Top World News
Pakistan declares ‘open war’ against Afghanistan after cross-border attack – as it happened
This blog is now closed, you can read our full report hereBoth sides are reporting they have inflicted heavy casualties on each other, but it is difficult to know the true numbers when they are presenting sharply divergent figures.Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar claims 133 Afghan Taliban fighters were killed, with more than 200 injured. Of its own soldiers, Tarar says that two were killed in the cross-border fighting, while three were injured.The UK is deeply concerned by the significant escalation in tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan. We urge both sides to take immediate steps toward de‑escalation, avoid further harm to civilians, and re‑engage in mediated dialogue. Continue reading...
‘More exploitation, fewer rights’: Argentina braces for sweeping overhaul of labor laws
Javier Milei’s boosters say law will revive employment, but critics decry cuts to severance and longer working hoursArgentina’s senate is poised to approve a sweeping overhaul of labour laws aimed at weakening trade unions and lowering labour costs for businesses.The government of the self-styled “anarcho-capitalist” president, Javier Milei, says the initiative will help revive formal employment, after 290,600 registered jobs were lost between December 2023, when he took office, and November 2025. Continue reading...
What to know about the latest fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan
Pakistan's defense minister says there is a state of “open war” with Afghanistan
Suspect arrested after London Churchill statue defaced with pro-Palestinian graffiti
London police have arrested a man after pro-Palestinian graffiti defaced the Winston Churchill statue near Parliament
Takeaways from a UK special election won by the Green Party over Starmer's Labour
Britain’s Green Party has scored a surprise victory in a special election for a seat in Parliament in a blow for Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Labour Party
Imprisoned PKK leader calls for new laws that would advance peace with the Turkish government
The imprisoned leader of a militant Kurdish group in Turkey is urging the government in Ankara to adopt new legislation that would advance peace effort to end their decades-long conflict
Fury as Trump plans to 'import' more white South African refugees: 'Call it what it is'
The internet was in uproar on Thursday after a new Reuters report disclosed that the U.S. has planned to admit 4,500 applications from white South Africans as refugees. The Trump administration has pushed to limit refugee applications from other countries. But an unreported State Department document from Jan. 27 revealed a new target for specifically white South Africans. People sounded off on the Trump administration's move, questioning the decision. "Ripping Latinos from their homes while importing whites. Let’s call this what it is: ethnonationalism," user Mina, who self-described as "an American woman with wide-ranging interests," wrote one user on Bluesky. "Gotta import new racists as the older ones in America have been dying off," user S.T. Jones wrote on Bluesky."The Trump/MAGA vision: Make the US the Hungary of North America, a nation of, for and by white Christian male racists," systems analyst Ric Steinberger wrote on Bluesky."[turns over ‘days since I muttered a bigoted remark about white South Africans’ counter back to zero]," Ryan Cooper, senior editor at The American Prospect, wrote on Bluesky. "We need to shut it down until someone figures out just what the hell is going on," artist Luke Russell joked on Bluesky.Economist Tony Yates reacted, "US policy =Black refugees bad; white refugees good."Labor economist Aaron Sojourner wrote on Bluesky, "POTUS loves exactly one kind of import."
Trump admin wants to bring in thousands of white South Africans as refugees: report
A new report revealed Thursday that the U.S. has planned to admit 4,500 applications from white South Africans as refugees, according to Reuters. The Trump administration has limited its refugee applications from other countries. This new target, according to an unreported U.S. State Department document from Jan. 27, showed a push to increase refugees from South Africa, Reuters reported."Trump has said the U.S. would only admit 7,500 total refugees from around the world in fiscal year 2026, while a much higher cap of 40,000 to 60,000 was discussed internally last year," according to Reuters. "Only 2,000 white South Africans had entered the U.S. as refugees as of January 31 under a program launched in May 2025, although the pace has picked up in recent months."More than 67,000 people had expressed interest in moving to America, the South African Chamber of Commerce in the U.S. said in 2025. Trump demanded a stop to refugee admissions after he returned to office in 2025, citing his policy on stopping legal and illegal immigration. "But weeks later, he launched an effort to bring in white South Africans of Afrikaner ethnicity as refugees, saying they had been violently persecuted in the majority-Black country," Reuters reported. "South Africa's government has rejected that claim, while some refugee advocates have criticized the Trump policy."
Mamdani secures release of 'illegally arrested' Columbia student after Trump call
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani secured the release of a Columbia University student taken by the Department of Homeland Security after a phone call with President Donald Trump.On Thursday morning, Claire Shipman, acting president of the university, said agents had misled staff about a missing person to gain access to the student, who was later identified as Ellie Aghayeva.“DHS illegally arrested me. Please help," the student said in a one-second video recorded from the back of a vehicle.The New York Times described the incident as a "significant escalation of immigration enforcement on Columbia’s campus."By Thursday afternoon, Mamdani announced that he had spoken with Trump."Just got off the phone with President Trump," the mayor wrote on X. "In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elaina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning.""He has just informed me that she will be released imminently," he added.
Secretive 17-page executive draft handed off to Trump to derail election: WaPo
A secret 17-page draft has been circulating among pro-Trump activists and the White House that would potentially give President Donald Trump the path to "unlock extraordinary presidential power over voting," a The Washington Post report revealed Thursday.The draft executive order claims that China interfered in the 2020 election, which would justify Trump declaring a national emergency, according to The Post. Trump has pushed a scheme to mandate voter ID and launch a ban on mail-in ballots for the midterm elections. The pro-Trump activists tell The Post they expect the draft will play a role in Trump's "promised executive order." The White House has reportedly not commented. Florida lawyer Peter Ticktin, who attended the New York Military Academy with the president, has been advocating for the draft executive order. In 2022, he was part of Trump's legal team in the unsuccessful lawsuit that included accusations that Democrats had colluded to damage his reputation by alleging that Trump conspired with Russia in his 2016 campaign. “Under the Constitution, it’s the legislatures and states that really control how a state conducts its elections, and the president doesn’t have any power to do that,” Ticktin told The Post. “But here we have a situation where the president is aware that there are foreign interests that are interfering in our election processes,” Ticktin added. “That causes a national emergency where the president has to be able to deal with it.”
Two women arrested in Uganda for allegedly kissing in public could face life sentence
Wendy Faith and Alesi Diana Denise were taken into custody under laws that have outraged LGBTQ+ community and rights activistsTwo women have been arrested and detained in Uganda after allegedly kissing in public, an act of “same-sex activity” which can lead to a life sentence in the east African country..Wendy Faith, a 22-year-old musician known as Torrero Bae, and Alesi Diana Denise, 21, were taken into custody after police raided their rented room in Uganda’s north-west Arua City last week. Continue reading...
‘A devastating force’: how recent storms turned to tragedies across the western Mediterranean
Atmospheric machine-gun has fired storm after deadly storm at the region this year, leaving a trail of widespread destructionFor Andrés Sánchez Barea, in Spain, it was the fear that arose when water started to spurt from plug sockets. For Nelson Duarte, in Portugal, it was the helplessness that hit as violent winds smacked down trees and tore tiles from roofs. For Amal Essuide, in Morocco, it was the reality that dawned when a corpse was pulled onboard a boat in the flooded medina.Each moment of horror is a fragment of the destruction wrought by an atmospheric machine-gun that in recent weeks has fired storm after storm at the western Mediterranean. Scientists do not know if climate breakdown helped pull the trigger, but research suggests it loaded the chamber with bigger bullets. Continue reading...
