The Cost of Control
With rare access to El Salvador’s most secure prisons, we explore the dark side of President Bukele’s gang crackdown. President Nayib Bukele introduced a state of emergency in El Salvador, using it to dismantle the violent gangs that had terrorised the Central American country for decades. Thousands of alleged gang members have been rounded up and locked away, many of them in CECOT, a huge, purpose-built high-security prison. The streets are now safe, but at what cost? Government forces are accused of arbitrarily detaining innocent people without trial or even charge, and in some cases, of violence and torture. People & Power gained rare access to two of El Salvador’s maximum-security prisons, looking behind the scenes of Bukele’s bid to bust the gangs. Published On 27 Aug 202527 Aug 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Trump loyalist who pushed false election claims takes on government role
The administration of United States President Donald Trump has installed a right-wing researcher who pushed false claims about the 2020 election to a position in charge of election oversight. As of Tuesday, a leadership chart for the Department of Homeland Security shows Pennsylvania activist Heather Honey serving as the deputy assistant secretary for election integrity in the Office of Strategy, Policy and Plans. Honey’s appointment was first reported by the investigative news outlet Democracy Docket on Monday. Her position has raised eyebrows among critics of the Trump administration due to her involvement in several efforts that resulted in misleading research about the 2020 presidential race. Trump has pushed the false claim that his loss in the 2020 election was the result of massive fraud, and he has consistently refused to admit defeat. Since returning to the White House for a second term in January, he has placed loyalists in positions of power, raising fears about the independence of certain offices. He has also used his false claims of fraudulent elections to place pressure on the country’s electoral system, which is administered largely by state and local officials. Critics have warned that overtly partisan appointments to posts overseeing elections could diminish confidence in the voting process. “What I’m concerned about is that it seems like DHS [Department of Homeland Security] is being poised to use the vast power and megaphone of the federal government to spread disinformation rather than combat it,” David Becker, the executive director of the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation and Research, told The Associated Press news agency. Advertisement “It’s going to really harm DHS’s credibility overall.” Who is Heather Honey? Honey’s appointment in particular has prompted election experts and local officials to speak out, given her prominent role in spreading misinformation about the 2020 election. For instance, Adrian Fontes, Arizona’s secretary of state and a Democrat, told the news outlet ProPublica in a statement that Honey has a “well-documented history of spreading election lies”. Honey leads a consulting firm called Haystack Investigations, which was involved in election “audits”, which experts consider flawed, as well as another organisation called Verity Votes, which also purports to conduct election research. Trump and his supporters have drawn on some of her firms’ conclusions in their efforts to undermine the 2020 election results. In the key swing state of Pennsylvania, for instance, Honey’s group misrepresented incomplete voter data to falsely allege that the state had more votes than voters in 2020. Two years later, in 2022, Verity Vote claimed that Pennsylvania sent mail-in ballots to voters who failed to provide appropriate identification. State officials, however, accused Verity Vote of misrepresenting the “not verified” designation in its voting system. In public statements, the Pennsylvania Department of State explained that it uses the “not verified” tag to signal to local officials that a voter’s identification needs to be verified. The designation is a “security feature” for voter applications, it said – not an indication that voters could submit ballots without proper ID. Trump narrowly lost Pennsylvania in the 2020 election, with Democrat Joe Biden edging him out by less than 1 percent. In Arizona, another critical battleground swing state that Trump lost in 2020, Honey participated in a partisan audit of election results in Maricopa County, a populous area containing the city of Phoenix. Despite searching for fraud for nearly six months, the audit turned up no evidence that the outcome in Biden’s favour was erroneous. Still, experts say that audit was filled with errors and biased methodology. In the years since, former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, told The Associated Press that he had received dozens of public records requests related to elections from Honey. Richer served in the role from 2021 to 2025, and said that such requests occupied “scores of hours of staff time”. He told The Associated Press he was surprised to hear Honey was in a position of such “authority and responsibility” and said that she was “not a serious auditor”. Advertisement Honey is not the first Trump official to face public scrutiny for her role in his administration. Other appointees, like Emil Bove, have faced intense public questions about whether they would prioritise their loyalty to Trump over their commitment to government ethics. Since his victory in the 2024 election, Trump has also opened investigations into critics and officials who probed his false claims about the 2020 election. He has said he will do away with things like mail-in ballots and voting machines, demands shared by others who push anti-election conspiracies on the US right. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,280
Here are the key events on day 1,280 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Here is how things stand on Wednesday, August 27: Fighting Russian attacks killed one person and injured six in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Governor Vadym Filashkin said. One worker was killed and six others were injured in a Russian attack on a Ukrainian mine, according to the energy company DTEK, which said the attack damaged buildings and caused a power outage. “At that time, 146 miners were underground, and their ascent to the surface is ongoing,” the company said. Ukrainian attacks killed one person and injured three others in the Russian-occupied Kherson region of Ukraine, the Moscow-appointed Governor Vladimir Saldo said. Russian forces occupied Zaporizke and Novoheorhiivka, in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, the Ukrainian battlefield monitoring group DeepState has reported. Russian forces also advanced near the Ukrainian settlements of Shevchenko, Bila Hora, and Oleksandr-Shultyno, according to DeepState. Russian air defences shot down 191 Ukrainian drones, six guided aerial bombs, and a long-range guided missile in one day, Russia’s state TASS news agency reports. Ukrainian men aged 18 to 22 are now permitted to cross Ukraine’s borders freely in either direction despite the continuing imposition of martial law, which had previously prevented such movement, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office told the Ukrainska Pravda news site that more than 200,000 cases have been opened into soldiers who were absent without leave (AWOL), including some 50,000 investigated for desertion. Advertisement Peace talks United States President Donald Trump said he is prepared to impose economic sanctions against Russia if its leader, Vladimir Putin, fails to agree to a peace deal in Ukraine: “We want to have an end. We have economic sanctions. I’m talking about economic because we’re not going to get into a world war.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged governments to work quickly on creating security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a peace deal with Russia, saying: “We must intensify our work to the maximum and ensure clarity and transparency in everything related to security guarantees”. The US may provide intelligence assets and battlefield oversight to assist Western powers in the provision of security guarantees for post-war Ukraine, as well as take part in a European-led air defence shield for the country, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed European and Ukrainian officials. Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, and Kyiv’s national security council chief, Rustem Umerov, met with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Doha, where they had a “substantive conversation” on topics including “the details of security guarantees for Ukraine”, Yermak wrote on X. Exxon Mobil and the Russian energy company Rosneft secretly discussed resuming work on the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas producing project, on Russia’s Pacific coast, if Moscow and Washington give their approval as part of a Ukraine peace process, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the secret discussions. Politics and diplomacy Polish President Karol Nawrocki’s decision to veto a bill on aid to Ukrainian refugees in his country could cost Poland’s economy 8 billion zlotys ($2.20bn), in part because thousands of Ukrainians would lose the right to legal employment, Poland’s Ministry of the Interior said. Adblock test (Why?)
US envoy prompts outrage in Lebanon after telling media to ‘act civilised’
Tom Barrack’s remarks to journalists trigger calls for an apology and media boycott. A top US diplomat has triggered outrage and calls for an apology in Lebanon after telling a group of local journalists to “act civilised”. Tom Barrack, the United States ambassador to Turkiye and the special envoy for Syria, made the comments on Tuesday after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Beirut to discuss plans for the disarmament of Hezbollah. Briefing local media after the meeting, Barrack, who is of Lebanese descent, chided reporters for shouting out questions all at once, and appeared to draw a link between their behaviour and conflict in the Middle East. “We’re going to have a different set of rules… please be quiet for a moment,” Barrack said. “And I want to tell you something, the moment this starts becoming chaotic, like animalistic, we’re gone. So, you want to know what’s happening? Act civilised, act kind, act tolerant, because this is the problem with what is happening in the region.” “In cadence with your kindness, your interest and your thoughtful questions, we’ll give you responses,” Barrack added. “If that’s not how you’d like to operate, we’re gone.” Barrack’s remarks prompted a swift backlash in Lebanon and farther afield, with commentators accusing the diplomat of displaying arrogance and a colonial mentality. The Lebanese Presidency expressed regret over the comments, saying in a statement on X that the government has “full appreciation for all journalists” and “extends to them its highest regards for their efforts and dedication in fulfilling their professional and national duties”. Advertisement The Union of Journalists in Lebanon called on Lebanese and Arab media outlets to boycott future events involving the envoy until he issues a formal public apology. “The union considers Barrack’s comments against journalists not as a mere slip of the tongue or an individual stance, but rather as a reflection of an unacceptable superiority in dealing with the media and an implicit disdain for the essence of journalistic work,” the media union said in a statement. “Furthermore, the content of his remarks reflects ingrained colonial arrogance towards the peoples of the region and constitutes a blatant violation of basic diplomatic etiquette and the values that diplomacy should represent – chief among them respect for press freedom and the people’s right to knowledge.” Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mohamad Hasan Sweidan, a Beirut-based columnist at The Cradle, said Barrack’s comments reflected Washington’s attitude towards the region. “Today, Tom Barrack is reminding us how they view people of the region by defining their actions as animalistic,” Sweidan said. The US Department of State did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Adblock test (Why?)
Qatar says Israel hasn’t responded to Gaza ceasefire proposal
NewsFeed Qatar says Israel hasn’t responded to a Gaza ceasefire proposal which has already been agreed to by Hamas, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying last week that he was pushing for ‘immediate negotiations’. Published On 26 Aug 202526 Aug 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Omar: Caught Between Two Worlds
A young Tatar Polish man tries to reconcile the pressures of modern life with his conservative family background. This is the story of a young Tatar man in Poland grappling with the challenges of modern life, trying to reconcile its demands with his conservative upbringing. This observational film is also a metaphor for the uncertain future of his centuries-old community. Nineteen year-old Omar Szczesnowicz is from a rural Tatar Muslim family, and the expectation is that he’ll follow tradition by marrying a woman of the same faith and background. The Tatars are descended from the Mongol empire of Genghis Khan – but this is 21st-century eastern Poland and Omar has a steady girlfriend from outside his community, to the consternation of his domineering mother. She fears that the values and close-knit religious and social ties she grew up with will eventually wither and die if future generations don’t embrace their history, faith and culture. Omar’s challenge is to balance modern teenage life as a high school student and promising amateur boxer with his traditional Tatar roots. Adblock test (Why?)
Lebanon to present Hezbollah disarmament plan in coming days: US envoy
Lebanon has agreed to present a plan aimed at persuading Hezbollah to disarm, and Israel will submit a corresponding framework for its military withdrawal, United States envoy Tom Barrack has said, as the Lebanese armed group has repeatedly made clear it has no intention of doing so while Israel continues its attacks on the country and occupies parts of the south. Speaking on Tuesday after talks with President Joseph Aoun in Beirut, Barrack said the plan would not involve military coercion but would focus on efforts to encourage Hezbollah to surrender its weapons. “The Lebanese army and government are not talking about going to war. They are talking about how to convince Hezbollah to give up those arms,” Barrack said. While no formal proposals have been exchanged, Barrack said verbal commitments from both sides suggested a narrowing path towards implementation. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Lebanon had embarked on an irreversible path to place all weapons under state control, with the army due to present a comprehensive plan by next week. Earlier this month, Lebanon’s cabinet approved the “objectives” of a US proposal for “ensuring that the possession of weapons is restricted solely to the state”, despite Hezbollah rejecting the decision and calling it a “march in humiliation” and surrender to Israel and the US. Speaking to journalists at Lebanon’s presidential palace in Baabda on Tuesday, US envoy Morgan Ortagus said Lebanese authorities must put into “action” their decision to disarm Hezbollah. “Every step that the Lebanese government takes, we will encourage the Israeli government to make the same step,” she added. Advertisement Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem has refused to give up the group’s weapons. In a speech aired on Monday, Qassem criticised the government’s decision to disarm the group and urged officials to reverse it, saying pulling back “would be a virtue”. The armed group has long been the sole resistance to Israeli aggression against Lebanon. But it emerged badly weakened from last year’s war with Israel, with the assassination of senior leaders, including former chief Hassan Nasrallah, thousands of its fighters and Lebanese civilians killed, and tens of thousands of the Shia and other communities displaced from their destroyed homes. He also warned that Lebanon’s sovereignty could only be achieved by ending Israeli “aggression” and said the Lebanese government must first ensure Israel complies with a November 2024 ceasefire agreement – by which Israel should withdraw its troops from Lebanese territory – before talks on a national defence strategy can take place. Israel has violated the November truce on a near-daily basis. Israel to withdraw from Lebanon Israel signalled on Monday that it would scale back its military presence in southern Lebanon if Lebanon’s armed forces took action to disarm the group. Barrack, who met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, described that development as “historic”. “What Israel has now said is: we don’t want to occupy Lebanon. We’re happy to withdraw from Lebanon, and we will meet those withdrawal expectations with our plan as soon as we see what is the plan to actually disarm Hezbollah,” he said. Al Jazeera’s correspondent Ali Hashem said Israel has consolidated its presence in southern Lebanon since it agreed to the November 2024 ceasefire. “There were five positions inside the Lebanese territory [at the time of the ceasefire], and we are now hearing of eight positions,” Hashem said. “It’s clear that Israel is trying to take the main hills inside Lebanon and Syria [to obtain] what it describes as an early warning system.” Hashem added that Israel’s expansion of its presence in Lebanon was the main hurdle hampering attempts to persuade Hezbollah to give up its arms. An additional impediment was the fact that the ceasefire agreement states that Hezbollah must disarm south of the Litani River, some 30km (20 miles) from the Israeli border, rather than in the whole country. Barrack stressed that any disarmament initiative must address the economic impact on tens of thousands of Hezbollah fighters and their families, many of whom purportedly rely on Iranian funding. Advertisement “If we’re asking a portion of the Lebanese community to give up their livelihood – because when we say disarm Hezbollah, we’re talking about 40,000 people being paid by Iran – you can’t just take their weapons and say, ‘Good luck, go plant olive trees’. We have to help them.” He said Gulf states, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, were prepared to support Lebanon’s economy – particularly in the south, a Hezbollah stronghold – as part of an initiative to provide alternatives to Hezbollah. US envoy accused of racism Comments Barrack made triggered a firestorm in Beirut, where he was accused of racism after he threatened the Lebanese press with ending the news conference if they behaved in a way he described as uncivilised and “animalistic”. “Be quiet for a moment, and I wanna tell you something, the moment that this starts to becoming chaotic, like animalistic, we’re gone,” he said. “So, [if] you want to know what has happened, act civilised, act kind, act tolerant because this is the problem with what is happening in the region.” Lebanese-British journalist Hala Jaber said Barrack’s mannerism was that of a “19th-century colonial commissioner” who “lectures us on ‘civilisation,’ & blames it all on our ‘region’,” she wrote on X. “That’s not just arrogance, it’s racism. You don’t run this country, [and] you don’t get to insult its people.” Mohamad Hasan Sweidan, a Beirut-based columnist at The Cradle news site, says the US State Department owes all journalists in the region an apology for Barrack’s “dehumanising” comments. “He dehumanised us, he was arrogant towards us, and he used colonial terms,” Sweidan told Al Jazeera. “Calling journalists ‘animalistic’ and urging them to civilise isn’t just a slip for Tom Barrack … it’s a textbook colonial gesture.” Adblock test (Why?)
Venezuela sends troops to Colombia border as US ships join cartel operation
Two more US ships said to join amphibious squadron due to arrive off coast of Venezuela in anti-drug cartel operation. Venezuela has announced the deployment of 15,000 troops to its border with Colombia to fight drug trafficking, as the United States was reported to have sent two additional navy ships to the southern Caribbean as part of an operation against Latin American drug cartels. Venezuelan Minister of the Popular Power for Interior Diosdado Cabello announced on Monday that Caracas would deploy 15,000 troops to bolster security in Zulia and Tachira states, which border Colombia. “Here, we do fight drug trafficking; here, we do fight drug cartels on all fronts,” the minister said, while also announcing the seizure of 53 tonnes of drugs so far this year. Cabello said the increased security on the border with Colombia, to “combat criminal groups”, would also involve aircraft, drones and riverine security, according to local media outlet Noticias Venevision, as he called on Colombian authorities to do the same to “ensure peace along the entire axis”. The reinforcement of Venezuelan troops on the Colombian border comes after the Trump administration accused Venezuela’s left-wing president, Nicolas Maduro, of being involved in cocaine trafficking and working with drug cartels. Officials in Washington, DC, have accused both Maduro and Cabello of working with the Cartel de los Soles (“Cartel of the Suns”) drug trafficking organisation, which Washington has designated a terrorist group. The accusations were made as the US announced last week that it had doubled a reward to $50m for the capture of Maduro on drug charges. The US earlier this year increased a reward for Cabello’s arrest or prosecution from $10m to $25m. Advertisement Maduro has accused the US of attempting to foment regime change in Venezuela, and launched a nationwide drive to sign up thousands of militia members to strengthen national security in the country amid the threats from Washington. “I am confident that we will overcome this test that life has imposed on us, this imperialist threat to the peace of the continent and to our country,” Maduro was quoted as saying in local media on Monday. The Reuters news agency also reported on Monday that the USS Lake Erie, a guided missile cruiser, and the USS Newport News, a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, will arrive in the southern Caribbean by early next week. Citing two sources briefed on the deployment, Reuters said the missile cruiser and attack submarine would join the US amphibious squadron that was due to arrive off the coast of Venezuela on Sunday. The squadron includes the USS San Antonio, USS Iwo Jima and USS Fort Lauderdale, and is said to be carrying 4,500 US service members, including 2,200 Marines, according to reports. Trump has made the targeting of Latin American drug cartels a central focus of his administration, and has designated Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and other drug gangs, including Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua, as global terrorist organisations. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,279
Here are the key events on day 1,279 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Here is how things stand on Tuesday, August 26: Fighting An 82-year-old woman was killed and three people were injured in a Russian attack on Kupiansk city, in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. Russian attacks killed one person and injured three others in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Governor Vadym Filashkin said. Russian drones and artillery fire injured a rescue worker and damaged a fire truck in the Nikopol region of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, according to Governor Serhiy Lysak. A Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and injured two others in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Luhansk, Russia’s state TASS news agency reported. TASS also reported that Russian forces shot down 151 Ukrainian drones and four aerial bombs, and destroyed two missile launchers, in one day. One person was killed and two others injured in Ukrainian attacks on the Russian-occupied Ukrainian Kherson region, the Russian-appointed governor, Vladimir Saldo, wrote in a post on Telegram. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces captured the settlement of Zaporizke in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region. Peace talks Germany will take part in providing security guarantees for Ukraine alongside European partners, but the talks are at an early stage and must be shaped by Kyiv, German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil said on Monday, while visiting the Ukrainian capital. Asked why Russia President Vladimir Putin appears reluctant to sit down for peace talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US President Donald Trump told reporters it is “because he doesn’t like him”. “The one I thought would be the easiest, frankly, was Russia and Ukraine. But it turns out there are some big personality conflicts,” Trump said. Putin spoke on the phone with Iranian leader Masoud Pezeshkian and discussed his meeting with Trump in Alaska, the Kremlin press service said, according to the RIA Novosti news agency. “Masoud Pezeshkian expressed support for the ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian crisis,” the Kremlin said. Advertisement Ukraine aid Speaking at a news conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine aims to raise “no less than $1bn every month”, towards buying weapons from the United States to be used in the war. Polish President Karol Nawrocki vetoed a bill that would have extended financial support to Ukrainian refugees, potentially also jeopardising Ukraine’s use of Starlink, according to Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski. “This is the end of the Starlink Internet, which Poland provides to Ukraine, which is waging war. This is also the end of support for storing Ukrainian administration data in a safe place,” Gawkowski, who is from a different political party than Nawrocki, wrote on X. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Adblock test (Why?)
Australia accuses Iran of directing anti-Semitic attacks, expels envoy
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Australia will also designate the IRGC as a ‘terrorist entity’. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accused Iran of directing at least two anti-Jewish attacks in his country and announced plans to expel Iran’s ambassador to Canberra. Speaking to reporters in the Australian capital on Tuesday, Albanese described the attacks as attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in Australia. “It is totally unacceptable, and the Australian government is taking strong and decisive action,” he said. “A short time ago, we informed the Iranian ambassador to Australia that he will be expelled.” The prime minister said Australia has also suspended operations at its embassy in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and moved all of its diplomats to a third country. “I can also announce the government will legislate to list Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, as a terrorist organisation,” he added. Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong said the Iranian ambassador, Ahmad Sadeghi, and three of his colleagues have been declared persona non grata and given seven days to leave the country. She said the move marked the first time that Australia has expelled an ambassador since World War II and that the country has also withdrawn its envoy to Tehran. Still, the Albanese government will maintain some diplomatic lines with Iran to advance Canberra’s interests, Wong said, advising Australians in the Middle Eastern country to return home. She also warned Australians considering travelling to Iran to refrain from doing so. More soon. Adblock test (Why?)