World
AI Summary
- The United Kingdom is currently deemed the leading global enabler of corporate tax avoidance, as highlighted in a new report by the Tax Justice Network.
- In a significant geopolitical move, the U.S. is set to sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, raising potential implications for Saudi-Israeli relations amidst ongoing regional tensions.
- Military-grade drones posed a security risk to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's aircraft during a recent flight to Ireland, which was narrowly avoided due to an early landing.
- The World Health Organization, backed by the Gates Foundation, has proposed a controversial global digital ID system that would track individuals’ vaccination status throughout their lives, raising substantial privacy concerns.
- Amid heightened tensions from the ongoing Ukraine conflict, Baltic states are leading a resurgence in military preparedness across Europe, including initiatives to reinstate military conscription in several countries.
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ZeroHedge
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The UK Dominates The Most Damaging Tax Havens
an hour ago
by Tyler Durden
The UK Dominates The Most Damaging Tax Havens A new analysis from the Tax Justice Network (TJN) has revealed the United Kingdom to be the biggest enabler of corporate tax dodging in the world. As Statista's Anna Fleck shows in this infographic, British overseas territories and crown dependencies dominate the top eight roundup of places allowing multinationals to avoid paying tax on their profits. You will find more infographics at Statista Overall, this makes the UK responsible for about one third of global tax avoidance risk. Ireland remained in ninth place for a second consecutive year in 2025, with an index value of 1,432. It is followed by Luxembourg (1,399)
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Washington's F-35 Sale To Saudi Arabia Might Be Part Of Trump's Ultimate Plan To Revive IMEC
2 hours ago
by Tyler Durden
Washington's F-35 Sale To Saudi Arabia Might Be Part Of Trump's Ultimate Plan To Revive IMEC Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack, This could make it easier for Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel even in the absence of Palestinian independence and thus restore the political viability of this geo-economic megaproject. The announcement that the US will sell F-35s to Saudi Arabia is a monumental development. Israel is the only country in West Asia to field these cutting-edge fighter jets so its “qualitative military edge” could be eroded as a result, ergo why the IDF officially objected to this. Axios reported that Israel wants the sale
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Zelensky's Jet Reportedly In Near-Miss With Military Grade Drones In Ireland
3 hours ago
by Tyler Durden
Zelensky's Jet Reportedly In Near-Miss With Military Grade Drones In Ireland Various major publications including The Telegraph and Newsweek are reporting claims that military-grade drones threatened Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's plane shortly before it landed at Dublin Airport on Monday. The mystery drones reportedly reached the coordinates where the Ukrainian president's plane had been expected, but Zelensky is said to have arrived a little earlier than scheduled, touching down at around 11 pm, thus missing the drones. Irish security officials believe the drones were intended to interfere with Zelensky's arrival, noting that they were flying with their lights on, also given the UAVs were
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WHO–Gates Unveils Blueprint For Global Digital ID, AI-Driven Surveillance, & Life-Long Vaccine Tracking For Everyone
3 hours ago
by Tyler Durden
WHO–Gates Unveils Blueprint For Global Digital ID, AI-Driven Surveillance, & Life-Long Vaccine Tracking For Everyone Authored by Jon Fleetwood via Substack, In a document published in the October Bulletin of the World Health Organization and funded by the Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization (WHO) is proposing a globally interoperable digital-identity infrastructure that permanently tracks every individual’s vaccination status from birth. The dystopian proposal raises far more than privacy and autonomy concerns: it establishes the architecture for government overreach, cross-domain profiling, AI-driven behavioral targeting, conditional access to services, and a globally interoperable surveillance grid tracking individuals. It also creates unprecedented risks in data security, accountability, and
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Hawkish Baltic States Lead Europe's Race Back To The Draft
4 hours ago
by Tyler Durden
Hawkish Baltic States Lead Europe's Race Back To The Draft We've been documenting new efforts of European countries to drastically ramp up their defense readiness as the proxy war in Ukraine persists with no end in sight. For example, French President Emmanuel Macron last week 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. This is part of a trend of the return of military conscription across the continent. And this week Lithuania announced it will call up 5,000 conscripts in 2026, a significant increase from previous years. Years
The Guardian
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RSF massacres left Sudanese city ‘a slaughterhouse’, satellite images show
4 hours ago
by Mark Townsend
Global development, Sudan, Darfur, World news, Africa, Middle East and north Africa, War crimes, Law, Conflict and armsUp to 150,000 residents of El Fasher are missing since North Darfur capital fell to paramilitary Rapid Support Forces The Sudanese city of El Fasher resembles a “massive crime scene”, with large piles of bodies heaped throughout its streets as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) work to destroy evidence of the scale of their massacre. Six weeks after the RSF seized the city, corpses have been gathered together in scores of piles to await burial in mass graves or cremated in huge pits, analysis indicates. Continue reading...
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60,000 African penguins starved to death after sardine numbers collapsed – study
6 hours ago
by Phoebe Weston
Birds, South Africa, Marine life, Food, Fishing, Fishing industry, Animals, Wildlife, Environment, Conservation, Climate crisis, Africa, World news, Endangered speciesClimate crisis and overfishing contributed to loss of 95% of penguins in two breeding colonies in South Africa, research finds More than 60,000 penguins in colonies off the coast of South Africa have starved to death as a result of disappearing sardines, a new paper has found. More than 95% of the African penguins in two of the most important breeding colonies, on Dassen Island and Robben Island, died between 2004 and 2012. The breeding penguins probably starved to death during the moulting period, according to the paper, which said the climate crisis and overfishing were driving declines. Continue reading...
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US considers wider sanctions on Sudanese army and RSF as ceasefire efforts falter
7 hours ago
by Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor
Sudan, US foreign policy, Saudi Arabia, Trump administration, Donald Trump, United Nations, Muslim Brotherhood, US news, Africa, Middle East and north Africa, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, World newsTrump envoy fails to secure deal as Norway prepares to host talks on how to restore civilian government in Sudan The US is considering a much broader range of sanctions on the belligerents in the war in Sudan, in a tacit acknowledgment of the inability of the US envoy Massad Boulos to persuade the parties to accept a ceasefire. Last week Donald Trump announced that work had begun to end the war after a personal request for his direct intervention from the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Continue reading...
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US and EU critical minerals project could displace thousands in DRC – report
20 hours ago
by Rachel Savage Africa correspondent
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Africa, Zambia, Critical minerals, Rail transport, World newsGlobal Witness says plan to upgrade railway line to Angola puts up to 1,200 buildings at risk of demolition Up to 6,500 people are at risk of being displaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure project funded by the EU and the US, amid a global race to secure supplies of copper, cobalt and other “critical minerals”, according to a report by campaign group Global Witness. The project, labelled the Lobito Corridor, aims to upgrade the colonial-era Benguela railway from the DRC to Lobito on Angola’s coast and improve port infrastructure, as well as building a railway
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Uganda stops granting refugee status for Eritreans, Somalis and Ethiopians
a day ago
by Samuel Okiror in Kampala
Global development, Uganda, Refugees, Migration, Aid, Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia, United Nations, Africa, World news, Migration and developmentGovernment once seen as progressive on migration says aid cuts to blame for excluding countries ‘not experiencing war’ The Ugandan government has stopped granting asylum and refugee status to people from Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia, citing severe funding shortfalls for the significant policy shift. Hillary Onek, Uganda’s minister for refugees, announced that the government would no longer grant the status to new arrivals from countries “not experiencing war”. Continue reading...
South China Morning Post
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Why Gulf region’s dreams of aviation domination are built on sand
3 hours ago
by David Dodwell
We should call it the “Neom factor”: the force that transforms reasonable aggressive ambition into hallucinogenic fantasyland. It glared out at me last week in a Financial Times headline: “Three ‘Heathrows’ of growth: the unstoppable rise of Middle East airports”. In short, Dubai, Istanbul, Riyadh, Doha and Abu Dhabi in aggregate have airport expansion plans to lift passenger capacity almost threefold to around 750 million a year over the coming decades. In the words of Paul Griffiths, chief...
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Investigations reveal combat stress a key factor in costly US Navy mishaps
6 hours ago
by Associated Press
New investigative reports into a series of high-profile and costly US Navy mishaps during a US-led campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels reveal that the most intense running sea battle that the military service has faced since World War II took a toll on ships and personnel. The four reports released on Thursday cover a “friendly fire” incident in December 2024 that saw the cruiser USS Gettysburg shoot at two fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, downing one, as well as...
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Chinese boy lost after US detention, helper’s last call in fire: weekly roundup
7 hours ago
by SCMP
We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Japan’s Sanae Takaichi moves to ease weeks of tensions with China over the Taiwan Strait After weeks of turmoil in relations with China, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has sought to dial down tensions with Beijing over a...
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US Supreme Court allows Texas to use Trump-backed voting map
8 hours ago
by Agence France-Presse
The US Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use redrawn congressional districts for the 2026 midterm elections, boosting the hopes of President Donald Trump’s Republicans to retain control of the House of Representatives. The push by Texas - which carves out five more Republican-friendly districts and came at the behest of Trump - kicked off a series of similar efforts in states around the country. The decision by the conservative-dominated high court stayed a lower ruling which had said...
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Drones spotted near Zelensky’s flight path to Dublin spark security alert
9 hours ago
by Reuters
An Irish navy ship spotted up to five drones operating near the flight path of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s aircraft as he arrived for a state visit to Ireland on Monday, local media reported on Thursday. The sighting triggered a major security alert amid fears it was an attempt to interfere with the flight path, the Irish Times reported. It quoted unnamed sources as saying the aircraft, which arrived slightly early, was not in any danger. The Ukrainian delegation arrived late on...
New York Times
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Zelensky’s Government Sabotaged Oversight, Allowing Corruption in Ukraine to Fester
2 hours ago
by Constant Méheut and Kim Barker
Corruption (Institutional), Russian Invasion of Ukraine (2022), Bribery and Kickbacks, Defense and Military Forces, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Commission, Ukrenergo, Kyiv (Ukraine)Ukrainian leaders blame independent advisers for failing to prevent graft. A Times investigation found that President Volodymyr Zelensky’s own administration removed guardrails.
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Fears Spread Over New ICE Crackdowns, and F.B.I. Makes Arrest in Jan. 6 Bomb Plot
an hour ago
by Tracy Mumford, Will Jarvis, Ian Stewart and Kate LoPresti
Illegal Immigration, Bombs and Explosives, Storming of the US Capitol (Jan, 2021), Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (US)Plus your Friday news quiz.
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Second Strike Scrutiny Obscures Larger Question About Trump’s Boat Attacks
8 hours ago
by Charlie Savage and Julian E. Barnes
United States Politics and Government, United States Defense and Military Forces, Targeted Killings, Civilian Casualties, Drug Cartels, Bradley, Frank Mitchell, Hegseth, Pete, Trump, Donald J, South AmericaCongress is focusing on two deaths in one strike. But nine other people died in that same attack, and the United States has killed 87 in all. Were any of those killings legal?
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Boat Strike Video Shown to Lawmakers
8 hours ago
by Helene Cooper, Megan Mineiro, Julian E. Barnes and Charlie Savage
Defense Department, House Committee on Intelligence, Senate Committee on Armed Services, United States Politics and Government, United States Defense and Military Forces, Deaths (Fatalities), US Strikes on Alleged Drug Traffickers (2025- )Two survivors of the attack were said to struggle to cling to the boat before a second strike. After the briefing with lawmakers, the military disclosed a boat strike on Thursday that killed four people.
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Trump’s Approval Rating Dips as Views of His Handling of the Economy Sour
2 hours ago
by Ruth Igielnik and Tyler Pager
United States Politics and Government, Polls and Public Opinion, United States Economy, Prices (Fares, Fees and Rates), Illegal Immigration, Trump, Donald J, Republican Party, Democratic Party, Cost of Living and AffordabilityThe shift, while small, is notable after months of stability in President Trump’s approval rating.