Top World News
ICE bans hugging inside California’s largest detention center. Families are fighting back
In the California City facility, ‘contact visits’ are strictly forbidden – but detained residents aren’t staying quiet. Are officials listening?Teresa Reyes drove 300 miles to be with her son on his 32nd birthday in May, but she couldn’t give him a gift, share a meal with him or give him a hug. She couldn’t even touch him.Her son, Guillermo, a tattoo artist from San Jose, is locked up in the California City immigration detention center, California’s largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility, and the only way he can see his mother is behind a thick pane of glass. Continue reading...
JD Vance accused of ‘gaslighting’ after saying he is ‘skeptical’ US struck Iranian wedding | First Thing
Vice-president’s claim US-Iran conflict is not war draws ridicule from Democrat Ro Khanna. Plus, iconic feminist Gloria Steinem dies aged 92Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning. The US vice-president, JD Vance, has responded to claims that an American strike was responsible for killing four people, including a child, at a wedding celebration in southern Iran by saying that “sometimes things happen”. The deaths were reported by the Iranian Red Crescent, which operates independently of Tehran and is treated by most international monitors as a credible source on casualty figures.In a further comment, described by the congressman Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, as “gaslighting”, the vice-president said the conflict between the US and Iran, which has stretched into a seventh month and caused the deaths of 18 US service members, was not presently “a war”. Iranian authorities have put the overall death toll from US and Israeli strikes in the thousands, figures outside observers, including US-based monitoring groups, have broadly corroborated.What did Vance say? At a White House press briefing he said: “I will say that the Iranian state media has not been a very good scribe about what’s happened in the conflict thus far, so I’m extremely skeptical of this. What I can say with 100% confidence is that, unlike the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the US never targets civilians in combat. We never will do that. We never have done that, and unfortunately, obviously, sometimes things happen”. Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to blow up Iran’s civilian infrastructure.What is happening with US military leadership? Trump on Thursday named Adam Telle as the acting army secretary after the departure of Daniel Driscoll amid widespread reports of tensions with the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. Telle is currently the assistant secretary of the army for civil works.What has the House decided about university boycotts of Israel? The House has passed a Republican-backed bill that would penalize universities that participate in boycotts of Israel. “This legislation is about a simple principle: our colleges and universities should not discriminate against Israel,” said Tim Walberg, the Republican chair of the House education committee. Thirty three Democrats broke with the rest of their party to vote in favor. It now goes to the Senate for consideration. Continue reading...
Reform UK suspends two senior officials after undercover report on donations
Revelations are further blow to Nigel Farage before conference speech, with Labour reporting party to policeReform UK has suspended two senior officials after they were filmed in an undercover investigation appearing to plot to get around electoral laws on foreign donations.In a blow to Nigel Farage hours before his conference speech, the party said it had launched an investigation into the actions of James Orr, the party’s head of policy, and Dan Jukes, a senior aide to Farage, after the broadcast by Channel 4 News. Continue reading...
Iranian town mourns after deadly strike on wedding
Mourning turns to anger as residents of Kuhestak say Baloch communities are being placed in path of conflictPeople in Kuhestak, a predominantly Baloch city in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, are mourning after a strike on a wedding killed at least four people, including a child, and injured more than 60, according to local authorities.The blast hit at around 9.30pm on 1 September, turning a night of celebration into one of devastation for the small coastal community, which is on the strait of Hormuz. Continue reading...
Nepal Flood Losses Estimated At $2.56 Billion: Report
Property, housing and infrastructure worth at least 387.5 billion Nepalese rupees ($2.56 billion) was lost in Nepal's catastrophic floods last week, the country's disaster authority chief told Reuters on Friday.
Two workers pulled alive from tunnel nine days after Nepal-Tibet floods
Officials say pair were rescued from Trishuli 3A hydropower tunnel in Nepal after being trapped in depth of 170 metresTwo people have been pulled out alive from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal nine days after deadly flash floods buried the projects in deep mud and left them trapped.The workers were rescued during an ongoing operation at the Trishuli 3A tunnel, a hydropower project in one of the areas worst affected by last week’s floods, according to the army spokesperson Brig Gen Raja Ram Basnet. Continue reading...
Denmark hopes to start deporting migrants to non-EU 'return hubs' in 2027
Denmark says it hopes to start sending rejected asylum seekers to non-EU “return hubs" by 2027
South Korea pushes back on reports it is readying Hormuz deployment amid US pressure
Seoul reportedly seeking parliamentary approval to send military assets to Middle East but president’s office plays down claimsSouth Korea is reviewing a possible deployment of military assets to the strait of Hormuz amid pressure from Donald Trump over Seoul’s reluctance to provide support in the region, according to domestic media reports.Citing unnamed government and military sources, the reports published on Thursday and Friday said preparations were under way and that the government intended to seek parliamentary approval for a new deployment. The reports, which appeared in major South Korean outlets, said the exact scale and timing had not been agreed. Continue reading...
China exerts tight grip on information after floods
It’s been more than a week since deadly flash floods killed hundreds and left thousands missing along the China-Nepal border — and while Nepali authorities have been releasing the names of victims and those rescued, practically nothing is known about w...
Russian attacks kill at least 3 in Ukraine as U.S. talks on the war are expected
Russian attacks overnight killed at least three people in Ukraine, local officials said Friday, after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said U.S. envoys are expected to visit Kyiv within the coming days as part of renewed diplomatic efforts to end the war.
Pocock says skilled migrants should be top priority as Australia faces shortage of AI workers and tradies – as it happened
This blog is now closedGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast‘Gut-wrenching’: Bowen to meet with Nepali community todayChris Bowen said he would meet members of the Nepali Australian community later today.Every person who’s been rescued or found is a relief to their family and to the broader Australian community. But of course, we still have 36 Australians who are missing and unaccounted for, which is just gut-wrenching for all Australians and for the Nepalese Australian community in particular, whom I’m spending time with later today.But all I can say is that we’re continuing to send any support that the Nepalese government asked for.I think that leaders in the Pacific were deeply concerned: one, that a missile test was done without permission of the countries whose airspace it had travelled through, and two, that there was no notice of the said missile test. So I think it’s both. It is a concern about sovereignty and safety, and one that Australia fully backs. It’s a pretty strong statement, Sally, and one that Australia played a role in crafting. Continue reading...
Nigel Farage's party suspends top officials after undercover sting makes foreign funding claims
Anti-immigration party Reform UK suspended two senior officials on Friday after they were filmed appearing to discuss accepting funds from a foreign donor in potential breach of British electoral law.
