Top World News
‘Shame’ on world leaders for neglect of displaced civilians in DRC, says aid chief
US and Europe criticised by head of Norwegian Refugee Council for ‘neglect’ of people living ‘subhuman’ existence World leaders should be ashamed of their neglect of people whose lives were “hanging by a thread” at a time of surging violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the international charity leader Jan Egeland has said.In a stinging attack on aid cuts and the “nationalistic winds” blowing across Europe and the US, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s head told the Guardian how people were living out in the open, in overcrowded, unsanitary displacement encampments around the city of Goma, where 1.2 million people have had to flee from their homes as the M23 rebels advanced through the DRC’s North and South Kivu provinces. Continue reading...
Amadou Bagayoko of music duo Amadou & Mariam dies aged 70
Malian singer and guitarist, who sold millions of albums with his wife, Mariam Doumbia, had been ill for a while, say familyThe guitarist and singer Amadou Bagayoko of the Malian music duo Amadou & Mariam has died aged 70 after an illness, his family said, paying tribute to the Grammy-nominated blind musician.Amadou and his wife, Mariam Doumbia, formed a group whose blend of traditional Malian music with rock guitars and western blues sold millions of albums across the world. Continue reading...
Trump extends deadline for TikTok sale to non-Chinese buyer to avoid ban
Deadline set by US president was supposed to be Saturday, with Trump now considering decreasing tariffs to get dealDonald Trump said he will sign an executive order to extend the TikTok ban deadline. This is the second time the president will have delayed the ban or sale of the social media app, and will punt the deadline to 75 days from now.The TikTok deal “requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed”, Trump announced on his Truth Social platform on Friday. Continue reading...
'Did it start with F?' CNN's Tapper tries to guess Wall Street's reaction to market plunge
CNN's Jake Tapper began his Friday show by addressing the startling drop in the financial markets at the end of the week and the reaction of Wall Street experts. President Donald Trump said his tariff plan "is already working," Tapper quoted. From the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, however, business and politics correspondent Vanessa Yukevich cited "about $5 trillion in market value" that was lost in the S&P 500 "because of President Donald Trump's trade war." She cited that this was the fourth time in history that the Dow closed down more than 2,000 points. ALSO READ: 'We’ve made a mistake': Trump’s trade war sends GOP into frenzy"Investors are essentially pricing in, right now, the worst case scenario because they're not hearing any negotiation from the president with other countries to deescalate this trade war," said Yukevich. "One analyst, Dan Ives from Wedbush, said it best, really, on social media this morning, kind of summing up what he feels like is going on. He said, essentially, that this is the worst thing he's seen in 25 years covering markets."She said that Ives referenced the dot-com bubble, the 2007-2008 financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which pales in comparison. "He says that this is self-inflicted and that this did not need to happen," Yukevich quoted. "One investor I spoke to said that consumers vote, [but] this is how Wall Street votes, and this is not a good vote of confidence," she continued. Tapper asked if she knew when markets would stabilize, but Yukevich said that investors don't see it happening until the tariffs are repealed. "I spoke to one analyst just before coming on air and asked him, 'What does the next month look like?' And he says that if we do not get a de-escalation or repeal of tariffs by the president, then we are — and I can't actually say what he said to me, but he used an expletive. 'We are [expletive],'" she closed. Tapper asked if that word began with "F" and ended with "ucked." She confirmed the expletive. See the clip below or at the link here. - YouTube www.youtube.com
'Cash grab': MAGA Bible-thumpers face accusations of 'exploiting' Christians
Amanda Marcotte with Salon is lifting the lid on a scandal of somewhat Biblical proportions involving the evangelical MAGA acolytes behind the hugely successful podcast "Girls Gone Bible." Nicole Ardrete, a former friend of L.A. actresses and self-professed "Jesus freaks" Angela Halili and Arielle Reitsma, told Marcotte they all once worked together as underground "poker girls" who dressed sexy and were expected to flirt with high-end male customers in Los Angeles. According to Marcotte, Halili and Reitsma put all that behind them to build a cult following for their hyper-feminine focus on purity, modesty, "submission" in marriage, and support of President Donald Trump's agenda. According to Marcotte, the Girls Gone Bible YouTube channel has more than 730,000 subscribers and nearly a million followers on Instagram, while their podcast "sits at the top of Spotify's podcast charts in the Religion & Spirituality category." ALSO READ: The new guy in charge of USAID doesn't believe in foreign aid After Trump re-won the presidency in November, the duo was invited to give the invocation at Trump's victory rally in Madison Square Garden, where they modified "The Lord’s Prayer," saying “Your will be done… in the life of President Trump as it is in Heaven.” But all is not as heavenly as the women's "authenticity branding" would have followers believe, according to Marcotte. "A video appeared on the internet earlier this year showing Halili on all fours wearing a minidress, while several other scantily-clad women dance around her, giggling," Marcotte wrote. "That video circulated rapidly on TikTok and other social media, leading to rumors and allegations that Halili and Reitsma had behaved abusively to fans who had trusted in them as 'ministers.'" Aldrete claims she came forward to talk with Salon, "not to shame their past," but because of "the hypocrisy of it all." Marcotte wrote that once Halili and Reitsma "started talking about modesty and not living with your partner before marriage or having sex with your partner before marriage," Aldrete began to see them as dishonest. "It was just a 'cash grab,' Aldrete said. "They were just doing it to exploit the Christian faith and the people." Neither Halil nor Reitsma responded to Salon's request for comment. Watch the clip below or at this link. Read the Salon article here.
Trump has 'botched' his whole tariff plan with a single slip of the tongue: report
The Atlantic's Jonathan Chait claimed in an article Friday that President Donald Trump's plan to encourage American manufacturing by imposing huge import tariffs was doomed from the moment he offered to negotiate with targeted countries."The key to making it work was to convince businesses that the new arrangement is durable," Chait wrote. "Nobody is going to invest in building new factories in the United States to create goods that until last week could be imported more cheaply unless they’re certain that the tariffs making the domestic version more competitive will stay in place."White House talking points described the tariffs "as a permanent new feature of the global economy," Chait wrote."But not everybody got the idea. Eric Trump tweeted, “I wouldn’t want to be the last country that tries to negotiate a trade deal with @realDonaldTrump. The first to negotiate will win - the last will absolutely lose.”ALSO READ: 'Not much I can do': GOP senator gives up fight against Trump's tariffsChait wrote that "Eric’s father apparently didn’t get the memo either. Asked by reporters whether he planned to negotiate the tariff rates, the president said, 'The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.'"Once Trump understood his mistake, he posted on Truth Social, "TO THE MANY INVESTORS COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES AND INVESTING MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF MONEY, MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE.”The problem, according to Chait was, "Once you’ve said you might negotiate the tariffs, nobody is going to believe you when you change your mind and say you’ll never negotiate." And, indeed, just over two hours later, Chait wrote that Trump posted that he had just negotiated a possible agreement with Vietnam.Chait concluded that Trump's original plan, even if executed perfectly, was "not a good one by any means." But that plan is now "botched" and the future of American trade remains uncertain.Read The Atlantic article here.
'How do you negotiate with this?' Rage as Trump suggests he's crashing market on purpose
President Donald Trump left Washington on Thursday to fly back to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend. By Friday morning, the stock market was in freefall for a second day in a row. From his Truth Social page, Trump posted a video from a person going by the handle @AmericanPapaBear, claiming Trump is purposely tanking the stock market so he can get the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. MAGA followers were quick to call the strategy "genius" and compare it to playing chess while others are playing checkers. Another even claimed Trump was playing 3D chess. BBC News economics reporter Faisal Islam wrote on X, "President just shared a video on Truth Social saying 'Trump Is purposely CRASHING the market' in order to lower US Treasury yields and the dollar. The Mar A Lago theory I wrote about two months ago, written by his chief adviser that said tariff chaos would lead to $ deal."ALSO READ: Crashing the economy: Inside Trump's blueprint for more griftingAfter sharing the video he noted, The "Dow down another 1000 points… Obviously, RT are not endorsements but why is the President choosing to share this stuff? And if you are another country seeing this, how do you negotiate with this?"Trinh Nguyen, an expert economist in emerging markets in Asia, posted on X that if true, Trump's actions would be akin to "Burning the house to cook steak.""The amazing thing is that he thinks it is a win & so is his base," she continued. "Golfing now to enjoy his win of crashing equities to boost bonds or to lower bond yields. Of course, they buy this narrative. They don’t own anything. So you can’t lose if you don’t own anything or have anything of meaning to protect. Better to burn it all down so everyone is equally disillusioned. Wait a minute. Stalin did it. Make Russia Great Again.""A LOT OF REACHING HERE" said software developer Mayowa A. Balogun, a self-described economics enthusiast.Attorney Jeremy I. Senderowicz, who focuses on financial services, remarked, "Darkly amused by the emerging rationalization among some on this app that the tariffs are a move designed to push interest rates lower to aid the refinancing of our debt this year. That’s an argument that Trump is deliberately crashing the economy to lower interest rates.""It reminds me of Alan Greenspan in the late 90s responding to Qs why he didn’t raise rates to choke off the stock market “bubble.” Paraphrasing his response: “if you’re asking if we can accomplish that, we most certainly can - but you really wouldn’t like the other effects.”A commodities trader who didn't identify himself specifically posted on X, "Forcing farmers to sell here....! Those 70% of farmers who voted for him must be realllllly loving Trumps genius ideas!"Another self-described, avid investor and analyst and Ph.D. historian quipped: "Well it’s confirmed… he’s purposefully liberating you from your 401(k) your IRA and soon your job."
'Unravelling': Trump accused of 'breathtaking sabotage' against the U.S. economy
President Donald Trump has been working at breakneck speed to eliminate federal programs, prompting an opinion columnist with The Washington Post to ponder, "Is there anything Trump won't destroy?"Columnist Dana Milbank used the metaphor of Trump wielding an ax to chop down not only a 200-year-old magnolia tree at the White House, but the very Constitution on which the United States was founded.Trump announced this week that he was getting rid of the tree planted by Andrew Jackson because, he wrote, it had become “a very dangerous safety hazard.” Milbank conceded that the explanation was "plausible," but what was Trump's justification for paving the storied Rose Garden into a “stone surface”?ALSO READ: 'Not much I can do': GOP senator gives up fight against Trump's tariffs"The same day Trump announced the execution of the Jackson magnolia, he swung another ax at the 237-year-old U.S. Constitution, this time maintaining that he’s 'not joking' about illegally seeking a third term," Milbank wrote. He continued, "In a sense, it may be better that Trump thinks he can run for another term — because that might stop him from his breathtaking sabotage of the American economy." Trump managed to plunge U.S. trade and the stock markets into chaos this week by announcing sweeping tariffs on as many countries as possible, including one with only penguins as inhabitants.On Friday, CNN's Harry Enten claimed that Donald Trump's economic policies have damaged the U.S. economy in "historically unprecedented" ways. Indeed, even Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent proved unable to answer the most standard questions about Trump's economic end game, and was reportedly "looking for an exit door" after just two months on the job."At the rate things are unraveling," Milbank wrote, "there may be nothing left for Trump to preside over during his third term."Read The Washington Post opinion piece here.
South Koreans are celebrating Yoon’s impeachment, but the saga is far from over
Whoever becomes president later this year has unenviable task of healing divisions and rebuilding trust in democratic institutionsIt had been a long and at times intolerable wait. But the South Korean constitutional court’s decision on Friday to oust Yoon Suk Yeol from office may have restored the public’s faith in their democracy.For 22 minutes, millions of South Koreans held their breath as the chief justice of the constitutional court, Moon Hyung-bae, began delivering the court’s verdict on Yoon’s impeachment over his chaotic declaration of martial law in December. Continue reading...
'Who is this elusive Hank Tough?' Observers mercilessly mock Trump's now-deleted typo post
President Donald Trump had a "covfefe" moment Friday when he posted to Truth Social about the better-than-expected jobs numbers and tried to encourage Americans to keep the faith. That's when his keyboard got him into a bit of trouble."GREAT JOBS NUMBERS, FAR BETTER THAN EXPECTED. IT'S ALREADY WORKING. HANK TOUGH, WE CAN'T LOSE!!!" the president posted just before 9 a.m.ALSO READ: 'Came as a surprise to me': Senators 'troubled' by one aspect of government funding billIn 2017, The New York Times wrote that Trump's "covfefe" typo on Twitter, "at last delivered the nation to something approaching unity — in bewilderment, if nothing else." The same may be true in 2025 of "Hank Tough.""Who is this elusive Hank Tough he speaks of?" James Liddell, a reporter for The Independent, wondered on X, while columnist Mark Wallace posted, "If Hank Tough wasn’t a 1990s wrestler, he definitely should have been."Horse racing organization Designated Hitters Racing wondered allowed if Hank Tough was the name of some long-forgotten thoroughbred, posting, "Checking to see if Hank Tough has been used for a horse name…."Journalist Aaron Rupar called out "Hank Tough" then added, "who wants to tell him that today's jobs numbers are from last month, before his self-destructive tariffs were implemented ..."Trump or someone in Trump's orbit removed the post referring to Hank Tough, but there were still plenty of saved screenshots to be had. Plenty of others posted memes showing "King of the Hill's" Hank Rutherford Hill, while others thought "Hank Tough" surely referenced the character Hank Schrader in "Breaking Bad."Not surprisingly, "Hank Tough" was trending at #2 on X politics.
‘Only job I know’: tiny Lesotho’s garment workers reel from Trump’s 50% tariffs
Impoverished African country is hit with highest tariff rate, overturning decades of global trade policyThe day after Donald Trump announced sweeping global tariffs, Lesotho’s garment workers feared for their jobs.Last year, Lesotho sent about 20% of its $1.1bn (£845m) of exports to the US, most of it clothing under a continent-wide trade agreement meant to help African countries’ development via tariff-free exports, as well as diamonds. Continue reading...
Taiwan earmarks $2.7 bn to help industries hit by US tariffs
by Joy CHIANGTaiwan has earmarked $2.7 billion to help industries affected by US President Donald Trump's new tariffs, the government said Friday.Taipei had sought to avoid Trump's threatened levies by pledging increased investment in the United States and more purchases of US energy, but it was still hit by a 32 percent tax on its imports, excluding semiconductor chips. The government has described the tariffs as "unreasonable" and "extreme", and plans to seek negotiations with Washington in the hope of reducing their impact.Announcing the NT$88 billion ($2.7 billion) assistance package, Premier Cho Jung-tai said the plan was to "address various needs of industries and society in the future."Taiwan's trade surplus with the United States is the seventh highest of any country, reaching $73.9 billion in 2024.Around 60 percent of Taiwan's exports to the United States are information and communications technology products, or ICT, which includes chips.The government has argued that the surplus reflected soaring demand in the United States for Taiwan's semiconductors and other tech products, further driven by US tariffs and export controls targeting China that Trump imposed during his first term.Cho told a news conference that the industrial and agricultural sectors would be the main targets of the assistance.The funds will be used for financial support, reducing administrative costs, improving competitiveness, offering tax incentives and diversifying markets, he said.Products expected to be hardest hit by Trump's tariffs include ICT, electronics, steel, metal and machinery, components and building materials.Tea, orchids and fish are also likely to be hurt, Cho said, flagging a possible "shrinking consumer market or a weakening of our competitive advantage".Vice Premier Cheng Li-chun told reporters the government had drawn up response measures based on a possible 25 percent tariff ahead of Trump's announcement."I must clarify that a 32 percent tariff falls under an extreme scenario," Cheng said."While we did run simulations based on it, that doesn't mean we consider it reasonable. In our view, it exceeds what would be a reasonable expectation -- it's neither reasonable nor fair."Semiconductor chips, a sector that Taiwan dominates and has been a source of friction between Washington and Taipei, were excluded from Trump's levies.However, analysts warned that tariffs on components would have a knock-on effect for the critical chip industry that is the lifeblood of the global economy.Trump has accused Taiwan of stealing the US chip industry and recently threatened to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on semiconductor imports from the island."Taiwan will lobby for exemption or at least see what Trump wants -- Trump wants something," Andrew Kam Jia Yi, an associate professor at the National University of Malaysia told AFP."(Trump) gives you the worst-case scenario then batters you down to a deal that you might not want but seems more reasonable than the original threat."joy/amj/dhw© Agence France-Presse
