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What's behind South Africa's plan to deploy army in high-crime areas
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says he will deploy the army to high crime areas to help police in this country that has some of the highest violent crime rates in the world
‘You can’t hide from the invisible’: why Bangkok police make arrests in disguise
Critics claim the operations are geared at social media, but police say they have enabled real arrestsPolice officers from Bangkok’s metropolitan bureau had less than 24 hours to prepare for their latest undercover operation. They would be starring as performers of a lion dance at a temple fair held for the lunar new year. Their mission: track down and arrest a suspected thief who had a history of evading officers.“The dance was spontaneous. We just did what we did,” said the police captain Lertvarit Lertvorapreecha, adding that nobody had time to practise. In his haste, he accidentally picked up his colleague’s male mask, which he wore with a red silk dress, trousers and tactical shoes. Continue reading...
US backs Pakistan’s ‘right to defend itself’ against Taliban after strikes on Afghanistan
Taliban offer to resolve dispute via dialogue after Pakistan bombed cities in Afghanistan in latest escalation with its neighbourWashington endorsed Pakistan’s “right to defend itself” after it bombed major cities across Afghanistan amid heightened tensions between the two hostile neighbours.The Taliban government in Kabul stressed it was ready to negotiate on Friday as violence intensified between the two countries. Continue reading...
At least 20 killed as cash-laden military cargo plane crashes in Bolivia
Riot police use teargas to disperse people gathering around wreckage of plane loaded with money from central bankAt least 20 people have died and dozens have been injured after a military cargo plane carrying banknotes crashed while landing near Bolivia’s capital on Friday, damaging about a dozen vehicles on a highway and scattering bills on the ground, an official has said.Footage from local media showed people rushing to collect banknotes while police in riot gear tried to disperse them using teargas. Authorities were later seen setting the money alight in a bonfire at the scene of the crash. Continue reading...
Pakistan says it killed more than 300 Afghan forces in dayslong airstrikes
Pakistan says its military has struck more Afghan military installations deep inside Afghanistan
Trump suggests US could carry out ‘friendly takeover’ of Cuba
As tensions between two countries reach new highs, US president says regime is ‘talking with us’Donald Trump has suggested the US could carry out a “friendly takeover” of Cuba as tensions between Washington and Havana reach a new high after the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.As he left the White House for a campaigning event in Texas on Friday, Trump said: “The Cuban government is talking with us. They’re in a big deal of trouble.” Continue reading...
This soulless 2028 hopeful just signed a deal with the devil
If there was ever any doubt that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is nothing more than Donald Trump’s glorified messenger boy, look no further than his smarmy interaction with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Budapest last Monday.Rubio hailed a “golden age” of U.S. relations with Hungary, emphasizing Orbán’s strong personal relationship with Trump, and enthusiastically endorsed the autocrat’s bid for a fifth term in an April election. To earn Rubio’s praise and endorsement, Orbán has systematically dismantled Hungary’s democracy over the 15 years he has wielded power. As far back as 2022, European Union lawmakers declared Hungary “a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy,” its undermining of EU’s democratic values taking Hungary out of the “community of democracies.”Orbán has eroded Hungary’s pillars of democracy. He has limited the voice of opposition groups, passed anti-immigration laws, suppressed the freedom of the media and educational institutions, manipulated the election system, controlled the legislative branch through his Fidesz Party’s super-majority, and weakened judicial oversight by court packing and forced retirement of senior judges. Orbán has provided Trump a blueprint for democratic demolition that Trump has followed with alacrity. Rubio disgraced himself by wrapping America’s arms around the most autocratic leader in the European Union. A political chameleon, Rubio is a poster boy for why millions of Americans view politicians as the lowest of bottom feeders. He sold his soul for political gain and scrapped whatever values he may have had to serve Trump, hoping to position himself as a presidential contender in 2028.As a Florida senator, Rubio criticized the erosion of democracy in Hungary under Orbán and signed a letter with colleagues that decried the “significantly eroded” state of democracy there. Today, Rubio hails that same Orbán as a great leader worthy of continuing to serve the Hungarian people.As a senator, Rubio was known as a “Russia hawk” who labeled Vladimir Putin a “gangster,” “thug,” “tyrant,” and “war criminal.” Today, Rubio has refused to put any blame on Putin for invading Ukraine, made nice with Orbán, Putin’s one ally in the EU, and advanced Trump’s efforts to end the Russian-Ukrainian war quickly at great expense to Ukraine and benefit to Putin. As a senator, Rubio was widely regarded as a staunch defender of democracy at home. Today, Rubio is helping Trump dismantle American democracy while lavishing praise on Hungary’s democratic destroyer who Trump seditiously emulates.As Secretary of State, Rubio must carry out Trump’s agenda or be fired. However, Rubio had the choice of accepting the appointment, and he knew exactly what he was signing up for: serving at the pleasure of a narcissistic authoritarian bent on taking apart America’s democracy piece by piece and spreading Orbán’s brand of anti-democratic right-wing nationalism.Of course, Rubio is just a slick extension of Trump, a more moderate-appearing face on Trump’s anti-democratic machinations. However, if it weren’t for Rubio and other unscrupulous lackeys like Kristi Noem, Lee Zeldin, Pam Bondi, Peter Hegseth, and Linda McMahon, Trump couldn’t carry out his multiple-front assault on democracy. If Hitler hadn’t had Goring, Himmler, Goebbels, and Hess, he too would have lacked the obedient functionaries to convert hateful rhetoric into nightmarish reality.Rather than an anomaly, Rubio is representative of most bend-the-knee Republican politicians today. They are willing to forsake their values to keep their jobs or climb the political food chain like Rubio by prostrating themselves shamelessly before Trump. By providing absolutely no pushback to Trump demolishing American democracy and promoting authoritarianism abroad, Republican politicians are complicit in supporting and enabling the most anti-democratic administration in US history. They have lost any right to represent the American people or our democratic republic and will be unceremoniously shown the door on Nov. 4.Tom Tyner is a freelance editorialist, satirist, political analyst, blogger, author and retired English instructor.
Ghana says at least 55 of its people killed after Russia ‘lured’ them to fight Ukraine
Foreign minister says 272 Ghanaians are thought to have been drawn into battle since 2022, after he visited KyivAt least 55 Ghanaians have been killed in Russia’s war with Ukraine after being “lured into battle”, Ghana’s foreign minister has said after a visit to Kyiv in which officials raised the issue of Russian recruitment of African people.Reports of African men being attracted to Russia by promises of jobs and ending up on Ukraine’s frontlines have become more frequent in recent months, creating tensions between Moscow and some of the countries involved. Continue reading...
Trump's trade negotiators struggling after Supreme Court ties their hands: report
The Supreme Court's 6-3 decision limiting Donald Trump's unilateral tariff authority has significantly weakened his trade negotiators' position by eliminating their most potent weapon.According to reporting from Politico, the ruling has shifted the balance of power in trade discussions. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer faced immediate pressure from the U.K.'s chief negotiator, Peter Kyle, who implicitly threatened to block a trade agreement unless the United States honored a deal setting duties at 10 percent.Without the ability to arbitrarily adjust tariff rates, Trump officials have adopted a "more conciliatory approach in the hope of averting further setbacks to Trump's trade agenda."Trump has publicly insisted that countries attempting to exploit the Supreme Court decision will face even higher tariffs, stating: "Any Country that wants to 'play games' with the ridiculous supreme court decision, especially those that have 'Ripped Off' the U.S.A. for years, and even decades, will be met with a much higher Tariff, and worse." However, administration insiders acknowledge a marked shift in strategy.Former Biden official Peter Harrell suggested the practical impact may be limited: "The ability to compel implementation of these deals is weakened a little bit [by the Supreme Court ruling], but not significantly. I think that there is kind of enough other tariff threat, enough other non-tariff threat, and also, frankly, enough inducement in these deals that by and large, the governments that have agreed to the deals will continue to honor them."The ruling has also emboldened domestic opposition to trade agreements in some countries. Taiwan's opposition party has threatened to block approval of its agreement with the Trump administration, which imposed 15 percent tariff rates on most Taiwanese goods—higher than the current 10 percent global duty. The party has used the Supreme Court decision as justification to renegotiate the terms with the United States.You can read more here.
Democrats outraged at US military’s downing of CBP drone near Mexico border
Second time in two weeks military used laser to attack what it mistakenly thought was a threat, disrupting air trafficSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxDemocratic members of Congress have expressed astonishment and anger at what they claim is the incompetence of the Trump administration after the US military used a laser on Thursday to shoot down what it thought was a threatening drone on the US-Mexico border in Texas but later turned out to belong to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).The apparent confusion between two entities in the US government led to airspace being closed around Fort Hancock, right along the border. It was the second time in two weeks that air traffic was disrupted in the region as a result of a high-energy laser being deployed against drones. Continue reading...
Trump is on the ropes because the Epstein release has been 'botched Bondi-style': MS NOW
Donald Trump’s inability to get past the questions about his relationship with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein can be placed directly at the feet of Attorney General Pam Bondi over her seemingly unending series of blunders with the Epstein files, according to MS NOW hosts.According to the co-hosts of MS NOW’s “Morning Joe,” the Trump appointee has not only damaged the credibility of the agency she heads, but has dragged down the president and the Republican Party with her. From the day Bondi proudly stated she had Epstein’s client list “sitting on my desk right now” to new reporting that there are missing interview documents where a woman claimed Epstein and Trump sexually and physically assaulted her when she was approximately 14, the AG has been key contributor to the cloud hovering over the White House.With Republican lawmakers now expressing dismay at the DOJ redactions, photos of victims being released and evidence of a cover-up, Joe Scarborough claimed, “So right now, think about it. Right now, there are news stories all over talking about how a young woman, a minor, maybe as young as 13, 14, 15, has talked to the FBI repeatedly about the president of the United States. Many years ago, when she was 13 or 14. Doing terrible things to her. Now, if that is not true, you want to get that out, even if it is true, it has to get out. Because since the information is out there, a cover-up only makes the jury, in this case voters, think the absolute worst, right?”“What the Justice Department has been doing has been so stupid,” he added. “It's been so self-defeating. And it has only kept this story alive. I swear, we've been talking about this for nine months now. I keep talking about they are doing damage to Donald Trump's reputation because they have so badly mishandled this.”Co-host Mika Brzezinski pointed out, “The Republicans have lost all credibility on redactions after re-traumatizing countless victims by releasing unredacted, countless pictures and information about these women while covering up the men and holding back the information on Donald Trump.” “The damage is done; this has been botched Bondi-style. I mean, it is bad,” she added. - YouTube youtu.be
Pakistan declares state of ‘open war’ after bombing major Afghan cities
Wave of strikes comes after Taliban forces attack Pakistani border troops following earlier action from IslamabadPakistan has bombed major cities in Afghanistan including the capital, Kabul, with Islamabad’s defence minister declaring that the hostile neighbours were in a state of “open war” as a cycle of retaliatory attacks escalated further.Witnesses in Kabul and Kandahar, the southern Afghan city, reported explosions and jets overhead until dawn, while the Taliban government said later that Pakistani surveillance aircraft were still flying over Afghanistan. Continue reading...
