LIVE: Israeli attack kills 2 in Gaza as Hamas returns body of captive
blinking-dotLive updatesLive updates, Israeli drone attack close to the southern city of Khan Younis kills at least 2 people despite ceasefire. Published On 28 Oct 202528 Oct 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Adblock test (Why?)
Jamaica braces for Hurricane Melissa, island’s strongest storm on record
Officials in Jamaica have urged people to stay inside their shelters as Hurricane Melissa churns towards the Caribbean island as the most destructive storm on record to hit the area. The Category 5 hurricane is expected to make landfall early on Tuesday near St Elizabeth Parish in the south and leave the island around St Ann Parish in the north. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Andrew Holness, the Jamaican prime minister, appealed to the public to stay indoors. “I urge all Jamaicans to stay inside and remain within the safety of your homes. Avoid unnecessary travel. Strong winds, heavy rains and flash floods can occur at any moment,” he said late on Monday. “Staying indoors is the safest option and reduces the burden on our security and emergency personnel,” he added. I am satisfied that our security forces are properly deployed to maintain law and order during this disaster. In times like these, there are always individuals who may act against the common good, and we must protect both our communities and those individuals. Our security… pic.twitter.com/He0yyB24hZ — Andrew Holness (@AndrewHolnessJM) October 28, 2025 Holness went on to warn of enormous destruction. “There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,” he said, referring to the strongest storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale. “The question now is the speed of recovery. That’s the challenge.” ‘Catastrophic’ winds, flooding The storm already has been blamed for seven deaths in the Caribbean – three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing. Advertisement The United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported late on Monday that Melissa was still 240km (150 miles) southwest of Kingston with maximum wind speeds of 282km/h (175mph). It said the storm was expected to bring “catastrophic winds, flooding and storm surge” to Jamaica on Tuesday. Landslides, fallen trees and numerous power outages were reported ahead of landfall as officials also warned of a life-threatening storm surge of up to 4 metres (13ft) across southern Jamaica. Desmond McKenzie, Jamaica’s local government and community development minister, told Al Jazeera the government had done all it could to prepare. “We have put everything in place in regards to what are required in terms of evacuation, getting people to our shelters, providing the requisite resources, … and we have been cleaning our drains. We have been cleaning our gulleys,” he said from Kingston. “We have done all the mitigation exercises. We have done public education, and now it is a matter of seeing what the outcome of Melissa will be,” he said. McKenzie said 881 shelters have been set up across the country. “I must admit that not all the shelters have persons in the shelters. We have seen an uptick in the number of persons turning up to the shelters. The demand in certain parishes are much greater than in some,” he said. ‘I am not moving’ Despite the pleas to evacuate, many residents said they were staying put. “I am not moving. I don’t believe I can run from death,” Roy Brown told the AFP news agency in Kingston’s seaside area of Port Royal. The plumber and tiler said he was reluctant to flee because of his past experiences with the poor conditions of government hurricane shelters. In the Flagaman farming community of St Elizabeth, some residents were hunkering down in a store. Owner Enrico Coke said he opened his place for fear that his neighbours had nowhere to go. “I’m concerned about farmers. The fishermen will be suffering after this,” he told AFP. “We’ll need help as soon as possible, especially water for the people.” Colin Bogle, a Mercy Corps adviser based near Kingston, said most families are sheltering in place despite the government ordering evacuations in flood-prone communities. “Many have never experienced anything like this before, and the uncertainty is frightening,” he told The Associated Press news agency. “There is profound fear of losing homes and livelihoods, of injury and of displacement.” Meteorologists said part of Melissa’s punch stems from its slow pace: It is lumbering along slower than most people walk, at just 5km/h (3mph) or less. Advertisement That means areas in its path could endure punishing conditions for far longer than during most hurricanes. People take shelter in a school before Hurricane Melissa’s forecast landfall in Old Harbour, Jamaica, on October 27, 2025 [Matias Delacroix/AP Photo] Climate change After pummelling Jamaica, Melissa is forecast to cross over eastern Cuba on Tuesday night. A hurricane warning was in effect for Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin provinces while a tropical storm warning was in effect for Las Tunas. Up to 510mm (20 inches) of rain were forecast for parts of Cuba along with a significant storm surge along the coast. Cuban officials said on Monday that they were evacuating more than 600,000 people from the region, including Santiago, the island’s second largest city. A hurricane warning was also in effect for the southeastern and central Bahamas, and a tropical storm warning was issued for the Turks and Caicos Islands. Meteorologist Kerry Emanuel said global warming was causing more storms to rapidly intensify as Melissa did, raising the potential for enormous rains. “Water kills a lot more people than wind,” he told AFP. The last major hurricane to impact Jamaica was Beryl in July 2024 – an abnormally strong storm for that time of year. “Human-caused climate change is making all of the worst aspects of Hurricane Melissa even worse,” climate scientist Daniel Gilford said. Adblock test (Why?)
Sudan army withdraws from Darfur’s el-Fasher, UN warns of RSF atrocities
Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has announced the withdrawal of his soldiers from their last stronghold in Darfur, as the United Nations issued a stark warning over reports of “atrocities” by the paramilitary group now in control of the city of el-Fasher. Al-Burhan’s announcement came late on Monday, a day after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of the main Sudanese army base in el-Fasher and claimed victory there. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The army’s withdrawal from el-Fasher leaves more than a quarter-million people – half of them children – under the control of the RSF. Aid groups reported chaotic scenes there, including killings, arrests, attacks on hospitals and battles between RSF and the departing troops. In his statement, al-Burhan said that military officers decided to withdraw from the city entirely in the hopes of sparing the civilian population from further violence. The army retreated because of “the systemic destruction, and the systemic killing of civilians” by the RSF, he said, adding that the army hoped to “spare the citizens and the rest of the city from destruction”. “We are determined to avenge what happened to our people in el-Fasher,” he said. “We, as the Sudanese people, will hold these criminals accountable.” The fall of el-Fasher to the RSF could herald another split of Sudan, more than a decade after South Sudan’s creation. The latest war started in April 2023, when tension between the military and RSF exploded into fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere, killing tens of thousands and displacing nearly 12 million people. Advertisement Footage posted on social media since Sunday showed RSF fighters celebrating in and around the former army base in el-Fasher. Other footage shows RSF fighters shooting and beating people as they attempt to flee. Many were shown detained. Atrocities in el-Fasher UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the developments represent a “terrible escalation in the conflict” and that “the level of suffering that we are witnessing in Sudan is unbearable”. The UN Human Rights Office, meanwhile, said that RSF fighters reportedly carried out atrocities in el-Fasher, including “summary executions” of civilians trying to flee their attacks, “with indications of ethnic motivations for killings”. Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said the “risk of further large-scale, ethnically motivated violations and atrocities in el-Fasher is mounting by the day”. The Sudan Doctor Network, a medical group tracking the war, described the RSF attack as a “heinous massacre” and said that dozens of people were killed. RSF fighters rampaged through parts of el-Fasher, looting hospitals and other medical facilities and “destroying what remained of essential life-supporting and health care infrastructure”, the network said in a statement. The Darfur Network for Human Rights said the RSF detained more than 1,000 civilians, describing it as “systematic targeting of civilians, arbitrary detentions and potential acts amounting to war crimes”. Among the detained was a local journalist, one of the few left in the city, according to the Sudanese Journalists’ Union. The group warned about potential “mass violations” in el-Fasher, similar to what happened in another Darfur city, Geneina, in 2023, when RSF fighters killed hundreds. The Sudan Doctors Union, the professional umbrella of Sudanese physicians, said that the RSF had turned el-Fasher into a “brutal killing field,” calling its practices in Sudan a “barbaric policy that aims at terrorizing and annihilating civilians”. The group urged the international community to classify the RSF as a terrorist organisation. UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher also expressed “deep alarm” at the reports of civilian casualties and forced displacement in el-Fasher. “Hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped and terrified – shelled, starving and without access to food, health care or safety,” he said in a statement. He called for “safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access” to the population that remained. Alleged war crimes Before Sunday’s attack, there were 260,000 civilians, half of them children, trapped in el-Fasher, according to the UN children’s agency. Advertisement The UN’s International Organization for Migration said that more than 26,000 people had fled their homes as of Monday, retreating to rural areas and the overwhelmed nearby town of Tawila. Elsewhere, RSF fighters ran riot in the town of Bara in the central Kordofan region over the weekend, killing at least 47 people, including nine women, the Sudan Doctors Network said. The RSF grew out of the notorious government-linked militia known as the Janjaweed, which brutalised the Sudanese during the Darfur conflict in the 2000s. The latest war has killed more than 40,000 people and created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with part of the country, including the el-Fasher area, plunged into famine. The conflict has been marked by gross atrocities, including ethnically motivated killings and rape, according to the UN and rights groups. The International Criminal Court has said it is investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Adblock test (Why?)
Trump rules out VP run in 2028, but says he ‘would love’ a third term
US president muses about a third term in office despite the constitution barring him from doing so. By News Agencies Published On 28 Oct 202528 Oct 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share United States President Donald Trump has ruled out running for vice president in the 2028 election but said he “would love” to serve a third term in office. The comments on Monday came despite the US Constitution barring anyone from being elected to the country’s presidency for a third time. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Trump, who first served as president from 2017 to 2021, began his second term in January. The 79-year-old has repeatedly flirted with the idea of serving beyond the constitutionally mandated two terms, joking about it at rallies and teasing supporters with “Trump 2028” hats. Some allies have taken those signals seriously, suggesting that they are exploring legal or political pathways to make it happen. Some have said that one way around the prohibition would be for Trump to run as vice president, while another candidate stood for election as president and resigned, letting Trump again assume the presidency. Asked whether he would run for vice president in November 2028, Trump told reporters on board Air Force One on Monday that he “would be allowed to do that”. But, he added, he would not go down that route. “I wouldn’t do that. I think it’s too cute. Yeah, I would rule that out because it’s too cute. I think the people wouldn’t like that. It’s too cute. It’s not – it wouldn’t be right.” An attendee at a Diwali celebration in the Oval Office wears a ‘Trump 2028’ hat, in Washington, DC, on October 21 [Allison Robbert/EPA/Pool] Scholars, however, say Trump is barred from running for vice president, too, because he is not eligible to be president. The 12th Amendment to the US Constitution reads, “No person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.” Advertisement Referring to the possibility of a third term as president on Monday, Trump said: “I would love to do it. I have my best numbers ever.” When pressed by a reporter whether he was not ruling out a third term, he said, “Am I not ruling it out? I mean, you’ll have to tell me.” Asked about whether he would be willing to fight in court over the legality of another presidential bid, Trump responded, “I haven’t really thought about it.” The US president also said that Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were “great people” who could seek the presidency in 2028. “I think if they ever formed a group, it’d be unstoppable,” he said. “I really do. I believe that.” Trump made the comments on board the Air Force One as he flew from Malaysia to Japan. He attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend and, following a stopover in Tokyo, will fly to South Korea to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. He will be meeting with several world leaders in South Korea, including Chinese President Xi Jinping. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,342
Here are the key events from day 1,342 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Published On 28 Oct 202528 Oct 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Here is how things stand on Tuesday, October 28, 2025: Fighting Russian attacks on Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhia killed a 44-year-old man and wounded several others, Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Monday, as the death toll from other assaults on Sunday continued to rise. Ukrainian officials said the attacks on Sunday killed two people in the eastern Donetsk region and a 69-year-old man in the northern Sumy region. Fifteen others, including two children, were wounded in Sumy, police there said. Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) claimed the killing of Lieutenant Vasily Marzoev, the son of a Russian general, using a guided aerial bomb. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the report. A Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian minibus in the village of Pogar in the Bryansk region killed the driver and injured five passengers, Russia’s state TASS news agency reported, citing Governor Alexander Bogomaz. The Russian Ministry of Defence said its forces seized the Ukrainian village of Yehorivka in the Dnipropetrovsk region. However, the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform reported that Ukrainian forces had cleared Russian troops out of the village. Neither claim could be independently verified by Al Jazeera. Russia’s Defence Ministry also said its forces captured the villages of Novomykolaivka and Privolnoye in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, according to TASS. TASS also reported the ministry as saying that Russian forces shot down 350 Ukrainian drones, two guided missiles and seven rocket launchers in the past 24 hours. A report by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine found that Russian drone attacks were used as “part of a coordinated policy to drive out civilians from [Ukrainian] territories”, amounting “to the crime against humanity of forcible transfer of population”. The report described civilians who were chased over long distances by drones with mounted cameras, and sometimes attacked with fire bombs or explosives while seeking shelter. Advertisement Politics and diplomacy United States President Donald Trump said that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, should end the war in Ukraine instead of testing nuclear-powered missiles, adding that Washington had a nuclear submarine positioned off Russia’s coast. The comments came a day after Putin said that Russia had successfully tested its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was nothing in the test of the missile that should strain relations with Washington, and that Russia was guided by its own national interests. Norway’s military intelligence service said that Russia’s test of the Burevestnik missile was launched from the Barents Sea archipelago of Novaya Zemlya. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the US-based Axios news outlet that Kyiv and its allies have agreed to work on a ceasefire plan in the coming 10 days, following Trump’s recent proposal to stop the war at the current lines. Putin signed a law on Monday terminating an already defunct plutonium disposal agreement with the US that aimed to prevent both sides from building more nuclear weapons. North Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son Hui met Putin at the Kremlin on Monday to discuss strengthening cooperation with Russia, North Korean state media KCNA reported on Tuesday. “Many future projects to constantly strengthen and develop” the bilateral relationship were discussed during the meeting, KCNA said, with Choe also conveying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s “brotherly regard” to Putin. The Russian leader, in turn, asked Choe to tell Kim that “everything was going to plan” during the meeting. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will discuss US sanctions on Russian oil companies, among other issues, when he meets Trump in Washington next week, Hungary’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, said on Monday. Regional security Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene said on Monday that her country will begin to shoot down smuggler balloons crossing the border from Belarus, a close Russian ally, after the balloons repeatedly interrupted the Baltic nation’s air traffic. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that helium balloons over Lithuania were a “provocation” and “a hybrid threat”, adding in a post on X that the balloons are another reason to accelerate the European Union’s Eastern Flank Watch and European drone defence initiatives. Weapons Ukraine’s military intelligence published a list detailing the origins of 68 foreign components used in Russian missiles and other weapons, which it says came from China, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the US. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
NGOs note 28 new ‘carbon bomb’ projects since 2021
Potential CO2 emissions from new projects 11 times global “carbon budget” remaining to hit Paris Agreement targets. Published On 27 Oct 202527 Oct 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Twenty-eight new “carbon bomb” projects have launched across the globe over the past five years, according to a report issued by NGOs. Despite global efforts to phase out the use of fossil fuels, known to have catastrophic climate effects, the report, published on Monday by a quartet of environmental nonprofits, details that dozens of new fossil fuel extraction projects that will pump out enormous emissions have been started since 2021. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Carbon bombs were defined in a 2022 research article as oil, gas or coal facilities capable of generating more than a billion tonnes of CO2 over their lifetime. At that time, the NGOs Lingo, Data for Good, Reclaim Finance, and Eclaircies counted 425 such projects worldwide. The report said some 365 projects are still producing more than one billion tonnes each, with the fall from the 2021 total due to operations that have either cut their output or been re-evaluated. That is despite the International Energy Agency having said in 2021 that launching new oil and gas projects was incompatible with reaching climate targets set out in the Paris Agreement. The landmark agreement reached in 2015 included the aim of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with the pre-industrial era. Two years later, at COP28, countries around the world agreed to begin a phase-out of fossil fuels. Despite that, between 2021 and 2024, the world’s 65 largest banks financed more than $1.6 trillion to the companies involved in the projects pinpointed in the report. Advertisement Barclays Bank is the most involved in supporting companies behind carbon bombs, providing $33.7bn to 62 companies, including Eni, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies. “Major global banks are exacerbating climate change and future emissions by continuing to give carte blanche to these fossil fuel companies that are destroying the planet,” said Louis-Maxence Delaporte, energy research manager at Reclaim Finance, one of the NGOs involved in the study. China accounts for 43 percent of “carbon bombs”. Russia accounts for 9 percent, the United States for 5 percent. Western oil majors have the most such projects, although Saudi Arabia’s Aramco and China’s CHN Energy produce the most total emissions. The report also identified more than 2,300 smaller extraction projects, approved or launched since 2021, whose potential emissions exceed five million tonnes of CO2 each, equivalent to the annual emissions of a city like Paris. Combined, the potential CO2 emissions from all these projects are 11 times greater than the global “carbon budget” remaining to keep global warming below 1.5C (2.7F) compared with the pre-industrial era, according to the authors’ calculations. Adblock test (Why?)
Fact check: Do quarter of US’s ‘drug boat’ searches find nothing?
President Donald Trump says US military strikes on eight vessels in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, mostly targeting boats from Venezuela, were legal because they carried drugs being delivered to the United States. But Republican Senator Rand Paul, Kentucky, who is also chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said maritime law enforcement statistics show that not all boats suspected of carrying drugs actually have drugs onboard. He said the military’s strikes were not in line with usual US policy. “When you stop people at sea in international waters, or in your own waters, you announce that you’re going to board the ship and you’re looking for contraband, smuggling or drugs. This happens every day off of Miami,” Paul said on October 19 on NBC’s “Meet the Press” programme. “We know from Coast Guard statistics that about 25 percent of the time the Coast Guard boards a ship, there are no drugs. So if our policy now is to blow up every ship we suspect or accuse of drug running, that would be a bizarre world in which 25 percent of the people might be innocent.” Paul made a similar statement in an October 12 interview. More than 30 people have been killed so far in the strikes, and the Trump administration has provided no evidence that the vessels contained drugs. We rated Trump’s recent statement that each strike saved “25,000 American lives” false. Paul’s office pointed PolitiFact to the US Coast Guard’s 2024 fiscal year report, which said that year the agency intercepted drugs in about 73 percent of cases when they boarded boats, with about 27 percent of vessel interceptions yielding no drugs. Advertisement Experts said the data supports Paul’s point, but noted that it’s unclear how the Coast Guard defines the term it uses to describe intercepting drugs – “a drug disruption”. “If the (Coast Guard) boards a vessel and finds a known drug trafficker but no drugs, and that individual gets arrested and convicted, does that count as a ‘drug disruption’?” said Jonathan Caulkins, a Carnegie Mellon University drug policy researcher. “Or suppose they approach the vessel, it jettisons the drugs overboard, and so the Coast Guard seizes the vessel but the drugs have disappeared into the water. Is that a successful disruption?” Paul’s figure might not translate directly to the recent boat strikes, experts said, since the US could have had intelligence about those specific vessels. PolitiFact contacted the Coast Guard about its data collection process but did not hear back. Coast Guard report details the agency’s drug interceptions The Coast Guard reports data about how often it intercepts drugs to the Department of Homeland Security. Its 2024 fiscal year report, which covers October 2023 to September 2024, summarises the agency’s performance in various programmes. During that period of time, the Coast Guard disrupted drug runs in 91 out of 125 boat interdictions, the report says, which was a rate of about 73 percent. “The quality of searches performed by Coast Guard boarding teams is high,” the report said, adding that its metrics depend on the quality and timeliness of the intelligence the agency receives. The rate has varied in recent years. The agency started reporting this drug interception data in fiscal year 2021, according to the report, which shows a drug disruption rate that year of 59 percent – meaning 41 percent of boats searched yielded no drugs. The interception rate rose to 64 percent in 2022 and 69 percent in 2023. The 2024 drug interception rate of 73 percent represents the Coast Guard’s highest since it started tracking the data. It lists an 80 percent interception rate as its annual goal. The Coast Guard didn’t answer our questions about its data collection process or what amounts to a drug disruption. A 2025 Coast Guard report evaluating agency data from fiscal years 2021 through 2023 found it didn’t accurately reflect all drug interdictions as some reports didn’t contain drug seizure results or the required documentation. Experts said we don’t know whether the 2024 Coast Guard statistic directly translates to the recent strikes in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. “The people with fingers on the trigger may demand a much higher certainty rate before shooting,” Caulkins said. “So, even if the senator’s figure were correct when looking across all the many, very diverse operations over the course of a year, that doesn’t mean it applies to the special case of boats of Venezuela. Perhaps it does, but perhaps not.” Advertisement The Trump administration’s lack of information about the type or quantity of drugs it says were on the boats makes it impossible to know if every or any of the boats carried lethal drugs, and if they were en route to the US. Drug experts previously told us that Venezuela plays a minor role in trafficking drugs that reach the US. Most illicit fentanyl in the US comes from Mexico, not Venezuela. It enters the country mainly through the southern border at official ports of entry, and is smuggled in mostly by US citizens. Our ruling Paul said, “About 25 percent of the time the Coast Guard boards a ship, there are no drugs.” A 2024 Coast Guard report said the agency boarded and intercepted boats with drugs on them about 73 percent of the time, which means 27 percent of the interceptions yielded no drugs. This drug disruption statistic, however, might not translate directly to the recent boat strikes, experts said, since we don’t know what kind of intelligence the US had about those vessels. Paul’s statement is accurate but needs clarification. We rate it Mostly True. Adblock test (Why?)
UK journalist Sami Hamdi detained in US after pro-Israel pressure
NewsFeed UK journalist Sami Hamdi has been detained by US immigration officials after his visa was revoked, seemingly for unsubstantiated ‘national security’ reasons. Civil rights groups say it’s due to his criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza, after US far-right activists and pro-Israel influencers called for his deportation. Published On 27 Oct 202527 Oct 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Adblock test (Why?)
Embattled Milei faces critical midterm elections in Argentina
Voters in Argentina are heading to the polls in midterm legislative elections that will gauge support for President Javier Milei’s sweeping free-market reforms, which have caused austerity pains for many, at a critical juncture in his presidency. Elections are being held on Sunday for half of Argentina’s lower Chamber of Deputies, or 127 seats, as well as a third of the Senate, or 24 seats. The outcome could determine whether Milei’s libertarian programme of hefty budget cuts and bids to deregulate the country’s struggling economy will endure. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Milei’s La Libertad Avanza party, a relatively new political force in Argentina, has only 37 deputies and six senators, amounting to less than 15 percent of seats in Congress. The party is aiming to boost that share to at least a third of seats in Congress – to help defend against opposition attempts to thwart the president’s agenda, to shore up investor confidence and, crucially, to retain Milei’s support from fellow right-winger United States President Donald Trump. “Don’t give up because we’re halfway there,” Milei told supporters at a closing campaign event in the port city of Rosario on Thursday. “We’re on a good path.” US backing on the line Earlier this month, Washington pledged a $40bn potential bailout, including a $20bn currency swap to stabilise the value of the peso, and a possible $20bn “facility”. But Trump has threatened to pull away if his populist ally performs poorly, warning that “if he doesn’t win, we’re not going to waste our time, because you have somebody whose philosophy has no chance of making Argentina great again.” Advertisement Trump’s bailout plans have infuriated US farmers struggling amid his trade war with China, and many have questioned his “America First” credentials. US Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa recently summed up the concerns: “Why would the USA help bail out Argentina while they take American soybean producers’ biggest market???” On October 19, a reporter asked Trump why he decided to aid Argentina despite concerns among US soya producers. “Argentina is fighting for its life,” Trump answered. “Young lady, you don’t know anything about it. … They have no money. They have no anything.” Currently, both chambers in Argentina are controlled by the left-wing and centrist opposition to Milei’s party, with the Peronist opposition movement currently holding the largest minority in both houses. War on inflation Milei, a brash, self-declared “anarcho-capitalist”, came to power in December 2023, promising to revitalise Argentina’s long-ailing economy, wielding a chainsaw as a symbol of his intention to radically cut state spending. His presidency has seen tens of thousands of public sector jobs disestablished, spending on education, health and pensions slashed, and public works frozen. The austerity policies have been blamed for pushing millions deeper into poverty, but have slowed monthly inflation – down from 12.8 percent before Milei’s inauguration to 2.1 percent last month – albeit while economic growth and consumption have faltered. Meanwhile, many of Milei’s signature policies, including bids to privatise state-owned enterprises, have been blocked by Congress. Adding to his woes, members of Milei’s inner circle have been implicated in scandals, including one tied to his sister, who also serves as his chief of staff. Approval ratings down With Milei’s approval numbers down, and following losses for his allies in bellwether provincial elections in Buenos Aires last month, pundits predict his party will struggle to achieve its target of a third of the seats up for grabs. Mauricio Monge, Latin America economist at Oxford Economics, told AFP that the US bailout was “not enough to counteract the growing likelihood that the election results will prevent further reforms”. “If history has taught us anything about Argentina, it’s that previous bailouts, when political support wanes, have proven futile,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)
Trump meets Brazil’s Lula at ASEAN summit, touts ‘pretty good deals’
Both countries’ negotiating teams will start ‘immediately’ to address US tariffs and sanctions, says Brazil’s President Lula. Published On 26 Oct 202526 Oct 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share United States President Donald Trump and Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have held what Brazil described as a constructive meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Kuala Lumpur, raising hope for improved relations after stinging US tariffs. Lula said the Sunday meeting with Trump – who is an ally of his political rival, embattled former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro – was “great” and added that their countries’ negotiating teams would get to work “immediately” to tackle tariffs and other issues. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list “We agreed that our teams will meet immediately to advance the search for solutions to the tariffs and sanctions against Brazilian authorities,” Lula said in a message on X following the meeting. Trump had linked the July tariff move – which brought duties on most Brazilian goods entering the US to 50 percent from 10 percent – to what he called a “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro, far-right leader who has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempting a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election. Bolsonaro’s supporters rioted in the political centre of the country’s capital, evoking a riot by Trump’s supporters in Washington, DC on January 6, two years earlier. The US government has also sanctioned numerous Brazilian officials, including Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw the trial that led to Bolsonaro’s conviction. Ahead of the meeting on Sunday, though, Trump said he could reach some agreements with Lula and expected the two countries to enjoy strong ties despite his concerns about Bolsonaro’s fate. Advertisement “I think we should be able to make some pretty good deals for both countries,” Trump said. Lula previously described the US tariff hike as a “mistake”, citing a $410bn US trade surplus with Brazil over 15 years. ‘Conclude negotiations in weeks’ Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said that negotiations would start immediately and that Brazil had requested a pause in tariffs while talks proceed, though it was unclear whether the US had agreed. “We hope to conclude bilateral negotiations that address each of the sectors of the current American [tariffs on] Brazil in the near future, in a few weeks,” Vieira said. He added that Lula also offered to help mediate between the US and Venezuela, where Washington has deployed its largest warship and threatened ground strikes targeting alleged drug cartels, operations Caracas has denounced as “fabricated” pretexts for war. Bolsonaro was not mentioned during the Trump-Lula meeting, said Marcio Rosa, the executive secretary for Brazil’s Foreign Ministry. Higher US tariffs on Brazilian goods have begun reshaping the global beef trade, pushing up prices in the US and encouraging triangulation via third countries such as Mexico, while Brazilian exports to China continue to boom. Adblock test (Why?)