Top World News
Philippine court convicts former mayor of human trafficking
A Philippine court has convicted a dismissed town mayor, who officials say is Chinese national, of human trafficking charges for helping establish an illegal online gaming and scam complex where hundreds of Chinese and other foreign workers where force...
Pakistani forces step up raids near the Afghan border, killing 23 militants
Pakistan's military says troops have raided two Pakistani Taliban hideouts in the country’s northwest near the Afghan border, triggering intense shootouts that left 23 militants dead
Alice Guo, Chinese national who ran huge scam centre while Philippines mayor, sentenced to life in prison
Guo, who pretended to be Filipina to become mayor, found guilty of human trafficking after raid on compound where more than 700 people were forced to run scamsAlice Guo, a Chinese national who became a mayor in the Philippines while masquerading as a Filipina, has been sentenced to life in prison along with seven others on human trafficking charges, state prosecutors have said.Guo, who served as mayor of a town north of Manila, was found guilty of overseeing a Chinese-operated online gambling centre where hundreds of people were forced to run scams or risk torture. Continue reading...
Samoa PM suspends country’s only daily newspaper from press briefings amid dispute over coverage
Prime minister has accused the Samoa Observer of inaccurate reporting during his eight-week medical stay in New ZealandSamoa’s only daily newspaper has been banned from attending press conferences with the Samoan prime minister, in a move that critics say threatens the democratic integrity of the Pacific nation.Relations between La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Fosi Schmidt and the Samoa Observer have deteriorated in recent weeks, with the prime minister accusing the newspaper of inaccurate reporting during his eight-week medical stay in New Zealand. Continue reading...
Bangladesh Supreme Court restores nonpartisan caretaker system but not for next elections
Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has restored a nonpartisan caretaker government system for elections but says it won’t apply to the polls being held early next year
Leaders press on with G20 summit in South Africa that won't have US and Trump
Leaders and delegates from the world’s richest nations and top developing countries are gathering this weekend for the Group of 20 summit in South Africa, an event overshadowed by the boycott of U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration
Trump defends Saudi crown prince over Khashoggi killing, threatens ABC News in White House meeting – as it happened
This live blog is now closed.Trump shrugs off Khashoggi murder during Saudi prince’s White House visitA reminder that Donald Trump’s family has a strong personal interest in Saudi Arabia. In September, London real estate developer Dar Global announced that it plans to launch Trump Plaza in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.It’s Dar Global’s second collaboration with the Trump Organization, the collection of companies controlled by the US president’s children, in the kingdom. Last year, the two companies announced the launch of Trump Tower Jeddah. Continue reading...
This White House disgrace makes no effort to conceal Trump's sheer contempt
Donald Trump will debase the White House today like never before.Far worse than bulldozing its East Wing, Trump will use the People’s House as the grotesque backdrop for reducing to rubble any pretense of American moral leadership in the world. He will prostrate himself — and our nation — at the feet of one of its most malign actors.All for the money.The killer’s name is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. The world came to know him as MBS when he first gained widespread notoriety for ordering the brutal murder in 2018 of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen and legal permanent resident in the U.S.Little more than seven years after Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul — his dismembered body never to be found — MBS will be fêted today at the White House. Trump will be there to greet him as a dignitary — ready with smiles, handshakes, photo ops, and promises of billions in deals (presumably not limited to his family in this case).Trump has spent seven years evading the truth, but the intelligence record is unambiguous. On Oct. 2, 2018, Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain documents for his marriage. He never walked out. Turkish authorities and U.S. intelligence confirmed the gruesome details: he was bound, injected with a fatal sedative, then dismembered, his body chemically dissolved. This was not some “rogue operation.” The CIA examined audio recordings from inside the consulate, intercepted calls, and text messages. MBS sent at least 11 texts to his top adviser, Saud al-Qahtani, who oversaw the 15-man hit squad sent to Istanbul. A member of the hit team called a senior aide to MBS from inside the consulate immediately after the murder to report the job was done.The CIA’s assessment wasn’t vague. Officials called it “blindingly obvious” that MBS gave the order. A killing this organized, this brazen, couldn’t have happened without his approval.And what did Trump do with this intelligence? He didn’t just ignore it — he rejected it outright. He issued a disgraceful, exclamation-point-laden statement dismissing his own CIA’s findings, claiming they only had “feelings” with “no smoking gun” — a deliberate, contemptible lie designed to protect a killer.Trump framed his surrender as “America First” by prioritizing arms sales and oil over the murder of a journalist who lived here. In a moment that never truly engendered the scorn it deserved, he wondered aloud whether people really wanted him to give up “hundreds of thousands of jobs.”That’s what it always comes down to: Money. Arms. Oil. Trump declared that abandoning Saudi Arabia would be a “terrible mistake,” ensuring “we’re with Saudi Arabia and staying with Saudi Arabia” — to hell with justice, truth, and American values.The rest of the world hasn’t forgotten. When the Biden administration released the declassified intelligence report in 2021, it confirmed what everyone already knew: MBS viewed Khashoggi as a threat and supported using violent means to silence him.MBS hasn’t changed. Saudi Arabia is executing prisoners at a record rate and maintaining an unprecedented human rights crackdown. Dozens of activists and writers languish in Saudi prisons for speaking freely.This is not just a crackdown on adults. Human rights groups have documented that Saudi authorities are reneging on their promise to halt the death penalty for juveniles, executing individuals for crimes allegedly committed when they were children, in addition to the hundreds executed for non-lethal, drug-related offenses.But today, Trump rolls out the red carpet — literally. There will be a South Lawn arrival ceremony, an Oval Office meeting, a Cabinet Room signing ceremony, and an East Room dinner hosted by Melania Trump. They’ll sign deals on AI, defense, and semiconductors potentially worth $142 billion. There will be smiling photo ops and glowing praise.What there won’t be is accountability. What there won’t be is justice for Jamal Khashoggi. What there won’t be is any acknowledgment that the man being honored in the White House ordered a journalist lured to his death and dismembered with a bone saw.Seven years later, Trump is doubling down on that betrayal. It would be interesting to see if any of Khashoggi’s erstwhile colleagues in the press dare mention his name today.It appears that the media has moved on. Congress has moved on. But Jamal Khashoggi is still dead, his body never found and his murderer is being celebrated as an honored guest.For Donald Trump, everything has a price.And as long as he’s our president, so does America’s soul.Ray Hartmann writes on Substack at Ray Hartmann's Soapbox
Bhutan PM on leading the first carbon-negative nation: ‘The wellbeing of our people is at the centre of our agenda’
Exclusive: Tshering Tobgay says his country is doing ‘a lot more than our fair share’ on climate and west must cut emissions ‘for the happiness of your people’The wealthy western countries most responsible for the climate crisis would improve the health and happiness of their citizens by prioritising environmental conservation and sustainable economic growth, according to the prime minister of Bhutan, the world’s first carbon-negative nation.Bhutan, a Buddhist democratic monarchy and biodiversity hotspot situated high in the eastern Himalayas, is among the world’s most ambitious climate leaders thanks to its people’s connection with nature and a strong political focus on improving gross national happiness rather than just GDP, Tshering Tobgay told the Guardian. Continue reading...
The rainforest the world forgot: the Congo basin is the second largest on Earth, so why is it being neglected?
It is one of the world’s most vital carbon sinks, but this tropical rainforest is losing out when it comes to climate policy and fundingIn October 2023, leaders, scientists and policymakers from three of the world’s great rainforest regions – the Amazon, the Congo, and the Borneo-Mekong basins – assembled in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo. They were there to discuss one urgent question: how to save the planet’s last great tropical forests from accelerating destruction.For those present, the question was existential. But to their dismay, almost no one noticed. “There was very little acknowledgment that this was happening, outside of the Congo basin region,” says Prof Simon Lewis, a lecturer at the University of Leeds and University College London, and co-chair of the Congo Basin Science Initiative (CBSI). Continue reading...
'Sickens me!' MAGA hosts lose it on pope after perceived 'woke' snub of Mel Gibson
Hosts of the pro-MAGA Real America's Voice network accused Pope Leo XIV of a "woke turn" after a meeting with Hollywood stars did not include conservatives like Mel Gibson."It's time to stay awake, not woke," host Terrence Bates noted on Monday. "That is where Pope Leo the 14th just hosted a private meeting with Hollywood A-listers, Spike Lee, Kate Blanchett, Judd Apatow, all there. But noticeably not there: Conservatives like Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood, Jon Voight, and James Woods.""I grew up in Catholic churches," co-host Gina Loudon explained. "My heart just breaks for the good people I know who are Catholics who have had to endure now two popes in a row, I've lost count, is it three popes in a row? All the popes since Pope John Paul essentially have been just— not what the average Catholic that I know believes, right?""What in the heck is this guy doing?" she asked. "What a mockery of God's faithful in the Catholic Church to be worried about getting to rub elbows with Hollywood elite? It sickens me, to be honest.""A hundred percent, I agree with everything you said," co-host David Brody agreed. "Why, just because he's the pope, I mean, all of a sudden there has to be this reverence because he's the pope?"According to Brody, the pope was "doing stuff that's just not biblical in many ways.""We can go down the list if you want to talk about the LGBT aspect of it, or how about blessing a block of ice?" he continued. "I feel bad for the Catholics that are just like, you know, would like to see a pope actually speak out on the traditional biblical values that are not only time-honored and cherished but are actually factual and accurate and biblical.""Don't put him on a pedestal," Bates added.
Ousted Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina sentenced to death for crimes against humanity
Hasina sentenced in absentia by court in Dhaka over deadly crackdown on student-led uprising last yearBangladesh’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Dhaka for crimes against humanity over a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year.A three-judge bench of the country’s international crimes tribunal convicted Hasina of crimes including incitement, orders to kill and inaction to prevent atrocities as she oversaw a crackdown on anti-government protesters last year. Continue reading...
