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Sep 29, 2026 - World

The Trump administration remained silent when pressed this week on the arrest and alleged abuse of an American teenager by the Israeli government, Zeteo exclusively reported on Tuesday.According to Zeteo’s Prem Thakker, an American teenager “with Texas roots,” Abdalkareem Issa Ahmed Safi, was taken from his home in the Israeli-occupied West Bank “in the middle of the night” in late June, and as of Tuesday, is still being held in an Israeli prison on administrative detention, an order that allows the government to imprison individuals without charge or trial.Safi’s father told Zeteo he had “no information” about his son, that he was “deeply concerned about his health” after being told by a U.S. embassy official that he claimed to have been beaten on his first day of detention, and that his detention may be indefinitely renewed.When pressed for comment on Safi, who was detained days before his 18th birthday, the Trump White House, the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Israel did not respond.According to Zeteo, Safi is being held at Ofer prison, a facility in the West Bank where inmates have reportedly been subjected to “frequent beatings, overcrowding and withholding of basic rations,” according to the Associated Press. Safi’s father also told Zeteo that he feared his son is suffering from scabies, a contagious skin infestation, which he claimed to have been told by a prisoner released from an Israeli prison.Safi is just one of at least three young Americans currently being held in Israeli prisons, with Safi’s cousin, Sama Safi, being among them.“In early June, in the middle of the night, Israeli officers raided 20-year-old Sama Safi’s home in Ramallah. She was then held without formal charges for weeks,” Zeteo’s report reads. “Eventually, authorities accused her of involvement with a student organization they allege is affiliated with a ‘terrorist group.’ Sama Safi, who has ties to Tampa, Florida, denies the allegations. She suffers from a chronic medical condition that can cause severe fevers and pain. And yet after nearly 16 weeks, she remains in prison, with inadequate access to food and medical care.”Adam Karakrah, a 16-year-old American “with ties to Chicago," is the third known young American being held in an Israeli prison. Israeli authorities reportedly disregarded Karakrah’s U.S. citizenship.“When I showed them his U.S. passport and birth certificate, they didn’t even ask [about it], they threw them in my face,” Karakrah’s sister previously told Zeteo.

Sep 29, 2026 - World

As outrage grows over cases​ of sexual violence, activists are demanding a shift from controlling women to confronting men’s behaviour. Plus, Tony Klor’s ‘hella dope’ city vlogs• Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereAs an Indian woman, I often feel myself oscillating between states of anxiety or anger. The anxiety is about doing the mental maths of how to stay safe – thinking about what I’m wearing, where I am going and how I’ll get there, and so on. The anger is at the sheer absurdity of this, and the stories of of sexual violence and harassment I read about every day. I am not the only one.Last week, two particularly enraging incidents captured national attention. First, a video showing a group of men accused of harassing and molesting two teenagers at night in Bihar’s Jamui went viral. Then, a 17-year-old, out with a friend in Delhi, was allegedly gang-raped in a park by men posing as police. After, women in Bihar told Outlook how the incident in Jamui triggers greater controls and pressure on them. In Delhi, authorities curbed access to public parks and a premier women’s college, Lady Shri Ram College (LSR), briefly moved classes online. Continue reading...

Sep 29, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump's war in Iran has cost Americans in a number of obvious ways, MS NOW's Rachel Maddow said on Monday — but it is costing them in a number of subtler and more insidious ways too.Nothing demonstrates this better, she explained, than a possible terror threat that didn't even affect the United States — a set of five men in suspicious vans who were arrested in the U.K., which raised immediate alarms there.In July, Maddow explained, "Iran told the U.K. explicitly that if any British base was used by the U.S. military for this war against Iran, that would make that base in the U.K. a legitimate military target for Iran," said Maddow. Now, she said, when today we learn "that five young men had been arrested and those vans were seized outside the gates of this rural air base, well, there was, for obvious reasons, lots and lots of speculation about who these five young men might be and what this might have all been about. Lots of speculation, lots of worry, and then lots of head scratching."The investigation is only beginning, Maddow said, even as the five were granted bail. But it highlights security threats that could soon reach the United States, too."Here in the United States, it raises an important question about the cost of Trump's war in Iran," said Maddow. "Raises the question as to whether the cost of Trump's war in Iran is something that we've really adequately grappled with. Is it a cost that's not just going to be measured in lives lost and people injured and buildings destroyed, and facilities and aircraft and equipment destroyed, and the shuttering of the Strait of Hormuz and all the other oil transit routes and infrastructure that have driven your gas and gas and diesel prices and fertilizer prices to all-time record highs, the multi-billion dollar cost just of anti-aircraft munitions alone, let alone all the other missiles and materiel we have expended in this war."All of these are well known, Maddow said. But beyond that, the U.K. incident "raises this very uncomfortable question for us Americans as to whether there's an additional cost of this war, which might be an additional risk for us here at home of potential retaliatory violence against us by Iran or its proxies or its sympathizers."Unfortunately, Maddow said, the U.S. could have a hard time dealing with these threats, because Trump's administration just reassigned Michael Burgwald and Courtland Rae, two of the most important FBI officials investigating terror threats from the Middle East. - YouTube youtu.be

Sep 28, 2026 - World

A former CIA counterterrorism official poked holes Monday in President Donald Trump’s account of an alleged terror plot in the United Kingdom — calling one version of events “a little far-fetched” and Trump’s public comments “a little bit embarrassing.”Phil Mudd, a former CIA counterterrorism official and former FBI senior intelligence adviser, joined CNN’s Jake Tapper after Trump claimed the U.S. had suspects “under investigation” before arrests connected to an alleged plot targeting a U.K. base.Mudd said Trump’s account left him confused.“I have about 200 dog years in investigations like this, and this one’s a little confusing,” Mudd said.He first questioned the idea that authorities sprang into action simply after a civilian reported suspicious activity.“Boy, that sounds a little far-fetched in this situation,” he said.But Trump’s suggestion that the suspects had already been under surveillance also raised questions, Mudd said.That doesn’t make sense either, because if you’re surveilling people, you don’t conduct the operation when you’re in a high-risk area with a bunch of civilians,” he said.Mudd said he wasn’t sure exactly what happened, but took particular issue with Trump publicly suggesting the U.S. played a role in a British-led investigation.“If the Brits are leading the investigation and the Americans say we're actually involved in the investigation, that's a little bit embarrassing,” Mudd said.“You don’t say that,” he added. “The Brits take the lead. We sit in the back seat.”

Sep 28, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump's war in Iran has exposed a "growing vulnerability" that has no easy solution, according to one foreign affairs expert. Max Boot, a columnist at The Washington Post and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, argued in a new op-ed that the war has called into question whether the American military still retains its air superiority over other nations. He pointed to Iran's use of inexpensive drones to "inflict heavy losses on U.S. bases" and in allied countries in the region. "The growing vulnerability of U.S. bases because of the proliferation of cheap drones and missiles — which will only get worse with the spread of artificial intelligence guidance — has no easy solution," Boot argued. "Shutting down bases is one way to prevent them from being targeted, but that would have a deleterious political impact, because it would signal U.S. disengagement." "U.S. bases serve an important trip-wire function, alerting foes that if they attack a U.S. ally, they will have to attack U.S. troops too," he added. "Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping would like nothing better than to see U.S. bases near their countries close."Boot's op-ed also questions Trump's repeated claims that he's rebuilt the military during his two administrations. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has claimed to be restoring the "warrior ethos" by remaking the military's image as more male-dominant and removing punishments for soldiers who commit violent acts. However, some troops have reported significant mental health issues stemming from long deployments overseas, as was the case with the USS Lincoln. Boot argued that the Iran war also serves as a dark warning that the military needs to "radically change" its thinking."It can no longer expect to operate from invulnerable bases near the front," Boot wrote. "But it’s hard to imagine that the armed forces can focus on such a major strategic reorientation when they are dealing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s destabilizing political purges and his retrograde demands for increasing testosterone counts." "Many of the topflight officers being cashiered by Hegseth, for no good reasons, are the very ones the armed forces need to adjust to the massive changes in the American way of war being necessitated by the drone revolution," he added.