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Jul 7, 2026 - World

While President Donald Trump promised Iranian protesters "help is on the way," his administration secretly handed their immigration files to the government they had fled, a new lawsuit charges.The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund and Public Citizen filed the suit Tuesday in federal court in Washington against Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director David Venturella, and their agencies.The lawsuit asks the court to stop the practice and notify every Iranian refugee whose files were shared without consent."The law couldn't be more clear that information in asylum applications is protected," said Michael Kirkpatrick, a Public Citizen attorney on the case. He called it "potentially a matter of life and death."The lawsuit alleges that starting in March 2025, ICE held monthly secret meetings with representatives of the Iranian government — conducted through Pakistan's embassy, since the U.S. has no formal diplomatic relations with Tehran — and handed over immigration files, asylum applications, and personal records of detained Iranians.According to the lawsuit, ICE officials also brought Iranian government representatives directly into detention facilities to meet with detainees face to face.The detainees had shared sensitive details — their identities, families, political beliefs, and religious affiliations — in confidence, trusting they would never reach Tehran."The Iranian Government engages in unlawful killings, forced disappearances, torture, arbitrary detention, and persecution of political dissidents, religious minorities, and LGBTQ individuals," the State Department found in its own human rights report, the lawsuit notes.The administration deported more than 100 Iranians on at least three flights, the Washington Post reported, with some called in for interrogation by the intelligence wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps upon arrival.The lawsuit says the U.S. government "materially increased the likelihood that Iranian asylum seekers will be detained, interrogated, tortured, or killed upon return.""This policy has also exposed the Iranian asylum seekers' family members and acquaintances to retaliation in the form of arrest, interrogation, torture, and death," it adds.Just two weeks before the last deportation flight, Trump posted on Truth Social urging Iranians to "keep protesting — take over your institutions… They will pay a big price," telling them "help is on its way.""The new policy has continued notwithstanding the June 2025 military strikes by the United States, the massacre of tens of thousands of Iranian protestors by the Iranian Government in January 2026, and the war launched by the United States on February 28, 2026," the lawsuit states.

Jul 7, 2026 - World

Researchers testing a cheap, homegrown oil in Uganda found what cats knew all along – it worked as well as the artificial chemical used globally A homegrown catnip lotion has proven “just as effective as Deet” as a mosquito repellant in trials carried out in Uganda.Catnip, or Nepeta cataria, is a common herb from the mint family. The chemical in the plant that causes feline euphoria – nepetalactone – also has insect-repelling properties but this has not previously been commercialised. Continue reading...

Jul 7, 2026 - World

Celeste Amarilla could face charges after French Football Federation complains about social media posts over World Cup matchProsecutors in France have opened an investigation into the racist attack on Kylian Mbappé by a Paraguayan senator, with officials weighing whether to demand that the senator be charged with aggravated public insult or incitement to hatred or violence.The Paris prosecutor’s office told the Guardian on Tuesday it had launched the inquiry after the French Football Federation (FFF) filed a complaint with the national unit for combating online hate. Continue reading...

Jul 7, 2026 - World

Amnesty International says Albanese has opportunity to ‘reaffirm mutual commitment’ to rule of law as thousands in diaspora expected at stadium eventFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to Australia in three years has sparked calls for the federal government to raise human rights concerns, as excitement builds within the nation’s Indian diaspora.Modi’s visit begins on Wednesday evening and marks his third since becoming prime minister. It will see him return to Melbourne after more than a decade, with a stadium event expected to attract more than 20,000 people. Continue reading...

Jul 7, 2026 - World

Following Donald Trump dismissing questions about the Iran war quagmire the U.S. is stuck in during a press availability preceding NATO talks in Turkey, retired United States Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling pounced on the president for parroting Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.After live coverage of the question and answer period concluded on MS NOW, host Stephanie Ruhle noted, “General, let's start right there with the president's comments with regard to the war with Iran; he said, it is ‘not even a war, it's just a military operation.’”“I think he called it a ‘special military operation,' which sounds eerily familiar to what President Putin was calling the invasion in Ukraine,” Hertling shot back.“It is a war, Stephanie,” he continued. “I mean, it meets every definition of war that I've ever read in history books or doctrine or military theory. So it's just a canard that he's throwing out there to say, ‘yeah, this is no big deal, we won, everything's fine.”“But last night we saw more ships being struck by Ukrainian drones or, excuse me, Iranian drones. It's just a mishmash of information that he’s passing off to the press,” he accused. - YouTube youtu.be