Trump signs executive order to bring down prescription drug prices
President makes push to bring down drug prices that have long been a source of financial strain for US patients. United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that he says will bring down the price of prescription drugs in the US by as much as 90 percent. In an announcement on Monday, Trump said drug companies who have been “profiteering” will have to bring prices down but laid the blame for high prices primarily on foreign countries. “We’re going to equalise,” Trump said during a news conference. “We’re all going to pay the same. We’re going to pay what Europe pays.” People in the US have long been an outlier when it comes to the prices they pay for numerous types of life-saving medication, often paying several times more than their peers in other rich countries for nearly identical drugs. That phenomenon is often attributed to the substantial economic and political influence that the pharmaceutical industry wields in the US. The high cost of medical drugs has been a source of popular discontent in the US for years, and Trump accused the pharmaceutical industry of “getting away with murder” in 2017. Advertisement But in his remarks on Monday, the US leader also seemed to say that US pharmaceutical companies were not ultimately to blame for the difference in prices. Trump instead framed those high prices in the familiar terms of a trade imbalance with partners such as the European Union and said the US has been “subsidising” lower drug prices in other nations. That perspective seems to align with the framing of the pharmaceutical industry itself. The industry’s most powerful lobbying arm stated the cause of high prices for US consumers is “foreign countries not paying their fair share”. Senator Bernie Sanders, a left-wing politician who has railed against the high prices paid by US patients for years, said Trump’s order wrongly blames foreign countries rather than US companies for those prices. “I agree with President Trump: it is an outrage that the American people pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs,” Sanders said in a statement. “But let’s be clear: the problem is not that the price of prescription drugs is too low in Europe and Canada. The problem is that the extraordinarily greedy pharmaceutical industry made over $100bn in profits last year by ripping off the American people.” A fact sheet shared by the White House said the administration will “communicate price targets to pharmaceutical manufacturers to establish that America, the largest purchaser and funder of prescription drugs in the world, gets the best deal”. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr speaks after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on drug prices at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 12, 2025 [Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo] The stock prices of US drugmakers ticked upwards after the announcement. Experts have cast doubt on Trump’s optimistic assertion that drug prices would drop quickly and substantially. Advertisement “It really does seem the plan is to ask manufacturers to voluntarily lower their prices to some point which is not known,” Rachel Sachs, a health law expert at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, told The Associated Press news agency. “If they do not lower their prices to the desired point, HHS [the Department of Health and Human Services] shall take other actions with a very long timeline, some of which could potentially, years in the future, lower drug prices.” Adblock test (Why?)
Trump administration welcomes 59 white South Africans as refugees to the US
Move comes as US administration largely closes refugee admissions from countries experiencing widespread violence and poverty. A group of 59 white Afrikaners from South Africa has arrived in the United States as part of a refugee programme set up by the administration of US President Donald Trump to offer sanctuary from what Trump has depicted as racial discrimination against white people. In a press conference on Monday, Trump mirrored the claims of a myth popular on the far right that white people in South Africa have been subjected to systematic violence since the end of white minority rule in that country. “It’s a genocide that’s taking place,” Trump told reporters at the White House, a claim that has drawn criticism from government officials, news media, and even some Afrikaners themselves. The move comes as the Trump administration blocks nearly all refugee admissions from non-white countries and leans into rhetoric about an “invasion” of immigrants from poor countries. While people fleeing widespread violence and persecution in countries such as Haiti and Afghanistan have found a closed door, Al Jazeera correspondent Patty Culhane says that the Trump administration “has made a priority of getting these people [white South Africans] into the United States and paying for them to get here”. Advertisement ‘Wrong end of the stick’ The South African government has called Trump’s claims that Afrikaners face persecution “completely false”, noting that they have remained among the richest and “most economically privileged” groups, even after the end of the apartheid system that upheld white minority control of the political, economic, and military resources of the country and denied basic rights to the Black South African majority. South African whites still own about three-quarters of all private land in the country, and have about 20 times the wealth of the Black majority, according to the international academic journal the Review of Political Economy. “We think that the American government has got the wrong end of the stick here, but we’ll continue talking to them,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, himself a veteran of the struggle to end apartheid, said on Monday. Tensions between the Trump administration and the government of South Africa have been high, with the US expelling South Africa’s ambassador over previous criticism of Trump and at odds with the African nation’s prominent position in a case before the International Court of Justice accusing US ally Israel of genocide in Gaza. The Trump administration offered in February to resettle Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa, stating that they face discrimination and violence against Afrikaner farmers. “I want you all to know that you are really welcome here and that we respect what you have had to deal with these last few years,” Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau told the group of Afrikaners who arrived in the US on Monday. “We respect the long tradition of your people and what you have accomplished over the years.” Advertisement Bill Frelick, refugee policy director with Human Rights Watch, said the fast-track process of bringing Afrikaners into the US was unprecedented. “These are people who were not living in refugee camps; who hadn’t fled their country. They were the group that was most associated with the oppression of the Black majority through apartheid,” said Frelick. “It’s not like these are among the most vulnerable refugees of the world.” Adblock test (Why?)
PKK disbands, potentially ending decades of conflict in Turkiye
[unable to retrieve full-text content] The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has announced that it plans to disband and disarm.
Ivory Coast opposition leader resigns but vows to still fight for victory
Tidjane Thiam’s campaign has been halted as presidential candidates are not allowed to hold dual citizenship. Ivory Coast’s main opposition leader has said he is resigning as party leader but would still lead the fight to win the election, after having been barred from standing in an October presidential vote. “In the interest of the party, I’ve decided to place my mandate as president of the party in your hands, the activists,” Thiam said in a speech published on social media on Monday. “This decision does not change the commitment I made in December 2023 to personally lead our party to victory in October 2025.” President Alassane Ouattara, 83, who has been in power since 2011, has yet to say whether he plans to run again but has said he is eager to “continue serving my country”. Tidjane Thiam’s campaign for the presidency of the West African country has been mired in tussles over his nationality, as presidential candidates are not allowed to hold dual citizenship. Thiam was born in the Ivory Coast and renounced his French passport in March to enable his run for the top job. However, a court in Abidjan struck him off the electoral list last month, saying the 62-year-old politician had lost Ivorian nationality when he acquired French citizenship in 1987. Advertisement Thiam also faces a legal case against his election as head of the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast–African Democratic Rally (PDCI) after a party member also contested his Ivorian nationality at the time he was chosen. PDCI deputy president Ernest N’Koumo Mobio assumed the party’s interim leadership following Thiam’s announcement. He appealed for “cohesion, serenity and discipline” and called a party meeting early Monday due to “the urgency linked to the political situation”. Three other opposition figures have also been excluded from the presidential race, including former President Laurent Gbagbo due to court convictions. Thiam alleged irregularities on Monday. “While we had the right to hope for inclusive, transparent and peaceful elections, it is clear that the unjustified removal of the PDCI candidate is part of the logic of eliminating the leaders of the main opposition parties to ensure tailor-made elections and a certain victory,” he said. The authorities regularly reject claims of any political intervention in the electoral process, saying decisions are taken by an independent judiciary. Adblock test (Why?)
Pope Leo calls for release of jailed journalists, notes their courage
The new pontiff talks of witnesses ‘who report on war even at the cost of their lives’. Pope Leo XIV has called for the release of journalists imprisoned for doing their work while affirming free speech. Leo, who was elected pontiff on Thursday after the death of Pope Francis, gave his first news conference at the Vatican on Monday. Addressing some of the thousands of journalists who travelled to Rome to cover his election as the first American pontiff, he said journalists jailed “for seeking and reporting the truth” must be released. “The church recognises in these witnesses – I am thinking of those who report on war even at the cost of their lives – the courage of those who defend dignity, justice and the right of people to be informed because only informed individuals can make free choices,” he said. “The suffering of these imprisoned journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, calling on all of us to safeguard the precious gift of free speech and of the press.” The new pope also reiterated his message of peace that he had communicated to large crowds on Sunday as well. Advertisement “Peace begins with each one of us – in the way we look at others, listen to others and speak about others,” he told assembled journalists at the Vatican’s vast Paul VI Audience Hall. “In this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance. We must say ‘no’ to the war of words and images. We must reject the paradigm of war.” Leo, who was active on social media before becoming pope, cautioned against “communication of all prejudice and resentment, fanaticism and even hatred”. “Let us disarm words, and we will help to disarm the world,” he said, urging reporters to favour a path of communication for peace. During his first Sunday blessing as pontiff, Leo advocated for genuine peace in Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere. He said he carries in his heart the “suffering of the beloved people of Ukraine” and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and release of all people held by the Palestinian group Hamas in the enclave. Adblock test (Why?)
Virat Kohli announces retirement from Test cricket
In the end of an era for Indian Test cricket, Virat Kohli follows fellow batting star Rohit Sharma into retirement. India batsman Virat Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket, bringing down the curtain on a sparkling career in the longest format just days after captain Rohit Sharma did the same. Kohli, who made his debut in 2011 and scored 30 centuries and 9,230 runs at an average of 46.85 over 123 tests, is expected to remain available for one-day internationals. The 36-year-old quit Twenty20 International immediately after India won their second 20-over World Cup trophy in the West Indies last year. “It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in test cricket. Honestly, I never imagined the journey this format would take me on,” Kohli posted on Instagram on Monday. “It’s tested me, shaped me, and taught me lessons I’ll carry for life. “There’s something deeply personal about playing in whites. The quiet grind, the long days, the small moments that no one sees but that stay with you forever.” The retirement of superstars Virat Kohli, left, and Rohit Sharma in the space of one week represents the end of an era in Indian Test cricket [File: Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images] While Kohli’s final test wrapped up a 3-1 test series defeat by Australia in January, which saw India relinquish the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade, he will be remembered most for his spell as captain between 2014 and 2022. Advertisement Kohli won 40 of his 68 tests in charge of India to become the country’s most successful skipper in the format, and sits fourth in the list of captains with the most test victories. Only Graeme Smith (53), Ricky Ponting (48) and Steve Waugh (41) won more tests as captains. India suffered only 17 defeats with Kohli at the helm as he guided the side to the final of the inaugural World Test Championship in 2021, when they lost to New Zealand. He was also part of the team that lost the second World Test Championship final to Australia in 2023. “I’m walking away with a heart full of gratitude – for the game, for the people I shared the field with, and for every single person who made me feel seen along the way,” he added. “I’ll always look back at my test career with a smile.” India’s next test assignment is a five-match series in England from June 20. Virat Kohli scored 9,230 runs from 123 Test matches for India [Morgan Hancock/Cricket Australia via Getty Images] Adblock test (Why?)
PKK to disband, potentially ending decades of conflict in Turkiye
Move by Kurdish armed group follows February call by jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan to lay down arms. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has announced that it plans to disband and disarm, potentially bringing decades of conflict with Turkiye to an end. The move was reported on Monday by the Firat News Agency, a media outlet close to the armed group. Part of a new peace initiative with Ankara designed to end four decades of violence, the announcement follows a call in February by jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan for the PKK to lay down its arms. Following a party congress in northern Iraq that ended on Friday, the group said it had reached “historic” decisions that would be shared with the public soon. Firat reported that a statement by Ocalan outlining his “perspectives and proposals” was read during the congress. In a statement carried by Firat on Monday, the PKK announced that its armed struggle had successfully challenged policies that sought to suppress Kurdish rights. The PKK has “completed its historical mission”, it read, and “the 12th PKK Congress has decided to dissolve the PKK’s organisational structure and end its method of armed struggle”. Advertisement “As a result, activities carried out under the name ‘PKK’ were formally terminated,” the statement said. According to Turkiye’s state news agency Anadolu, a spokesperson for Turkiye’s governing AK Party said: “If the new PKK decision is fully implemented, shutting down all PKK branches, illegal structures, it will be a turning point.” Shifting regional sands The announcement signals the potential end of a conflict that has plagued the region, spilling over into northern Iraq and Syria. In February, Ocalan – who has been in jail since 1999 – called on the group to lay down its arms and dissolve itself in a bid to end the hostilities, which have claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s. The PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkiye and most Western states, announced a ceasefire days later, but set conditions to disband, including the establishment of a legal mechanism for peace talks. The group said the Kurdish people would embrace peace and a democratic process, and “will understand the decision to dissolve the PKK and end the armed struggle method better than anyone else”. “We believe that Kurdish political parties, democratic organisations and opinion leaders will fulfil their responsibilities in developing Kurdish democracy and ensuring the formation of a Kurdish democratic nation.” The announcement by the PKK comes against a backdrop of major changes in the region, including a new administration in Syria, the weakening of the Hezbollah armed group in Lebanon and the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Advertisement In recent years, the PKK had been limited to isolated attacks inside Türkiye as the military pushed its fighters across the mountainous border into Iraq. The latest peace initiative was launched in October by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s coalition partner, Devlet Bahceli. The far-right politician suggested that Ocalan could be granted parole if the PKK renounces violence and disbands. In late February, Erdogan described the group’s potential dissolution as a “historic opportunity to advance towards the objective of destroying the wall of terror”. The future of PKK fighters remains uncertain, including whether they may be relocated to third countries. Any concessions the PKK might obtain in exchange for its decision to disband have not been disclosed. Adblock test (Why?)
PKK to formally disband and lay down its weapons
NewsFeed The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has announced that it plans to disband and disarm in a move promising an end to decades of conflict with Turkiye. The move was announced on Monday by the Firat News Agency, a media outlet close to the group. Published On 12 May 202512 May 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Israel attacks Yemen’s Hodeidah, striking port areas
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY, Israel has previously bombed Hodeidah and Sanaa International Airport; Houthi missile targeted Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Israel has launched air attacks on Yemen’s Hodeidah governorate, according to the Houthi Interior Ministry. The attack late on Sunday came after the Israeli army said it had warned those present at three Houthi-controlled ports in the area to evacuate. It was the latest salvo in exchanges between Israel and the Houthis. Israel bombed the Hodeidah port after a Houthi attack near Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv earlier this month. Israeli strikes have also targeted parts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa and the main international airport there. The Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel and on Israeli targets in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestinians under fire since the war on Gaza began 19 months ago. Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed more than 52,000 people, including 57 who starved to death due to the total Israeli siege since March 2, according to Palestinian officials. A ceasefire deal between Yemen’s Houthis and the United States does not include any operations against Israel, the group’s chief negotiator announced earlier this week. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Fact-checking Trump’s claim of securing $10 trillion in investments for US
Since returning to the White House, US President Donald Trump has touted corporate and foreign US investment announcements as proof he is ushering in “the golden age of America”. On January 21, Trump said that before he’d finished the “first full business day” of his second term, the United States had “already secured nearly $3 trillion of new investments”. On April 2, he said, “It looks like we’re going to have about $6 trillion of investments”. Six days later, Trump told National Republican Congressional Committee Dinner attendees that the investment total was “now revised up to about $7 (trillion)”. During an April 30 NewsNation town hall, Trump speculated that “it could be more than $8 trillion”. On May 4, Trump told Kristen Welker, the host of the NBC News programme Meet the Press, “I think we probably have close to $9 trillion of investments coming into this country.” On May 6, Trump told reporters, “I think the real number could be $9 or $10 trillion.” Finally, on May 8, Trump said, “We have now close to $10 trillion — think of that, $10 trillion” in investments. “We’re talking about essentially two months.” Advertisement That’s far beyond the figures the White House has released publicly. We tallied the White House’s public lists of investments; they amount to $2.1 trillion in corporate investments, or at most $5.1 trillion when including promised investments from other countries. Experts cautioned that the promised corporate investments are not guaranteed to materialise in full, or during Trump’s presidency, and some of them would have occurred regardless of who was president. Trump isn’t the first to overstate new investments on his watch. Outgoing US President Joe Biden said in 2024 that his bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act had attracted $640bn in private investments; economists told PolitiFact that Biden’s numbers were based on what companies had announced, which is not the same as dollars already spent. Roman V Yampolskiy, a University of Louisville professor and a specialist in artificial intelligence, which dominates the promised investments Trump cited, said, “Historically, large-scale investment announcements often overpromise and underdeliver. There is a performative element to them, especially in politically charged contexts. They function as political theatre as much as economic commitment.” White House lists do not match Trump’s words Since Trump’s inauguration, the White House has publicised investment announcements from three countries and roughly 60 companies on its website, including in a “non-comprehensive running list”. Many of the highest-dollar corporate announcements were in March and April. Corporate announcements in the White House’s lists total approximately $2.1 trillion worth of US investment. Advertisement The White House separately has cited commitments from the United Arab Emirates to invest $1.4 trillion over the next 10 years; from Japan to “boost” its investment in the US to $1 trillion; and from Saudi Arabia to invest $600bn in the US during Trump’s presidency. Combined with the corporate announcements, these bring the total to about $5.1 trillion, $4.9 trillion short of Trump’s figure. But the $5.1 trillion total has caveats. For example, the White House said “Japan announced a $1 trillion investment in the US”, but the article it linked said in 2023, Japan’s US investment was $783.3bn and Japan would “boost” that to $1 trillion. That’s an increase of $216.7bn rather than a new $1 trillion investment. That would put the total value of newly pledged US investment at about $4.3 trillion. Trump’s second-term White House tally of US investments The White House figures can’t easily be used for apples-to-apples comparisons. Some of the investments are planned over Trump’s four-year term, others over five years or a decade. In one case – ADQ and Energy Capital Partners’ planned $25bn investment — it isn’t limited to US-based projects. The White House declined to detail additional investments. A spokesperson pointed to federal Bureau of Economic Analysis data that shows a 22 percent increase in business investment in the first quarter of 2025, calling it a historic increase. However, experts cautioned this increase was shaped by businesses stocking up on inventory before Trump’s tariffs take effect and said the increase is unlikely to be sustained. Advertisement Many of the announcements are aspirational, experts say Experts told PolitiFact that each of the five biggest investments on Trump’s list warrants some caution, because they might not reach Trump’s cited dollar amounts or were not solely prompted by Trump’s policies. “Many of these announcements, particularly those in the AI and semiconductor sectors, appear to be, at least in part, aspirational in nature,” Yampolskiy said. “They serve a signalling function: to attract investor attention, shape policy discourse, and secure favourable regulatory or funding environments.” The five largest company investments collectively account for 82 percent of the dollar value on the White House’s corporate list. Five companies accounting for the majority of new investment promises are: Stargate The Stargate Project is an artificial intelligence collaboration among OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank, announced during a January 21 White House event. The White House values the investment at $500bn. The company’s official announcement says $100bn will be invested “immediately” and that it “intends to invest” a total of $500bn over the next four years, a goal repeated by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son at the White House event. “Whether that much will ultimately get spent remains to be seen,” wrote John Higgins, chief economist at Capital Economics, an international consulting firm. Enrique Dans, who studies technology and policy at Madrid’s IE Business School, said the $500bn figure is “astronomical – roughly 2 percent of US gross domestic product – and lacks clear documentation”. Advertisement At the White House event, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said, “We wouldn’t be able to do this without you, Mr President.” But Altman had been discussing plans for a $100bn investment 10 months before Trump won his second term, The Washington Post reported, including an Abilene, Texas, data centre that began construction in summer 2024. “AI investments have been on a global trajectory driven by technological maturity and competitive pressure, especially from China,” Dans said. “Any US president would have