Top World News
US Officials Meeting Ukraine Negotiators As Trump Pushes To End Russia War
Top Trump administration officials are meeting Ukrainian negotiators in Florida this weekend, pushing to broker an end to Russia's war in Ukraine and setting the stage for key talks planned this week in Moscow with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Over 500 Dead Across Southeast Asia Amid Floods, Landslides
The death count mounted to over 500 from floods and landslides caused by torrential rains across three countries in Southeast Asia, officials said on Sunday, as relief efforts for tens of thousands of displaced people continued over the weekend.
England’s water industry issued £10.5bn in ‘green bonds’ despite pollution record
River Action says use of issuance tied to environmental benefits is ‘corporate greenwash on steroids’Water companies have issued a fifth of the UK’s “green bonds” since 2017, despite a consistently poor record of sewage pollution during that time, research has shown.Privately owned water companies in England have together issued £10.5bn in bonds tied to projects that offer “environmental benefits”, according to analysis of financial market data by Unearthed, which is part of Greenpeace UK. Continue reading...
Cornish language to get same protected status as Welsh, Irish and Scottish Gaelic
Kernewek submitted by government for part III status under European charter for regional or minority languagesThe Cornish language is due to be given the same status as Welsh, Irish and Scottish Gaelic after the government submitted it for greater protections under a European charter.Kernewek, spoken as a first language by 563 people according to the last census, has been recommended by the government for part III status under the European charter for regional or minority languages, the highest level of protection available. Continue reading...
Kristi Noem claims suspect in national guard shooting was ‘radicalized’ in US
Homeland security secretary also blamed ‘activist’ judges for defying court order to halt deportation flightsKristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, claimed on Sunday that the suspect in the national guard shooting in Washington DC was “radicalized” in the US and blamed the Biden administration, though the suspect’s asylum was approved under Donald Trump.The shooting suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was granted asylum under the Trump administration in April 2025. He worked with CIA backed units in Afghanistan, coming to the US in September 2021 under an Operation Allies Welcome program. Continue reading...
Dignitas founder ends his own life through assisted death
Ludwig Minelli, whose work had lasting influence on Swiss law, dies just days before his 93rd birthdayThe head of the Swiss right-to-die organisation Dignitas has ended his life through an assisted death, the group has said.Ludwig Minelli, who founded the group in 1998, died on Saturday, days before his 93rd birthday, Dignitas said. It added: “Right up to the end of his life, he continued to search for further ways to help people to exercise their right to freedom of choice and self-determination in their ‘final matters’ – and he often found them.” Continue reading...
Cyclone Ditwah Kills 193 In Sri Lanka, Over 25,000 Homes Destroyed
The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said at least 193 people had died following a week of heavy rains brought on by Cyclone Ditwah, while 228 people were missing.
'It's a confession': Conservative lawyers call new Hegseth comment an 'admission of guilt'
Pete Hegseth was put on notice over the weekend by two conservative lawyers, including a former prosecutor, who said the Defense Secretary's defense to a major new scandal "makes no legal sense" and is not really "a defense."Observers' eyebrows were raised after it was reported by the Washington Post in a bombshell story that Hegseth ordered the killing of two survivors of one of controversial drug vessel bombings. Some analysts questioned whether it was murder, or even a war crime.Former prosecutor Andrew McCarthy, who served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, recently said he has no love for the “craven video” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and five Democrats released to the public advising military members to ignore illegal orders. At the same time, McCarthy suggested President Donald Trump’s executive power abuses in reacting to it represent a whole “new level” of threat. Now, in an essay late Saturday night, the conservative weighed in on Hegseth's new scandal."If this happened as described in the Post report, it was, at best, a war crime under federal law. I say 'at best' because, as regular readers know, I believe the attacks on these suspected drug boats — without congressional authorization, under circumstances in which the boat operators pose no military threat to the United States, and given that narcotics trafficking is defined in federal law as a crime rather than as terrorist activity, much less an act or war — are lawless and therefore that the killings are not legitimate under the law or armed conflict," the attorney wrote.McCarthy goes even further, suggesting that, "even if you buy the untenable claim that they are combatants, it is a war crime to intentionally kill combatants who have been rendered unable to fight. It is not permitted, under the laws and customs of honorable warfare, to order that no quarter be given — to apply lethal force to those who surrender or who are injured, shipwrecked, or otherwise unable to fight."He continued, writing, "The operation, led by SEAL Team 6, was directed from Fort Bragg, N.C., by Admiral Frank M. 'Mitch' Bradley, then the head of Joint Special Operations Command. Admiral Bradley is said to have ordered the attack against the two survivors of the first strike in order to comply with Hegseth’s directive to kill the boat’s operators."While Bradley reportedly claimed "the survivors were still legitimate targets because they could theoretically call other traffickers to retrieve them and their cargo," and Hegseth issued a response saying these were always meant to be deadly attacks, McCarthy isn't sold."Neither Hegseth’s statement nor the explanation attributed to Bradley... makes legal sense," the former prosecutor wrote. "The laws of war, as they are incorporated into federal law, make lethal force unlawful if it is used under certain circumstances. Hence, it cannot be a defense to say, as Hegseth does, that one has killed because one’s objective was 'lethal, kinetic strikes.'"Conservative attorney George Conway shared McCarthy's essay and wrote, "Indeed, it's a confession and admission of guilt to heinous crimes."Read the full piece here (subscription required).
Trump does not plan to send troops into Venezuela, Sen. Markwayne Mullin says
Sen. Markwayne Mullin said Sunday that President Trump does not plan to attack Venezuela.
Benjamin Netanyahu asks Israel’s president for pardon in corruption case
Request is submitted weeks after Donald Trump called on Isaac Herzog to pardon Israeli prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu has asked Israel’s president for a pardon for bribery and fraud charges and an end to a five-year corruption trial, arguing that it would be in the “national interest”.Isaac Herzog’s office acknowledged receipt of the 111-page submission from the prime minister’s lawyer, and said it had been passed on to the pardons department in the ministry of justice. The president’s legal adviser would also formulate an opinion before Herzog made a decision, it added. Continue reading...
EPA urged to ban spraying of antibiotics on US food crops amid resistance fears
Use of 8m pounds of antibiotics and antifungals a year leads to superbugs and damages human health, lawsuit claimsA new legal petition filed by a dozen public health and farm worker groups demands the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stop allowing farms to spray antibiotics on food crops in the US because they are probably causing superbugs to flourish and sickening farm workers.The agricultural industry sprays about 8m pounds of antibiotic and antifungal pesticides on US food crops annually, many of which are banned in other countries. Continue reading...
Gutting of key US watchdog could pave way for grave immigration abuses, experts warn
Former oversight officials alarmed by dismantling of DHS system that oversees complaints about civil rights harmsThe federal watchdog system at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that oversees complaints about civil rights violations, including in immigration detention, has been gutted so thoroughly that it could be laying the groundwork for the Trump administration to “abuse people with impunity”, experts warn.Former federal oversight officials have sounded the alarm at the rapid dismantling of guardrails against human rights failures – at the same time as the government pushes aggressive immigration enforcement operations.Border Patrol agents in Arizona forcibly removed a detained man from a cell, handcuffed him and then injected him with ketamine to sedate him in 2023, according to a CRCL document confirming the watchdog’s investigation into the allegation. A Guardian reporter had saved that document just weeks before it was scrubbed from the DHS’s website.Guards at a privately owned Louisiana detention center systematically mistreated detained immigrants, according to a CRCL document. This included an investigation into a 2024 incident during which correctional staff pepper sprayed around 200 detained immigrants who were staging a hunger strike in protest of detention conditions. Guards then allegedly locked the men in the unit and cut the power and water for hours. A majority of the men were allegedly denied medical care, the original complaint, submitted to the CRCL by RFK Human Rights, said.In a Florida jail, a 33-year-old immigrant woman with mental health problems was forcibly stripped naked, strapped to a restraint chair and mocked by male guards, according to a CRCL complaint submitted by the ACLU of Florida and RFK Human Rights. The woman was allegedly left with “contusions and marks on her body” after hours in the restraint chair. The whistleblower declaration said the CRCL had launched an investigation into the case.Agents violated due process during the arrest and detention of Palestinian student and Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, according to the whistleblower complaint. Continue reading...
Nov 30, 2025