Tag: All Regions

WASHINGTON – A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled on July 25 that a nationwide injunction he issued in February that blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship should remain in place. In a written ruling, US District Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston said his earlier nationwide injunction was the only way to provide complete relief to a coalition of Democratic-led states that brought the lawsuit before him, rejecting the Trump administration’s argument that a narrower ruling was warranted because of…

WHITSTABLE, United Kingdom – Pensioner Chris Stanley became so incensed by water companies dumping wastewater into the sea near his home that four years ago he stopped paying his bills. To his dismay, things have not improved. “They released sewage water last week on Friday, (and) Sunday night, and on Monday, the beach was declared not safe for swimming,” said Mr Stanley, 82, a regular swimmer, whose home overlooks the sea from the south-eastern town of Whitstable. The Southern Water…

BERLIN – Germany plans to reintroduce compulsory screening for military service for 18-year-old men as part of plans to ramp up defence capabilities, a defence ministry source said on July 24. Conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz has made boosting Germany’s threadbare military a key priority given the threat from Russia and US President Donald Trump’s questioning of the traditional American security umbrella for Europe. The drive for now aims to attract volunteers to the armed forces, but includes provisions for compulsory…

BRUSSELS – The European Union plans to quickly hit the US with 30 per cent tariffs on some €100 billion (S$149.78 billion) worth of goods in the event of no deal and if US President Donald Trump carries through with his threat to impose that rate on most of the bloc’s exports after Aug 1. As a part of a first wave of countermeasures, the EU would combine an already approved list of tariffs on €21 billion of US goods…

Microsoft Corp warned that Chinese state-sponsored hackers are among those exploiting flaws in its SharePoint software to break into institutions globally, with the US agency responsible for designing nuclear weapons now among those breached. In a blog post, the tech giant identified two groups supported by the Chinese government, Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon, as leveraging flaws in the document-sharing software that rendered customers who run it on their own networks, as opposed to in the cloud, vulnerable. Another hacking…

The following is the introduction to Cancel THIS, a new book by Mike Fairclough. Britain’s cancel culture is a purposely designed social credit system. Say the wrong thing, and you’re done for. One ‘offensive’ tweet? Straight to prison. Say a silent prayer? You’re nicked. Point out that men don’t have wombs, or that climate change hysteria is exaggerated? You’re sacked and shunned. Post a meme that contradicts a government orthodoxy or expresses concerns about illegal immigration? Congrats, you’re now persona non grata and…

MUNICH/BERLIN/FRANKFURT – For Gundbert Scherf – the co-founder of Germany’s Helsing, Europe’s most valuable defence start-up – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed everything. Scherf had to fight hard to attract investment after starting his company – which produces military strike drones and battlefield AI – four years ago. Now, that’s the least of his problems. The Munich-based company more than doubled its valuation to $12 billion at a fundraising last month. “Europe this year, for the first time in decades,…

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt – From her ninth-floor balcony over Alexandria’s seafront, Eman Mabrouk looked down at the strip of sand that used to be the wide beach where she played as a child. “The picture is completely different now,” she said. The sea has crept closer, the concrete barriers have got longer and the buildings around her have cracked and shifted. Every year 40 of them collapse across Egypt’s second city, up from one on average a decade ago, a study…

Sanctions can cause as many fatalities as armed conflict, with unilateral penalties being associated with more than half a million deaths per year, according to a new analysis. Unilateral and economic sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union (EU) lead to a substantial increase in mortality that disproportionately hurts children younger than five years old, the study published in the Lancet Global Health journal found. Sanctions can hobble public health provision and keep humanitarian organisations from operating effectively,…

WASHINGTON – An Afghan who moved to the United States after working for the U.S. military in his home country was seized by armed, masked immigration agents, put in a van and taken out of state, attorneys and members of Congress said on Tuesday. Identified only as Zia by members of Congress and his attorney out of concern for his safety and that of his family, the man had worked as an interpreter for the U.S. military during the war…

HUNTSVILLE, Ontario – With less than a week left for Canada to reach a trade deal with President Donald Trump or face additional tariffs, Prime Minister Mark Carney on July 22 downplayed the possibility of a breakthrough and suggested that Canada might walk away empty-handed. Mr Carney spoke after an emergency meeting of Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories that he convened in response to Mr Trump’s threat to impose 35 per cent tariffs on Canadian exports starting Aug 1….

WASHINGTON – Columbia University took disciplinary action against dozens of students involved in campus protests as the school negotiates with the Trump administration to restore funding that was cut over accusations of civil-rights violations. Columbia disciplined more than 70 student protesters who occupied a campus library in May, a university spokesperson said on July 22. Of that group, more than 80 per cent were suspended or expelled; others were placed on disciplinary probation and some recent graduates had their degrees…

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is expanding its search for partners to build the Golden Dome missile defence system, courting Amazon’s Project Kuiper and big defence contractors as tensions with billionaire Elon Musk threaten SpaceX’s dominance in the programme, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The shift marks a strategic pivot away from reliance on Mr Musk’s SpaceX, whose Starlink and Starshield satellite networks have become central to US military communications. It comes amid a deteriorating relationship between US…

The UK government is scrapping a major initiative to fight antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and support surveillance and stewardship in low- and middle-income countries. The move has sparked concern among experts who say the cut risks sending a signal that the UK is dialling back its commitment to global health efforts. Named after the scientist who discovered penicillin, Alexander Fleming, the Fleming Fund was launched by the UK government in 2015 in response to the UK AMR Review and the World…

A new wave of purges has engulfed the senior leadership of China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army. Since the 20th National Party Congress in October 2022, more than 20 senior PLA officers from all four services—the army, navy, air force, and rocket force—have disappeared from public view or been removed from their posts. The absences of other generals have also been reported, which could foreshadow additional purges. Most notably, since the fall of 2023, three of the six uniformed members…

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on July 17 threatened to sue The Wall Street Journal after it published a story about an alleged off-colour letter written by him to late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein that featured a drawing of a naked woman. The Journal story, which quickly reverberated around the US capital, says the note to Epstein bearing Mr Trump’s signature was part of a collection of notes for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. The newspaper says it reviewed…