Top World News
Eswatini says it received more ‘third country’ deportees as part of deal with Trump administration
Two deportees sent to Eswatini were from Somalia, one was from Sudan and another was from TanzaniaThe government of Eswatini announced on Thursday it received four more “third country” deportees from the United States, as part of the Trump administration’s multimillion-dollar deal with the small African nation.Now a total of 19 deportees from the US have been sent to Eswatini even as they hail from other countries, amid the Trump administration’s continued anti-immigrant crackdown and changes to immigration policy. Continue reading...
GOP senator uncorks crude ultimatum to Europe: 'Take the skirts off!'
WASHINGTON — A Republican U.S. senator used insulting and sexist language to demand European countries join America and Israel’s war against Iran, saying NATO allies should “take their skirts off, maybe put some boots on and help the rest of the world out.”“I gave up on Europe helping us years ago,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) told reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday. “They're all talking,” Marshall continued, citing President Donald Trump’s long-held grievance over defense spending levels among the NATO alliance. “They told us they would get to 2 percent of GDP, and they never did. Half of them never did. Now they're probably 5 percent. They're all talk.”While the U.S. clearly contributes most, analysts contest claims that NATO countries don’t pay their fair share, especially after most European nations increased spending since Trump threatened the fate of NATO at the start of his second term in the White House. Since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran late last month, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and leaders of other traditional U.S. allies have grappled with how to deal with the Trump administration's demands that they support a war that remains unpopular across the globe.On Thursday, Sen. Marshall reached back into 20th-century history to dismiss the Marshall Plan under which U.S. aid helped revive and rebuild Europe in the aftermath of World War Two. “You know, World War II is over with,” Marshall said. “The Marshall Plan is over with. “It's time for Europe to put some jeans on, take their skirts off, maybe put some boots on and help the rest of the world out.”Marshall’s committee assignments do not include roles on panels dealing with foreign or military affairs.His official Senate website highlights the seven years he served in the Army Reserves, while also painting him as a traditional conservative family man, “a physician, devoted father, [and] grandfather” and OB/GYN who “delivered more than 5,000 babies.”'I was wrong'Marshall already made news this week over errant Iran comments.Appearing on CNN on Tuesday, the senator was asked whether, with seven Americans dead and 140 wounded, and a climbing death toll in Iran, he stood by comments to Fox News last June about U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear program.“I think it will take them years to restart their nuclear program,” Marshall said then. “I think that they can’t control their airspace; they don’t have the will to do it. From what I’ve seen, I’m in shock and awe. You know, it’s just, it’s shocking how much damage we did to their facilities.”Back then, Trump claimed Iran’s nuclear program had been obliterated, even as he says new strikes were necessary to stop work on nuclear weapons.Asked if he had seen intelligence to back up the president’s change of tune, Marshall told CNN: “Look, I was wrong. They were restarting their nuclear program.”Marshall also said, “I hate war,” and saluted U.S. service members killed or injured. Pressed on why he had changed his view about the effect of last summer’s strikes, the senator said: “I believe that we obliterated those particular nuclear facilities, but now they were starting nuclear programs in other places. “And just their willingness to do that was just thumbing their nose at us.”
Carney announces billions for defense and infrastructure in Canada's North
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says he will spend billions on forward operating locations in the North to assert sovereignty over the increasingly contested region
'Death is imminent': MAGA-voting Joe Rogan 'spooked' by this Trump fact
Podcaster Joe Rogan this week described how President Donald Trump's upcoming 80th birthday — making him the oldest American president to date — has revealed something else about him. Rogan, who voted for Trump, was talking to British political commentator Konstantin Kisin on Wednesday for his podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience" and asked if the now slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would potentially see the president and say 'let's f--- with that guy," The Hill reported."Right, he’s 80, he doesn’t have much to lose. That’s the scary thing about old leaders — it’s like, death is imminent. It’s within a decade, if you’re lucky," Rogan said. "That’s spooky." "You’re making decisions for babies and children and the future of the world, and you’ve got maybe 10 years left on Earth if everything goes great," Rogan said. Trump's health has been called into question throughout his second term. The White House has tiptoed around sharing information about the president's health and has claimed that he has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, which can cause swollen ankles. His administration has also stated that the president's frequent handshaking has caused hand bruising.
Reporter reaches dramatic conclusion based on new Iran leader's comments: 'He's injured'
Iran’s new supreme leader issued his first message Thursday through Iranian state media and did not appear on camera or read the statement — a move that reveals he was wounded, a CNN correspondent said. CNN international reporter Nick Paton Walsh signaled that Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, could be seriously injured as a result of the U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed his father and left several of his other family members dead. "It's what we didn't hear and what we didn't see," Paton Walsh said. "We didn't hear much Mojtaba Khamenei's voice and we did not see his face and we did not see this statement delivered on video," Paton Walsh explained. "And while it's important to point out that we have no evidence that he is incapacitated or deceased, this was a key moment where Iran really, I think, had to meet the doubts as to his health and his capacity to govern. It's clear that he has been injured in some way the part of the speech he talked about the loss of his wife, his sister, those close around him and how he visited the body of his deceased father. This is the man who President Trump has said he does not want to lead Iran, and his appointment clearly a way of hard liners thumbing their nose ultimately back at the White House."Mojtaba is not from a clerical background like his father and has not appeared on any video or in public view since the attack. "We are hearing a big vacuum still at the top of Iranian leadership," Paton Walsh said. "Here's a message, seven chapters, read on state television by a female anchor, no sign of him, no sign of his voice and the moment for the proof of life that many need, or proof of health, not met."
Expert unnerved by Pentagon shakiness as war 'shifting' in Iran's favor: 'It's shocking'
During a discussion on Iran’s leadership going on the offensive with new threats after being attacked by the United States, MS NOW analyst David Rohde explained that Iran has a strategy and the strategy is working because Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon has been shown to be unprepared.With US military officials conceding that they cannot protect oil tankers attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, Rohde claimed the war-torn country, for the moment, has the upper hand.“It's shocking to me what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz, how effective the Iranian military is,” he stated before conceding, “And I don't understand it.”“We have a very large navy, and if we're going to go to war with Iran, we should be aggressive in sort of using our Nav,y” he elaborated. “And this is where, just in the last, I would say, 48 hours, I wouldn't say the war overall is somehow turning in Iran's favor, but it's definitely shifting. They've found their footing there.”“They're stopping the most important route for energy to get to the rest of the world, 20 percent of the world's supply and it amazes me that the US military has no answer to that,” he observed. - YouTube youtu.be
UK government axes flagship global health project
Programme which supports schemes in six African countries was previously hailed as vital protection for Britain against future pandemicsA flagship health project in Africa, which UK ministers said would play a vital role in protecting Britain from future pandemic threats, is being axed due to aid cuts, the Guardian can reveal.The Global Health Workforce Programme (GHWP) which supported development and training for healthcare staff in six African countries, will close at the end of the month, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said. Continue reading...
‘A few beatings won’t kill you’: judge rejects divorce request of woman abused by husband in Afghanistan
Under new Taliban laws, a husband is allowed to beat his wife as long as it is not done with ‘obscene force’, which the woman must prove in courtThe shocking level of physical violence against women permitted under the Taliban’s new laws has been revealed this week by the case of a woman in northern Afghanistan, who said she was beaten with a cable wire by her husband and told by a judge: “You want a divorce just because of that? … A little anger and a few beatings won’t kill you.”Farzana* said her husband was quick-tempered and often resorted to beating her. He regularly humiliated her and called her “disabled”, she said, because her right leg was slightly shorter than the left. She had tolerated the abuse for the sake of their children, but one evening, she said, his violence went too far. Continue reading...
‘Invasive’ AI-led mass surveillance in Africa violating freedoms, warn experts
Countries across the continent have spent more than $2bn on Chinese tracking technology that is not ‘necessary or proportionate’, new report findsThe rapid expansion of AI-powered mass-surveillance systems across Africa is violating citizens’ right to privacy and having a chilling effect on society, according to experts on human rights and emerging technologies.At least $2bn (£1.5bn) has been spent by 11 African governments on Chinese-built surveillance technology that recognises faces and monitors movements, according to a new report by the Institute of Development Studies, which warns that national security is being used to justify implementing these systems with little regulation. Continue reading...
A young girl is knocked over at Tokyo crossing – what’s behind Japan’s ‘bumping’ trend?
Viral video of girl being shoved by fellow pedestrian has reignited debate over butsukari – with experts blaming stress and gender dynamicsIt starts out as a heartwarming clip. A young girl, clearly delighted to be in Tokyo, beams as she makes a peace sign to the camera. Seconds later, she is shoved to the ground from behind by a woman wearing a surgical mask. The assailant doesn’t skip a beat, striding out of shot of the clip filmed by the girl’s mother.This was no accidental clash of shoulders in a crowded place, but one of the most visible examples of a spate of butsukari otoko – “bumping man” – shoving incidents in Japan that experts attribute to a combination of gender dynamics and the stresses of modern life. Continue reading...
Asia scrambles to confront energy crisis unleashed by Iran war – with no end in sight
From fuel caps to four-day work weeks, the Middle East conflict has left the world’s top crude oil importing region desperate to shore up suppliesDonald Trump has scrambled in recent days to reassure the world that the economic impact of his war on Iran can be contained.Sure, one of the most important waterways in global trade has, in effect, been shut for almost two weeks – but it might reopen before long. In the meantime, US oil-related sanctions on “some countries” will be lifted. And besides, the entire conflict could be over soon. Continue reading...
China’s rubber-stamp parliament set to approve ‘ethnic unity’ law
New legislation will require schools to use Mandarin by default, taking priority over minority ethnic languages such as Tibetan, Uyghur and MongolianChina’s National People’s Congress (NPC), the state legislature, will vote on Thursday on a suite of new laws agreed at this year’s annual two sessions gathering, including a piece of legislation that will diminish the role of minority ethnic languages in the education system.NPC delegates are expected to approve a new ethnic unity law, along with a new environmental code and the 15th five-year plan, the economic planning document for 2026-2030. Delegates have spent the last week debating Beijing’s proposed bills, which they are all but certain to approve. The NPC, which is often described as a rubber-stamp parliament, has never rejected an item on its agenda. Continue reading...
