Category: US politics

President Donald Trump has reached an awkward moment in his second term as the U.S.-Israel war against Iran began six months ago Friday. It’s a notable milestone for a Republican leader who repeatedly assured Americans that attacking Iran would be a “little excursion” over in weeks.
And another federal judge has halted — at least for now — Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting. Thousands of marchers have converged on the National Mall to support voting rights ahead of the midterm elections. Many are condemning Republican-led changes to voting laws as detrimental to racial justice and to Black Americans in particular.
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US revokes visa of former Iraqi finance minister who won 2022 ‘International Women of Courage’ award
The Trump administration has revoked the U.S. visa of a former Iraqi finance minister who was honored in 2022 with an “International Women of Courage” award by the State Department.
The department said Friday it had revoked the visa of Tai..

Ghent University has permitted Nathan Cofnas, the US academic who accused late Cambridge University professor Jason Arday of plagiarism, to resume selected academic work while a disciplinary inquiry continues, the Belgian institution announced on Friday.
Arday, once celebrated as Cambridge's youngest Black professor, was found dead at the age of 41 in London this month, days after resigning from his position. Arday had denied the plagiarism allegations while acknowledging that he made mistakes.
Ghent University subsequently suspended Cofnas “as a precautionary measure” upon launching an investigation, which Cofnas said was looking into possible discrimination.
In Friday's statement, Ghent announced Cofnas could resume academic duties at the university while the inquiry proceeded, on the condition that he worked remotely and did not engage in teaching.
open image in galleryJason Arday was found dead earlier this month (Joe Giddens/PA) (PA Wire)The plagiarism claims against Ard..

Donald Trump’s administration hit record highs of monthly immigration enforcement arrests this summer, with more than 43,000 people arrested in June and another 50,000 arrested in July.
But last month, for the first time since Trump took office, more than half of all people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement had no prior criminal convictions or pending charges.
A growing majority of immigrants targeted by federal law enforcement officers have no criminal history whatsoever, as officers increasingly target immigrants whose legal status has lapsed or been stripped by the Trump administration, according to new reviews of federal data. The share of arrests of immigrants with past violent criminal convictions fell to less than 4 percent.
The administration has instead shifted its focus to legal immigration pathways, including people seeking asylum, the spouses of U.S citizens stuck in legal limbo, and refugees with temporary legal status whose humanitarian protections were revo..

In a new video, President Donald Trump used his trusty Sharpie to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America” as his trade war with Canada escalates.
In a clip posted to the president’s TikTok account on Wednesday, Trump sat in the Oval Office displaying a map of Lake Ontario, which straddles the U.S.-Canada border.
“We’re gonna make a little change; we’re gonna call it something different than Lake Ontario,” the 80-year-old president said. “We’re gonna call it Lake America. And all it takes is a good pen and some intelligence.” Trump, a former real estate mogul with a penchant for branding, then used a Sharpie to cross out the lake’s name and write “LAKE AMERICA” above it.
“Now we have a gulf because we have the Gulf of America,” he said, referring to his decision last year to rebrand the Gulf of Mexico. “And now we have Lake America without the ‘of.’ Enjoy Lake America.”
The clip was posted a day after the Republican president suggested that he might officially rename the Great Lake as rel..

The recent release of Marine veteran Robert Gilman from Russian custody ended more than four years of imprisonment, but his visibly frail condition has raised alarming questions for the families of Americans still detained there.
Watching the news coverage from the United States, Harold Jezler saw Gilman's gaunt appearance and immediately worried about what it meant for his 36-year-old wife, Olga, who has been held in Russia since 2022 while suffering from her own deteriorating health issues.
“You just look at the pictures and the guy is not in good shape. It’s concerning for me and for all the families, I would imagine,” Jezler said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Is this what it takes for the government to really make a move and prioritize this — that the person is basically in dire straits? It was a very bittersweet thing to see that.”
Although Gilman’s freedom follows a series of prisoner releases over recent years, numerous Americans remain incarcerated in Russia…

Trump administration officials at the State Department are considering selling off a painting by the artist who also painted a portrait of former President Barack Obama, claiming his work contains “violent” and “racist” depictions.
The painting, “Young Artists After Siamesas 1960,” was painted by renowned artist Kehinde Wiley and features four Dominican art students in poses inspired by famous works by other Dominican artists. It has been hanging in the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo since 2015.
Wiley is known for his portrait of Obama, which now hangs in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
But earlier this month, Leah Campos, the U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, posted a video on Instagram showing the painting being removed. Campos insinuated the artwork was tied to “globalist and woke ideology.”
Last week, Erin Scavino, the director of Art in Embassies, the visual arts office of the U.S. State Department, called the painting “very woke” and “aesthetically terrifyi..

Canada is rolling out a slate of retaliatory trade moves against the U.S. in response to Donald Trump’s latest tariffs after negotiations between the neighboring nations broke down in an escalating trade war.
“Canada must respond,” Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Tuesday.
Canada, which imports roughly $272 billion in U.S. goods every year, will double its existing counter-tariffs on American steel and aluminum products to 50 percent, while new tariffs of 15, 25 and 50 percent will be applied to more than $20 billion worth of about 700 U.S. goods, including clothing, furniture, video game consoles and other electronics, among other goods.
The measures are “proportionate, targeted and strategic,” designed to “match dollar for dollar, rate for rate” against Trump’s tariff agenda, Champagne said. The new levies are effective September 8.
Canada’s new levies are “designed primarily to provide protection for Canadian industry impacted by American tariffs” and to “l..

It is impossible to read the chilling reporting of the killing of Mariam Abu Dagga in a double-tap Israeli attack on the Nasser hospital in Gaza without giving in to righteous, visceral rage.
But the systematic mass killings in Gaza, the systematic targeting of medical personnel and journalists and the gigantic civilian death toll require a cold intellectual response.
And that is a demand for sanctions against Israel.
Imposing real and immediate economic costs on Israel for its appalling campaigns in Gaza and the West Bank – where armed ethnic gangs of land thieves are stealing farms and killing Palestinians with impunity under the protection of Israel’s armed forces – is both the right and sensible thing to do.
The regime of Libya’s dictator Muammar Gaddafi was attacked by European Nato forces, including the UK, in 2011 because he and his son Saif had threatened the city of Benghazi with bloody retribution verging on genocide.
Syria’s dictator Bashar al Assad was subjected to intern..

Two United Nations peacekeepers have been killed following an ambush by unidentified gunmen in a remote region of South Sudan, the UN mission in the country has confirmed.
Seven other individuals sustained injuries during Monday's attack, including three peacekeepers, two members of the South Sudanese police, and two civilian staff attached to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
The patrol was travelling towards Pajut, located in Jonglei state, when it was fired upon. UNMISS stated that a “Quick Reaction Force” was subsequently dispatched to secure the surrounding area and assist with emergency measures.
Anita Kiki Gbeho, the head of UNMISS, condemned the assault in a statement, saying: “Such deadly violence targeting UNMISS personnel who are serving to support peace in South Sudan is unacceptable,”
Official details regarding the names and nationalities of the two killed peacekeepers have not yet been made public.
open image in galleryThere are concerns over a retu..