Top World News
A suicide bomber and militants attack a Pakistani army facility near Afghan border
Police say a suicide car bomber backed by the Pakistani Taliban has attacked a sprawling compound of security forces in the country’s northwest near the Afghan border, triggering an intense shootout that left at least three militants dead
Mongolia's leader ousted after 4 months in ruling party feud
Mongolia’s parliament has ousted Prime Minister Zandanshatar Gombojav in a power struggle within the ruling party
‘Wailing ghosts through loudspeakers’: Cambodia accuses Thailand of psychological warfare along border
Cambodia’s rights commission said ‘intense, high-pitched noises’ broadcast by Thai soldiers along the disputed border threatened to escalate tensions Cambodia’s former leader Hun Sen has complained about Thailand broadcasting ghost-like sounds across a disputed border, while the country’s human rights commission has accused its neighbour of engaging in psychological warfare, despite both countries agreeing to a ceasefire in July.Posting on Facebook, Hun Sen, 73, who now serves as Cambodia’s powerful senate president, said Cambodia’s human rights commission had complained to the United Nations about the “intense, high-pitched noises”. Continue reading...
Four dead as Kenyan security forces fire on crowds mourning Raila Odinga
Thousands gather in Nairobi to pay respects to veteran opposition leader, prompting chaotic scenes at stadiumFour people have been killed in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, after security forces fired shots and teargas to disperse huge crowds at a stadium where the body of the opposition leader Raila Odinga was lying in state.Odinga, a major figure in Kenyan politics for decades who was once a political prisoner and ran unsuccessfully for president five times, died on Wednesday aged 80 in India, where he had been receiving medical treatment. Continue reading...
India casts doubt on Trump’s claims that it has agreed to stop buying Russian oil
The US president claimed Modi had assured him of deal, but Indian officials insist no such conversation took placeIndia has cast doubt on claims by Donald Trump that its prime minister, Narendra Modi, had agreed to stop buying Russian oil.On Wednesday, Trump claimed that Modi had assured him “today” that India would put an end to its purchase of Russian oil. Continue reading...
Ministers plan high-level visits to China despite espionage trial outcry
National security adviser, education secretary and science minister to visit before end of year as part of policy to reset relationsMinisters are pushing ahead with their reset of relations with China, including several planned high-level visits before the end of the year, despite the furore triggered by the collapse of a high-profile espionage trial.Plans have been drawn up for Jonathan Powell, the national security adviser, to travel to Beijing in November for talks before an anticipated trip by Keir Starmer next year. Continue reading...
Soy it ain't so: how Trump is selling out his own voters while bailing out somebody else's
Trade policy isn’t sexy, but it is weighty, economically speaking. Jobs and wage-income are at-stake. Take President Trump’s trade policy, notably his fondness for tariffs, a tax on US imports that businesses and workers pay.We begin with the Trump administration’s decision to provide a $20 billion “swap line” (currency exchanges between central banks) with the government of Argentina. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the point man for the White House on this financial and political issue. Behind Bessent is a Wall Street hedge fund manager, Rob Citrone, a major foreign investor in Argentina, CNN reported.The Latin American country is in financial distress over its issuance of foreign bonds since President Javier Milei slashed public spending to spur economic growth. Such economic policy goes by the name of austerity.However, Milei’s so-called pro-growth approach has had the opposite effect. Hunger and poverty among the Argentine working class are up. Workers’ household income is down.“Argentina’s poverty rate has soared to almost 53 percent in the first six months of Javier Milei’s presidency,” reports The Guardian, “offering the first hard evidence of how the far-right libertarian’s tough austerity measures are hitting the population.”What in part preceded such measures slamming the Argentine people was inflation, a general rise in prices.In the meantime, the Milei government cut the export tax on soybeans. Chinese buyers jumped at this opportunity, reportedly purchasing some 20 shiploads of soybeans from Argentina.That tax holiday cut revenue to the Argentine government, and created the trade conditions for lower export prices for foreign buyers. That arrangement didn’t fix the tax revenue problem for the Argentine government, however.Meanwhile, American Soybean Association President Caleb Ragland shared this statement on some impacts of Trump’s trade policy of tit-for-tat tariffs between the world’s two biggest economies:US soybean farmers have been clear for months: the administration needs to secure a trade deal with China. China is the world’s largest soybean customer and typically our top export market. The US has made zero sales to China in this new crop marketing year due to 20% retaliatory tariffs imposed by China in response to US tariffs. This has allowed other exporters, Brazil and now Argentina, to capture our market at the direct expense of US farmers.According to Politico, the use of tariffs in China-US trade is having far-reaching effects on American agriculture generally. “The 20 percent retaliatory tariff that Beijing has imposed on US imports hasn’t just pounded soybean producers. All agriculture exports to China were down 53 percent in the first seven months of 2025, compared with the same period last year, according to USDA data.”Ragland, head of the ASA, continues his criticism of Trump’s trade policy on American soybean farmers: “The frustration is overwhelming. US soybean prices are falling, harvest is underway, and farmers read headlines not about securing a trade agreement with China, but that the US government is extending $20 billion in economic support to Argentina while that country drops its soybean export taxes to sell 20 shiploads of Argentine soybeans to China in just two days.”ASA is calling on President Trump and his negotiating team to prioritize securing an immediate deal on soybeans with China. The farm economy is suffering while our competitors supplant the United States in the biggest soybean import market in the world.“What will the White House do to relieve the pain from the decline of demand from China for American agricultural products? Well, the president is considering a $10-$15 billion bailout for agriculture commodity producers.Wait. There is a federal government shutdown. In other words, the allocation and distribution of a federal bailout for farmers experiencing a shortage of buyers from China will have to wait for the government shutdown to end. Your guess is as good as mine when that happens.Such contradictions of economics and politics drive history, according to Marx. The federal government shutdown over health care spending while US Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops deploy on the streets of American cities for reason of so-called public safety are two cases in point. Trade policy that harms domestic agriculture generally and soybean growers particularly is another.Seth Sandronsky is a Sacramento journalist and member of the freelancers unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild.
Dozens killed in fresh clashes along Afghanistan-Pakistan border
Two sides declare ceasefire after Islamabad carries out retaliatory strikes on Kabul and Kandahar provinceDozens of soldiers and civilians have been killed after fresh clashes broke out along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and Islamabad carried out retaliatory airstrikes on the Afghan capital, Kabul, and Kandahar province.The two sides declared a ceasefire by Wednesday night after the latest outbreak of violence, which came after the deadliest cross-border clashes in years over the weekend. Continue reading...
Free speech advocate to Charlie Kirk critics: 'I don't want them to have free speech!'
Conservative radio host and frequent free speech advocate Dennis Kneal declared he didn’t want certain critics of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk to “have free speech” during an appearance on Newsmax Wednesday.Kneel’s comments came amid a discussion on the Trump administration having revoked at least six visas from individuals who made disparaging comments about Kirk in the wake of his killing last month. Those visa revocations came in the wake of Attorney General Pam Bondi vowing to prosecute Americans over “hate speech,” remarks that saw significant pushback from legal experts and MAGA faithful alike.Another guest on the panel was Andrew Craft, a journalist with Fox News, who noted that the Trump administration’s revocation of visas over comments may spark “an interesting free speech case” should “those six foreigners contest it in court.”Kneal, who’s repeatedly championed free speech and has complained about free speech being eroded in the United States, didn’t mince words when making his position on the visa revocations clear.“On one hand, I’m all for free speech,” Kneal said. “But if someone’s coming here and undermining the country and wants to topple our government, then to heck with them, I don’t want them to have free speech! Especially if they are here as our guests.”Kneal, who once declared “free speech” to be “everything,” was largely agreed with on the panel, with Newsmax host Sharla McBride voicing concerns that migrants who criticized Kirk in the wake of his killing “could have violent tendencies.”“It’s really concerning when you have people who are here illegally to begin with, but then they're praising someone’s death, they’re celebrating a murder in broad daylight,” McBride said, despite the legal status of the visa holders still unknown. “So yeah, I think many of us here would agree that at least revoking those visas is a good idea because these people could have violent tendencies.”The Trump administration has championed its targeting of Kirk’s critics, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio declaring that migrants critical of Kirk were “not welcome in this country.”"If you are here on a visa and cheering on the public assassination of a political figure, prepare to be deported," Rubio said.Conservative radio host @denniskneale speaks on the recent Visa revocations for those who made negative comoments about Charlie Kirk:"I don't want them to have free speech!" pic.twitter.com/aYxiRFA7mB— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) October 15, 2025
Raila Odinga, towering Kenyan opposition figure, dies aged 80
Odinga, who ran five times for presidency and had profound influence on Kenyan politics, has died in IndiaThe veteran Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, who ran five times for the presidency and had a profound influence on the country’s politics, has died aged 80 in India.Odinga was in the southern city of Kochi for treatment. The Press Trust of India news agency reported that he had a cardiac arrest during a morning walk. Continue reading...
Trump admin slammed for using ethnic cleansing euphemism: ‘Wannabe Nazis’
The Department of Homeland Security relayed a message on social media Tuesday from its official X account: a single word that critics say is a blatant call for ethnic cleansing.“Remigrate,” the post reads, a term that first saw prominence in Europe in the mid-20th century as a call to reverse migration through mass deportation of migrants.“Yet further evidence that the DHS [X] account in particular is run by wannabe Nazis,” wrote British journalist and former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan in a social media post Tuesday.The term “remigration” has seen renewed usage in recent years amid the resurgence of far-right political parties across Europe, notably by Austrian political activist Martin Sellner, who’s identified himself as a neo-Nazi. Scholars, like University of South Florida professor Jose Angel Maldonado, have described the term as a “soft type of ethnic cleansing under the guise of deportation and segregation.”“This official government account would appear to be run by far-right trolls deliberately trying to provoke a response by using a term openly associated with ethnic cleansing,” wrote Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, in a social media post on X. “They will likely attack anyone who points this out and express faux-outrage at the suggestion.”Critics were also quick to note that the DHS social media post was made the same day as the bombshell report that revealed leadership of the Young Republicans were engaged in a private group chat that included praise for Adolf Hitler, with at least one person in the chat working in the Trump administration.The Trump administration has drawn scrutiny in the past for its use of the term, with President Donald Trump himself calling for the mass “remigration” of all undocumented immigrants in June, and Trump’s State Department going so far as to consider the establishment of an “Office of Remigration” in May.This official government account would appear to be run by far-right trolls deliberately trying to provoke a response by using a term openly associated with ethnic cleansing. They will likely attack anyone who points this out and express faux-outrage at the suggestion. https://t.co/mlo2JreVnl pic.twitter.com/0NVe5zLkvo— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) October 15, 2025
Thousands trapped in El Fasher siege on ‘edge of survival’, says report
The city – the Sudanese army’s last stronghold in the west of the country – has withstood more than 500 days of attacks by paramilitary RSFThe besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher has been declared “uninhabitable” with new data indicating most homes are destroyed and critical levels of malnourishment among people trapped there.The stark assessment comes as the city endures constant artillery and drone attacks, shoehorning its 250,000 starving people into a shrinking urban enclave. Continue reading...
