Top World News

Jan 23, 2026 - World

Exclusive: Blueprints describe a ‘case study’ community where residents submit biometric data to gain entryThe United Arab Emirates plans to fund “Gaza’s first planned community” on the ruined outskirts of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city. Palestinian residents there will have access to basic services like education, healthcare and running water, as long as they submit to biometric data collection and security vetting, according to planning documents and people familiar with the latest round of talks at the US-led Civil Military Coordination Center in Israel.The planned city would mark the UAE’s first investment in a postwar reconstruction project located in the part of Gaza currently held by Israel. The wealthy Gulf state has contributed more than $1.8bn of humanitarian assistance to Gaza since 7 October 2023, according to UAE state media, making it Gaza’s largest humanitarian donor. Continue reading...

Jan 23, 2026 - World

Court says alleged abuse and trafficking offences occurred outside Spain, leaving it without jurisdictionSpanish prosecutors have shelved a complaint brought by two women who have accused the singer Julio Iglesias of sexual assault and human trafficking, arguing the country’s courts have no jurisdiction as the alleged offences took place outside Spain.Two female former employees who worked at Iglesias’s Caribbean mansions 10 days ago accused the veteran entertainer of sexual assault, saying they had been subjected “to inappropriate touching, insults and humiliation … in an atmosphere of control and constant harassment”. Continue reading...

Jan 23, 2026 - World

Ryan Wedding turned himself in at US consulate in Mexico City and is due to appear in court in California on MondayRyan Wedding, the Canadian Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin, has been arrested after turning himself in at the US embassy in Mexico, law enforcement officials announced on Friday.Wedding, 44, had been sought by the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for his role in overseeing what the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, called the “one of the most prolific and violent drug-trafficking organizations” in the world. Continue reading...

Jan 23, 2026 - World

Despite US pushback, officials in west Africa say controversial hepatitis B study on pause amid ethics concernsUS health officials insisted it was still on. African health leaders said it was cancelled. At the heart of the controversy is the west African nation of Guinea-Bissau – one of the poorest countries in the world and the proposed site of a hotly debated US-funded study on vaccines.The study on hepatitis B vaccination, to be led by Danish researchers, became a flashpoint after major changes to the US vaccination schedule and prompted questions about how research is conducted ethically in other countries. Continue reading...

Jan 23, 2026 - World

The Trump administration was exposed for justifying its arrest and attempted deportation of Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk “solely on the inferences made” from an op-ed she co-authored that was critical of the Israeli government, newly unsealed court documents revealed Thursday.Appointed during the Reagan administration, U.S. District Judge William Young unsealed a trove of court documents late Thursday that, according to The Boston Globe, exposed the Department of Homeland Security’s shaky legal grounds for arresting Öztürk last year.“The files on Öztürk, some of which previously were not available to the public, indicate further that the government relied solely on the inferences made from an op-ed she wrote for the student newspaper to carry out the revocation of her visa, her arrest, and her detention,” the Globe reported.A Turkish citizen, Öztürk was in the United States on a valid student visa when she was arrested in broad daylight by masked plainclothes DHS officers. She was released after spending weeks in detention by order of a federal judge, though legal proceedings remain ongoing.Among the newly unsealed documents is a DHS summary of findings on Öztürk, with ex-DHS official Andre Watson writing that the student’s actions may have constituted “violations of President Trump’s executive orders on anti-Semitism,” and that her continued presence in the United States could “have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”Watson also singled out the op-ed co-authored by Öztürk in the document, labeling it as a piece of “anti-Israel activism.”Öztürk is not the only legal migrant who’s been targeted by the Trump administration for deportation in its purported efforts to combat antisemitism. Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil was arrested after helping lead the protests demanding the university divest from Israel amid its siege on Gaza, a siege that a United Nations commission declared to be a genocide last year. Others, like British journalist Sami Hamdi, Georgetown University student Badar Khan Suri and others have also been arrested over making comments critical of the Israeli government.