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The Guardian
25-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump news at a glance: president berates Putin; judge blocks changes to voting rights
During his election campaign Donald Trump had promised to end the war in 24 hours. But almost 100 days into his second term the US president has appealed directly to Russian president Vladimir Putin, telling him on social media: 'Vladimir, STOP!' Trump's remarks referred to the deadliest attack on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv this year, which killed 12 people and injured at least 90 on Thursday. The attack comes as Trump has made a renewed push to end the Ukraine war, reportedly on terms favourable to Russia. The president told reporters in Washington: 'I have my own deadline,' amid speculation he wants to have a ceasefire agreed before his 100th day in office on 30 April. Closer to home, Trump has also attempted to change voting requirements, which advocates say would have disenfranchised millions, and have now been blocked by a federal judge. Here are the key stories at a glance: At least 12 people have been killed and more than 90 injured in Kyiv after Russia carried out one of the most devastating air attacks against Ukraine for months, with Kharkiv and other cities also targeted. The attack drew a rare rebuke of Russia from Donald Trump, who on social media implored Putin to 'STOP'. Read the full story A federal judge on Thursday blocked Trump's efforts to add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form, a change that voting rights advocates warned would have disenfranchised millions of voters. Read the full story Washington and Beijing held talks on Thursday to help resolve the trade war between the world's two largest economies, Donald Trump said. China had earlier hit back against Trump's previous claim that the US was close to a trade deal with Beijing. Read the full story The Trump administration has asked the US supreme court to reinstate its ban on transgender troops serving in the armed forces after several judges issued separate rulings against it. Read the full story The US interior department has announced plans to radically fast-track permission for projects involving fossil fuels and mining, citing Trump's 'energy emergency' declaration that many experts say does not exist. Read the full story The president has denied federal disaster relief funds to the people of Arkansas, where dozens of people died from a series of deadly tornados last month, so legislators are pleading for him to reconsider. More than 40 people have been found dead after a series of tornados and severe storms hit Arkansas and neighboring states Mississippi and Missouri in March, according to CNN. Read the full story Autism experts and autistic people are pushing back on Robert F Kennedy's 'terrible' approach to autism as the health secretary plans more expansive monitoring of autistic people's health records and proposes cuts to disability services. Read the full story The president's order boosting the deep-sea mining industry in US waters is the latest attempt to increase the country's production of nickel, copper and other critical minerals used widely across the economy as part of a push to offset China's control of the minerals industry. Read the full story Employees from Barnard College received text messages from a federal agency linking to a voluntary survey asking recipients if they were Jewish or Israeli and whether they have been subjected to harassment or antisemitism. The Trump administration killed a landmark civil rights settlement requiring Alabama to address raw sewage pollution in majority-Black, residential areas. The US army has suspended a Wisconsin training base's first female commander after discovering portraits of Trump and Pete Hegseth had been flipped to face a wall. Trump's online store is selling clothing emblazoned with 'Trump 2028', the year of the next presidential election, in which he is constitutionally banned from running. Catching up? Here's what happened on 23 April 2025.
Khaleej Times
26-02-2025
- Khaleej Times
Philippine police rescue kidnapped teen, hunt ex-gambling site operators
A young kidnap victim clad in pajamas and missing a finger was rescued from the side of a busy Manila thoroughfare this week after his abductors ditched him during a police pursuit, Philippine authorities said on Wednesday. The kidnappers, like their teenaged target, were Chinese nationals, said the interior department's Juanito Victor Remulla, part of a "sophisticated" syndicate with ties to the now-banned offshore gambling sites known locally as POGOs. Notorious as fronts for human trafficking, money laundering and fraud, POGOs were banned by President Ferdinand Marcos last year, sending those who worked for them in search of new income streams. "We are definite that the syndicate behind the kidnapping were former POGO operators," Remulla told reporters, adding those involved had lost a lucrative living when the sites were shuttered. The kidnappers tried and failed to obtain a ransom — at one point sending the parents a video of the victim's finger being severed — before they were tracked down on Tuesday and pursued by police who homed in on their cellphone signal. "The choice was pursuing the vehicle or securing the child. Obviously, the (police) prioritised the child," Remulla said. A manhunt remains underway. The boy's driver, who had picked him up outside an exclusive private school days earlier, was found murdered inside another vehicle in Bulacan province north of Manila. "These (cases) arose in January after all POGOs were closed, they got into kidnapping," Remulla said, without providing statistics. AFP is aware of at least two other kidnapping cases involving Chinese nationals living in the Philippines this year. While describing the incident as "Chinese against Chinese" crime, Remulla said disaffected former Filipino police or soldiers were likely used as footsoldiers in some cases. Gilberto Cruz, chief of the Philippines' anti-organised crime commission, told AFP that government figures showed there were still about 11,000 Chinese nationals in the country after the gambling sites they worked for were shuttered. "Some have turned to other crimes, but we can't provide numbers as of now," he said, before adding that some had likely ventured into "kidnapping operations". At a press conference on Wednesday, the immigration department said about 300 foreign nationals linked to POGOs were being held at a detention facility built for 100 while awaiting deportation. In a separate statement, the department said 98 Chinese nationals had been repatriated to China aboard a chartered Philippine Airlines flight on Tuesday night. The Chinese embassy said the joint repatriation marked "another step in the law enforcing cooperation of the two countries after the ban on POGOs".
