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Oct 14, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump has spent the past five days doing favors for Russian President Vladimir Putin, but with the midterm elections just three weeks away, Republicans are left with the political fallout.The 80-year-old U.S. president is renewing his scandal-plagued relationship with the reviled Russian dictator as American voters begin casting early ballots, and Axios reported that his moves haven't gone over well on Capitol Hill, where GOP senators called the arrangement a “betrayal” and “a gift to our adversary.”After a phone call with Putin, Trump announced a deal Friday to let millions of tons of Russian diesel flow onto global markets, loosening sanctions meant to cut off Moscow’s war funding. The next day, he tore into Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over Kyiv’s strikes on Russian refineries and called for Ukraine to replace its leader.On Sunday, Trump caught Zelensky off guard by declaring an immediate “energy ceasefire.” Russia has kept hammering Ukraine’s power grid since then, with no visible consequences from Washington. On Monday, Trump brushed aside months of intelligence-based reporting that Russia had been giving Iran information on U.S. military assets, and on Tuesday, he doubled down on the diesel deal and waved off concerns that the money could fund Russia’s war machine.The White House stood by the deal, despite GOP skepticism.“The President’s diesel deal will help lower prices for farmers, truckers, and families across the nation as he simultaneously urges both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict to stop strikes against refineries, which are driving up costs and hurting American consumers,” spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement.Energy analysts doubt the deal will do much to lower fuel prices, which spiked because of the Iran war. Meanwhile, the U.S. is breaking from its NATO allies just as Russia steps up a campaign of sabotage, cyberattacks and drone incursions across Europe.A January YouGov poll found that 81 percent of Trump’s own 2024 voters view Putin unfavorably, but Trump stood by the Russian leader anyway on Monday. “I think, actually, Putin wants to make a deal more than Zelensky,” he told reporters.The timing is bad for a party already watching its polling numbers sink, and losing control of Congress could stall Trump’s agenda and open his administration to years of investigations and subpoenas.The president doesn’t seem worried. In a Truth Social post Tuesday, Trump wrote: “I’m not running in the Elections, I’ve already won, IN A MASSIVE LANDSLIDE.”

Oct 14, 2026 - World

Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das will spend spend five days in prison for entering Delhi’s Jantar Mantar – a historic protest site that has been closed by authoritiesWhy Indian voters are on the streetsTwo leaders of India’s youth-led Cockroach movement have been sent to jail for five days for violating a ban on protests at a site in central Delhi.A court ordered that Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, leaders of the Cockroach Janata party (CJP) movement, spend five days in Delhi’s Tihar prison for jumping over police barricades, holding up slogans and waving the Indian flag at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. Continue reading...

Oct 14, 2026 - World

Kimberly Guilfoyle's final days as President Donald Trump's ambassador to Greece played out under the gaze of a very familiar face.Visitors to Jefferson House, the ambassador's residence in Athens that she decorated with large self-portraits, saw Guilfoyle peering past them at a television set on mute that was airing coverage of her growing political troubles, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The report came hours after the White House announced it was asking her to step down.The ouster followed a string of Journal investigations. The first, published late last month, found Guilfoyle had been promoting a Greek construction company while working closely with its top lobbyist. A second revealed text messages in which she asked Trump donor Eric Deters for $100,000 ahead of her confirmation hearing last year. A third, published Saturday, detailed private jet flights and stays at luxury European hotels provided by shipping magnate Nikolas Tsakos.Behind the scenes, Guilfoyle fought to keep her post. She placed calls to Trump administration officials and prominent Trump allies, frequently in the early morning hours Athens time, seeking support. After the Deters texts came out, she told White House officials the messages were AI-generated, The Journal reported. Officials did not buy it, and The Journal said its reporters confirmed the texts were authentic.She also hunted for the source of the leaks, pointing the finger at embassy staffers and her own security team, and reached out to Breitbart News Washington bureau chief Matthew Boyle for help lobbying the Trump administration, according to the report.Publicly, she kept up appearances. On Monday, she shared a photo with Spain's ambassador to Greece marking his country's national day, captioned "Feliz Fiesta Nacional!" She also posted birthday wishes to Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law, on Instagram. As late as Tuesday morning, she was telling associates she would weather the storm.Trump, however, had run out of patience. People who spoke with him said he was irritated by how blatant the accusations seemed and bothered that Guilfoyle was profiting off his presidency. Senior aides feared the headlines would reinforce perceptions of self-dealing just weeks before the midterm elections.Guilfoyle announced her resignation on social media, calling the allegations false and thanking Trump. The post was later edited to add a line of gratitude to the people of Greece for welcoming her "with open arms."

Oct 13, 2026 - World

The United States was one of just three nations to vote against a declaration on “pandemic prevention, preparedness and response” that was adopted by the United Nations, drawing alarm from public health advocates.“They are going to kill us,” advocate Laura Miers, best known for her commentary on COVID-19, wrote in a social media post on X Tuesday.Adopted in a vote of 153-3, with two abstentions, the declaration outlines how countries can improve their response to future pandemics and includes 64 recommendations such as expanding access to vaccines, committing to protect vulnerable populations, and strengthening international coordination. The declaration is not legally binding.The United States, Israel and Argentina were the only nations to vote against adopting the declaration. New Zealand and Paraguay abstained from the vote.The text had been expected to pass by consensus at a high-level meeting in September, but objections from the United States and a few other countries forced a vote, according to UN News. The U.S. representative had cited “divisive ideologies that lack definitional consensus,” as well as the declaration’s references to ongoing negotiations over an annex to the World Health Organization’s pandemic agreement.“Now why would the US, Israel, and Argentina very specifically vote NO on a new global pandemic preparedness declaration?” Miers asked. “Let’s think about this for a moment.”Colorado-based journalist Mat Smith blamed Republicans.“Republicans stopped believing in science when it became profitable to do so,” Smith wrote, reacting to the U.S. vote against the pandemic preparedness declaration.For decades, the United States has often voted against the overwhelming consensus of the United Nations alongside Israel, particularly on issues related to Palestine.In 2021, the United States and Israel were the only nations to vote against a resolution affirming that having access to food was a human right. The United States and Israel were the only nations to vote against ending the longstanding U.S. embargo on Cuba in 2024, and in 2023, the United States and Israel were joined by just two other nations, Micronesia and Nauru, in voting against affirming Palestinians’ right to self-determination.The United Nations General Assembly adopted a new Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (PPPR) declaration. The United States, Israel, & Argentina stood alone & voted against it. They are going to kill us. https://t.co/3q7s0Ca260— Laura Miers (@LauraMiers) October 13, 2026

Oct 12, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump astounded analysts on Monday after he uttered what some described as an "exceptionally stupid" claim about Russia's war against Ukraine. Trump was asked about his recently announced energy "ceasefire" between Russia and Ukraine while speaking with reporters outside the White House. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Russia carried out a barrage of attacks against the country's energy infrastructure after Trump announced the ceasefire. "How will you make Putin abide by the ceasefire?" the reporter shouted. "Well, I think that's happening is that [Putin] wants to make a deal, and we have to get Zelenskyy to want to make a deal," Trump replied. Trump has repeatedly blamed Ukraine for prolonging the war and blamed the country for the rising cost of diesel fuel in the U.S. because of its attacks on Russian oil refineries. The president's comments also seem to contradict recent history. In a recent call with Trump, Putin vowed to continue the war and rejected the idea of holding peace talks, The Kyiv Post reported. Trump's comments caused a firestorm on social media. "You have to be exceptionally stupid to believe this," Pradheep Shanker, a National Review contributor, posted on X. "How delusional and sinister," Laura Rozen, a foreign policy reporter, posted on X. "If only Trump defended Americans as hard as he defends Russia," Joni Askola, a Finnish geopolitical analyst, posted on X. "Based on what? Because Putin told you that in one of your long, loving phone calls?" Garry Kasparov, founder of Renew Democracy, posted on X. "Zelenskyy keeps agreeing to deals, Putin keeps rejecting them and increasing Russian attacks on civilians. Putin could end the war in an instant. He doesn’t want to."