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Observers were shocked Thursday after a new book excerpt detailed how foreign spies spent months peering into the phone of President Donald Trump's son-in-law.In an excerpt published by Vanity Fair from his upcoming book "Princes and Thieves," investigative reporter Matthew Cole lays out how Dutch military intelligence flipped a Russian GRU hacker in 2017 and used him to reach a Russian server holding screenshots from Jared Kushner's iPhone. By early 2018, according to Cole, the Dutch had cracked the device themselves and could watch Kushner's screen in real time.What they saw, Cole reports, was Kushner logging into a UAE bank account stocked with hundreds of millions of dollars routed through a bank in Azerbaijan. Cole's reporting alleges that the Saudi and Emirati royals ultimately put at least $2 billion into accounts tied to Kushner, including roughly $750 million at First Abu Dhabi Bank, where Kushner was allegedly a signatory on an account owned by an Emirati charity, and about $1 billion in Israel's Central Bank.A former Mueller prosecutor told Cole that Kushner may have run afoul of federal bribery and foreign agents laws if he promised anything in return. Kushner's lawyer denied any wrongdoing and insisted "there are no accounts and never were."Reaction online was swift."Every word of this is f------ insane," investigative journalist Scott Stedman fumed on X. "Kushner cannot be in charge of negotiations."Stedman followed up by arguing that, if the reporting holds, Cole "may have uncovered the biggest case of foreign bribery (MBZ and MBS of Kushner) in U.S. history."Drop Site News co-founder Ryan Grim marveled at the backstory. "Aside from the shocking substance of this story, what's amazing is how it was unearthed by Cole," he wrote.Former Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman summed up the chain of events, noting that Dutch cyberspies reverse-engineered a Russian hack to gain "unprecedented access to his world." He called it a "bananas story."National security journalist Zach Dorfman hailed it as "astounding reporting," while reporter Erin Banco kept it short. "This is wild," she posted.

Jared Kushner allegedly accessed a secret Gulf-funded bank account while Dutch spies watched his phone, and moved money to a warlord, a mercenary and a one-time hit man, according to an explosive new book.In an excerpt published Thursday by Vanity Fair, investigative journalist Matthew Cole wrote that Dutch military intelligence found screenshots of Kushner’s iPhone on a Russian military intelligence server, then exploited a flaw in the phone to watch his screen themselves starting in early 2018.They saw Kushner, then a senior adviser to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump, log into a UAE bank account that had received hundreds of millions of dollars routed through Azerbaijan, according to “Princes and Thieves.” A source told Cole that Kushner appeared to transfer significant sums from the account to other individuals, including the warlord, mercenary and former hit man.Cole alleges the rulers of Saudi Arabia and the UAE put at least $2 billion into at least two accounts for Kushner during Trump’s first term.“Jared promised MBZ that he’d push their agenda with Trump if they participated in a fund,” one source told Cole, referring to UAE ruler Mohamed bin Zayed.Kushner’s ties to Gulf money have drawn scrutiny before. After leaving the White House, his private equity firm, Affinity Partners, received a $2 billion investment from a Saudi sovereign wealth fund led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a deal that has drawn scrutiny from ethics watchdogs.The book cites mostly unnamed sources. Kushner’s lawyer told Cole that Kushner broke no laws and had no connection to any UAE account, adding that there “are no accounts and never were.”Kushner himself blasted the book on X.“The allegations made by this author are completely insane, categorically false, and never happened,” he wrote.

The White House’s rapid-response account pushed back on a former New York Post correspondent who criticized envoy Steve Witkoff’s praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the Daily Beast.Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, told Putin during a Wednesday meeting, “You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that, I commend you, and I thank you again.”The same day, Trump said Putin had freed Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired American teacher held in Russia since 2022, after a personal plea and without asking for anything in return.Reporter Caitlin Doornbos responded on X, according to the Daily Beast. “I’m used to diplomatic pandering by now, but this? ????” she wrote. She followed up: “For my Republican strategist friends — where the headlines could have been, ‘President Trump brings home American wrongly imprisoned in Russia’ - Witkoff calling Putin a ‘humanitarian’ will be the only thing anyone talks about.”The White House’s Rapid Response 47 account fired back, the Daily Beast reported. “Should the Special Envoy have insulted the man, imperiled the release of an American citizen, and torched any possibility of finally resolving a war that has gone on for far too long?” the account asked. “These things are complicated. This is why you’re not a negotiator.”The Daily Beast’s Leigh Kimmins wrote, “Someone in the Trump administration nerve center is rattled.”Doornbos later responded, "The White House tried to put me in my place. I was already in a bomb shelter in Kyiv."MS NOW host Joe Scarborough also weighed in after Witkoff shared a post about Hubbard’s release. “Stephen was kidnapped and abused for FOUR YEARS by the dictator you just called a humanitarian,” Scarborough wrote. “Putin kidnaps Americans, assassinates political rivals, kills journalists, murders toddlers, and kidnaps thousands of children. And you call him a humanitarian. There are no words.”The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, writing about the release, said there is “no cause to be grateful” to Putin. The board called Witkoff’s praise a “rhetorical smooch.”The White House tried to put me in my place. I was already in a bomb shelter in Kyiv.Here’s what happened when I questioned Trump’s envoy calling Putin a “humanitarian” — and the response I got from the president’s own team. #ukraine https://t.co/n1veXqIOpy— Caitlin Doornbos (@CaitlinDoornbos) October 22, 2026

Kim Aris says ‘hearing her voice again means more than words can express’ amid loosening of detention restrictionsThe son of Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi has been allowed to speak to the detained former democratic leader for the first time in more than five years.“Today, I was finally able to speak with my mother, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, after more than five years. Hearing her voice again means more than words can express,” Kim Aris said in a post on Facebook on Thursday. Continue reading...

President Donald Trump's Special Envoy for Peace Missions, Steve Witkoff, prostrated himself before Russia's Vladimir Putin at a summit on Wednesday — despite Putin's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, butcher of civilians, and the lack of any progress in getting him to back off his demands for territorial and political control of his neighbors."You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian," said Witkoff. "You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that, I commend you, and I thank you again."This display earned disgust and horror from commentators on social media, both in the U.S. and around the world."Holy s---, Witkoff just called Putin a 'humanitarian,'" wrote the account "Vatnik Soup." "Because of Putin, thousands of Ukrainian civilians are dead, hospitals lie in ruins, and people are suffering from hunger, torture and Russian terrorism.""What is clear is Putin is playing rope a dope with Trump/Witkoff: Release a hostage here, feign interest in peace talks there, signalling willingness to listen, while blaming Ukraine for intransigence. But never actually agreeing to change course," wrote John Foreman, an independent defense consultant and former British defence attaché in Moscow."The sheer insanity of American diplomacy under Trump is becoming difficult to comprehend," wrote Substacker Gandalv. "Steve Witkoff, a New York property developer somehow entrusted with negotiating Europe’s most consequential war since 1945, has just saluted Vladimir Putin as a humanitarian. The man who invaded Ukraine, ordered the destruction of its cities and presides over a state accused of abducting Ukrainian children. Apparently, releasing an American whom Russia wrongfully imprisoned makes Putin a humanitarian. Imagine sending a property salesman to negotiate with a war criminal, only to discover he cannot distinguish between a humanitarian gesture and the man responsible for creating the humanitarian catastrophe. They are so cringe.""US humiliation level 100," wrote Czech political analyst Vláďa Foltán."Absurd simpering obsequiousness from a representative of the most powerful country on earth, and another American humiliation, to add to the growing, growing list," wrote Kyiv Independent correspondent Jimmy Rushton.

A Republican lawmaker who worked as an FBI agent in Ukraine demands sworn testimony over a decision he warned "costs human lives."Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) told CNN's Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday that if Elon Musk ordered a lapse in Starshield coverage for Ukraine, as a report says, "that is likely a violation of the law." Fitzpatrick said Musk has authority over Starlink, the commercial satellite internet service, but not Starshield, which the congressman called "a military-grade national security tool.""No individual civilian should have any decision-making authority on how that's deployed," he said.Collins asked whether it was clear Musk was responsible. "Well, that's what the report says. But we got to investigate," said Fitzpatrick, a former FBI agent who chairs the Ukraine caucus in Congress."We got to call the witnesses. Got to bring them in, put them under oath, and get to the bottom of it," he said. "Because this is a very, very serious matter. It cannot be glossed over."He added that "lapsing Starshield in that manner" is something that "costs human lives," and "there's got to be consequences to that."Asked whether that could include putting Musk under oath, Fitzpatrick replied, "You got to interview everybody. Yes."He also threatened to hit the executive branch where it hurts, noting it "does not have a dime of their own money" and that there "needs to be financial consequences to any agency or any agency head that had any part in this."Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier Tuesday that "we haven't pulled anything back" and that Starlink "has the option to make those decisions." Fitzpatrick wasn't satisfied."These answers are wildly insufficient," he said. "There's a lot of finger-pointing, a lot of people saying, well, not me. Okay, if not you, then who?"Fitzpatrick said he has spoken with several colleagues on both sides of the aisle and there is "a strong, strong resolve" to pursue oversight as soon as Congress returns.He didn't spare President Donald Trump either. Asked whether Trump is equivocating on Ukraine and Russia, Fitzpatrick said, "I think they all are." When Collins raised Trump's claim that Russia hasn't been doing much lately, the congressman shot back, "It's ridiculous.""Ukraine is our ally," he said. "Russia is the self-identified enemy of the United States."

Case in Africa’s most populous country was detected in a woman who had travelled from UgandaNigeria has confirmed an Ebola case in its capital, Abuja, after a woman who arrived from Uganda tested positive for the virus, the health ministry said.The woman began showing symptoms on 7 October and was admitted to a hospital in Abuja four days later, where she was later diagnosed with Ebola. It is unclear when she arrived in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. Continue reading...

Elon Musk's attempt to distance himself from a move Ukraine says put lives at risk took a major hit with a new report.The SpaceX founder personally ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of Starlink that Ukrainian forces rely on, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing U.S. officials and people familiar with the matter. The speed cap rendered some of Ukraine's attack and interceptor drones close to useless, according to the report.That account clashes with what Musk told the public. Hours after the slowdown came to light, he posted on X that "any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS."Some U.S. officials told The Journal that Musk acted on his own and that Trump never specifically ordered any retribution against Kyiv. But one person familiar with the situation said Musk spoke with several senior Trump administration officials, including the president, before imposing the cap. Ukrainian officials said the restriction allowed Russian missiles to slip past their defenses.Two people said Musk and Trump discussed the decision by phone shortly after it became public, while the president was on the campaign trail. One of them claimed the pair had also talked it over before the cap went into effect.As the uproar grew, SpaceX representatives reached out to their White House counterparts hoping to settle on a shared message that the company and the Trump administration had worked together before Musk gave the order, according to the report. Trump, meanwhile, told reporters Monday that he didn't know who was behind the slowdown, "but I would like to find out."The slowdown, which started Oct. 14, came just days after Trump lashed out at Ukraine over strikes on Russian diesel refineries, which he blames for high fuel prices.Last week, The Telegraph reported that Musk had pitched the idea of slowing the service to Trump, citing four sources familiar with the talks.Michael Kofman, a war expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the restrictions "continue to hamper Ukrainian strike operations and air defenses." Denys Sienik, Ukraine's top diplomat in Washington, said Tuesday that Kyiv was still trying "to understand whether the connection has been restored or will be restored."SpaceX did not respond to The Journal's request for comment.