.
Over two months, he had transferred close to S$165,000 – his entire life savings. Then the chat group disappeared and the money vanished.
“If the bank had just called me or paused any of the transfers, I’d have been super grateful,” said Mr Lee, a marketing professional.
He added that the slew of measures introduced this year to curb scams are necessary given how rampant scams have been as of late.
“It’s getting out of control.”
While individuals like Mr Lee are glad for added protections, some consumers feel the authorities are being overly cautious and argue that such safeguards are only meant to protect a small pool of naive individuals, at the detriment of everyone else.
Among their gripes: the new safeguards are troublesome and the 24-hour delay or sudden transaction blocks can be disruptive for people making urgent or legitimate transfers.
Then, there’s also the issue of what kind of controls banks and authorities should have over personal accounts.
Mr Rain Tan, 48, said he understands there is merit for scam prevention but finds it “too broad a brush”. The civil servant said he has savings in fixed deposits and the safeguards make it cumbersome to move large deposits between banks.
“It’s almost impossible for me to switch banks easily after my fixed deposit expires,” he said. “My daily transfer limit is capped at S$200,000, so it takes several days to move my money, with cooldowns and waiting periods in between.”
He suggested that the bank should have a pre-approved or whitelist of payees that go through stringent checks, and these customers should be exempt from these measures.
“Most of the time, people – myself included – are just transferring money to their own accounts in another bank. Can you imagine how many days it would take to move, say, half a million, even if the other account is in my name?”
These latest powers given to Singapore banks and the police to intervene when they detect potential scams comes after much public consultation and debate and almost as a last resort to get the upper hand over scammers.
Like many other countries globally, the nation has been grappling with an uptick in scams for several years.
Scams ranked among the top crimes in Singapore for the last four years – in the first half of this year alone Singapore residents lost S$456.4 million to scams.
A shared responsibility framework was first announced back in February 2022 after close to 800 OCBC customers lost S$13.7 million.
The following year the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Infocomm Media Development Authority started gathering feedback for the framework which aims to strengthen the direct accountability of financial institutions and telcos to customers for losses incurred from phishing scams.
The public consultation paper captured the suggestions of several members of the public on making financial institutions responsible for fraud surveillance and detection and block potential fraudulent transactions.
In January, a new law was passed providing the police with powers to order banks to restrict the banking transactions of potential scam victims.
The Protection from Scams Bill came into force in July and allows police to issue Restriction Orders that temporarily limit access to a person’s bank account if they believe the person is part of an ongoing scam.
These restriction orders will suspend money transfers, the use of automated teller machines and all credit facilities, although individuals will still be provided access to their monies for daily living expenses.
Such orders can be issued for a maximum of 30 days at the outset and each order may be extended up to five times if authorities deem it necessary.
Just earlier this week, a new anti-scam measure was also introduced which allows banks to hold or reject transfers from accounts with balances of at least S$50,000 and if withdrawals over 24 hours amount to more than half of the total funds.
During the 24-hour cooling period, customers who realise they have been scammed can then cancel the transaction. If the transactions are legitimate, the funds will be released after the cooling period.
LESS COAXING, MORE CONCRETE WAYS TO HELP: BANKS
Banks said that increasing their powers to keep scams at bay is absolutely necessary given the proliferation of artificial intelligence and deepfake technology.
The modus operandi of scammers is continually evolving and at a rapid pace, even fooling those who are digitally savvy, they said.
And without such measures, their hands are tied even when they are 100 per cent certain their customers are being drained of their funds.
Mr Sukhvinder Singh, head of digital banking at Maybank Singapore, said that before the new laws took effect, frontline staff at the bank often felt legally constrained from stepping in.
Maybank staff would encounter customers who were “absolutely convinced” they couldn’t be scammed and became defensive when questioned about their transactions.
Some customers even threatened to close their accounts or post complaints on social media if their withdrawal requests weren’t processed, he added.
“These experiences were incredibly challenging because, at the time, the bank had limited legal grounds to delay or stop a transaction without the customer’s consent,” said Mr Singh.
Mr Raymond See, a member of DBS’s Anti-Scam team, said even now with new laws in place, defensive customers push back and lash out at his team, insisting that a transfer be approved.
“We have to stay firm and not let the transfer go through, because our goal is to save as much of the customer’s money as possible,” he said, adding that no amount is too small to save once a scam has been identified.
In the end, he said, “quite a number of customers” – even those who argue – call the bank within the 24h window to cancel the transactions themselves.
“The 24-hour period gives customers a cognitive break … a chance to step back, think and sometimes talk to someone they trust before proceeding,” said Mr See.
Banks acknowledged that the new measures may seem restrictive but said they were in place to ultimately protect consumers.
Mr Singh said that safeguards need to “strike the right balance between protecting customer rights and preventing irreversible losses”.
Mrs Ong-Ang Ai Boon, the director of The Association of Banks, said that measures have already yielded positive results with S$78 million of loss monies averted in the first seven months of this year.
“While these measures may introduce more friction, consumers’ protection is a priority,” she said.
In response to queries from CNA TODAY, the Police said that as of September, they have issued six restriction orders to banks to restrict the banking transactions of six individuals.
The ring sits in the centre of the hall, with a temple roof suspended above it, and a round LED screen above that
There are not many sports that can keep an audience enraptured through 45 minutes of ceremony before the first point is even contested.
And yet, the intricate traditions unfolding in a small clay ring – virtually unchanged in hundreds of years – managed to do just that.
Welcome, then, to the Grand Sumo Tournament – a five-day event at the Royal Albert Hall featuring 40 of the very best sumo wrestlers showcasing a sport which can date its first mention back to 23BC.
London’s Victorian concert venue has been utterly transformed, complete with six-tonne Japanese temple roof suspended above the ring.
It is here the wrestlers, known as rikishi, will perform their leg stomps to drive away evil spirits, and where they will clap to get the attention of the gods.
And above all this ancient ceremony, a giant, revolving LED screen which wouldn’t look out of place at an American basketball game, offering the audience all the stats and replays they could want.
Sumo may be ancient, and may have strict rules governing every aspect of a rikishi’s conduct, but it still exists in a modern world.
And that modern world is helping spread sumo far beyond Japan’s borders.
It was a “random video” which first caught Sian Spencer’s attention a couple of years ago.
This was quickly followed by the discovery of dedicated YouTube channels for a couple of the sumo stables, where rikishi live and train, waking up early to practise, followed by a high protein stew called a chankonabe, and then an afternoon nap – all in the service of bulking up.
Then she discovered the bi-monthly, 15 day championships, known as basho, and from there, she was hooked.
The London tournament was simply a “once-in-a-lifetime”, not-to-be-missed, opportunity to see it all in real life, the 35-year-old says.
Julia and her partner Cezar, who live in Edinburgh, discovered sumo through a more traditional route: a trip to Japan six years ago.
“We saw it as a very touristy activity, but we actually ended up loving the sport,” says Julia, 34.
“From there on, we tried to find communities, information, just to learn more and more about it,” Cezar, 36, adds.
Colleagues, friends and family, they found, could be quite taken aback by their new passion.
“It’s the only sport we watch,” explains Julia – so they found like-minded people on messaging apps like Telegram.
“We found Italian groups, English groups,” says Julia.
“Outside of Japan, online is the only way to interact with the sport,” adds Cezar.
Going to Japan is almost the only way to see a top-flight sumo tournament.
This week’s event in London is only the second time the tournament has visited the city – the first time was in 1991 – while the last overseas trip was to Jakarta in 2013.
But even going to Japan isn’t a guarantee of getting a seat. Last year was the first time in 24 years that all six of the bi-monthly, 15-day events had sold out in 28 years, Kyodo News reported – fueled by interest at home, and by the tourist boom which saw more than 36m foreigners visit in 2024.
So for many, the London tournament is the first time they have watched sumo in person – and it doesn’t disapoint.
“Seeing it up close, you get a sense of the speed and the power which you don’t get on TV. It was incredible,” says Caspar Eliot, a 36-year-old fan from London. “They are so big.”
To win, one man needs to push another out of the ring or to the ground using brute strength. The majority use one of two styles to achieve this, often in split seconds – pushing, or grappling.
Either way, the sound of the two rikishi colliding in the first moment of the match reverberates around the hall.
A group of 59 South Koreans detained in Cambodia for alleged involvement in online scams have been repatriated in handcuffs.
The group arrived at Incheon Airport on Saturday morning, several days after South Korea sent a team to Cambodia to discuss scam centre kidnappings of its nationals.
They are among around 200,000 people estimated by the UN to have been drawn into scamming schemes across Southeast Asia, some lured by the appeal of well-paying jobs and others forced to participate.
Officials made the journey to Cambodia following reports that a South Korean student involved in a scamming scheme had allegedly died after being tortured, according to Reuters news agency.
Another five South Koreans have also been deported for other criminal offences.
The majority of the group were arrested during a crackdown by Cambodian authorities, while five reportedly turned themselves in and escaped the network, BBC Korea has reported.
From the airport, they will now be taken to the relevant police stations for investigation.
The individuals were arrested on board the chartered flight shortly after boarding, the official said, according to Agence France-Presse.
Under South Korean law, a national carrier’s aircraft is considered Korean territory, allowing law enforcement to execute arrest warrants.
South Korean National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac had said that the members of the repatriated group had both “voluntary and involuntary” involvement in the scams.
“Most of them should be regarded as having committed criminal acts, Wi said.
Their return has taken place alongside high-level diplomacy over cyber crime.
In a post on social media, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said he had met with a South Korean official to discuss “combatting transnational crimes, particularly online scams”.
“Cambodia and the Republic of Korea will continue to strengthen our collaboration to prevent, suppress, and combat online scams more effectively,” he wrote.
The return of the group also follows a crackdown by the US government on a Cambodian business empire alleged to be running a crypto scam earlier this week, that saw the seizure of over $14bn (£10.5bn) in bitcoin.
Crypto fraud is just one of the several types of scam schemes run from centres in the region, with some overseeing romance fraud or ‘love scams’, which involve scammers posing as lovers online to steal money.
A noticeably frail Joe Biden was seen in public Saturday for the first time since news broke that he is undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer — attending evening Mass at St. Joseph on the Brandywine, the Roman Catholic church he has frequented for decades.
The 82-year-old former president was photographed leaving the hour-long service, walking slowly and holding onto a woman for support.
A large scar above his right eye — the result of recent skin cancer surgery — was still visible as he greeted parishioners outside the church following the 50-minute Mass.
Ex-President Joe Biden was seen in public for the first time since news broke of his receiving of radiation therapy for his prostate cancer. Mr Owl For NY Post
Biden, dressed in a dark suit, chatted quietly with several attendees for about 10 minutes before departing without his wife, Jill Biden, who did not accompany him to the service.
It marked his first public outing since it was disclosed last week that he had begun a five-week course of radiation and hormone therapy for Stage 4 prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.
Representatives for the former president said the regimen is expected to last about five weeks.
Doctors have described his cancer as high-grade, with a Gleason score of nine, though hormone-sensitive — allowing for management through medication and radiation. The highest score on the Gleason scale is 10.
“High-grade” means the cancer cells differ greatly from normal cells, so they behave more aggressively and have a higher chance of spreading beyond the prostate.
Biden has been taking hormone pills and receiving care, according to reports.
The diagnosis came after Biden reported urinary issues earlier this year, leading doctors to detect a small nodule on his prostate.
In addition to the prostate cancer, he has twice undergone skin cancer procedures — most recently last month, when surgeons removed lesions from his forehead that left a visible scar.
In 2023, then-President Biden also had a cancerous growth removed from his chest. His physician previously said those earlier procedures were successful and required no further intervention.
Biden’s health and age became central to political debates during his final year in office.
Mounting concerns about his fitness — intensified after a faltering debate performance against Donald Trump — led him to end his re-election campaign in July 2024 and endorse then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who later lost to Trump.
Since leaving the White House in January, Biden has kept a low profile, surfacing mainly for medical updates and limited public appearances.
A twisted Illinois State University faculty member was arrested after allegedly flipping a Turning Point USA table on campus this week, viral video shows.
The accused vandal, Derek Lopez, was caught on camera speaking to a man standing near the table — which had been set up by students in the group to promote political YouTuber and comedian Alex Stein’s Oct. 20 event at the university, according to video, local police and various X posts about the ugly incident.
“Well, you know, Jesus did it, so you know I gotta do it, right?” Lopez, 27, of El Paso, Ill. — a teacher’s assistant and graduate student at the university — tells the man before the footage shows him tossing the table over, sending pins, flyers and other items rocketing into the air.
The table had been set up by the group of students to promote political YouTuber and comedian Alex Stein’s Oct. 20 event at the university x/jessburbac
NO CLASS: A teacher’s assistant at Illinois State University flips over a Turning Point USA students’ table and tears down flyers promoting an upcoming event. pic.twitter.com/v4yg5eTKMg
Lopez who sports red pants, a black and red flannel and a bun in the clip, is then seen taking off with a wave.
“Thanks guys, have a great day,” he sneers.
Lopez – who allegedly disrupted a second informational table hosted by a student organization – was arrested by cops on Friday, and charged with disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property, the Illinois State University Police Department wrote on Facebook.
Details about the second incident were not immediately available.
Video of him tossing the Turning Point USA table, which has amassed nearly 50,000 views on Fox News’ X profile since it was posted Saturday afternoon, has sparked fierce backlash online, where thousands of commenters have called on the university to act.
“Imagine paying $30K a year for tuition just to see your TA reenact a toddler meltdown in 4K. No class, literally,” one user wrote.
“Actions like that show a complete lack of respect for free speech and open debate. College should be about ideas, not tantrums and censorship,” another said.
“He should not be in any class with those temper tantrums,” another echoed.
1 of 2 | Kyiv residents expressed disappointment Saturday after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he was leaning against selling long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. (AP video by Bela Szandelszky)
Ukrainians shared their disappointment Saturday that the U.S. may not provide Kyiv with long-range Tomahawk missiles, while work to repair the damaged power supply to the country’s Zaporizhzhia power plant soothed other concerns surrounding Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, after the U.S. leader signaled that Washington could provide Ukraine with the long-range missiles Kyiv believes will help bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.
Yet Zelenskyy ultimately left empty-handed — an outcome that dismayed, but did not surprise, many in the streets of the Ukrainian capital, who maintained their determination to end Russia’s 3 1/2-year invasion of their country.
One Ukrainian military serviceman, Roman Vynnychenko, told The Associated Press that he believed the prospect of Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine was a political “game.” “Ukraine won’t get those missiles,” he said.
Vynnychenko said Ukraine still needed to procure new weapons with or without American help, particularly as Russian drones and missiles continued to hit civilian infrastructure.
“Every day civilians and soldiers die, buildings collapse, our streets and cities are being destroyed,” Vynnychenko said.
Russia invaded its smaller neighbor in February 2022, sparking a 3 1/2-year conflict that has become a grinding war of attrition across a 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) frontline in Ukraine’s east and south.
Trump’s frustration with the conflict has surfaced repeatedly in the nine months since he returned to office. In recent weeks, he had shown growing impatience with Putin and expressed greater openness to helping Ukraine win the war, including with the sale of Tomahawks.
But Trump’s tone shifted again after he held a lengthy phone call with Putin on Thursday and announced that he planned to meet with the Russian leader in Budapest, Hungary, in the coming weeks.
The talks raise new hopes that diplomatic progress could be made to end the war. But after multiple failed starts, Ukrainians are reluctant to believe that a significant breakthrough will take place soon.
“To tell you the truth, I look at the news, but nowadays I read only the headlines. And even those make me sad,” Victoria Khramtsova, a psychologist, told the AP. “We have been at war for more than three years. We just want peace.”
In the meantime, Russia continued its aerial bombardment of Ukraine, launching three missiles and 164 drones overnight, Ukraine’s Air Force said Saturday. It said that Ukrainian forces shot down 136 of the drones.
Two people were injured after Russian drones targeted a gas station in the Zarichny district of Sumy in northeast Ukraine, local officials said Saturday. They were two women aged 51 and 53, according to regional Gov. Oleh Hryhorov.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally assured him that his country would stop buying Russian oil.
The change, which has not been confirmed by the Indian government, would boost Trump’s efforts to pressure Moscow to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
“There will be no oil. He’s not buying oil,” Trump said. The change won’t take immediately, he said, but “within a short period of time.”
The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump has been frustrated by his inability to force an end to the war in Ukraine, which began with Russia’s invasion almost four years ago. He’s expressed dissatisfaction with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he increasingly describes as the primary obstacle to a resolution, and he’s scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday.
India is the second biggest purchaser of Russian oil, after China, and Trump punished India with higher tariffs in August.
On the morning after the U.S. election in November, an American living in London woke up, read that Donald Trump would be returning to the White House and sent an email to the U.S. Embassy. It said — in essence — I want a divorce.
A year later, the country of his birth is about to grant his request not to be an American anymore.
The man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he fears retribution by the Trump administration, is in the final phase of expatriation, the process of formally renouncing U.S. citizenship.
On a coming morning, he will walk into the embassy as an American, swear face-to-face that he understands that what he has requested is irrevocable and that he is doing it voluntarily. He will pay $2,350 in fees and walk out again as — a former American? A non-American? An un-American?
It’s strange.
“As soon as I open my mouth people know I’m American,” said the man, who left the United States at age 25 and built a career in Britain’s nonprofit sector, got a British passport and made a British life in the London suburbs. All the while, he felt his American identity wither and then, when a politician he loathes returned to power, die.
“Once I renounce, that’s it, I’m just British,” said the man. He is not alone.
Others interviewed for this article, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the fear of retribution by a president who insists he is making America greater, is indicative of the tipping-point changes that led them, after years of deliberation, to finally cut ties with their homeland.
“This government is so vindictive,” the man said. “It’s such a changed country from the one I left behind.”
Each year, some 5,000 to 6,000 Americans living abroad call it quits with the United States. The reasons most often cited are tax-related and logistical, according to immigration lawyers who handle renunciation cases. But these days, politics is playing a more central role, they say.
The United States is one of only two countries — along with Eritrea — that taxes income based on citizenship rather than residency, requiring Americans abroad to file annual returns with the IRS in addition to those required by the country where they live or work.
Some banks, daunted by the onerous extra reporting requirements imposed by Washington, won’t let American citizens open accounts or charge them extra fees. Some countries, including Japan and Qatar, don’t allow dual citizenship, forcing U.S. expats to chose one passport or the other.
Even former British prime minister Boris Johnson, born in New York to British parents, renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2016 after complaining of an “absolutely outrageous” IRS bill from the sale of his London house.
But increasingly, according to lawyers who handle such cases and the chatter in online forums — a Facebook group called “Renounce U.S. Citizenship — Why and How” has almost 3,000 members — renouncers cite unhappiness with U.S. politics and policy as part of their motivation.
“Politics is definitely more part of the mix lately,” said Maya Buckley, a London attorney. “When we ask the question of ‘Why now?’ that has become one of the factors.”
Between 2024 and 2025, the percentage of U.S. citizens living abroad considering renouncing rose to 49 percent from 30 percent, according to an annual survey by Greenback, an international tax consultancy. Of those, 61 percent cited “taxes” among their reasons and 51 percent included “dissatisfaction with the U.S. government or political direction.”
Renouncers describe keeping a mental tally of arcane hassles that come with the overseas lifestyle that many have chosen for themselves: being blocked from banks, extra fees and reporting requirements, paying accountants to deal with tax agencies in two countries, additional taxes when selling a house or stocks.
For many, it was all annoying but bearable given that renunciation is an irreversible step that means losing the right to live or work in the United States and possible difficulties, including obtaining visas, in visiting family.
Then came the upheavals in the United States, the growing divisiveness, the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, legal challenges to voting rights, school shootings, cancel culture. For Republicans, it was “wokeness” ruining the country. For Democrats, it was Trump.
“I wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for the election,” the London man said. “I just couldn’t understand, and still can’t, how a third of Americans can think a felon and sex offender is the right guy for the job.”
Colleen McCutcheon, 33, was born in Ohio to her American mother and Canadian father. She grew up mostly in Canada, crossing the border frequently to visit family. In 2018 she moved to London for school and stayed to work.
McCutcheon had noticed a shift in U.S. attitudes over recent years that made it harder and harder to imagine living in her birth land again. She worried about the opioid crisis, the lack of affordable health care, the coarsening political rhetoric.
While escorting her grandfather to a ceremony for veterans at the World War II memorial in 2017 in Washington, she was dismayed at how vitriolic the discourse had become.
“It was a collection of things that happened along the way, bit by bit, that gave me the feeling that I no longer had any sense of being American,” she said. The bother of renewing the passport no longer seemed worth it.
After her grandfather died and she didn’t have to worry about being blocked at passport control, she submitted to renounce her U.S. citizenship, sending the email on the very day she learned she could stay permanently in Britain.
It was, as it happened, Election Day 2024 in the United States. She had just voted by absentee ballot in Hamilton County, Ohio, for what turned out to be the last time.
She and others petitioning for an amicable breakup got a warning from the U.S. Embassy to be patient: “Due to unprecedented demand for loss of nationality services, we are unable to provide estimated wait times for appointments.”
The U.S. Embassy and State Department declined to comment. Many federal agencies prohibit media teams from operating during a government shutdown.
Covid created a backlog in big embassies like London. Post-election renouncers have only added demand, and some lawyers send their clients to U.S. embassies in Malta, Prague and other European capitals where the wait for appointments is shorter.
Abbie, 41, a Londoner who spoke on the condition that she be identified only by her first name, flew to Latvia in July to officially sever her relationship with the country where she was born in the Reagan era to a British couple working in the United States.
She lived in New England for five years, and her mother became a naturalized American citizen. But Abbie, who is married to a European and raising purely British children, considers herself an “accidental American,” someone whose citizenship is more circumstantial than cultural. It’s a common category of citizenship renouncer.
Still, it was hard to go through the strange unwinding of all those Pledges of Allegiance she had recited as a child. “I hereby absolutely and entirely renounce my United States nationality together with all rights and privileges and all duties and allegiance and fidelity thereunto pertaining,” reads the oath of renunciation.
“I identify as a European, but I’ve always been proud to be American-ish,” Abbie said. “It’s a strange existential thing to stand there and raise your hand and say, ‘I am now laying that part of myself down to rest.’”
The process is laborious and slow. Would-be renouncers must have another citizenship to fall back on. They must demonstrate that they are up-to-date on U.S. tax filings for the previous five years. Certain high-earners or those who haven’t filed recent tax returns could be hit with an exit tax that calculates a capital gains liability as if you had liquidated all your assets on the day you renounced. Most renouncers don’t face that, lawyers said.
Rounds were fired on Friday across Interstate 5 as part of a test for Saturday’s event in Southern California. The state shut a section of the freeway.
The Marines fired 155-millimeter artillery shells over a major freeway in Southern California on Saturday as part of a demonstration at Camp Pendleton.Credit…Gregory Bull/Associated Press
The Marines fired 155-millimeter artillery shells over a major freeway in Southern California on Saturday as part of a demonstration at Camp Pendleton to celebrate the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary.
The plans to fire over the freeway triggered outrage by Gov. Gavin Newsom late Friday night after his office had been informed days earlier that the celebration would not involve firing munitions across Interstate 5, a heavily traveled corridor between Los Angeles and San Diego.
Early Saturday, Mr. Newsom said the state would shut a 17-mile section of the freeway from noon to 3 p.m. Pacific time because of potential hazards posed by the military’s plans.
“This is a profoundly absurd show of force that could put Californians directly in harm’s way,” Mr. Newsom said in a statement to The New York Times.
He criticized President Trump and said the lack of coordination among state, federal and local officials was creating a dangerous situation. The artillery demonstration, which was attended by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and military officials, took place on the same day that anti-Trump activists held “No Kings” protests across the country, including in Southern California.
“Using our military to intimidate people you disagree with isn’t strength — it’s reckless, it’s disrespectful, and it’s beneath the office the president holds,” Mr. Newsom said.
But a spokesman for Mr. Vance said the Marine Corps had assessed that the exercise posed no threat.
“Gavin Newsom wants people to think this exercise is dangerous,” William Martin, Mr. Vance’s communications director, said in a statement. “The Marine Corps says it’s an established and safe practice. Newsom wants people to think this is an absurd show of force. The Marine Corps says it’s part of routine training at Camp Pendleton.”
“If Gavin Newsom wants to oppose the training exercises that ensure our Armed Forces are the deadliest and most lethal fighting force in the world, then he can go right ahead,” Mr. Martin added.
Mr. Newsom said he’s all for celebrating military heroes but wanted more communication about the plans. State officials said they had received few details from the federal government about the activities involved in Saturday’s celebration, other than a request to post a message alerting motorists of live fire on the electronic signs that line the freeway.
The freeway closure became the latest flashpoint between Mr. Newsom and the Trump administration, which have been jousting intensely since the president took control of some 4,000 California National Guard troops in June, over the governor’s objections, to respond to protests over immigration enforcement.
The state’s decision to close the freeway defied the guidance of federal officials, who had said the freeway would remain open during the demonstration. But Mr. Newsom said state highway officials determined the live fire exercise created an extreme safety risk and a distraction to drivers because of unexpected and loud explosions.
The section that closed was between Harbor Drive and Basilone Road, and traffic delays were expected throughout the region. About 80,000 people a day travel on the stretch of interstate between San Diego and Orange Counties, according to the governor’s office.
The vice president, himself a former enlisted Marine who served in Iraq, and other dignitaries observed what the Marine Corps called an “amphibious capabilities demonstration” at the base, which involved active duty Marines coming ashore from the sea at an oceanfront training area.
That strip of shoreline, called Red Beach, is along Interstate 5 just south of the decommissioned San Onofre nuclear power plant and is closed to the public. It was visited frequently by former President Richard M. Nixon in the 1970s because of the security and seclusion it offered.
To prepare for Saturday’s event, artillery rounds from M777 howitzers were fired from Red Beach east over Interstate 5 on Friday evening as a test run, said Capt. Gregory Dreibelbis, a spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, which is based at Camp Pendleton. Vehicular traffic along the interstate was not closed off while the artillery guns were firing, he said in a statement.
“M777 artillery pieces have historically been fired during routine training from land-based artillery firing points west of I-5 into impact areas east of the interstate within existing safety protocols and without the need to close the route,” Capt. Dreibelbis said. He called the test firings an “established and safe practice” as a rehearsal for Saturday’s event.
The shells fired by M777 howitzers, which are about six inches in diameter and two feet long, typically weigh about 90 pounds and can be fired at targets more than 15 miles away.
Marine officials did not disclose whether the shells fired Friday were high-explosive rounds, or inert practice projectiles often used for military training.
The military had planned to fire multiple rounds on Saturday but made a decision to fire only one round, according to Marines on site for the exercise.
A video of the incident has surfaced showing the Thadani dancing on the road while randomly verbally abusing passersby. He can be seen yelling at people and pointing the pistol-shaped lighter at them.
Viral video screengrab | X/@Benarasiyaa
An Indian man was arrested and charged after he was seen threatening passersby with a pistol-shaped lighter in Bangkok’s Siam Square, reported Bangkok Post. The man has been identified as Indian national Sahil Ram Thadani.
A video of the incident has surfaced showing the Thadani dancing on the road while randomly verbally abusing passersby. He can be seen yelling at people and pointing the pistol-shaped lighter at them.
In the second half of the clip, the 41-year-old man is sitting on the ground as security guards seize the lighter. Despite the guards asking him to get up, he remains seated, prompting them to drag him off the ground.
The man can be heard crying and asking for the police to be called as the guards use mild force. He is then heard apologising for his actions.
The incident reportedly took place at about 4pm on Monday (14 October) in front of Novotel Bangkok in Siam Square soi 6, Pathum Wan district. Later Police were called to the spot.
An Indian in Bangkok was spotted roaming on the road threatening commuters with “lighter gun” and hurling abuses. He was later detained by the police authorities. pic.twitter.com/1lc0Vnzt4O
Reportedly, Thadani was a director of three companies in India that had all ceased operations.
Police Action
Thadani was taken to Pathum Wan police station where he was charged with threatening behaviour and causing a public disturbance. According to the police, his behavior was believed to be a result of hallucinations from ingesting cannabis.
Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir revived anti-India rhetoric at a cadet ceremony even as the military struggles against intensifying Taliban attacks. His remarks are being seen as an attempt to shift focus from the criticism back home.
Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir revived anti-India rhetoric at a cadet ceremony in Kakul, Abbottabad. (File Photo: Reuters)
Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir has once again fallen back on anti-India rhetoric as his forces faced serious setbacks in clashes with the Taliban along the Afghanistan border. Speaking at the passing-out parade at the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) in Abbottabad, Munir, without naming India, claimed there was “no space for war in a nuclearised environment”.
Resorting to empty rhetoric, the army chief of Pakistan, a state-sponsor of terrorism, said that even a “minor provocation” would invite a “decisive” response from Pakistan. However, the fallacy of Pakistan army’s strength was exposed by India during Operation Sindoor, where the armed forces not only flattended nine terror camps deep inside Pakistan, but also targeted 11 military bases.
“Should a fresh wave of hostilities be triggered, Pakistan would respond much beyond the expectations of the initiators,” Munir said. “With diminishing distinctions between conflict and communication zones, the reach and lethality of our weapon systems will shatter the misconceived immunity of India’s geographic war-space,” he further added.
Continuing with his provocative tirade, the army chief cautioned that the onus of future escalations, “one that may ultimately bear catastrophic consequences for the entire region and beyond”, would squarely lie with India.
Perhaps, Munir forgot how India left Pakistan embarassed during the hostilities in May by jamming its Chinese-made air defence systems and destroying 8–10 fighter jets. The jets included US-made F-16s and Chinese JF-17s, as was revealed by Indian Air Force (IAF) chief AP Singh earlier this month.
Munir’s remarks come at a time when the Pakistani army is facing criticism back home over its handling of the deteriorating security situation along the Afghan border, which has witnessed intense clashes.
Observers see Munir’s remarks as an attempt to deflect public attention from internal setbacks by invoking Pakistan’s familiar anti-India narrative.
Munir also issued a warning to the Taliban regime, demanding action against militant groups operating from Afghan soil, particularly the TTP.
“A handful of terrorists cannot harm Pakistan,” he said, vowing to “raise to dust” all proxies using Afghanistan as a base. His statement follows recent Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan, carried out days after a short-lived ceasefire between Islamabad and Kabul.
Munir urged the Afghan leadership to “choose between peace and chaos”, insisting that all groups using Afghan territory to target Pakistan would face a decisive response. Kabul, however, has denied Islamabad’s allegations, maintaining that Afghan soil is not being used against any neighbouring country.
Reaffirming Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir, Munir urged India to resolve “core issues” under international law and reiterated Islamabad’s commitment to providing “moral and diplomatic support” to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Referring to the recent conflict with India, Munir claimed Pakistan’s armed forces demonstrated “remarkable professionalism” and “far-reaching capabilities” by neutralising threats.
The government has said it is “doing everything in our power” to overturn a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending a football match in Birmingham and is exploring what additional resources could be required.
On Thursday, Aston Villa said the city’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG) decided that fans of the Israeli club should not be permitted to attend the Europa League fixture on 6 November over safety concerns.
Facing mounting pressure to resolve the situation, the government said it was working with police and exploring what additional resources are required.
A meeting of the SAG to discuss the match is expected next week, the Home Office said.
“No one should be stopped from watching a football game simply because of who they are,” a government spokesperson said.
They added the government was working with police and other bodies to ensure the game could “safely go ahead with all fans present”.
After it was announced on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer called the move to block fans attending “wrong”, adding “we will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets”. There has also been criticism from other party leaders.
The SAG, which advises the council on whether to issue safety certificates, will review the decision if West Midlands Police changes its risk assessment for the match, Birmingham City Council said.
On Thursday, West Midlands Police said it had classified the fixture as “high risk” based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including “violent clashes and hate crime offences” between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv fans before a match in Amsterdam in November 2024.
More than 60 people were arrested over the violence, which city officials described as a “toxic combination of antisemitism, hooliganism, and anger” over the war in Gaza, Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East.
The Home Office was briefed that restrictions on visiting fans might be imposed last week, but the BBC understands officials were not informed about the final decision until Thursday.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the revelation left the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, with “serious questions to answer” about why her department did “nothing” to avert the ban.
She said: “This is a weak government that fails to act when required.”
A source close to Mahmood told the BBC that “this is categorically untrue”.
“The first time the home secretary knew that the fans were being banned was last night,” they added.
The decision has also been criticised by the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK, as well as Israeli government officials.
But the Green Party backed the decision, saying it was “irresponsible” for Starmer to question a local authority’s safety decision.
Ayoub Khan, an independent MP for Birmingham Perry Barr who campaigned on a pro-Gaza platform in last year’s general election, said the decision to ban fans was a “moral question” and not just about public safety.
Speaking on BBC’s Politics Midlands, Khan said the rules applied to “Russian football teams which have been banned from European competitions because of their atrocities in Ukraine” should also “apply with Israeli football teams”.
Khan, who has also raised concerns about safety and public order, said that even if additional resources were provided to West Midlands Police, the fans should not be allowed to attend, citing last year’s violence in Amsterdam.
Emily Damari, a British-Israeli citizen who was held hostage in Gaza and released in January, said she was “shocked to my core with this outrageous decision”.
Ms Damari, who described herself as a “die-hard fan of Maccabi Tel Aviv”, said: “Football is a way of bringing people together irrespective of their faith, colour or religion and this disgusting decision does the exact opposite.”
President Trump commuted serial fabulist and former GOP Rep. George Santos’ seven-year prison sentence on Friday, citing “horrible” mistreatment by the Bureau of Prisons and claiming Santos’ unlawful conduct was not nearly as bad as the fibs of Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).
Santos, 36, sobbed in court during his April 25 sentencing after pleading guilty to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He reported to FCI Fairton in Fairfield Township, NJ, on July 25.
He’s since dished to The South Shore Press on the appalling “fluorescent yellow … state-issued polyester” jumpsuits, as well as mold and broken AC units in the prison.
The ex-congressman and serial fabulist was sentenced to nearly a decade in prison. Bloomberg via Getty Images
The lying Long Island pol admitted in August 2024 to defrauding donors to his successful 2022 House campaign and using the names of dozens of others — including family and friends — to falsely inflate his number of contributors.
“George Santos was somewhat of a ‘rogue,’ but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison,” Trump said on Truth Social as he flew from Washington to his Mar-a-Lago resort. “I started to think about George when the subject of Democrat Senator Richard ‘Da Nang Dick’ Blumenthal came up again.”
“As everyone remembers, ‘Da Nang’ stated for almost twenty years that he was a proud Vietnam Veteran, having endured the worst of the War, watching the Wounded and Dead as he raced up the hills and down the valleys, blood streaming from his face,” the president went on. “He was ‘a Great Hero,’ he would leak to any and all who would listen — And then it happened! He was a COMPLETE AND TOTAL FRAUD.”
“He never went to Vietnam, he never saw Vietnam, he never experienced the Battles there, or anywhere else. His War Hero status, and even minimal service in our Military, was totally and completely MADE UP,” Trump added.
“This is far worse than what George Santos did, and at least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) – who pushed for Santos’ release in August, calling his sentencing “abusive overreach by the judicial system” – celebrated the commutation Friday.
“THANK YOU President Trump for releasing George Santos!!” Greene wrote on X.
“He was unfairly treated and put in solitary confinement, which is torture!!” she added.
Ed Martin, the DOJ’s pardon attorney, noted on X that “George had [no] greater friend than [Greene].”
Martin said he was “honored” to have “played a small role in [Trump] granting [Santos] clemency.”
“Thank you, Mr. President for making clemency great again,” the pardon attorney added.
In a note posted on Santos’ X account, Joseph Murray, his lawyer, wrote: “God bless President Donald J Trump the greatest President in U.S. history!”
“I really have to thank Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene who fought like a lion on George’s behalf,” Murray continued, also thanking Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and several Trump administration officials.
“President Trump is absolutely right when he says that the U.S. is back!” the lawyer added.
Meanwhile, the Democrat Santos beat in the 2022 race for New York’s 3rd District congressional seat fumed that Trump “is trying to put his political enemies in jail while he frees George Santos for the unconscionable crimes that he committed and the fraud he concealed.”
“For Donald Trump to erase the consequence of those crimes-simply because Santos votes Republican-should outrage each and every American who says they are for law and order,” Robert Zimmerman said in a statement.
“While I have no doubt that Santos will ultimately end up in Trump’s Cabinet, this decision demonstrates the lawlessness of the Trump Administration,” he added.
“We are all waiting to see if every Republican in Congress who condemned Santos will have the courage to stand up to Donald Trump and condemn him for this shameful action.”
While pleading guilty, Santos confessed that he and campaign treasurer Nancy Marks, who also pleaded guilty to fraud conspiracy, had “filed the list of false names” to federal regulators and “used the names of our friends and family … to artificially inflate the numbers of our donors.”
The ill-gotten gains were spent in part on OnlyFans subscriptions, Botox, and even spa treatments.
The former Republican congressman also lied about his professional and personal achievements before entering office, which combined with the fraud accusations got him expelled from Congress in December 2023.
Among the lies: Santos claimed to have graduated from New York University and Baruch College — the latter on a volleyball scholarship — worked at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, and been descended from a Jewish family.
“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos came clean to The Post in December 2022. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”
Santos became only the sixth member of the US House of Representatives to be expelled while serving.
Blumenthal falsely claimed that he served in the Vietnam War during a 2008 event — before correcting the record in a statement to the Hartford Courant after the comments resurfaced during his 2010 Senate campaign.
It comes as Virginia Giuffre’s memoir continues to haunt Andrew
HUMILIATED Prince Andrew was last night forced to give up all his royal titles after the Jeffrey Epstein scandal erupted again.
In a spectacular fall from grace, the former Duke of York, 65, stepped down after King Charles and Prince William told him to quit.
Prince Andrew was forced to give up all his royal titles after King Charles and Prince William told him to quitCredit: AP
Sources close to Charles last night said he was “glad” his brother had stepped aside as the waves of scandals engulfing him became an “unwelcome distraction”.
It is understood William, Prince of Wales was also closely involved with giving Andrew his marching orders from the Royal Family, and is happy with the outcome.
At 7pm Andrew released a terse statement through Buckingham Palace.
It read: “In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family.
“I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.
“With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
He will no longer use his Duke of York title, given to him by the late Queen Elizabeth II on July 23, 1986, the day of his wedding to Sarah Ferguson.
He has also given up his role as a member of the Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior order of chivalry in the UK, which he was given in 2006.
Palace sources confirmed he will not be invited to Christmas celebrations at Sandringham.
And he is likely to be banished from all future major royal events.
However, he will continue to live at 30-room Royal Lodge in Windsor, where he has a “cast-iron” tenancy agreement until 2078.
It is understood the King and William are eager to get him out of the mansion, close to Windsor Castle and half a mile from the Wales’s new home, Forest Lodge.
Royal sources said Andrew’s daughters Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, 35, will remain princesses in the same way he remains a prince.
Those are titles they are born with and cannot be taken away.
Ex-wife Sarah Ferguson will no longer use the title Duchess of York — which she has not used professionally for many years anyway.
The Sun understands frantic negotiations led by the King have been happening behind the scenes all week about Andrew’s future.
They were sparked by The Sun on Sunday’s exclusive story that he had lied about when he was last in contact with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
We revealed Andrew sent an email to Epstein on February 28 2011, saying “We are in this together”.
It proved he lied in his 2019 Newsnight interview in which he claimed he broke off contact with the US financier three months earlier, in December 2010.
The email was also sent hours after a photo emerged of Andrew with his arm around Virginia’s waist at Epstein’s girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell’s London home.
Andrew told Epstein in the email: “I’m just as concerned for you! Don’t worry about me! It would seem we are in this together and will have to rise above it.
“Otherwise keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon!!!!”
He signed it HRH Duke of York, adding KG, standing for Knight of the Order of the Garter. The allegations continued as excerpts from Virginia’s memoir Nobody’s Girl were revealed in Thursday’s Sun.
Virginia, who committed suicide in April aged 41 has alleged she was trafficked to have sex with Andrew on three occasions.
In the memoir, set to be published on Tuesday, she accused him of being “entitled” and seeing sex with her as his birthright.
Last night her family said his decision to give up the titles was a “victory” for her.
They added: “This decisive action is a powerful step forward in our fight to bring Epstein and Maxwell’s child sex-trafficking network to justice.
Further, we believe it is appropriate for King Charles to remove the title of Prince.
“This moment serves as victory for Virginia, who consistently maintained, ‘He knows what happened, I know what happened, and there’s only one of us telling the truth, and I know that’s me’.
On October 16, 1964, China conducted its first nuclear test at Lop Nur, marking its entry into the nuclear club. This event, termed Project 596, was portrayed as a symbol of national strength but resulted in severe consequences for the Uyghur and Kazakh populations of Xinjiang.
China’s First Bomb, Xinjiang’s Last Breath: The Human Fallout of Project 596 Photo : Times Now
On 16 October 1964, at 1500 China Standard Time, Lop Nur in Xinjiang shook when a uranium-235 implosion device exploded on top of a 102-metre tower. The 22-kiloton explosion put the People’s Republic of China into the very select nuclear club as a member number five. Beijing’s legend cast the test—designated Project 596—as evidence that China had “caught up with the superpowers.” But hidden beneath this mythology is a grimmer reality: China’s atomic success was founded on Xinjiang’s suffering, shouldered disproportionately by the region’s Uyghur and Kazakh people.
The Genesis of Nuclear Ambition
Project 596 came from China’s deteriorating relations with the Soviet Union. Originally started in the 1950s with a heavy Soviet contribution through the 1957 New Defence Technical Accord, China’s nuclear programme stalled with Nikita Khrushchev’s revocation of the accord on 20 June 1959. Moscow’s withdrawal of more than 1,400 advisers put China’s programme into shambles. Mao Zedong converted the reverse into an ideological call to action, sanctioning Project 596—named after June 1959—as a show that China would become nuclear in its own right.
The decision to speed up the programme timed in with the Great Leap Forward famine of 1958-1962, which accounted for an estimated 30 million deaths. While millions died of hunger, resources were being shifted towards uranium enrichment plants at Lanzhou and the building of Lop Nur. The Communist Party was more concerned with atomic prestige than with people’s belly needs, pouring meagre resources into weapons research as peasants died.
Xinjiang: The Sacrificial Geography
The choice of Lop Nur as a testing site for Chinese nuclear tests was put forward as utilitarian—a distant, “uninhabited” desert that was suitable for atomic tests. This was intentional deception. Uyghur pastoralists, Kazakh nomads, and other Turkic peoples had lived in the area for centuries. The creation of the test site, which later covered around 100,000 square kilometres, required mass displacement with limited compensation.
From 1964 to 1996, China detonated 45 nuclear tests at Lop Nur: 23 atmospheric and 22 underground. The atmospheric tests discharged vast amounts of radioactive material. Lop Nur discharged about six million times more poisonous radioactive material than Chernobyl. Between 1 and 1.48 million people were exposed to fallout, according to estimates, with Chinese officials allegedly synchronising detonations with westward wind patterns to maximise exposure in Uyghur-populated regions.
The Human Toll
The health impacts have been devastating. Japanese physicist Jun Takada’s research puts the number of people killed by radiation exposure at around 194,000. Cancer incidence in Xinjiang shot up to 30-35 per cent above China’s national rate. Doctors reported shocking trends: 90 per cent of cancer victims had blood or lymph cancers caused directly by radiation. The leakage of an estimated 48 kilogrammes of plutonium-239—where breathing in even a millionth of a gramme can cause cancer—was responsible for a public health disaster whose consequences linger on through generations.
Dr Enver Tohti, a Uyghur doctor who practised in cancer wards across Xinjiang, recorded instances of lymphomas and other cancers caused by radiation at levels hundreds of times higher than normal trends. Beijing has, however, always denied independent researchers access, shut down epidemiology studies, and refused to admit the link between nuclear testing and public health disasters.
US President Donald Trump said the current tariffs imposed on Chinese goods were “not sustainable,” as tensions between Washington and Beijing rise ahead of his expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In an interview with Fox Business Network, Donald Trump was asked whether the steep tariffs levied by both countries could continue indefinitely.
US President Donald Trump. (Reuters File)
“It’s not sustainable,” he said, adding, “That’s what the number is, it’s probably not, you know, it could stand but they forced me to do that.”
Donald Trump added that he would meet Xi Jinping “in two weeks,” and expressed cautious optimism about easing the dispute, saying he believed “things would be fine with China.”
The US President, while discussing Beijing’s trade practices, said, “China is always looking for an edge. I don’t know what’s going to happen. We’ll see what happens.”
The comments come as the trade war between the world’s two largest economies continues to rattle global markets. Washington’s import duties on Chinese goods have climbed to as high as 145 percent, sparking concerns about supply chains and slowing growth. Although both sides agreed to a 90-day truce earlier this year, that pause is set to expire on November 10 unless extended.
Earlier, Donald Trump warned that the US could impose an additional 100 percent tariff on Chinese products by November 1 if negotiations did not progress. He also hinted at canceling the planned meeting with Xi Jinping, which is expected to take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea.
The ACB named the three players as “Kabeer, Sibghatullah and Haroon” and said that five other people were also killed in the attack.
Following the attack, Afghanistan pulled out of a tri-nation series with Pakistan
At least three Afghanistani cricketers have been killed in a Pakistani airstrike in Paktika province. The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) said that the players had travelled from Urgun to Sharana in the eastern Paktika province on the Pakistan border to take part in a friendly match.
The ACB named the three players as “Kabeer, Sibghatullah and Haroon” and said that five other people were also killed in the attack.
It said that “after returning home to Urgun, they were targeted during a gathering” in what it described as “a cowardly attack carried out by the Pakistani regime”. The ACB did not give any more details on the attack.
Following the attack, Afghanistan pulled out of a tri-nation series with Pakistan and Sri Lanka next month. “as a gesture of respect to the victims”.
Statement of Condolence
The Afghanistan Cricket Board expresses its deepest sorrow and grief over the tragic martyrdom of the brave cricketers from Urgun District in Paktika Province, who were targeted this evening in a cowardly attack carried out by the Pakistani regime.
“The Afghanistan Cricket Board expresses its deepest sorrow and grief over the tragic martyrdom of the brave cricketers from Urgun District in Paktika Province, who were targeted this evening in a cowardly attack carried out by the Pakistani regime.” ABC said in a post on X.
Cricketers Mourn Deaths
Afghanistan’s T-20 team captain, Rashid Khan, condemned the recent attacks and welcomed ABC’s decision to withdraw from the friendly series.
“I am deeply saddened by the loss of civilian lives in the recent Pakistani aerial strikes on Afghanistan. A tragedy that claimed the lives of women, children, and aspiring young cricketers who dreamed of representing their nation on the world stage,” he said in a post on X.
Khan said it was absolutely immoral and barbaric to target civilian infrastructure, and such “unjust and unlawful actions represent a grave violation of human rights and must not go unnoticed.”
“In light of the precious innocent souls lost, I welcome the ACB’s decision of withdrawing from upcoming fixtures against Pakistan. I stand with our people at this difficult time, our national dignity must come before all else,” he added.
Another international player, Mohammad Nabi, added, “This incident is not only a tragedy for Paktika but for the entire Afghan cricket family and the nation as a whole.”
“The massacre of innocent civilians and our domestic cricket players by these oppressors is a heinous, unforgivable crime,” wrote Afghan international cricketer Fazalhaq Farooqi on Facebook.
A U.S. warship off the coast of Colombia during exercises last year. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez Purchase Licensing Rights
The U.S. military is holding two survivors aboard a Navy ship after rescuing them from a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean hit by a U.S. strike that killed two others, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
The disclosure, which has not been previously reported, raises the possibility that the survivors from Thursday’s strike are the first prisoners of war in a conflict declared by President Donald Trump against a “narcoterrorist” threat he says is emanating from Venezuela.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump told reporters that the strike was against “a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs.” He did not comment on how many were killed or survived the strike.
One of the sources said the vessel struck on Thursday moved below the water and was possibly a semi-submersible, which is a submarine-like vessel used by drug traffickers to avoid detection.
Five sources familiar with the matter said the U.S. military staged a helicopter rescue to pick up the survivors of the attack and bring them back to the U.S. warship.
Prior to Thursday’s operation, U.S. military strikes against suspected drug boats off Venezuela had not left any known survivors and videos presented by the Trump administration showed vessels being destroyed.
The Trump administration has said the previous strikes killed 27 people, raising alarms among some legal experts and Democratic lawmakers, who question whether they adhere to the laws of war.
The strikes come against the backdrop of a U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean that includes guided missile destroyers, F-35 fighter jets, a nuclear submarine and around 6,500 troops as Trump escalates a standoff with the Venezuelan government.
On Wednesday, Trump disclosed he had authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela, adding to speculation in Caracas that the United States is attempting to topple Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
In a letter this week to the United Nations’ 15-member Security Council, seen by Reuters, Venezuela’s U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada asked for a U.N. determination that the U.S. strikes off its coast are illegal and to issue a statement backing Venezuela’s sovereignty.
Argentine one hundred peso bills are displayed in this picture illustration taken September 3, 2019. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights
The U.S. Treasury bought Argentine pesos in the spot and “Blue Chip Swap” markets on Thursday and it continues to monitor all markets, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday.
“Treasury is monitoring all markets, and we have the capacity to act with flexibility and with force to stabilize Argentina,” he said in a post on X.
It was the first announcement of participation in the “blue-chip” market, after Bessent previously spoke of buying pesos in the spot market. The pledged U.S. support also includes a $20 billion swap with the Argentine central bank and the workings of a $20 billion facility to invest in the South American country’s sovereign debt.
“We think the support from the U.S. Treasury is helping stabilize markets,” said Nigel Chalk, deputy director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the International Monetary Fund in a press briefing.
“IMF staff have spent many hours and have been very deeply engaged with both Argentina and the U.S. Treasury through this process,” he added.
He did not answer a question on whether the fund would rather see the peso, which trades in a band, float freely.
The official peso weakened 3.4% on Friday to 1,450 per dollar, not far from the record low close of 1,474.50 hit before Bessent first announced the U.S. backing.
Peso one-month nondeliverable forwards priced the currency at 1,446, after rising as high as 1,541 earlier this month. Three-month forwards see the peso near 1,690 per dollar, according to LSEG data.
The U.S. Treasury has not disclosed how much it has spent purchasing pesos or whether it will do it on a schedule.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy came to the White House on Friday looking for weapons to keep fighting his country’s war with Russia, but met an American president who appears more intent on brokering a peace deal than upgrading Ukraine’s arsenal.
While U.S. President Donald Trump did not rule out providing the long-range Tomahawk missiles Zelenskiy seeks, Trump appeared cool to the prospect as he looked ahead to a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary in the coming weeks.
After speaking with Zelenskiy for more than two hours, Trump implored both Ukraine and Russia to “stop the war immediately,” even if it means Ukraine conceding territory.
“You stop at the battle line, and both sides should go home, go to their families,” Trump told reporters on his way to his home in West Palm Beach, Florida. “Stop the killing. And that should be it. Stop right now at the battle line. I told that to President Zelenskiy. I told it to President Putin.”
Trump’s move to re-engage with Putin, a strategy that has frustrated Zelenskiy and some European allies in the past, cast a shadow on the U.S. president’s otherwise cordial exchange with his Ukrainian counterpart as they spoke with reporters ahead of a private lunch.
The two leaders then went behind closed doors where they also discussed a call the previous day between the Russian president and Trump, who has portrayed himself as a mediator between the warring forces despite the fact that Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
‘GET ALONG A LITTLE’
“I think President Zelenskiy wants it done, and I think President Putin wants it done. Now all they have to do is get along a little bit,” Trump told reporters.
Zelenskiy, however, noted how difficult it has been to try to secure a ceasefire. “We want this. Putin doesn’t want (it),” he said.
The Ukrainian leader was frank, telling Trump that Ukraine has thousands of drones ready for an offensive against Russian targets, but needs American missiles.
“We don’t have Tomahawks, that’s why we need Tomahawks,” he said.
Trump responded: “We’d much rather have them not need Tomahawks.”
Later, Trump reiterated that he wants the United States to hold onto its weaponry. “We want Tomahawks also. We don’t want to be giving away things that we need to protect our country,” he said.
After the meeting, which Zelenskiy described as productive, he told reporters he did not want to talk about long-range missiles, saying the U.S. did not want escalation, and that he was “realistic” about his chance of getting them.
The Ukrainian president, who spoke by phone with European leaders after the meeting, said he was counting on Trump to pressure Putin “to stop this war.”
When asked about Trump’s comments, Zelenskiy said: “President (Trump) is right, and we have to stop where we are. This is important, to stop where we are, and then to speak.”
It was unclear what Putin had told Trump that prompted him to agree to the upcoming meeting. Their August summit in Alaska ended early with no major breakthrough.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over lunch in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 17, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst Purchase Licensing Rights
The Kremlin said much needed to be decided and that the summit might take place “a little later” than within the two-week period mentioned by Trump.
Trump’s conciliatory tone after the call with Putin raised questions over the near-term likelihood of assistance to Ukraine and reignited European fears of a deal that suits Russia. A spokesperson for the European Union said it welcomed the talks if they could help bring peace to Ukraine.
Trump was asked on Friday whether he was concerned Putin might be “playing” him for time by agreeing to talks.
“You know, I’ve been played all my life by the best of them, and I came out really well, so it’s possible,” Trump replied.
Michael Carpenter, a former U.S. official who is now a senior fellow at International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the meeting with Trump was not what Zelenskiy had been hoping for but was in line with the administration’s approach to the war.
“The underlying reality is that there is no inclination to impose costs on Russia,” he said.
The president expressed affection for Zelenskiy, at one point praising him for wearing what Trump called a “very stylish” dark suit jacket after he was knocked earlier this year for visiting the White House without one.
“He looks beautiful in his jacket,” Trump said. “I hope people notice.”
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton listens to a question from a student at the John F. Kennedy Jr Forum at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., September 29, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
The indictment of John Bolton on charges of sharing classified information is stronger than the recent charges against two other political foes of President Donald Trump, but the former U.S. national security adviser has several options for mounting a defense, legal experts said.
Bolton, 76, said in a statement on Thursday that he was the latest target in Trump’s weaponization of the Justice Department against his enemies. He pleaded not guilty on Friday to 18 counts of transmitting and retaining national defense information.
Trump, a Republican who campaigned for the presidency on a vow of retribution after facing multiple legal woes following his first term in the White House that ended in 2021, has dispensed with decades-long norms designed to insulate federal law enforcement from political pressures.
The recent indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both of whom investigated Trump, have alarmed some Trump critics who say his use of the criminal justice system to punish enemies resembles the tactics of authoritarian leaders.
But there are key differences between Bolton’s indictment and those against Comey and James.
The investigation of Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security adviser in 2018 and 2019 but has since become an outspoken Trump critic, began in 2022, predating the current Trump administration.
The charges were brought by experienced prosecutors in the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s office and the Justice Department. Both Comey and James were charged by Lindsey Halligan, a newly-installed U.S. Attorney in Virginia after Trump forced out her predecessor over his reluctance to pursue the cases.
The 26-page indictment of Bolton also includes far more detail than the other cases.
“This indictment is significantly more fulsome than those exceedingly bare-bones indictments,” said Benjamin Klubes, a Washington-based defense lawyer and former prosecutor.
Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.
SELECTIVE OR VINDICTIVE PROSECUTION
Like Comey and James, Bolton could seek to have the indictment dismissed on the basis of selective prosecution, meaning he was charged over conduct that other similarly situated people are usually not charged over, or vindictive prosecution, suggesting he was charged in retaliation for exercising his legal rights.
Comey has pleaded not guilty to charges of lying to Congress. James is expected to appear in court on mortgage fraud charges later this month and has denied wrongdoing.
To claim selective prosecution, Bolton could argue that no Trump administration officials faced charges over an incident earlier this year in which U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared details of an imminent attack in a Signal message group that included his wife, brother, personal lawyer, and a journalist from the Atlantic magazine.
Trump administration officials denied that any classified information was shared.
To argue vindictive prosecution, Bolton could point to numerous statements Trump made in interviews and on social media alleging Bolton broke the law and should go to jail. He could argue those statements showed Trump’s desire for retaliation over Bolton’s public criticisms of him, which are protected speech under the U.S. Constitution.
Such motions face a high bar, however, and judges may be less inclined to grant them if the evidence appears strong, said Steven Cash, a former prosecutor who is now executive director of The Steady State, a pro-democracy advocacy coalition of former national security professionals.
Comey also plans to argue that his indictment must be dismissed because Halligan was not properly appointed, an argument that would not be available to Bolton because his case is in Maryland.
The Pentagon is seen from the air in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 3, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
The U.S. military carried out a new strike on Thursday against a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean, and in what is believed to be the first such case, there were survivors among the crew, a U.S. official told Reuters.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not offer additional details about the incident, which has not been previously reported, except to say that it was not clear that the strike had been designed to leave survivors.
The development raises new questions, including whether the U.S. military rendered aid to the survivors and whether they are now in U.S. military custody, possibly as prisoners of war.
The Pentagon, which has labeled those it has targeted in the strikes as narcoterrorists, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prior to Thursday’s operation, U.S. military strikes against suspected drug boats off Venezuela killed at least 27 people, raising alarms among some legal experts and Democratic lawmakers, who question whether they adhere to the laws of war.
Videos presented by the Trump administration of previous attacks showed vessels being completely destroyed, and there have been no prior accounts of survivors afterwards.
The Trump administration argues the U.S. is already engaged in a war with narcoterrorist groups from Venezuela, making the strikes legitimate. Trump administration officials say lethal strikes are necessary because traditional efforts to apprehend crew members and seize cargoes have historically failed to stem the flow of narcotics into the U.S.
The strikes come against the backdrop of a U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean that includes guided missile destroyers, F-35 fighter jets, a nuclear submarine and around 6,500 troops as President Donald Trump escalates a standoff with the Venezuelan government.
On Wednesday, Trump disclosed he had authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela, adding to speculation in Caracas that the United States is attempting to topple Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
In a letter to the United Nations’ 15-member Security Council, seen by Reuters, Venezuela’s U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada asked for a U.N. determination that the U.S. strikes off its coast are illegal and to issue a statement backing Venezuela’s sovereignty.
Less than a week ago, the Pentagon announced its counter-narcotics operations in the region would not be led by the Miami-based Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military activities in Latin America.
Instead, the Pentagon said a task force was being created that would be led by II Marine Expeditionary Force, a unit capable of rapid overseas operations that is based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
That decision came as a surprise to U.S. military-watchers, since a combatant command like Southern Command would normally lead any high-profile operations.
John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, was charged on Thursday in a sweeping indictment that accuses him of sharing sensitive government information with two of his relatives for possible use in a book he was writing.
The indictment marked the third time in recent weeks the Justice Department has secured criminal charges against one of Trump’s critics.
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton speaks at the John F. Kennedy Jr Forum at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., September 29, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder Purchase Licensing Rights
The indictment says the notes Bolton shared with his two relatives in electronic messages included information he gleaned from meetings with senior government officials, discussions with foreign leaders, and intelligence briefings.
In some of the chats, Bolton and his relatives – whom the indictment does not identify – discussed using some of the material for a book. Bolton referred to the two people with whom he shared his daily notes as his “editors,” the indictment said.
“Talking with [book publisher] because they have a right of first refusal!” Bolton wrote in one message, according to the indictment.
The two relatives referred to in the indictment are Bolton’s wife and daughter, two people familiar with the matter said.
In a statement, Bolton said, “I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose his abuse of power.”
Bolton’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said Bolton did not unlawfully share or store any information.
Trump, a Republican who campaigned for the presidency on a vow of retribution after facing a slew of legal woes once his first term in the White House ended in 2021, has dispensed with decades-long norms designed to insulate federal law enforcement from political pressures.
In recent months, he has actively pushed Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Justice Department to bring charges against his perceived adversaries including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, even driving out a prosecutor he deemed to be moving too slowly in doing so.
The investigation of Bolton was opened in 2022, predating the Trump administration. Inside the Justice Department, the case is viewed as stronger than the prosecutions of Comey and James, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The indictment of Bolton, filed in federal court in Maryland, charges him with eight counts of transmission of national defense information and 10 counts of retention of national defense information, all in violation of the Espionage Act.
No court appearance date was listed for Bolton as of Thursday evening.
Each count is punishable by up to 10 years in prison if Bolton is convicted, but any sentence would be determined by a judge based on a range of factors.
Asked by reporters at the White House about the Bolton indictment on Thursday, Trump said: “He’s a bad guy.”
BOLTON’S EMAIL ALLEGEDLY HACKED
Bolton served as White House national security adviser during Trump’s first term before emerging as one of the president’s most vocal critics. Bolton, also a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, described Trump as unfit to be president in a memoir he released last year.
In the indictment, prosecutors said Bolton shared more than a thousand pages of information about his day-to-day activities as national security adviser, including top-secret information, with the two unauthorized people from April 2018 to August 2025.
The indictment said a “cyber actor” tied to the Iranian government hacked Bolton’s personal email after he left government service and accessed classified information. Prosecutors said a representative for Bolton told the government about the hack but did not report that he stored classified information in the email account.
Trump himself was previously indicted on Espionage Act violations for allegedly transporting classified records to his Florida home after departing the White House in 2021 and refusing repeated requests by the government to return them. Trump had pleaded not guilty and that case was dropped after he won reelection in November 2024.
OTHER TRUMP FOES CHARGED
The Justice Department has already indicted Comey, who investigated Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, and James, who previously brought a civil fraud case against Trump and his family real estate company.
Comey, whom Trump fired in 2017, is facing charges of making false statements to Congress and obstruction of Congress. He has pleaded not guilty.
James is facing charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. She has denied wrongdoing and is slated to appear in federal court later this month.
In those two cases, the indictments were secured solely by Lindsey Halligan, a Trump loyalist who was appointed U.S. Attorney after her predecessor, Erik Siebert, was ousted due to a lack of evidence.
The indictment of Bolton was signed by Maryland U.S. Attorney Kelly Hayes, who has been a federal prosecutor since 2013 and has held multiple leadership roles. The indictment also bore the names of several career prosecutors, including Thomas Sullivan, who leads the Maryland office’s national security division.
The development came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was headed to the White House to push for more military support.
US President Donald Trump shakes hand with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as they meet to negotiate for an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, US, August 15, 2025. (Photo: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo)
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Thursday (Oct 16) to another summit on the war in Ukraine, a surprise move that came as Moscow feared fresh US military support for Kyiv.
Trump and Putin may meet within the next two weeks in Budapest, the US president said, after a more than two-hour phone conversation he called productive. The Kremlin confirmed plans for the meeting, though neither side provided a date for when it would occur.
“My whole life, I’ve made deals,” Trump told reporters later at the White House. “I think we’re going to have this one done, hopefully soon.” The development came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was headed to the White House on Friday to push for more military support, including US-made long-range Tomahawk missiles.
NEW UKRAINE SUPPORT IN QUESTION
The White House had seemed in recent days to be leaning toward granting Zelenskyy fresh support and increasingly frustrated with Putin.
Yet Trump’s conciliatory tone following the Russia call left in question the near-term likelihood of assistance and reignited European fears of US capitulation to Moscow.
Since taking office in January, Trump has regularly threatened action against Russia, only to delay those steps after talks with Putin. Trump sought a ceasefire ahead of an Alaska summit with Putin in August that produced none. At the time, some analysts said Putin pocketed US concessions with no intent to halt fighting.
Three-way talks between Putin, Zelenskyy, and Trump, another goal sought by Washington at the time, never materialised, and there is no immediate plan for such a meeting now. The Republican president has positioned himself as a peacemaker, brandishing diplomatic achievements including the recent Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal. He has said he thought the war in Ukraine, which began with Russia’s 2022 invasion, would have been easier to end.
“Putin is trying to derail the momentum toward greater pressure on Russia,” said Dan Fried, a former State Department official. “We’ll see what happens tomorrow, but the chances of moving toward a ceasefire by pushing Russia to get serious seem to have diminished.”
PUTIN WARNS TRUMP ABOUT SUPPLYING MISSILES
During the call, Putin told Trump that supplying long-range missiles to Ukraine would harm the peace process and damage US-Russia ties, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.
“What do you think he’s going to say, ‘Please sell Tomahawks?'” Trump later joked with reporters. “No, he doesn’t want,” Tomahawks given to Ukraine, Trump added, calling them a “vicious weapon”.
Zelenskyy, already in Washington, said Putin’s decision to seek talks showed he was on the defensive.
“We can already see that Moscow is rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks,” he said on X.
The Hungarian location selected for the Trump-Putin summit has drawn attention. Putin is wanted for alleged war crimes in some jurisdictions, restricting his travel. Ukraine’s relationship with Hungary has grown increasingly tense. Zelenskyy accused Hungarian drones of crossing into Ukraine last month, prompting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to retort that Ukraine was not an independent sovereign state.
In contrast to most NATO and European Union leaders, Orban has maintained cordial relations with Russia while questioning the logic of Western military aid for Kyiv.
“The planned meeting between the American and Russian presidents is great news for the peace-loving people of the world,” Orban said on X. “We are ready!” He later said he had spoken by phone with Trump and that preparations for a US-Russia peace summit were under way.
The Trump-Putin meeting is expected to follow talks next week between teams led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at a location to be determined.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he would brief Zelenskyy on the Russia talks in the Oval Office on Friday.
Hanover Park Police Department officer Radule Bojovic has been arrested and accused of living in the US illegallyCredit: Hanover Park Police Department
SECRETARY of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has blasted Illinois officials after a cop working in the state was arrested and accused of being an illegal alien.
ICE agents cuffed Radule Bojovic after he allegedly left his home in the Balkan country of Montenegro and overstayed his welcome in the US.
Bojovic came to America on a tourist visa, but it expired in 2015, the DHS said on Thursday.
His citizenship status came to light “during a targeted enforcement action” in Illinois.
After news of Bojovic’s arrest broke, Noem said it was proof the state was “completely corrupt” under Governor JB Pritzker’s leadership.
“Radical sanctuary politicians have allowed criminal illegal aliens to infiltrate our school districts, communities, and even police departments,” she wrote on X.
“President Trump and I will continue to put the safety of Americans FIRST.”
Bojovic had just started working with the Hanover Park Police Department, which is located outside of Chicago, earlier this year when he was arrested.
In August, the department shared a Facebook post congratulating him on graduating from a law enforcement academy.
“He now begins an intensive 15 weeks of field training and evaluation as he continues preparing to serve the Hanover Park community,” wrote the department.
Bojovic could be seen smiling and standing proudly beside the department’s chief and deputy chief in a picture posted on Facebook.
OPERATION MIDWAY BLITZ
ICE agents honed in on the cop during Operation Midway Blitz, which is targeting illegal immigrants who moved to Illinois because of the state’s sanctuary policies.
In a statement, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin blasted authorities for giving an accused illegal immigrant a firearm.
“Radule Bojovic violated our nation’s laws and was living ILLEGALLY in the United States for 10 years—what kind of police department gives criminal illegal aliens badges and guns?” she wrote.
“It’s a felony for aliens to even possess a firearm. A law enforcement officer who is actively breaking the law.”
Bojovic was approved by the Pension Fund Board of Trustees at the beginning of the year and was set to earn a starting salary of $78,955, DHS said.
Police records show that his 2025 earnings were $205,000, including over $9,000 for FICA/Medicare taxes, Fox News reported, citing authorities.
IMMIGRATION WAR
President Donald Trump is embroiled in a bitter feud with Pritzker over his immigration crackdown.
He launched Operation Midway Blitz in honor of Illinois resident Katie Abraham, who was killed in a drunk-driving car crash caused by illegal immigrant Julio Cucul-Bol.
Pritzker sued Trump after the president enforced federal policing with the National Guard without his permission.
On Thursday, the governor said, “President Trump says he wants to go to war with Chicago, use it, and our people as a training ground, and is sending military troops against the wishes of its people in order to punish his political opponents.
