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Tens of thousands of police deployed and roads barricaded as PTI party demands release of jailed former PMLeaders from Imran Khan’s party have vowed to go ahead with a nationwide demonstration in Pakistan to demand the former prime minister’s release, even as the government deployed tens of thousands of police to Islamabad, barricaded highways and issued arrest warrants to try to stop the march.The state has taken extreme measures to prevent Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party from proceeding with the march. It was announced after mounting concerns of the treatment of Khan, who has been in jail since 2023 on corruption charges. Continue reading...

While US president hailed visit as ‘great’, almost nothing of substance was achieved on resolving thorny issuesKey takeaways from the Trump-Xi summit in WashingtonIf the Beijing meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in May was the “stalemate summit”, the second round of talks between the presidents of the US and China this week seemed to give up entirely on the idea of breakthroughs.Instead, it was described as a celebration of “diplotainment” rather than diplomacy, where pomp prevailed over progress and where one of the main outcomes was the news that two giant pandas would soon be sent from China to Atlanta zoo. Continue reading...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has confirmed his government prepared contingency plans for the possibility that President Trump could order a military invasion of Canada, a stunning admission that surfaced amid an escalating trade war between the two countries.Carney made the disclosure in a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times published Wednesday, according to the New York Post, describing the scenario as an "extreme tail risk," a phrase typically applied to rare, high-stakes events that most people would otherwise dismiss as too improbable to plan for."I think you have a responsibility in these roles to look at extreme tail risk," Carney said. "That's just risk management. That's not a base case, but it would be irresponsible not to" prepare.Carney declined to detail exactly what those preparations entailed, though he told The Times he'd worked to diversify Canada's supply chains, including for technology, to reduce the country's dependence on the United States. The Times described Carney, a former central banker, as someone inclined to methodically map out and plan for worst-case scenarios before they happen.The admission comes as relations between Washington and Ottawa have deteriorated sharply. Trade talks between the two countries collapsed earlier this summer, triggering a tit-for-tat tariff war that's pushed some U.S. duties on Canadian goods as high as 50 percent. Trump has also repeatedly floated the idea of annexing Canada as the "51st state," including sharing social media images depicting Canadian territory folded into the United States, though he explicitly ruled out using military force to accomplish it back in January 2025.Despite the tension, Carney insisted diplomatic channels between the two governments remain open.Separately, Carney has been working to deepen Canada's military ties with Europe, discussing expanded defense cooperation with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Strasbourg this week. Canada recently became the first non-European nation to join the EU's roughly $170 billion SAFE defense procurement program, part of a broader continental push to bolster military readiness.Trump has threatened to escalate trade sanctions against Europe if they make Canada an "associate" member of the European Union, another proposal under consideration.

The Republican Party has a huge Ivanka Trump problem — and it could end in class warfare, a leading Democratic Socialist warned.“The anger and rage is building,” India Walton told Raw Story. “As we begin to raise our class consciousness and realize that racialized capitalism and the institutions that uphold it are the real enemy, and not one another, that will be the day that you'll see people in the streets.”Walton, an ex-mayoral candidate who now serves as a senior strategist for the progressive group RootsAction, made this prediction as President Donald Trump’s eldest daughter takes soft but determined steps back into the spotlight with a series of Instagram posts promoting her business ventures and documenting her family’s luxurious lifestyle.Ivanka’s decision to share recent images of her family jet-setting to Iceland and dining with royalty has unwittingly documented an America divided by wealth as they triggered a stark rebuke from citizens who struggle to put food on their tables and gas in their cars.Earlier this month, Ivanka posted a video of her daughter horseback riding on an idyllic beach and was met with condemnation — even from conservative commentators.“Americans: We can’t afford gas, food or tuition,” conservative podcaster Melissa Witte wrote on X. “Trump Family: here’s a video of Kai’s luxury dorm, Ivanka riding a horse and we’re also gonna rename both New Mexico and Lake Ontario ‘America.’”And Ivanka's family photos from Donald Trump Jr.'s Bahamas wedding now serve as a platform to discuss the recent ProPublica report that found the celebration was funded in part by a Russian oligarch."Elites trying so hard to be normal," Texan Derek Geisler replied on Instagram. "And I used to be a big Trump fan."When Ivanka shared an image of “The Beginning of Infinity” by David Deutsch — a book that explores the impact Western civilization has had on human progress — she was immediately criticized by one Instagram user as "Ivanka Columbus.""I'm sure she's looking to discover new lands to claim as her own," Charles Knight wrote. "Locals be on the lookout."Locals in Albania — where Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner plan to transform one of the nation’s most important ecological sites into a $1.4 billion resort — are doing more than keeping watch. They’re taking to the streets.What began as a one-issue outcry has developed into an organized movement as thousands of Albanians demand their government resign over concerns of corruption in the hands of oligarchs.Ivanka Trump sparked this “Flamingo Revolution” when she bragged, again on her social media, about how she dived off a friend’s boat, swam to what she claimed was the barely known Sazan Island, took a barefoot hike to its peak and decided to “realize its potential.”“It’s not even a business for me, despite the scale of it,” Ivanka told interviewer David Senra in May. “For me, it feels more like a challenge than anything else… a lot of reflection on how I want to live.”On Thursday, Walton argued to Raw Story that the number of Americans who want to live like Ivanka Trump is dwindling fast as the president's MAGA base sours on his philosophies, and sees progress occur outside his realm.“There's still a certain subset of our population who believes that one day, you know, if they work hard enough, they will be the Ivankas and the Donald Trumps of the world,” Walton said. “We are beginning to find out that those things are just untrue.”In Trump's "Golden Age," Americans have simplified their desires to safe food, vaccines for their kids, "a gallon of gas and a dozen eggs," Walton argued.If these frustrated Americans have yet to unite in protest, argued Walton, it's only because they're afraid.“With the militarization of our local police departments, with the deputization of ICE agents who have no qualifications in law enforcement, and who are wearing masks and go unidentified and are just like sweeping up people off the street,” said Walton, “there is a very real and reasonable fear that people are feeling about rising up.”But Americans, Walton believes, cannot ignore the success that her fellow Democratic Socialists have achieved — and pointed to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as proof.“Everyone, all over the country, is watching the success of New York City, one of the wealthiest cities in the world, watching it be able to tackle an affordability agenda,” she said. “People are really starting to question why, and what are people going to do about it?”And as Ivanka Trump continues to highlight the divide between the very rich and those struggling to get by, she only showcases the MAGA movement’s fatal flaw, Walton concluded.“This empire is not going to last forever — it can't possibly,” Walton said. “There's 99 percent of us who are fed up… we are moving away from identity and rediscovering that class is what unites us all.”

President Donald Trump personally greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews — a display of deference that observers say wasn't returned when Trump visited Beijing in May.HuffPost senior reporter S.V. Dáte was among the first to flag the historic nature of the gesture, noting "going out to the airport to greet a foreign leader has not been done in 60 years," and that "presidents in recent decades have done that only for papal visits." His verdict: "Trump is doing it to honor a ruthless dictator."Multiple accounts noted Trump and first lady Melania Trump stood at the bottom of the stairs as six F-16s and six F-22s sat parked behind them and a red carpet rolled across the concrete, kicking off a three-day state visit including a formal dinner. It was, several pointed out, the first time an American president has greeted a visiting head of state that way since John F. Kennedy welcomed British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in 1962.Xi did not extend Trump the same courtesy in May.Social media users were quick to note the hypocrisy. One user going by Covie wrote: "Notice that President Xi didn't even go to the airport to meet trump when trump visited China but trump is at the airport putting on a whole show to greet Xi when Xi visits US. Republicans' daddy has a daddy." Tech commentator O.C. Omar added: "You know who is Boss."An account tracking Chinese news, Dailylifenews, resurfaced an old Trump tweet mocking Barack Obama for hosting a visit from then-Vice President Xi Jinping in 2012, when Trump called the honors "so wrong."Uppsala University peace and conflict researcher Ashok Swain contrasted the treatment with Trump's chillier reception of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who "didn't even come to White House front door."Commentator Mario Nawfal noted the stakes: Beijing remains the top source of fentanyl precursor chemicals blamed for roughly 35,000 American deaths in the past year, with tariffs, chips and rare earths also on the table. "If he walks away from three days of pageantry without a single commitment," Nawfal wrote, "Beijing got the photographs for free."The last President who went to the tarmac to receive a visiting head of state was John F Kennedy in 60s. Trump is rolling out the red carpet for Xi in the hope that America and China can manage the Great Reset. https://t.co/Ce76vytzk8— Zakka Jacob (@Zakka_Jacob) September 24, 2026

Role for Anant Ambani, son of India’s richest person, who also runs a controversial mega-zoo, met with incredulityNewcastle University is facing a backlash from conservationists over the appointment of the heir to an Indian oil and gas fortune who runs a controversial mega-zoo as a professor of sustainability.The university announced that Anant Ambani had been given a professorship of practice for “his work in conservation, biodiversity protection, animal welfare and environmental stewardship” and “significant contributions to advancing a more sustainable future”. Continue reading...

Suicide attempts in the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group climbed to eight during its combat deployment, far above what carriers usually see, an official said.Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao disclosed the figure in a letter dated Tuesday to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), according to CNN, which obtained the letter.The outlet said the number had not been previously reported. No sailor died by suicide during the deployment, Cao insisted."Since the beginning of Lincoln's deployment, there have been a total of eight suicide attempts across the strike group," Cao wrote to Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "This number includes the Lincoln crew and sailors from the carrier air wing, strike group and destroyer squadron staff, escorting destroyers and all embarked aviation squadrons.""Eight attempted suicides is incredibly high," a U.S. military official told CNN. "The strain of combat ops is much higher than normal deployments. No port calls, constant alerts, etc."The official said recent carrier strike group deployments have seen one or two attempts a year.CNN reported that between 6,000 and 7,000 sailors served in the strike group across about a half dozen ships. The carrier stayed out of port for more than six months while carrying out combat operations against Iran.The strike group's rate of attempts was roughly in line with the rate for the entire active-duty Navy in 2024, when the service recorded 356 attempts among about 337,000 sailors, according to CNN. The official was comparing the Lincoln with other carrier deployments, not the Navy as a whole."We have not observed an increase in suicidal ideations or attempts aboard the ship," the Navy said in an earlier statement to CNN."A small number of mental health cases were treated with no loss of life," Cao said in an August statement, according to the Washington Examiner.CNN had previously reported that two sailors from the strike group jumped overboard in recent months. Both were rescued, U.S. officials said. Cao's count of eight is higher than the two incidents reported earlier in the summer.Cao confirmed in the letter that an air wing sailor went overboard in early August. The CNN report said that the sailor was recovered and treated aboard the carrier."Additionally, one sailor attempted to go overboard in March and was stopped by his shipmates," Cao wrote.At Joint Base Andrews on Aug. 14, a reporter told President Donald Trump that families of Lincoln sailors were concerned about conditions aboard the ship."No, they're not," Trump said. Asked whether the deployment had gone on too long, he answered, "No, no, not nearly long enough.""The Fake News media should STOP exploiting military families!" Pentagon deputy press secretary Jacob Bliss wrote on X that day."It was fake news reporting from CNN," Trump later said of the reports of distress by the families.Gillibrand responded to Cao's letter in a statement to Newsweek."What Trump and Secretary [of Defense Pete] Hegseth dismissed as 'fake news' turned out to be serious and deteriorating conditions for our service members," Gillibrand said.The Lincoln left the Middle East in August and is expected back in San Diego in the coming weeks.

An economist warned that President Donald Trump is aiming the same weapon the U.S. used against Iran at America's own economy.University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers, founder of the Platypus Economics newsletter and podcast, sounded the alarm during a Wednesday episode of "The Trump Report" with host Maddie Hale. The pair were discussing Trump's claim that he is open to banning diesel exports as U.S. diesel prices hit record highs.Wolfers pointed out that the Trump administration had waged what he called an "economic D-Day" against Tehran by choking off its energy sales."The U.S. hates Iran. So, in order to destroy the Iranian economy, they had economic D-Day in which they've tried to prevent Iran from exporting energy to get money," Wolfers explained. "The president has just voluntarily said he wants to get the U.S. to stop exporting energy to get money. He's applying the same economic policy to the United States as to Iran. That's kind of bonkers, right?"Hale admitted she "didn't actually think of it like that."Wolfers said the idea runs "upside down" and "back to front" from Trump's own trade agenda."The president came to power, and he's imposed tariffs on imports because he's worried about the balance of payments or he's worried about the trade deficit," Wolfers said. "So he wants America to be exporting more and importing less. What is he suggesting? There's not even a word in my textbook for a tariff on exports."Wolfers added, "It's the opposite of what the president thinks and what the president thinks was mixed up to start with."He said a ban "would solve a narrow problem and be an absolutely absurd economic solution." Consumers would get cheaper diesel, Wolfers said, but "anyone whose 401(k) owns stock in an energy company, that energy company's now losing a lot of revenue."The refining and drilling regions in Texas "are going to be somewhat depressed," Wolfers warned.Wolfers also noted there is little to stop such a move because "it's so widely understood it's a dumb move that no one ever bothered signing anything to say don't do it."He also questioned the timing. High gas prices angered "moms and dads and regular voters," he said, yet "the president never once thought about restricting exports of gasoline." Diesel, by contrast, is used by "farmers and truckers" and by "corporations, big agriculture, transportation companies."Wolfers said the proposal signals to allies that the U.S. can't be trusted on basic commerce."The point is we are so unreliable we're not even pursuing our self-interest," he said.