Top World News

Oct 17, 2025 - World

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, where the two discussed the ongoing response to the Russian invasion and how to end the war. CNN's White House correspondent Kristen Holmes said that she found one key piece of the discussion "striking" that harkens back to the infamous Oval Office battle between the two men. Speaking to the anchors, Holmes said, "The one thing I thought was most striking was this, kind of, moment or several moments in which Zelenskyy seemed to correct President Trump. President Trump would say, 'You know, I spoke to Putin. I think Putin wants peace. I think Putin wants an end to the war.' Zelenskyy says, 'He doesn't want an end to the war. Russia doesn't want an end to the war. We want an end to the war.'"Friday, the Ukrainian president was "pushing back on this notion," that Putin wanted to end the war, said Holmes. "The reason why that was interesting to me was because last time we saw a different Zelenskyy, one who had had a bad run-in with the vice president and with President Trump, it had been very aggressive. So we saw a much more docile Zelenskyy, who nodded along to many of the things that President Trump said. You saw a little bit more pushback here from him. But, of course, at the end of the day, he still needs President Trump," she added.The contrast she mentioned stems from the February meeting, where Zelenskyy repeatedly corrected Trump's facts, and he was accused of being "disrespectful." Holmes said that after observing the meeting, it seems even less clear what the two men intend to request of Russian President Vladimir Putin in an in-person negotiation.

Oct 17, 2025 - World

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared at the White House on Friday as part of the ongoing conversations with President Donald Trump over ending Russia's years-long invasion. And at the end of the question-and-answer session with the press, Trump was asked about Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro offering all of the country's minerals to work with the United States."He has offered everything," the reporter said as part of his question.Trump agreed, "He has offered everything. He's offered everything. You're right. You know why? Because he doesn't want to f--- around with the United States. Thank you, everybody!" The press then ushered the press out of the Cabinet room."Donald Trump, um, using a word we don't usually hear on television there, to put it that way," MSNBC's Katy Tur said after hearing the obscenity, letting out a sigh.

Oct 16, 2025 - World

Before Donald Trump is officially canonized for ending the Israeli-Palestinian war and bringing peace to the Middle East, let’s do a reality check on Trump’s role and on the ultimate long-term impact.First, it was past time for Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war and he knew it. He had accomplished his goals: severely degrading Hamas, killing or injuring 10 percent of Gaza’s Palestinian population including over 20,000 children and 10,000 women, displacing nearly 90 percent of the population, and destroying Gaza’s infrastructure to ensure the displaced would come home to cataclysmic, unlivable ruin. He was also losing support in Israel every day the onslaught continued. Decades ago, Netanyahu was heard on tape as saying of the Palestinians, "We must beat them up, not once but repeatedly, beat them up so it hurts so badly, until it's unbearable." Netanyahu accomplished his goal.As the war raged on in 2025, Trump’s disdain for the Palestinians was evident. Trump offered to turn Gaza into a real estate magnate’s Shangri-La, assumedly free of Palestinians. He continued to supply Israel’s mighty military force with more weaponry against a woefully inferior opponent. Under Trump, the US voted against United Nations resolutions demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Palestinian war, killing the resolutions.Trump refused to condemn Israel’s massacre of Palestinian civilians while the world’s International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, for using “starvation as a method of warfare,” restricting humanitarian aid, and intentionally targeting civilians. Under Trump, the US has refused to join the 147 nations that recognize Palestinian statehood or even commit to supporting a two-state Israeli-Palestinian solution. Trump has been Netanyahu’s boy since the beginning of the war, enabling Netanyahu to carry out his scorched earth campaign until the Palestinians were ground into the Gaza dust, their territory destroyed. Netanyahu was more than happy to reward Trump’s unconditional support by giving Trump an uncontested slam dunk: ending the war after Netanyahu had accomplished all he wanted. Of course, there will be no just peace agreement coming out of negotiations. Israel will maintain its military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, further increase its stranglehold on the territories, build more Jewish settlements in the West Bank in violation of international law, and prolong the misery under which Gaza residents will suffer for decades. A two-state solution, which any just peace agreement must include, will remain sheer fantasy until Netanyahu is no longer in power. As Netanyahu said in 1999 after sabotaging the Oslo Accords, which provided a roadmap for Palestinian statehood, “I’m proud I blocked a Palestinian state.” A two-state solution has always been anathema to Netanyahu, the Palestinians unwanted interlopers on lands rightfully belonging to Israel.An elaborate diplomatic charade will occur among participants in the peace negotiations that will ultimately end in Israel maintaining iron-clad control over Palestinian territories and making no significant concessions. Trump will brag about the settlement bringing peace to the Middle East when all it will do is ensure decades of subjugation of a badly broken Palestinian people to their brutal occupier.The entire world is thankful that the slaughter of Palestinian civilians and devastation of their homeland has ended. Netanyahu, however, should never be forgiven for his brutally asymmetrical response to the Hamas attack on Israel, resulting in 82 percent of the war’s casualties being Palestinians, 56 times as many as Israelis. It should also be remembered that Trump never wavered in his support for Netanyahu, that he refused to condemn the annihilation of Palestinians, that he continued providing weapons to Israel, that his administration killed UN ceasefire resolutions, and that his end-the-war overtures came after Netanyahu had demolished Gaza and killed 67,000 Palestinians. Netanyahu and Trump are kindred spirits, comrades in corruption, in extreme-right politics, in authoritarian rule, in undermining their countries’ democracies, and in their indifference to the suffering of Palestinians. In a 2001 tape discussing sabotaging the Oslo Accords, Netanyahu wasn’t concerned about the US response because the US, he said was “easily manipulated.” That remark was certainly prescient regarding his relationship with Trump.Netanyahu knows that as long as Trump is staunchly in his corner, he can do whatever he wants and the rest of the world be damned, including the UN, the International Criminal Court, international law, and the 149 nations that recognize Palestinian statehood. Trump’s loyalty has proven unshakeable throughout the war and will continue throughout the peace talks. Trump did not end the Israeli-Palestinian war. He was handed the “honor” on a silver platter by his grateful political doppelgänger. Until both men have mercifully left the political stage, Palestinians will be left twisting in the bitter wind. Tom Tyner is a freelance editorialist, satirist, political analyst, blogger, author and retired English instructor

Oct 15, 2025 - World

President Donald Trump said he was looking at military strikes on land in Venezuela after weeks of targeting boats off the country's coast.While speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Trump insisted that the U.S. Coast Guard could not effectively stop drug traffickers."We've been doing that for 30 years, and it has been totally ineffective," he insisted. "Some of these boats are seriously, I mean, they're world-class speed boats, and — but they're not faster than missiles.""Right now we have, I would say, none coming in through the seas. In fact, I don't know about the fishing industry," he continued. "We've almost totally stopped it by sea. Now we'll stop it by land.""I don't want to tell you exactly, but we are certainly looking at land now, because we've got the sea very well under control."According to The New York Times, the Trump administration recently authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.

Oct 15, 2025 - World

Trade policy isn’t sexy, but it is weighty, economically speaking. Jobs and wage-income are at-stake. Take President Trump’s trade policy, notably his fondness for tariffs, a tax on US imports that businesses and workers pay.We begin with the Trump administration’s decision to provide a $20 billion “swap line” (currency exchanges between central banks) with the government of Argentina. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the point man for the White House on this financial and political issue. Behind Bessent is a Wall Street hedge fund manager, Rob Citrone, a major foreign investor in Argentina, CNN reported.The Latin American country is in financial distress over its issuance of foreign bonds since President Javier Milei slashed public spending to spur economic growth. Such economic policy goes by the name of austerity.However, Milei’s so-called pro-growth approach has had the opposite effect. Hunger and poverty among the Argentine working class are up. Workers’ household income is down.“Argentina’s poverty rate has soared to almost 53 percent in the first six months of Javier Milei’s presidency,” reports The Guardian, “offering the first hard evidence of how the far-right libertarian’s tough austerity measures are hitting the population.”What in part preceded such measures slamming the Argentine people was inflation, a general rise in prices.In the meantime, the Milei government cut the export tax on soybeans. Chinese buyers jumped at this opportunity, reportedly purchasing some 20 shiploads of soybeans from Argentina.That tax holiday cut revenue to the Argentine government, and created the trade conditions for lower export prices for foreign buyers. That arrangement didn’t fix the tax revenue problem for the Argentine government, however.Meanwhile, American Soybean Association President Caleb Ragland shared this statement on some impacts of Trump’s trade policy of tit-for-tat tariffs between the world’s two biggest economies:US soybean farmers have been clear for months: the administration needs to secure a trade deal with China. China is the world’s largest soybean customer and typically our top export market. The US has made zero sales to China in this new crop marketing year due to 20% retaliatory tariffs imposed by China in response to US tariffs. This has allowed other exporters, Brazil and now Argentina, to capture our market at the direct expense of US farmers.According to Politico, the use of tariffs in China-US trade is having far-reaching effects on American agriculture generally. “The 20 percent retaliatory tariff that Beijing has imposed on US imports hasn’t just pounded soybean producers. All agriculture exports to China were down 53 percent in the first seven months of 2025, compared with the same period last year, according to USDA data.”Ragland, head of the ASA, continues his criticism of Trump’s trade policy on American soybean farmers: “The frustration is overwhelming. US soybean prices are falling, harvest is underway, and farmers read headlines not about securing a trade agreement with China, but that the US government is extending $20 billion in economic support to Argentina while that country drops its soybean export taxes to sell 20 shiploads of Argentine soybeans to China in just two days.”ASA is calling on President Trump and his negotiating team to prioritize securing an immediate deal on soybeans with China. The farm economy is suffering while our competitors supplant the United States in the biggest soybean import market in the world.“What will the White House do to relieve the pain from the decline of demand from China for American agricultural products? Well, the president is considering a $10-$15 billion bailout for agriculture commodity producers.Wait. There is a federal government shutdown. In other words, the allocation and distribution of a federal bailout for farmers experiencing a shortage of buyers from China will have to wait for the government shutdown to end. Your guess is as good as mine when that happens.Such contradictions of economics and politics drive history, according to Marx. The federal government shutdown over health care spending while US Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops deploy on the streets of American cities for reason of so-called public safety are two cases in point. Trade policy that harms domestic agriculture generally and soybean growers particularly is another.Seth Sandronsky is a Sacramento journalist and member of the freelancers unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild.