Minimalist News

Zelensky's Sacked Top Aide 'Escapes' To Front-Line To 'Hide' From Corruption Investigators Andriy Yermak, the man who until just over 24 hours ago was Zelensky's right hand man and the president's top most powerful aid as chief of staff, and Ukraine's appointed chief negotiator with the US on the peace process, is going to the front lines, apparently to "fight". After his home and offices were raided by Ukraine's anti-corruption investigators Friday related to the ongoing massive energy sector kickback scandal, Yermak announced by text message to The New York Post, "I’m going to the front and am prepared for any reprisals." He

Trump Did It: Wasserman Schultz Accuses The President Of Causing The Shooting Of National Guard Members Authored by Jonathan Turley, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) has long performed a key role for many on the left. When there is an argument barred by decency or decorum, Wasserman Schultz is happy to make it, from attacking journalists in her defense of censorship to attempting to rig an election and bar Republicans from ballots as part of her defense of democracy. However, on Friday, the Florida representative set a new low in American politics: attempting to assign some of the blame for the shooting of two National Guardsmen on President

Trump Declares Airspace Above Venezuela "To Be Closed In Its Entirety" President Trump said on Saturday on X that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela will "be closed in its entirety."  "To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP," Trump wrote on X.  > To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J.

What Is Unaffordable? Authored by Richard Lyons via American Greatness, The new Democrat Party’s appeal to the public these days is that the failure of a free enterprise system has made America unaffordable and that all Americans need government help! This sort of emergency plea to the public has been made before. In order to make housing more affordable in the early 2000s, Fannie and Freddie Mac, US government mortgage guarantor companies, began pressuring mortgage lenders to widen their rules for mortgage lending, even to include NINJA loans—No Income, No Job, No Problem—for purchasing real estate properties; then Fannie and Freddie married that

Bessent Set To Pull The Plug On Federal Benefits For Illegal Aliens Under President Trump's direction, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is "working to cut off federal benefits to illegal aliens and preserve them for U.S. citizens."  "Treasury announced that it will issue proposed regulations clarifying that the refunded portions of certain individual income tax benefits are no longer available to illegal and other non-qualified aliens, covering the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Additional Child Tax Credit, the American Opportunity Tax Credit, and the Saver’s Match Credit," Bessent wrote late afternoon on Friday.  > At @POTUS @realDonaldTrump's direction, we are working to cut off federal benefits to

Europe's New Thought-Policing 'Chat Control' Legislation Nudges Forward Authored by Christina Comben via CoinTelegraph.com, Representatives of European Union member states reached an agreement on Wednesday in the Council of the EU to move forward with the controversial “Chat Control” child sexual abuse regulation, which paves the way for new rules targeting abusive child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on messaging apps and other online services. “Every year, millions of files are shared that depict the sexual abuse of children… This is completely unacceptable. Therefore, I’m glad that the member states have finally agreed on a way forward that includes a number of obligations for

Ukraine Releases Footage Of Kamikaze Drone Boats Striking Russian Shadow-Fleet Tankers Two Russia-linked "shadow fleet" tankers suffered sequential strikes on Friday in Turkey's Black Sea waters. Preliminary reporting from Turkish authorities indicates both incidents resulted from external interference, consistent with a mine, drone, missile, or unmanned surface vessel. By Saturday morning, Visegrád 24 circulated new footage from Ukraine showing explosive-laden kamikaze drone boats striking both tankers at the stern, rendering the vessels inoperable. "Ukraine released videos of its naval drones striking two Russian shadow-fleet oil tankers off the Turkish Black Sea coast yesterday. The tankers were supposed to pick up oil in the Russian

Brussels Bends The Knee: EU Signs Off On Deep Tariff Cuts For American Goods Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), European Union (EU) countries have endorsed sweeping tariff cuts for American farm and manufactured products, adopting negotiating mandates that move the bloc closer to eliminating all remaining duties on U.S. industrial goods and opening new preferential access for a broad range of American agricultural exports. European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on July 16, 2025. Yves Herman /Reuters The decision by the European Council, announced on Nov. 28, clears the way for talks with

Poland Announces Foreign Spy Plot Busted, Involved Photographing Secretive Facilities  Poland's National Prosecutor’s Office announced Friday that five individuals have been charged with working on behalf of a foreign intelligence service, following coordinated arrests which spanned November Tuesday through Wednesday of this week by the Internal Security Agency and police. Those taken into custody include two Ukrainian nationals - identified only as Oleksandr S. and a minor, Sofia Ch. - and in addition three Belarusian citizens identified as Viktoryia M., Anton M., and Uladzimir U. Source: gov.pl The group is accused of targeting the Polish state for espionage purposes, with prosecutors alleging that throughout

Ukrainian Prosecutors Handling More Than 300,000 Desertion Cases Authored by Andrew Corbley via AntiWar.com, A Ukrainian MP recently made an unsubstantiated claim that there were 400,000 open and ongoing cases of desertion from the Ukrainian military since the invasion by the Russian Federation in 2022. It may have been hyperbole, or they may have had a source in the judiciary. However, the General Prosecutor’s office wrote to the New Voice of Ukraine in early November that 310,000 criminal cases related to unauthorized absence from a military unit or place of service (AWOL) and desertion are currently registered, 162,000 of which came just this year. There

France Launches New Military Service Plan To Counter Supposed Russian Menace Amid persistent confrontationalist rhetoric and determination to prolong the West's proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday announced a new avenue of voluntary military service for 18- and 19-year olds with the goal of gradually bolstering both active duty and reserve strength. In a critical sweetener for would-be recruits who are wary of dying in Ukraine, those who enlist under the new program will only serve in the French mainland and French territories abroad.    Macron announced the new voluntary service plan for 18- and 19-year-olds

Antifa Mob Mobilizes Terror Campaign Against AfD Event A wave of chaos continues to spread across the Western world by the far-left extremist group Antifa.  In the U.S., this group of unhinged leftists is classified as domestic terrorists for their attacks on federal buildings and personnel. In Europe, these far-left extremists have launched an ongoing campaign of terror against the rising Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. On Saturday, Antifa unleashed chaos near an AfD youth organization event in the western German city of Giessen. AfD aims to engage young voters and elect the first leader of the newly formed youth wing. Antifa rioters attempted to derail the event.  > Großartig!

German Christmas Market Installs 'Anti-Tank' Barriers; Public Cheers 'Creative' Solution Via Remix News, The German town of Külsheim is dealing with the soaring costs of terror-proofing German Christmas markets with a very festive solution: anti-tank barriers. The German public media reporting this news does not even blink about how absurd the situation has become, but instead actually praises the “creative solution” of the anti-tank barriers. For skeptics, the anti-tank barriers may serve as a comical or tragic illustration of German Christmas markets moving beyond a mere police state and right into something resembling a militarized zone. The Christmas market in Külsheim, which has a population of

'Beneath Sheep's Clothing': Communism's Capture Of America Authored by Rudolph Lambert Fernandez via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Anti-Communism Week has been marked for November 2025. Writer-producer Julie Behling’s documentary “Beneath Sheep’s Clothing” warns of communism’s devastation: “Globally, communism claimed the lives of approximately 150 million people in the 20th century.” People listen during an event by the Victims of Communism Memorial monument in Washington on June 12, 2015. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images The narrator continues, “This history is now suspiciously missing from America’s public school systems.” Therein lies a tale. This documentary shows how socialism-communism that’s failed somewhere keeps trying to reinvent itself

Rockefeller Foundation Partners With MrBeast To Target Youth With "Next-Gen" Propaganda Dr. Rajiv J. Shah - former USAID administrator and onetime head of agricultural development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, now president of the Rockefeller Foundation - announced a "next-gen storytelling" partnership with the world's top YouTube creator, MrBeast. "Proud to announce our partnership with @BeastPhilanthr, bringing together a storied history of improving billions of lives with next-gen storytelling that inspires action. With @MrBeast, we'll show that when kindness goes viral, big change is possible," Shah wrote on X, accompanied by a video featuring him and MrBeast founder Jimmy Donaldson. >

How Tucker Carlson Put Arab Christians On America's Map Authored by Kamal Alam via Al Majalla US President Donald Trump’s inner circle and his wider MAGA (‘Make America Great Again’) movement can at times appear to be tearing themselves apart over the thorny issue of US support for Israel, which some of his supporters think has committed genocide in Gaza since October 2023. Trump's unquestioning support for Israel is increasingly causing him political problems, yet those problems are not coming from the progressive or liberal left, as might be expected, but from the heart of the United States' deep south, home to millions

Katy Perry Gets $2 Million After Suing Dying 85-Year-Old Veteran Over Real Estate Dispute Pop superstar Katy Perry has won $2 million in a protracted property battle by filing a lawsuit against 85-year-old Army veteran Carl Westcott, who is now bedridden with Huntington's disease and receiving hospice care. Perry's legal action, detailed in court filings reviewed by the New York Post, sought more than $8 million in damages from Westcott, including $3.25 million for lost rental income during the litigation, $2.2 million for property renovations and $3 million in attorney fees. The dispute centers on an eight-bedroom estate in the celebrity enclave

"I Have A Bridge To Sell You" - Pirro Unleashes On Left's "Nonsense" Vetting Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, Former U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro exploded on Fox News Wednesday, eviscerating the left for mass-importing unvetted Third Worlders under Biden—labeling claims that vetting was robust as “nonsense.” Pirro blasted, “If you think there was a vetting, I have a BRIDGE to sell you!”  Referring to the untold numbers of Afghans that entered the U.S., she further raged “90K people…what do we do? Call the FBI in Afghanistan and say, ‘Gee, do you have anything on this guy?’” > 🚨 HOLY CRAP! US Attorney Jeanine Pirro

Israeli Forces Accused Of Executing Unarmed Palestinians After They Surrendered Members of the Israeli border police have been accused of executing two unarmed Palestinian men after they surrendered in the West Bank town of Jenin. In the incident from Thursday caught on camera, two men can be seen emerging from a doorway of what appears to be a warehouse, lifting their shirts, before they were shot dead by the Israelis.  > Two Palestinians were executed in Jenin after surrendering. None of the other soldiers flinched. Business as usual. The IDF rushed to announce an investigation, of course, it was caught on camera. pic.twitter.com/TrvaOfJQqV > >

Starbucks Workers' Strike Expands To 83 Cities On Black Friday Authored by Mary Prenon via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Black Friday shoppers looking forward to a pumpkin spice latte or caramel frappuccino break may be out of luck depending on where they live. A Nov. 28 Starbucks Workers United statement revealed that 2,500 Starbucks union baristas at 120 Starbucks in 85 U.S. cities joined the picket lines against the coffee superstar. Starbucks workers walk a picket line as they go on strike outside a Starbucks store in the Brooklyn borough in New York City on Nov. 13, 2025. According to the Starbucks

President made declaration in a social media post, after FAA last week warned airlines of ‘worsening security situation’ The Venezuelan government has responded defiantly to the heightened pressure by the US government, including Donald Trump’s recent statements on Saturday that the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela is to be closed in its entirety. In a statement, the Venezuelan government said Trump’s comments are a “colonialist threat” against their sovereignty and violate international law. The government also said it demanded respect for its airspace and would not accept foreign orders or threats. Continue reading...

Defense secretary called reports about his role in strike as ‘fake news’ intended to discredit US military The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has declared recent reporting that he may have illegally ordered all people to be killed in a military strike in the Caribbean as “fake news” on Friday evening, adding that the series of strikes of people on boats had been “lawful under both US and international law”. Hegseth lambasted reports about his role in the strike as “fabricated, inflammatory and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland”. Continue reading...

Dawn Butler leads calls for humanitarian visas and fee waivers for vulnerable relatives of UK nationals affected by storm British MPs have joined campaigners calling for more aid and humanitarian visas for Jamaicans to enter the UK after Hurricane Melissa demolished parts of the country, plunging hundreds of thousands of people into a humanitarian crisis. The UK has pledged £7.5m emergency funds to Jamaica and other islands affected by the hurricane, but many argue that the country has a moral obligation to do more for former Caribbean colonies. Continue reading...

Hernández was convicted in 2024 of accepting millions in bribes to protect cocaine shipments Donald Trump has said he will grant a pardon to Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras who is serving a 45-year prison sentence in the US on drug trafficking and weapons charges. “I will be granting a Full and Complete Pardon to Former President Juan Orlando Hernandez who has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated very harshly and unfairly,” Trump said on Friday in a post on Truth Social. Continue reading...

Student ‘heartbroken’ after being sent to Honduras while trying to travel from Boston to Texas, attorney says A college freshman trying to fly from Boston to Texas to surprise her family for Thanksgiving was instead deported to Honduras in violation of a court order, according to her attorney. Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, 19, had already passed through security at Boston Logan international airport on 20 November when she was told there was an issue with her boarding pass, said attorney Todd Pomerleau. The Babson College student was then detained by immigration officials and within two days sent to Texas and then Honduras,

More than 350 people killed on Indonesia’s Sumatra island with 162 reported dead across Thailand The death toll from devastating floods and landslides in south-east Asia reportedly climbed past 500 on Saturday as clean-up and search-and-rescue operations got under way in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. Heavy monsoon rain overwhelmed swathes of the three countries this week, killing hundreds and leaving thousands stranded, many on rooftops awaiting rescue. Continue reading...

Families are combing hospitals hoping to find their loved ones as about 200 people still listed as missing, and at least 128 killed An outpouring of grief was set to sweep Hong Kong on Saturday as an official, three-day mourning period began with a moment of silence for the 128 people killed in one of the city’s deadliest fires. City leader John Lee, along with senior ministers and dozens of top civil servants, stood in silence for three minutes on Saturday morning outside the government headquarters, where the flags of China and Hong Kong were flown at half-mast. Continue reading...

About 200 people still unaccounted for, say officials, as fire chief confirms no alarms went off in any of the eight towers * Anger swells in Hong Kong over deadliest fire in more than 70 years * How the Hong Kong fire unfolded – visual guide The death toll from the Hong Kong apartment complex fire that began on Wednesday has risen to 128 with as many as 200 missing, officials have said, as rescue operations were declared over. Firefighters had been combing through the high-rises on Friday, attempting to find anyone alive after the massive fire that spread to seven of

Volunteers that emerged during the pro-democracy protests regroup to help those affected by the blaze Hong Kong’s grassroots community groups have sprung into action to help coordinate and deliver aid to the survivors of the Wang Fuk Court fire, a catastrophic blaze that is confirmed to have killed at least 128 people, with hundreds still missing. Restaurants, churches and gyms in the Tai Po area, where the Wang Fuk Court housing estate is located, have been turned into temporary shelters for people in need of clothes, food and information as a result of the tragedy. Continue reading...

Incident north of Tokyo comes after a record 13 deaths from bear attacks in Japan since the start of April A man has been attacked by a bear in a public toilet in Japan, local media reported on Friday – the latest in a record-breaking wave of attacks this autumn, including those in populated areas. The victim, a 69-year-old security guard, told police he had noticed the bear, which was 1-1.5 metres long, peering inside as he was about to leave the building in Gunma prefecture, north of Tokyo, in the early hours of Friday, Kyodo news agency and broadcaster NHK reported. Continue

Follow all the day’s news live * Exclusive: Taxpayers subsidise rising specialist fees as spending on Abbott-era Medicare safety net ‘explodes’ * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast LNP candidate Wayde Chiesa has triumphed at a state byelection in the north Queensland electorate of Hinchinbrook. With 74% of the vote counted Chiesa has more than 41% of the primary vote, a swing of about 13%. An early unofficial count by the Electoral Commission of Queensland has him winning about 53% of the two-party preferred vote as counting continues. Continue reading...

Independent MP Zali Steggall says it’s not always clear who is behind disorderly behaviour – and sometimes it can be a whole section of a political party * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Sweeping behavioural standards have now been in place in Australia’s parliament for years, but crossbench MPs have warned question time is still rife with bullying and a “mob mentality” that needs to be stamped out. Data obtained through the speaker’s office shows 21 MPs across the Coalition and Labor have been booted out

Exclusive: Health department data shows spending on the 2004 extended safety net has nearly tripled, from $324.9m in 2010 to $850.4m in 2024 * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Taxpayers are increasingly subsiding the rising fees of specialist doctors, as new data shows “explosive” government spending on the Medicare safety net, which has more than doubled in 15 years. Total Medicare safety net benefits rose from $339m in 2010 to $871.4m in 2024, data requested by Guardian Australia from the federal health department shows, with an

Exclusive: Experts raise concern as Queensland’s Domestic and Family Violence Death Review and Advisory Board turns focus to historical, rather than recent, data * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Read more from Guardian Australia’s two-year investigation here The Queensland advisory board tasked with reviewing domestic and family violence deaths has quietly stopped routinely analysing new cases, and has not looked into most of the latest deaths for more than two years. Guardian Australia’s Broken trust investigation has uncovered evidence and allegations that raise concern about the way the coronial system investigates women’s deaths and the accuracy of

The PM becomes the first Australian leader to celebrate a wedding while in office with a private ceremony followed by a reception at his official residence, the Lodge * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has married his partner, Jodie Haydon, in Canberra, making him the first Australian leader to tie the knot in office. The ceremony took place on Saturday afternoon at Albanese’s official residence, the Lodge, witnessed by a small group of close family and friends, including Albanese’s son, Nathan, and Haydon’s parents, Bill and Pauline. Continue reading...

A theatrical sensation since the 1960s, whose dramas included Arcadia, The Real Thing and Leopoldstadt, Stoppard also had huge success as a screenwriter * Tom Stoppard: a life in pictures * Michael Billington: ‘A brilliant dramatist who always raised the temperature of the room’ The playwright Tom Stoppard, whose playful erudition dazzled the theatregoing world for decades, has died aged 88. On Saturday, United Agents said Stoppard died at home in Dorset, surrounded by his family. They paid tribute to the “brilliance and humanity” of his work and “his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his profound love of the

Exit of Zelenskyy’s most powerful aide could also have impact on Kyiv’s negotiating position in talks over ending war Ukraine’s political system is bracing for a “mini-revolution” as the county’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is forced to adapt to life without his closest adviser, chief enforcer and most loyal associate, Andriy Yermak, who resigned on Friday after his apartment was searched as part of a widening anti-corruption probe. Yermak’s resignation could have tremendous consequences for domestic governance, as well as for Ukraine’s negotiating position in talks over ending the war with Russia, where he had served as the head of Ukraine’s delegation to

Missile and drone attacks come amid Moscow’s campaign to break Ukrainian civil resistance by attacking energy grid Two people were killed and 37 were injured by a Russian drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital that cut power to the western half of the city, leaving at least 500,000 residents without electricity. Nearly 600 drones and 36 rockets were fired into the country in an attack that its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said highlighted Ukraine’s need for western help with air defence, as well as other financial and political support. Continue reading...

Washington’s Putin-appeasing plan for peace in Ukraine has failed, but many heard death knell sounded for European reliance on US protection Kaja Kallas, the European Union foreign policy chief, asked her officials this week to dig up the number of times Russia had – in its various guises – invaded other states in the 20th and 21st centuries. The answer that came back was 19 states, on 33 occasions. Kallas, the former Estonian prime minister, was not just indulging in some form of historical mathematics. She was seeking to make a point that lies at the heart of the dispute between

Ukrainian president announces departure of Andriy Yermak, who was leading peace talks with US Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s powerful chief of staff and closest ally, Andriy Yermak, has resigned after Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies conducted searches at his apartment earlier today. The abrupt departure of the aide, who had been leading the latest round of the delicate peace negotiations with the US, was announced by the Ukrainian president in a late-afternoon social media video on Friday. Continue reading...

Two Palestinian children reportedly killed on Saturday as Israel continues its strikes after latest ceasefire The Palestinian death toll has surpassed 70,000 since the Israel-Gaza war began, Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday, while a hospital reported Israeli fire killed two Palestinian children in the territory’s south. The toll has continued to rise after the latest ceasefire took effect on 10 October. Israel still carries out strikes in response to what it has called violations of the truce, and bodies from earlier in the war are being recovered from the rubble. Continue reading...

Committee highlights allegations including dog attacks and sexual violence, raising concern about impunity for war crimes Israel has “a de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture”, according to a UN report covering the past two years, which also raised concerns about the impunity of Israeli security forces for war crimes. The UN committee on torture expressed “deep concern over allegations of repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, waterboarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence”. Continue reading...

Account of visit to Gaza by French professor describes Israeli military attacks on security personnel protecting convoys A historian who spent more than a month in Gaza at the turn of the year says he saw “utterly convincing” evidence that Israel supported looters who attacked aid convoys during the conflict. Jean-Pierre Filiu, a professor of Middle East studies at France’s prestigious Sciences Po university, entered Gaza in December where he was hosted by an international humanitarian organisation in the southern coastal zone of al-Mawasi. Continue reading...

Locked away in prison for decades, Marwan Barghouti is a longstanding advocate for a two-state solution A global campaign is being launched to secure the release of Marwan Barghouti, the Palestinian prisoner seen by many as the best hope of leading a future Palestinian state, as negotiations continue in the context of the current Gaza ceasefire. The campaign, being led by Barghouti’s West Bank-based family with UK civil society support, is seeking to put the 66-year-old’s fate at the centre of the next stage of the ceasefire. Continue reading...

Far-right minister defends killing of two men who appeared to have given themselves up, saying ‘terrorists must die’ Video of an Israeli military raid in the West Bank shows soldiers summarily executing two Palestinians they had detained seconds earlier. The shooting on Thursday evening, which was also witnessed by journalists close to the scene, is under justice ministry review, but has already been defended by Israel’s far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who declared that “terrorists must die”. Continue reading...

Another 191 missing after heavy rains from Cyclone Ditwah while almost 78,000 evacuated to temporary shelters amid rescue operations Torrential rains and floods triggered by Cyclone Ditwah have killed 153 people across Sri Lanka so far, with another 191 still missing, the country’s Disaster Management Centre (DCM) said on Saturday. The DMC director general, Sampath Kotuwegoda, said relief operations were under way with 78,000 people moved to nearly 800 state-run welfare centres after their homes were destroyed by the week-long heavy rains. Continue reading...

Temperatures dip to -8.5C in Poland and 250mm of rain falls in 24-hour period across Sri Lanka Temperatures plummeted this week across the eastern half of Europe, with the Alps dipping as low as -20C and to -8.5°C in the Polish town of Zakopane in the Tatras Mountains. Heavy snow also affected other parts of Poland with 15-20cm (about 6-8in) of snow falling in much of the central swathe of the country and more than 40cm in the south towards the mountains. Continue reading...

Human rights monitors say it is not safe to return, citing reports of ‘serious crimes in the run-up to elections’ Myanmar’s junta applauded the Trump administration on Wednesday for halting a scheme that protected its citizens from deportation from the US back to their war-racked homeland. About 4,000 Myanmar citizens are living in the US with temporary protected status (TPS), which shields foreign nationals from deportation to disaster zones and allows them the right to work. Continue reading...

The strikes come a day after a suicide attack on a security compound in Pakistan’s Peshawar city Pakistan strikes on neighbouring Afghanistan have killed 10 people – among them nine children – a Taliban government spokesperson has said, a day after a suicide attack on a security compound in Pakistan’s Peshawar city. “The Pakistani invading forces bombed the house of a local civilian resident ... As a result, nine children (five boys and four girls) and one woman were martyred” in Khost province, Zabihullah Mujahid said on X. Continue reading...

India’s prime minister among those paying tribute to celebrated actor whose career spanned six decades Dharmendra, one of the most enduring stars of India’s Bollywood cinema, has died at the age of 89. Born Dharam Singh Deol, but later known as Dharmendra, he rose to fame in the 1960s and became one of the most celebrated and popular stars of Indian cinema in a career that spanned six decades. Continue reading...

Differences between Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn and over admitting Socialist Workers members mean rows look likely to continue When the idea of a new leftwing party spearheaded by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana was first mooted in the summer, it was so popular that hundreds of thousands of people expressed an interest in joining. Although it was quickly beset by arguments – its co-founders rowed bitterly over its initial leadership and funding model – many hoped this weekend’s inaugural conference would signal a fresh start. Continue reading...

Rightwing activist claimed Commons deputy speaker Nusrat Ghani should be barred because she was born in Pakistan GB News is facing calls to cut ties with a regular contributor who has been accused of racism after claiming that the House of Commons deputy speaker, Nusrat Ghani, should not be allowed in the house because she was born in Pakistan. The comments by Lucy White, a rightwing activist, have drawn criticism from across the political spectrum amid warnings that explicitly racist language is becoming increasingly normalised in British life. Continue reading...

Sultana skips Saturday’s proceeding in solidarity with delegates expelled over links to other parties Zarah Sultana has boycotted the first day of Your Party’s inaugural conference, throwing the party’s first official gathering into chaos amid disagreements with co-founder Jeremy Corbyn over how the party should be run. Corbyn confirmed to journalists on Saturday that he preferred a single leader and is likely to stand for the role but Sultana said she would vote for collective leadership and that she did not believe parties should be run by “sole personalities”. Continue reading...

Staff at human rights body said to be ‘desperate for regime change’ over inertia after court’s legal definition of a woman The ongoing impasse over guidance from the UK’s human rights watchdog on access to single-sex spaces is distracting from other pressing issues, including the rise of the far right, insiders have told the Guardian. Some members of staff at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) are described as “desperate for regime change” ahead of the new chair, Mary-Ann Stephenson, taking up her post in December. Continue reading...

Venues promoting destruction as stress relief are appearing around the UK but experts – and our correspondent – are unsure If you find it hard to count to 10 when anger bubbles up, a new trend offers a more hands-on approach. Rage rooms are cropping up across the UK, allowing punters to smash seven bells out of old TVs, plates and furniture. Such pay-to-destroy ventures are thought to have originated in Japan in 2008, but have since gone global. In the UK alone venues can be found in locations from Birmingham to Brighton, with many promoting destruction as a stress-relieving experience. Continue reading...

Trump administration lists reporting it objects to in latest escalation of attacks on US journalism The White House rolled out a new section of its official website on Friday that publicly criticizes and catalogs media organizations and journalists it claims have distorted coverage. At the top of the page, the text reads: “Misleading. Biased. Exposed.” The feature names the Boston Globe, CBS News and the Independent as “media offenders of the week”, accusing them of inaccurately portraying Trump’s remarks about six Democratic lawmakers who released of video encouraging military members to not follow illegal orders. Continue reading...

Lead FDA vaccine regulator announced new approval process after claiming Covid vaccine had killed 10 children The leading vaccine regulator at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a far stricter course for federal vaccine approvals, following claims from his team that Covid vaccines were linked to the deaths of at least 10 children. Experts suggest the announcement will make the vaccine approval process significantly more difficult. Continue reading...

Agreement will also end series of investigations of university over school’s alleged failure to fight antisemitism Northwestern University has agreed to pay $75m to the US government in a deal with the Trump administration to end a series of investigations and restore hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research funding. Donald Trump’s administration had cut off $790m in grants in a standoff that contributed to university layoffs and the resignation in September of Northwestern’s president, Michael Schill. The administration argued the school had not done enough to fight antisemitism. Continue reading...

At a time when distrust of big tech is high, Silicon Valley is embracing an alternative ecosystem where every CEO is a star A montage of Palantir’s CEO, Alex Karp, and waving US flags set to a remix of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck blasts out as the intro for the tech billionaire’s interview with Sourcery, a YouTube show presented by the digital finance platform Brex. Over the course of a friendly walk through the company offices, Karp fields no questions about Palantir’s controversial ties to ICE but instead extolls the company’s virtues, brandishes a sword and discusses how he exhumed the remains of

Those who tried to overturn the 2020 election now occupy key federal roles, shaping rules and sowing doubt for 2026 The people who tried to overturn the 2020 election have more power than ever – and they plan to use it. Bolstered by the president, they have prominent roles in key parts of the federal government. Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer who helped advance Donald Trump’s claims of a stolen election in 2020, now leads the civil rights division of the justice department. An election denier, Heather Honey, now serves as the deputy assistant secretary for election integrity in the department of homeland

Spain’s Agriculture Ministry said it has halted all pork exports to China after two wild boar found dead near Barcelona tested positive for African swine flu, the first cases in three decades. The outbreak, the first since 1994, coincides with Spanish efforts to court Beijing and gain market share in the pork sector and after China imposed tariffs on EU pork during an anti-dumping investigation. Spain is the European Union’s leading pork producer, accounting for roughly a quarter of the bloc’s...

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the western German town of Giessen on Saturday as the far-right Alternative for Germany’s (AfD’s) new youth organisation was set to kick off its founding convention. Groups of protesters blocked or tried to block roads in and around the university town of some 93,000 in the early morning. Police said they used pepper spray after stones were thrown at officers at one location. At a rally at the railway station, protesters chanted “All together. Against...

Russian drone and missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and the surrounding area killed at least three people in the early hours of Saturday, local officials said. The attacks came just before a second round of peace negotiations was set to begin, as a renewed US-led push to end the war gathers steam this week. A team on Saturday was headed to the United States for talks on Washington’s plan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. On its official Telegram channel, the Kyiv City...

Peru’s government declared a state of emergency at its southern border with Chile on Friday, expecting an influx of people trying to flee far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast’s potential presidency. Under the decree, Peru’s military will reinforce border control in the southern Tacna region for 60 days, past Chile’s December 14 run-off election, in which immigration hardliner Kast is facing off against left-wing candidate Jeannette Jara. The state of emergency will also serve “to address crime...

Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi will travel to the US next week to sign a final agreement with his Rwandan counterpart aimed at securing peace in eastern Congo, the Congolese government said on Friday, capping months-long diplomatic efforts spearheaded by US President Donald Trump. Congo’s government has often said its signing of the deal will be conditioned on Rwanda’s withdrawal of support for the M23 rebels in the conflict-battered east. Tshisekedi’s confirmation of the December 4 signing...

Europe’s Airbus said on Friday it was ordering immediate repairs to 6,000 of its widely used A320 family of jets in a sweeping recall affecting more than half the global fleet, threatening upheaval during the busiest travel weekend of the year in the United States and disruption worldwide. The setback appears to be among the largest recalls affecting Airbus in its 55-year history and comes weeks after the A320 overtook the Boeing 737 as the most delivered model. At the time Airbus issued its...

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he will be pardoning former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who in 2024 was convicted for drug trafficking and weapons charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison. The president explained his decision on social media by posting that “according to many people that I greatly respect”, Hernandez was “treated very harshly and unfairly”. In March of last year, Hernandez was convicted in an American court of conspiring to import cocaine into the...

US President Donald Trump spoke by phone last week with leftist Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, with the two rivals discussing a possible meeting in the United States, The New York Times reported on Friday. The reported call comes as Trump’s administration piles pressure on Venezuela with a major military deployment in the Caribbean that includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier. Washington says the aim is curbing drug trafficking but Caracas insists regime change is the ultimate goal. The...

US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he was nullifying all documents signed by autopen during the administration of his predecessor, Joe Biden. “Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect,” Trump said on social media. He added that he was “hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who...

The head of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said on Friday it retained the right to respond to Israel’s killing days ago of its top military commander and left open the possibility of a new conflict with Israel. Naim Qassem spoke in a televised address as fears grew in Lebanon that Israel could escalate its bombardment of the country to compel Hezbollah to relinquish its arsenal across the country, which the group has repeatedly rejected. Israel’s killing of Hezbollah’s top military commander...

China has halted imports of soybeans from five Brazilian exporters after inspectors found pesticide-treated wheat mixed into a cargo bound for Beijing, officials from both countries said on Thursday. The suspension by China’s General Administration of Customs was communicated to Brazil’s agriculture ministry on Wednesday and made public on Thursday. The ban covers two Cargill facilities and one plant each run by Louis Dreyfus Co., CHS Agronegocios and 3Tentos Agroindustrial. Four of the plants...

France on Friday charged the fourth alleged member of a four-person gang arrested over last month’s spectacular jewel heist at the Louvre, prosecutors said. On October 19, the gang raided the world’s most visited art museum in broad daylight, taking just seven minutes to steal jewellery worth an estimated US$102 million before fleeing on scooters. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau described the fourth suspect as a 39-year-old man born in the working-class Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis. “Already...

Charges against the man accused of shooting two National Guard members have been upgraded to first-degree murder after one of the soldiers died, the US attorney for the District of Columbia announced on Friday, while investigators continue to seek a motive. Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, 24 were hospitalised in critical condition after the Wednesday afternoon shooting near the White House. Trump announced on Thursday evening that Beckstrom had died. US Attorney...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday removed his powerful chief of staff and top negotiator, Andriy Yermak, after detectives raided his house as part of a sweeping corruption probe. Yermak’s removal deals a serious blow to Zelensky, who is facing a mounting Russian offensive in the east just as the United States, a crucial ally, proposed a surprise plan to end the war that heavily favoured Moscow. Just last week, Zelensky had named Yermak, 54, as Ukraine’s top negotiator in...

The Cop30 UN climate change conference in Belem, Brazil, concluded with a package of decisions that champions implementation and finance, yet its success is nuanced, marked by both institutional progress and political compromises over the core issue of fossil fuels. The conference, framed as the “implementation Cop” by the Brazilian presidency, turned attention away from purely text negotiations to implementing action. The world is grappling with the complex realities of executing a systemic...

A daughter of South Africa’s ex-president Jacob Zuma has resigned from parliament after claims she was involved in recruiting men to join Russian mercenaries in the Ukraine war, her party said on Friday. Police last week said they were investigating allegations that Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, an MP in her father’s Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party, had lured 17 South African men to Russia “to fight in the Ukrainian war without their knowledge or consent”. The presidency said in early November it had...

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would suspend migration from what he called “third world countries”, a day after an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard soldiers in Washington, killing one. His social media post, which also threatened to reverse “millions” of admissions granted under his predecessor Joe Biden, marked a new escalation in the anti-migration stance of a second term that has been dominated by Trump’s mass deportation campaign. Trump said earlier that Sarah...

The bird flu virus that has been spreading among wild birds, poultry and mammals could lead to a pandemic worse than Covid-19 if it mutates to transmit between humans, the head of France’s Institut Pasteur respiratory infections centre has said. The highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has led to the culling of hundreds of millions of birds in the past few years, disrupting food supplies and driving up prices, though human infections remain rare. “What we fear is the...

Peru’s Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced leftist ex-president Pedro Castillo to more than 11 years in jail for trying to dissolve Congress and rule by decree to avoid impeachment. Dubbed Peru’s first poor president, the former rural teacher, who had never held elected office before winning the presidency, was impeached by Congress and jailed following his attempted power grab in December 2022. He had repeatedly clashed with an opposition-dominated Congress during his 16 months in power,...

Take a walk through some of Hong Kong’s most iconic streets and you might notice a puzzling sight: prime retail spaces in Causeway Bay, Wan Chai, Tsim Sha Tsui and other areas are papered over with all types of rental advertisements where there used to be a buzz. Out-of-reach rental prices are often a result of a simple human instinct: the desire to hold out for yesterday’s peak prices. For many property owners, accepting a lower rent can feel like a step back, potentially affecting bank...

Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo has left the country for Senegal after being detained during a military coup, the government in Dakar said on Thursday, as a lead opponent accused him of arranging the uprising. The military in volatile Guinea-Bissau earlier appointed a general as the country’s new leader, a day after seizing power and derailing the announcement of election results. Opposition candidate Fernando Dias da Costa told Agence France-Presse he believed he had won Sunday’s...

The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it would review the immigration status of every permanent resident or “green card” holder from Afghanistan and 18 other countries following the attack on National Guard troops in Washington. The announcement came as US President Donald Trump said that one of the National Guard members, 20-year-old Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, had died of her wounds, while the other, Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, 24, was ‘fighting for his life’. US officials have...

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney signed an agreement with Alberta’s premier on Thursday that rolls back certain climate rules to spur investment in energy production, while encouraging construction of a new oil pipeline to the West Coast. Under the agreement, the federal government will scrap a planned emissions cap on the oil and gas sector and drop rules on clean electricity, in exchange for a commitment by Canada’s top oil-producing province to strengthen industrial carbon pricing and...

Israeli forces on Thursday killed a pair of Palestinian men in the occupied West Bank after they appeared to surrender to troops, drawing Palestinian accusations that the men were executed “in cold blood”. The Israeli military said it was investigating. The killings, captured in videos shown on two Arab TV stations, came as Israel pressed ahead with its latest offensive in the West Bank, where the army has stepped up its activities over the past two years. Israel has said it was cracking down on...

Italy’s defence and aerospace group Leonardo on Thursday presented plans for a new multilayered air defence system, as European countries stepped up military capabilities to bolster defences against Russia and other threats. The “Michelangelo Dome” is an integrated defence system that uses artificial intelligence to neutralise a range of threats, from hypersonic weapons to drone swarms and naval attacks, in a bid to strengthen its role in European multi-domain security. Named for the Renaissance...

US President Donald Trump said that one of the two West Virginia National Guard members shot by an Afghan national near the White House had died, calling the shooter who had worked with the CIA in his native country a “savage monster”. As part of his Thanksgiving call to US troops, Trump said that he had just learned that Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, had died, while Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, 24, was “fighting for his life”. “She’s just passed away,” Trump said. “She’s no longer with us....

France on Friday caught one of two detainees who used bedsheets to escape from prison a day earlier after sawing through the bars of their cell, a prosecutor said. The man was arrested south of Dijon, where the jailbreak occurred, said the eastern city’s prosecutor, Olivier Caracotch. He said the person caught was thought to be the older of the pair, a 32-year-old man accused of violence against a partner. That would mean a 19-year-old suspected of attempted murder was still on the run. Interior...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he would end his Ukraine offensive if Kyiv withdrew from territory Moscow claims at its own - otherwise his army would take it by force. The Russian army has been slowly but steadily grinding through eastern Ukraine in costly battles against outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian forces. Washington has meanwhile renewed its push to end the nearly four-year war, putting forward a surprise plan that it hoped to finalise through upcoming talks...

Pope Leo lamented that the world was seeing an unusual number of bloody conflicts during his first trip outside Italy as Catholic leader on Thursday, and he warned that a third world war was being “fought piecemeal”, with humanity’s future at risk. In his first speech given overseas since his election in May to lead the 1.4 billion-member Church, Leo, the first US pope, said “ambitions and choices that trample on justice and peace” were destabilising the world. He told political leaders in...

Three Chinese workers in Tajikistan were killed in an attack launched from Afghanistan near the border, Tajik authorities said on Thursday. Tajikistan has strained relations with the Taliban in Afghanistan, and several border clashes have broken out in recent months. The foreign ministry said a drone and firearm attack hit workers of a Chinese company in the country’s south. “The attack, carried out with firearms and a drone loaded with grenades, claimed the lives of three employees of Chinese...

Two Swiss lawmakers have asked prosecutors to examine whether gifts reportedly given to US President Donald Trump – including a Rolex watch and a gold bar - by Swiss business leaders may have violated Switzerland’s anti-bribery laws. Switzerland this month struck a framework agreement with the US to cut a 39 per cent tariff on Swiss goods to 15 per cent. The deal came 10 days after a delegation of Swiss business leaders visited Trump in the Oval Office, bearing the gifts, according to Swiss...

In nuclear war, the long-held assumption of mutual assured destruction no longer exists. Welcome to the age of permanent strategic instability, where superpowers mix fast and accurate nuclear and non-nuclear missiles in the same arsenal. The risk of war is greater than many realise. The scale of catastrophe is also significant. A potential nuclear winter is estimated to amount to billions of deaths from starvation after years of global crop failures. Such risks and consequences are disastrously...

French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a new national military service plan on Thursday as France seeks to bolster its armed forces to address growing concerns over Russia’s threat to European nations beyond the war in Ukraine. Macron announced that volunteers aged 18 and 19 will start serving next year in a 10-month new military service programme. “A new national service is set to be gradually established, starting from next summer,” Macron said in a speech at the Varces military base, in...

Food giant Campbell’s said on Wednesday it has fired an executive who was recorded making racist comments and mocking the company’s products and customers. Martin Bally, a vice-president in Campbell’s information security department, was named in a lawsuit filed last week by Robert Garza, a former Campbell’s employee who said he was fired January 30 after he reported Bally’s comments to a supervisor. The lawsuit was filed in Michigan, where both Garza and Bally live. Campbell’s is based in...

On the 32nd anniversary of New Oriental, a private Beijing-based education services provider, the company’s founder, Yu Minhong, wrote an internal letter to his staff about his trip to the South Pole. “I am standing in the icy world of Antarctica, surrounded by vast expanses of pure white, emerald-like icebergs and boundless tranquillity,” he wrote. “The glaciers shimmer with a captivating glow under the sunlight, as if to silently declare the power of time and the meaning of perseverance.” He...

Scientists have detected what they believe to be lightning on Mars by eavesdropping on the whirling wind recorded by Nasa’s Perseverance rover. The crackling of electrical discharges was captured by a microphone on the rover, a French-led team reported on Wednesday. The researchers documented 55 instances of what they call “mini lightning” over two Martian years, primarily during dust storms and dust devils. Almost all occurred on the windiest Martian sols, or days, during dust storms and dust...

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday declared a “nationwide security emergency” as the country scrambled to respond to a wave of mass kidnappings that have seen hundreds of people, mostly children, captured in a week. “This is a national emergency, and we are responding by deploying more boots on the ground, especially in security-challenged areas,” Tinubu said in a statement. Within days, assailants across the country kidnapped two dozen Muslim schoolgirls, 38 worshippers, more than 300...

A Massachusetts woman who was once engaged to the brother of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt remains in ICE custody two weeks after being arrested on her way to pick up the son she shares with her former fiancé. Bruna Ferreira, 33, was driving to her son’s school in New Hampshire on November 12 when she was pulled over in Revere, Massachusetts, her lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, said on Wednesday. “She wasn’t told why she was detained,” he said. “She was bounced from Massachusetts, to New...

Investigators led by the FBI’s joint terrorism task force sought clues on Thursday to what drove an Afghan immigrant to open fire on two National Guard soldiers mere blocks from the White House in what officials called an “ambush” attack on Thanksgiving eve. The two soldiers, part of a militarised law enforcement mission ordered by US President Donald Trump months ago and challenged in court by officials of the District of Columbia, were hospitalised in critical condition. The suspect, who was...

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is barring South Africa from participating in the Group of 20 summit next year at his Miami-area club and will stop all payments and subsidies to the country over its treatment of a US government representative at this year’s global meeting. Trump chose not to have an American government delegation attend last weekend’s summit hosted by South Africa, saying he did so because its white Afrikaners were being violently persecuted. It is a claim that...

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers is urging Donald Trump’s administration to reject Myanmar’s “sham” elections next month, days after the administration cited the country’s electoral progress as grounds to remove legal protections for Myanmar nationals in the US. “Burma’s planned elections this December are proving to be a sham,” said Representatives Brian Mast and Gregory Meeks and Senators Jim Risch and Jeanne Shaheen on Wednesday, using the former name for the war-torn country. “Orchestrated...

French President Emmanuel Macron will visit China next week and meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Elysee Palace said in a statement on Wednesday. The three-day visit is scheduled to begin on December 3, with two stops in Beijing and Chengdu, according to the statement. “On this occasion, major issues relating to the strategic partnership between France and China will be addressed, as well as several major international matters and areas of cooperation aimed at tackling the global...

The Guinea-Bissau military appointed a general as the country’s new leader on Thursday for one year, a day after seizing power and arresting the president of the coup-prone west African nation. “I have just been sworn in to lead the High Command,” General Horta N’Tam declared after taking the oath of office in a ceremony at the military’s headquarters. Dozens of heavily armed soldiers were deployed at the scene. On Wednesday, a group of army officers seized power, a day before the planned...

A judge on Wednesday dismissed the Georgia election interference case against US President Donald Trump and others after the prosecutor who recently took over the case said he would not pursue the charges. Pete Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, took over the case last month from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who was removed over an “appearance of impropriety” created by a romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she...

US President Donald Trump raged on Wednesday at a New York Times report that focused on his age and growing signs of fatigue, insisting that he is full of energy and calling the woman author of the article “ugly”. “I have never worked so hard in my life. Yet despite all of this, the Radical Left Lunatics in the soon to fold Times did a hit piece on me that I am perhaps losing my Energy, despite facts that show the exact opposite,” the 79-year-old Republican posted on social media. Trump is the...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner plan to discuss peace terms again after an uproar over a 28-point proposal drafted with Russian input.

President Trump’s ever-growing vision has caused tension with contractors. His architect has taken a step back as the president personally manages the project.

Prosecutors say members of the Somali diaspora, a group with growing political power, were largely responsible. President Trump has drawn national attention to the scandal amid his crackdown on immigration.

A decision on the state’s new congressional map will affect five House seats and could help determine control of the chamber next year.

The star power of Latin Grammy Award-winning Bobby Pulido has Democrats dreaming of taking a U.S. House district in South Texas, even though Republicans have redrawn it in their favor.

As partisan battles rage and courts wrangle proposals, the relentless pace of the calendar will force states to act — or land in murky legal ground.

Drawing comparisons to the greatest of dramatists, he entwined erudition with imagination in stage works that won accolades on both sides of the Atlantic.

Caregivers are at the brink of despair.

The police said they expected the death toll of 128 to rise as the authorities began combing through the charred apartment towers.

Andriy Yermak had ensured internal discipline in Ukraine’s wartime politics. He also led the country’s peace negotiations, which now must go on without him.

Data on spending this week shows that consumers are shopping big for the holidays despite inflation and economic worries.

Leo XIV is being closely watched on an inaugural trip to Turkey and Lebanon to spread a message of peace and outreach.