An Obama-appointed federal judge ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration violated the free-speech rights of furloughed U.S. Department of Education employees by altering their out-of-office email messages to blame &#8220;Democrat Senators&#8221; for the ongoing government shutdown.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington, D.C., said that nonpartisanship is the foundation of government service, and commandeering Education Department employees&#8217; email accounts to broadcast a partisan message erodes it.
&#8220;Political officials are free to blame whomever they wish for the shutdown, but they cannot use rank-and-file civil servants as their unwilling spokespeople,&#8221; wrote Cooper, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama.
The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal workers, had sued over the email messages last month.
Cooper ordered the Education Department to immediately remove a line blaming &#8220;Democrat Senators&#8221; for the shutdown from the email messages of workers who are AFGE members. The judge said he would order the department to remove the messaging from all employees&#8217; accounts if it is technologically impossible to parse out accounts of union members.
The shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, entered its 38th day on Friday with no end in sight. The lapse in funding has led to many federal workers missing paychecks and millions of Americans losing food stamp benefits, and could force airlines to cut up to 20% of flights due to a lack of air traffic controllers.
Democrats in the Senate are refusing to pass a budget bill that does not include the extension of expiring health insurance subsidies. The Trump administration has blamed Democrats for the funding lapse.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has aired videos in airports blaming Democrats for disruptions to airport security, and many agencies have posted similar messages on their websites.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

FILE PHOTO: 21st day of U.S. government shutdown

Obama-Appointed Judge Bars Education Department Emails That Blame Shutdown On Democrats

Barack Obama

Democrats

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federal judge

Government Shutdown

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) — The deadliest police operation in Brazil&#8217;s history killed at least 132 people, public defenders said on Wednesday, as Rio de Janeiro residents lined a street with dozens of corpses found overnight, a week ahead of global climate events in the city.
State police said the raids targeting a major drug gang the day before had been planned exhaustively for more than two months, designed to drive suspects into a forested hillside where a special operations unit was waiting in ambush.
&#8220;The elevated lethality of the operation was expected but not desired,&#8221; Victor Santos, head of security for Rio state, told a news conference. Rio police officials confirmed 119 deaths so far, including four police officers. Police said they had arrested 113 suspects in the operation and seized 118 firearms.
Santos said there was no connection to global events Rio will host next week related to the United Nations COP30 climate summit, including the C40 global summit of mayors tackling climate change and British Prince William&#8217;s Earthshot Prize.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was surprised to learn Rio police had launched an &#8220;extremely bloody, violent&#8221; operation without notifying or involving the federal government, Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski told journalists.
The minister said he planned to meet with Rio&#8217;s governor and could increase the number of federal security officials there.
Lula, who returned to Brasilia late on Tuesday from a trip to Malaysia, met with Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and cabinet members on Wednesday to discuss the matter, his office said.
Rio has hosted several global events over the past decade, including the 2016 Olympics, the 2024 G20 summit and the BRICS summit in July, without violence on the scale seen on Tuesday.
The city&#8217;s most deadly police raid before Tuesday was a 2021 raid that left 28 people dead in the Jacarezinho neighborhood. In 1992, 111 were killed when Sao Paulo police stormed the Carandiru Penitentiary to put down a prison rebellion.
Residents of the Penha neighborhood in Rio gathered dozens of corpses from the surrounding forest overnight and lined up more than 70 of the bodies in the middle of a main street.
Several civil society groups and public security experts criticized the heavy casualties of the military-style raid. The United Nations Human Rights office said it adds to a trend of extremely lethal police raids in Brazil&#8217;s marginalized communities.
&#8220;We remind authorities of their obligations under international human rights law, and urge prompt and effective investigations,&#8221; the agency said in a statement.
Rio Governor Claudio Castro said he was certain those killed in the operation were criminals firing guns from the forest.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t think anyone would be walking in the forest on the day of the conflict,&#8221; he told reporters, calling the raids an effort to combat &#8220;narcoterrorism.&#8221;
&#8220;The only real victims were the police officers,&#8221; he said.
The Rio state government said the operation was its largest ever to target the Comando Vermelho gang, which controls the drug trade in several favelas &#8211; poor and densely populated settlements woven through the city&#8217;s hilly oceanside terrain.
(Reporting by Janaina Quinet and Rodrigo Viga Gaier; Additional reporting by Oliver Griffin, Isabel Teles, Luciana Magalhaes, Eduardo Simoes and Gabriel Araujo in Sao Paulo, and Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia; Editing by Brad Haynes and Rosalba O&#8217;Brien)

Police operation against drug trafficking at the favela do Penha in Rio de Janeiro

Over 130 People Killed In Massive Rio Drug Raid, Corpses Line Street

Brazil

Drugs

Police

HAVANA/KINGSTON — Hurricane Melissa slammed into Cuba early on Wednesday, hours after causing devastation in neighboring Jamaica as the strongest-ever storm on record to hit that Caribbean island nation.
Melissa hit the southern coast of eastern Cuba with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
&#8220;Life-threatening storm surge, flash flooding and landslides, and damaging hurricane winds are ongoing this morning,&#8221; the center said.
Around 735,000 people were evacuated from their homes in eastern Cuba as the storm approached, authorities said. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel warned on Tuesday that the storm would cause &#8220;significant damage&#8221; and urged people to heed evacuation orders.
Melissa had weakened to a still dangerous Category 3 hurricane after roaring ashore near Jamaica&#8217;s southwestern town of New Hope on Tuesday, packing sustained winds of up to 185 mph, well above the 157 mph threshold for Category 5, the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale.
&#8216;SOME LOSS OF LIFE EXPECTED,&#8217; JAMAICAN LEADER SAYS
In southwestern Jamaica, the parish of St. Elizabeth was left &#8220;underwater,&#8221; an official said, with more than 500,000 residents without power.
&#8220;The reports that we have had so far would include damage to hospitals, significant damage to residential property, housing and commercial property as well, and damage to our road infrastructure,&#8221; Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said on CNN after the storm had passed.
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Holness said the government had not received news of any confirmed deaths from the storm, but given the strength of the hurricane and the extent of the damage, &#8220;we are expecting that there would be some loss of life.&#8221;
As daylight returned to Jamaica early on Wednesday, eyewitness reports and videos on social media showed swaths of downed trees, washed-out roads, and roofs tossed about fields and roadways.
Video of the airport in Montego Bay showed inundated seating areas, broken glass, and collapsed ceilings.
Meteorologists at AccuWeather said Melissa ranked as the third most intense hurricane observed in the Caribbean, after Wilma in 2005 and Gilbert in 1988 &#8211; the last major storm to make landfall in Jamaica.
Melissa&#8217;s winds subsided as the storm drifted past the mountains of Jamaica, lashing highland communities vulnerable to landslides and flooding.
Local media reported at least three deaths in Jamaica during storm preparations, and a disaster coordinator suffered a stroke at the onset of the storm and was rushed to the hospital. Late on Tuesday, many areas remained cut off.
&#8220;Our country has been ravaged by Hurricane Melissa but we will rebuild and we will do so even better than before,&#8221; Prime Minister Holness said early on Wednesday.
In the Bahamas, next after Cuba in Melissa&#8217;s path to the northeast, the government ordered evacuations of residents in the southern portions of that archipelago.
Farther to the east, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic had faced days of torrential downpours leading to at least four deaths, authorities there said.
CUBA BRACES
The storm&#8217;s center, churning with violent wind gusts over 125 mph and heavy rain, slammed into Guama, a rural, mountainous area 25 miles west of Santiago de Cuba, the island&#8217;s second most populous city.
Authorities had shut down power to virtually all of eastern Cuba, evacuated vulnerable areas, and had asked residents to shelter in place in the provincial capital, Santiago, a city of 400,000 people.
Videos posted by local media showed torrents of brown rainwater rushing down roads through dark towns at the base of Cuba&#8217;s Sierra Maestra mountains, not far from the city.
Authorities reported widespread flooding of lowland areas early on Wednesday from Santiago to Guantanamo, where upwards of 35% of the population had been evacuated.
The timing could not be worse for the communist-run Caribbean island. Cuba is already suffering from food, fuel, electricity, and medicine shortages that have complicated life for many, prompting record-breaking migration off the island since 2021.
President Diaz-Canel said Cuba had nonetheless mobilized 2,500 electric line workers to begin recovery immediately following the storm&#8217;s passage across the island later on Wednesday.
The hurricane was not expected to directly affect the capital of Havana.
(Reporting by Dave Sherwood in Havana, Zahra Burton in Kingston, Sarah Morland and Brendan O&#8217;Boyle in Mexico City, David Ljunggren in Ottawa, Emma Farge in Geneva and Anmol Choubey and Ishaan Arora in BengaluruWriting by Andrew HeavensEditing by Frances Kerry and Peter Graff)

Aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, in Jamaica

Hurricane Melissa Hits Cuba Hours After Devastating Jamaica

Category 5

Cuba

Hurricane Melissa

Jamaica

KINGSTON — Hurricane Melissa made landfall in western Jamaica early Tuesday afternoon as a powerful Category 5 storm and the strongest ever to directly hit the Caribbean nation of 2.8 million people.
Melissa made landfall near the town of New Hope, some 62 km (39 miles) south of Montego Bay, packing maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory.
The most powerful level on the Saffir-Simpson scale, Category 5, requires speeds of at least 157 mph.
The slow-moving storm is forecast to remain a powerful hurricane as it crosses the mountainous island, whose highland communities are vulnerable to landslides and flooding, and heads towards Santiago de Cuba, Cuba&#8217;s second-largest city.
The Miami-based hurricane center warned that &#8220;total structural failure&#8221; was likely in Melissa&#8217;s path.
&#8220;The destruction could be unlike anything people in Jamaica have seen before,&#8221; said U.S. forecaster AccuWeather&#8217;s lead hurricane expert, Alex DaSilva. &#8220;The island has never taken a direct hit from a Category 4 or a Category 5 hurricane in recorded history.&#8221;
Melissa is the third most intense hurricane observed in the Caribbean after Wilma in 2005 and Gilbert in 1988, according to AccuWeather.
Gilbert was the last major storm to directly hit the island.
Shortly before landfall, Jamaican electric utility JPS said power outages had affected more than a third of its customers. In its worst-hit parishes, some three-quarters of customers lost power, JPS said.
Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie told reporters that nearly 6,000 people had moved into temporary shelters. The government had issued mandatory evacuation orders for some 28,000 people, but some were reluctant to leave their homes.
&#8220;Don&#8217;t bet against Melissa, because you will lose,&#8221; warned McKenzie, as authorities implored residents to seek protection in shelters and fortify their residences.
JAMAICA&#8217;S &#8216;STORM OF THE CENTURY&#8217;
&#8220;It&#8217;s a catastrophic situation,&#8221; the World Meteorological Organization&#8217;s tropical cyclone specialist Anne-Claire Fontan told a press briefing. &#8220;For Jamaica, it will be the storm of the century for sure.&#8221;
Storm surges of up to four meters were expected, she said, with rainfall set to exceed 70 cm (2.3 feet), causing &#8220;catastrophic flash flooding and landslides,&#8221; she said.
Nearby Haiti and the Dominican Republic have faced days of torrential downpours leading to at least four deaths, authorities said. At least three people died during storm preparations in Jamaica, local media reported.
After crossing eastern Cuba, still as a powerful storm, Melissa is forecast to head through the Bahamas, where Prime Minister Philip Davis has ordered evacuations for people in southern and eastern parts of the archipelago.
In Cuba, authorities said they had evacuated upwards of 500,000 people from areas vulnerable to winds and flooding.
&#8220;There are no half measures,&#8221; Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a message published in state newspaper Granma, in which he urged people in areas vulnerable to flooding, strong winds, and storm surges to evacuate and accept help.
&#8220;Melissa will arrive with force, and there&#8217;s great concern about what it could destroy in its wake,&#8221; he said.
STORM INTENSIFIED ON APPROACH
Melissa&#8217;s slow movement over unusually tepid Caribbean water had contributed to its ballooning size and strength, NHC forecasters said, threatening Jamaica with days of never-before-seen catastrophic winds and rain.
Melissa could bring up to 30 inches (762 mm) of rain to parts of Jamaica, and up to 12 inches to parts of the island of Hispaniola, the NHC said.
The International Federation of the Red Cross said up to 1.5 million people in Jamaica were expected to be directly affected by the storm.
&#8220;Today will be very difficult for tens of thousands, if not millions of people in Jamaica,&#8221; IFRC official Necephor Mghendi said via video link from Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago.
&#8220;Roofs will be tested, flood waters will rise, isolation will become a harsh reality for many.&#8221;
To enable swift relief distribution, essential items — tarpaulins, hygiene kits, blankets, and safe drinking water — had been pre-positioned in Red Cross branches on the island, he said, with over 800 shelters set up for evacuees.
&#8216;A DIRE SITUATION UNFOLDING IN SLOW MOTION&#8217;
Melissa made landfall in southwestern Jamaica, which was one of the areas worst-hit by last year&#8217;s Hurricane Beryl.
On Monday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness ordered mandatory evacuations for parts of southern Jamaica, including the historic town of Port Royal.
He warned of damage to farmlands, homes, and infrastructure on the island, which is roughly the size of Connecticut and whose main airports sit close to sea level.
&#8220;There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,&#8221; he said.
Holness said his government was as prepared as possible, with an emergency response budget of $33 million and insurance and credit provisions for damage a little larger than that sustained from Beryl.
Beryl was the earliest and fastest Atlantic hurricane on record to reach Category 5.
&#8220;Slow-moving major hurricanes often go down in history as some of the deadliest and most destructive storms on record,&#8221; said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter. &#8220;This is a dire situation unfolding in slow motion.&#8221;
(Reporting by Zahra Burton in Kingston, Sarah Morland in Mexico City, Dave Sherwood in Havana, Emma Farge in Geneva and Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; Writing by Brendan O&#8217;Boyle; Editing by Kirsti Knolle, Ros Russell and Rod Nickel)

A satellite view shows Tropical Storm Melissa, over the Caribbean Sea

Hurricane Melissa Makes Landfall As Jamaica’s Strongest-Ever Storm

landfall

TOKYO — Long associated with American ruggedness, pickup trucks such as Ford&#8217;s top-selling F-150 have now become a symbol of international trade talks, showing how far countries such as Japan will go to win over U.S. President Donald Trump.
When Trump met Japan&#8217;s new prime minister and first female premier, Sanae Takaichi, in Tokyo on Tuesday, an F-150 was parked prominently outside the Akasaka Palace venue.
Burly U.S. pickup trucks are a rare sight in the Japanese capital, where the streets are narrow and turns can be tight.
But the placement of the F-150, which is not typically available for sale in Japan, sent a clear message about Tokyo&#8217;s willingness to buy more cars from its ally, an issue that has been a sticking point for Trump for decades.
Last week, Reuters reported that Takaichi&#8217;s government was working on a package to buy F-150 trucks, an idea originally floated by Trump, as well as soybeans and gas.
&#8220;Well, that&#8217;s great. She has good taste,&#8221; Trump told reporters on Air Force One, when asked about the report. &#8220;That’s a hot truck.&#8221;
In August, Trump said Japan was ready to purchase the &#8220;very beautiful&#8221; F-150.
It was not clear how many F-150s Japan planned to buy.
Japanese government sources have told Reuters the trucks would probably end up being used as snow plows, given their size.
Japan and Europe, Trump has often argued, refuse to accept U.S. cars even as Japanese and European automakers sell millions of their vehicles each year in the United States.
The F-150 won&#8217;t be the first American car brought in to Japan to help ease trade friction. Three decades ago, Toyota responded to U.S. pressure by selling a mid-sized General Motors car under its own brand in Japan.
The Toyota Cavalier was introduced with much fanfare, sold poorly, and quietly faded after a few years, said John Shook, a former Toyota manager and an auto industry veteran in both Japan and the United States.
A third of the 3.7 million new cars sold in Japan last year were mini or &#8220;kei&#8221; cars, tiny vehicles that are not produced by American automakers.
Foreign cars accounted for 6% of new car sales overall, with European brands among some of the top sellers, industry data showed, while Ford itself pulled out of Japan almost a decade ago.
Separately, Trump said Toyota would open auto plants in the United States to the tune of $10 billion.
A Toyota spokesperson was not immediately available to comment on Trump&#8217;s remarks.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and David Dolan; Additional reporting by Maki Shiraki; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Ros Russell)

A Ford F-150 and a Toyota pickup truck are parked outside of Akasaka Palace, in Tokyo

Trump’s ‘Hot Truck’ Becomes Symbol Of Japan Trade Talks

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MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Wednesday it had carried out a major training exercise involving nuclear weapons, a day after the United States announced a delay in plans for a second summit between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
The Kremlin released video showing General Valery Gerasimov, head of the General Staff, reporting to Putin on the drills. They included practice launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are capable of striking the United States.
At key moments in the war in Ukraine, Putin has frequently issued reminders of Russia&#8217;s nuclear might as a warning signal to Kyiv and its allies in the West. NATO has also been conducting nuclear deterrence exercises this month.
Russia also launched 405 drones and 28 missiles at Ukraine in an overnight attack targeting energy infrastructure, Ukraine&#8217;s air force said on Wednesday.
Ukraine downed 16 missiles and 333 drones, and other missiles directly hit targets, it added.
TRUMP DOESN&#8217;T WANT WASTED MEETING
Putin and Trump spoke last week and agreed to hold a summit in Hungary that the Kremlin said could take place within a couple of weeks.
But following a phone call on Monday between the two countries&#8217; top diplomats, the White House said the next day that Trump had no plans to meet Putin &#8220;in the immediate future&#8221;. Trump said he did not want to have a wasted meeting &#8211; something Moscow also says it wants to avoid.
Russian officials said, however, that preparations continued for a summit.
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&#8220;The dates haven&#8217;t been set yet, but thorough preparation is needed before then, and that takes time,&#8221; Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The delay came after Russia reiterated to the U.S. its previous terms for reaching a peace deal, including that Ukraine cede control of the whole of the southeastern Donbas region, three sources told Reuters.
That amounted to a rejection of Trump&#8217;s statement last week that both sides should stop at the current front lines.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by state news agency RIA as saying he could not confirm that Moscow had conveyed its position as reported by Reuters.
&#8220;Preparations for the summit are continuing,&#8221; Ryabkov was quoted as saying. &#8220;I don&#8217;t see any major obstacles.&#8221;
He added: &#8220;It&#8217;s a difficult process, I admit – but that’s precisely what diplomats are for.&#8221;
Russia and Ukraine pounded each other with heavy overnight missile attacks as renewed uncertainty surrounded the U.S.-led peace effort.
Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday that Russian attacks had killed six people, including two children, in Kyiv and the nearby region, and forced power outages nationwide.
Ukraine&#8217;s military said late on Tuesday that it used Franco-British Storm Shadow air-launched missiles to strike a chemical plant in southern Russia&#8217;s Bryansk region.
SHARES IN EUROPEAN DEFENSE COMPANIES RISE
Through the first nine months of his second term, Trump has pressed for an end to the conflict, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two.
Sharply critical at times of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he has also expressed frustration and disappointment with Putin &#8211; but has not followed through on his repeated threats of new sanctions against Moscow.
Shares in European defense companies rose on news of the delay to the Putin-Trump summit. Most European governments strongly back Kyiv and have pledged to raise their military spending to help Ukraine meet its defense needs.
Zelenskiy was due to meet Sweden&#8217;s prime minister on Wednesday at the development and manufacturing center of Saab, which makes fighter jets, surveillance aircraft, missile systems and anti-tank weapons.
&#8220;Russian words about diplomacy mean nothing as long as the Russian leadership does not feel critical problems. And this can be ensured only through sanctions, long-range capabilities, and coordinated diplomacy among all our partners,&#8221; Zelenskiy said.
Ukraine said there were emergency power outages in most regions of the country as a result of the latest Russian attacks.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha appealed to Kyiv&#8217;s international partners to mobilize &#8220;additional energy support&#8221; to prevent a humanitarian crisis as winter approaches.
(Additional reporting by Kyiv and Moscow bureau. Writing by Mark Trevelyan. Editing by Peter Graff)

Aftermath of a Russian drone attack in Kharkiv

Russia Flexes With Nuclear Drills After Trump-Putin Summit Delay

Global Politics

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Ukraine

Ukraine-Russia War

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TOKYO — Conservative Sanae Takaichi was elected Japan&#8217;s first female prime minister on Tuesday, shattering a political glass ceiling for women and setting the country up for a decisive turn to the Right.
An acolyte of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and an admirer of Britain&#8217;s Margaret Thatcher, Takaichi is expected to return to Abe-style government stimulus as she attempts to jumpstart an economy struggling with slow growth and rising prices. Her victory marks a pivotal shift in a country where men hold overwhelming sway, yet she named just two women to her cabinet.
Takaichi is likely to make a sharp turn to the Right on immigration and defense, reflecting the broader rightward shift in global politics. In her first press conference, she promised to work tirelessly to restore Japan&#8217;s economic might, and deepen the relationship with the United States under President Donald Trump.
&#8220;I am determined to deliver results for the nation, to build a strong Japan and to never give up,&#8221; she said.
&#8220;I also plan to meet President Trump at an early date to elevate the Japan-U.S. relationship to new heights,&#8221; she said.
Her victory was secured after her Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan for most of postwar history, agreed on Monday to form a coalition with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin.
Together, the parties are two seats short of a majority in the lower house. For Takaichi to be successful, she will need to find ways to cooperate with opposition lawmakers, said Tadashi Mori, a professor of politics at Aichi Gakuin University.
“The two parties do not command a majority in either chamber and to ensure a stable government and gain control of key parliamentary committees, they will need to secure more than half the seats,” he said.
Takaichi named just two women to her cabinet: Fellow Abe disciple Satsuki Katayama becomes the country&#8217;s first female finance minister, while Kimi Onoda becomes economic security minister.
In her leadership campaign, she promised to boost the number of women in the cabinet to match socially progressive Nordic countries. But while the percentage of female ministers in Nordic governments ranges from Denmark&#8217;s 36% to Finland&#8217;s 61%, under Takaichi, women will make up only 16% of Japan&#8217;s cabinet, including her.
Takaichi takes over when Japanese politics appears more fractured than at almost any other time in recent memory, thanks in part to the rise of the smaller, hard-right Sanseito Party, which has siphoned voters away from the LDP.
Sanseito chief Sohei Kamiya said that both national politics and the LDP had been on a leftward drift since the assassination of former premier Abe in 2022. Takaichi, he told broadcaster NHK, could possibly reverse that.
&#8220;While we won’t hesitate to oppose her when necessary, we intend to maintain a friendly working relationship,” he said.
The LDP&#8217;s former coalition partner, the more moderate Komeito, broke up their 26-year-old alliance this month after the LDP chose the right-wing Takaichi as new leader.
Takaichi&#8217;s endorsement of Abe-style fiscal stimulus has prompted a so-called &#8220;Takaichi trade&#8221; in the stock market, sending the Nikkei share average to record highs, the most recent hit on Tuesday. However, it has also caused investor unease about the government&#8217;s ability to pay for increased spending when the debt load exceeds annual output. Both the yen and bond prices have weakened as a result.
Some analysts say Ishin, which has advocated for budget cuts, could restrain some of Takaichi&#8217;s spending ambitions.
Takaichi has said defense and national security would be core pillars of any administration she led.
A frequent visitor to the Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo, which some Asian neighbours view as a symbol of wartime aggression, Takaichi has also called for a revision of Japan’s postwar pacifist constitution to recognize the existence of the nation’s military forces.
Rising political star Shinjiro Koizumi will serve as defense minister, while veteran lawmaker Toshimitsu Motegi will be foreign minister.
Takaichi was sworn in as Japan&#8217;s 104th prime minister on Tuesday evening, succeeding Shigeru Ishiba, who last month announced his resignation to take responsibility for election losses.
(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura, Tim Kelly, Kantaro Komiya, Yoshifumi Takemoto, Satoshi Sugiyama and Kentaro Okasaka; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Kate Mayberry and Hugh Lawson)

Japanese lawmakers vote to elect the new prime minister, in Tokyo

In Historic Win, Conservative Sanae Takaichi Becomes Japan’s First Female Prime Minister

conservative

Sanae Takaichi

The Trump administration on Monday cracked down on companies in China and other countries that use subsidiaries or other foreign affiliates to get around curbs on chipmaking equipment and other goods and technology.
The Commerce Department issued a new rule expanding its restricted export list, known as the Entity List, to automatically include subsidiaries owned 50 percent or more by a company on the list, according to a posting in the U.S. Federal Register. The action greatly increases the number of companies that require licenses to receive American goods and services.
The rule is likely to disrupt supply chains. It will also make it more difficult for companies to determine whether exports to a customer or supplier are restricted. According to the rule, certain transactions may be allowed for 60 days.
China&#8217;s Commerce Ministry strongly criticized the rule.
&#8220;This move by the U.S. is extremely egregious in nature,&#8221; the ministry said in a statement. &#8220;It seriously infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of the affected enterprises, severely disrupts international economic and trade order and gravely undermines the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains.&#8221;
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The timing of the rule&#8217;s release is somewhat surprising, given that the U.S. and China are in the midst of trade talks. The action strengthens export controls on China, a contrast to the U.S.&#8217;s recent loosening of controls on AI chips to China, like Nvidia&#8217;s H20.
If a company is owned 50 percent or more by an entity on the list, licenses will be required for U.S. exporters to ship goods or technology to the subsidiary, just as they are for listed entities, with many licenses likely to be denied.
The affiliates rule is similar to the &#8220;50 percent rule&#8221; for entities sanctioned by the Treasury Department&#8217;s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Though companies around the world are on the Entity List, the change will most significantly impact Chinese entities, experts said. Factories that produce legacy chips and are affiliated with listed companies may be captured, as well as other sectors, including aircraft, they said.
Chinese tech giant Huawei, video surveillance company Hikvision, and drone manufacturer DJI are three examples of companies that may be impacted, one expert said. Many Huawei subsidiaries are already on the list, but not all.
An analysis by Kharon, a Los Angeles-based data and analytics company, found the expected rule could pull thousands of hidden subsidiaries in nearly 100 destinations around the world into &#8220;export-control crosshairs.&#8221;
&#8220;While Russia and China account for the majority of subsidiaries tied to already-listed entities, Kharon&#8217;s analysis uncovered that hundreds more are located in major trade and finance hubs &#8211; including the EU, the United States, the UK, Singapore, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, Australia and India,&#8221; the company said in a brief in June in anticipation of the rule.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld. Additional reporting by the Beijing newsroom. Editing by Doina Chiacu, Chris Sanders, William Maclean)

Bahrain’s King Hamad Al Khalifa Visits China

Trump Admin Expands Export Blacklist In Crackdown On China

China

Trump Administration

Xi Jinping

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. could lift sanctions on Turkey and allow it to buy U.S. F-35 jets as he kicked off talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday, but said he wanted Ankara to stop purchases of Russian oil.
Erdogan&#8217;s first visit to the White House in about six years started off with a warm welcome from Trump. Seated side by side in the Oval Office, Trump called Erdogan a &#8220;very tough man&#8221; and said they remained &#8220;friends&#8221; while his predecessor Joe Biden was in office.
Ankara is keen to leverage the friendly personal relationship to further national interests and benefit from a U.S. administration eager to make deals in return for big-ticket arms and trade agreements.
Still, Trump pressed Erdogan to cut off oil purchases from Russia, as he tries to put pressure on Russia&#8217;s sources for funding its war in Ukraine. Turkey, Hungary, and Slovakia are the main European purchasers of Russian oil.
&#8220;I&#8217;d like to have him stop buying any oil from Russia while Russia continues this rampage against Ukraine,&#8221; Trump said of Erdogan.
Asked whether he was willing to make a deal to sell F-35s to Turkey, Trump told reporters, &#8220;I think he&#8217;ll be successful in buying the things that he wants to buy. &#8220;Trump also said he could lift sanctions against Turkey &#8220;very soon,&#8221; and that &#8220;if we have a good meeting, almost immediately.&#8221;
The Biden administration had kept Turkey at arm&#8217;s length partly over what it saw as the fellow NATO member&#8217;s close ties with Russia. Under Trump, who has closer personal ties with Erdogan, Ankara is hoping for a better relationship.
Trump and Erdogan had a checkered relationship during the Republican president&#8217;s first term. But since his return to the White House, their interests have aligned on Syria &#8211; source of the biggest bilateral strain in the past &#8211; where the U.S. and Turkey now both strongly back the central government.
The mood shift has renewed Turkish hopes that Trump and Erdogan, who have exchanged mutual praise, can find a way around U.S. sanctions imposed by Trump himself in 2020 over Turkey&#8217;s acquisition of Russian S-400 missile defenses.
That, in turn, could pave the way for Ankara to buy Lockheed Martin&#8217;s advanced F-35 fighter jets, for which it was both a buyer and manufacturer until it was barred over the S-400s.
Erdogan has said the defense industry, including the topic of F-35s and ongoing negotiations over 40 F-16 jets Ankara also wants, would be a focus of the meeting, along with regional wars, energy, and trade.
Turkey, NATO&#8217;s second-largest army, wants to ramp up air power to counter what it sees as growing threats in the Middle East, Eastern Mediterranean, and the Black Sea, where it neighbours Russia and Ukraine.
Erdogan also told reporters that he was &#8220;ready to do whatever is needed from us&#8221; to reopen an Orthodox Christian seminary that was shut by the Turkish state in 1971 and has remained a source of contention with Greece and the European Union ever since.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual head of Orthodox Christians worldwide based in Istanbul, also met with Trump in Washington this month and was quoted as saying he hopes the theological school on Heybeliada Island can accept students next year.
Turkey, which is overwhelmingly Muslim, has in the past resisted reopening the seminary near Istanbul despite years of pressure from the European Union, which it aspires to join.
Erdogan said he would discuss the issue with Bartholomew when he returns to Turkey.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara, Jonathan Spicer and Daren Butler in Istanbul, and Mike Stone in Washington; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Humeyra Pamuk and Deepa Babington)

Turkey’s President Erdogan visits White House, in Washington

Trump Presses Erdogan To Stop Buying Russian Oil, May Lift Sanctions On Turkey

F-35

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey

White House

President Donald Trump plans to impose a new $100,000 application fee for H-1B worker visas, a White House official said, potentially dealing a big blow to the technology sector that relies heavily on skilled workers from India and China.
As part of his broader immigration crackdown, the Republican president was expected to sign a proclamation as early as Friday restricting entry under the H-1B visa program unless the application fee is paid, the official said.
Reuters was not immediately able to establish details of who the fee would apply to or how it would be administered.
The H-1B program has become a major flashpoint between Trump&#8217;s conservative base and the tech industry that contributed millions of dollars to his presidential campaign.
Critics of the program, including many U.S. technology workers, argue that it allows firms to suppress wages and sideline Americans who could do the jobs. Supporters, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, say it brings in highly skilled workers essential to filling talent gaps and keeping firms competitive.
The $100,000 fee could significantly push up costs for companies. While the new fees may not deter Big Tech, which routinely spends heavily to secure top talent, they could squeeze smaller tech firms and start-ups.
Roughly two-thirds of jobs secured through the program are computer-related, government figures show, but employers also use the visa to bring in engineers, educators, and health care workers.
India was the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas last year, accounting for 71% of approved beneficiaries, while China was a distant second at 11.7%, according to government data.
In the first half of 2025, Amazon.com had more than 10,000 H-1B visas approved, while Microsoft and Meta Platforms had over 5,000 H-1B visa approvals each.
Shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp, an IT services company that relies extensively on H-1B visa holders, as well as U.S.-listed shares of Indian tech firms Infosys and Wipro, fell more than 2% each.
Microsoft declined to comment. The other companies, the Indian embassy in Washington, and the Chinese Consulate General in New York did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Since taking office in January, Trump has kicked off a wide-ranging immigration crackdown, including moves to limit some forms of legal immigration. The move to reshape the H-1B visa program represents his administration&#8217;s most high-profile effort so far to rework temporary employment visas.
The H-1B program offers 65,000 visas annually to employers bringing in temporary foreign workers in specialized fields, with another 20,000 visas for workers with advanced degrees.
Under the current system, H-1B applicants pay a small fee to enter a lottery and, if selected, subsequent fees that can amount to several thousand dollars depending on the case. Nearly all the visa fees have to be paid by the employers. The H-1B visas are approved for a period of three to six years.
Last month, the U.S. launched a pilot program allowing consular officers to demand bonds of up to $15,000 for tourist and business visas from countries with high overstay rates or limited vetting data, a Federal Register notice said.
That followed Trump&#8217;s June travel ban restricting entry from 19 nations, part of a broader immigration push that has already deterred some visitors and driven down transatlantic airfares.
Trump&#8217;s first-term administration issued several regulations that aimed to limit access to the visas and give them to higher-paying employers, but the regulations were blocked in federal court.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington, Dheeraj Kumar in Bengaluru, and Aditya Soni and Greg Bensinger in San Francisco; additional reporting by Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by Rosalba O&#8217;Brien)

Donald Trump Signs Memorandum In The Oval Office

Trump To Impose $100,000 Fee For H-1B Worker Visas, White House Says

Illegal Immigation

Immigration

India

BOSTON (Reuters) — A federal judge on Wednesday ruled U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration unlawfully terminated about $2.2 billion in grants awarded to Harvard University and can no longer cut off research funding to the prestigious Ivy League school.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, in Boston marked a major legal victory for Harvard as it seeks to cut a deal that could bring an end to the White House&#8217;s multi-front conflict with the nation&#8217;s oldest and richest university.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based school became a central focus of the administration&#8217;s broad campaign to leverage federal funding to force change at U.S. universities, which Trump says are gripped by antisemitic and &#8220;radical Left&#8221; ideologies. Burroughs, however, said that the Trump administration used allegations of antisemitism on campuses as “a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.”
Three other Ivy League schools stuck deals with the administration, including Columbia University, which in July agreed to pay $220 million to restore federal research money that had been nixed because of allegations the university allowed antisemitism to fester on campus.
As with Columbia, the Trump administration took actions against Harvard related to the anti-Israel protests that roiled its campus and other universities in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
Trump during an August 26 Cabinet meeting demanded Harvard pay &#8220;nothing less than $500 million&#8221; as part of a settlement. &#8220;They’ve been very bad,&#8221; he told Education Secretary Linda McMahon. &#8220;Don&#8217;t negotiate.&#8221;
Among the earliest actions the administration took against Harvard was the cancellation of hundreds of grants awarded to researchers on the grounds that the school failed to do enough to address harassment of Jewish students on its campus.
The Trump administration has since sought to bar international students from attending the school; threatened Harvard&#8217;s accreditation status; and opened the door to cutting off more funds by finding it violated federal civil rights law.
Harvard has said it has taken steps to ensure its campus is welcoming to Jewish and Israeli students, who it acknowledges experienced &#8220;vicious and reprehensible&#8221; treatment following the onset of Israel&#8217;s war in Gaza.
But Harvard President Alan Garber has said the administration&#8217;s demands went far beyond addressing antisemitism and unlawfully sought to regulate the &#8220;intellectual conditions&#8221; on its campus by controlling who it hires and who it teaches.
Those demands, which came in an April 11 letter from an administration task force, included calls for the private university to restructure its governance, alter its hiring and admissions practices to ensure an ideological balance of viewpoints and end certain academic programs.
After Harvard rejected those demands, it accused the Trump administration of retaliating against it in violation of First Amendment free speech protections by abruptly cutting funding the school says is vital to supporting scientific and medical research.
Burroughs in a separate case has already barred the administration from halting its ability to host international students, who comprise about a quarter of Harvard&#8217;s student body.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; editing by Amy Stevens and Lincoln Feast)

Harvard

Obama-Appointed Judge Blocks Trump’s Freeze On Harvard’s Federal Funding

antisemitism

Ivy League

WASHINGTON/NAIROBI — Rwanda received seven migrants deported from the United States earlier this month, the government spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday, weeks after the two countries reached an agreement for the transfer of up to 250 people.
&#8220;The first group of seven vetted migrants arrived in Rwanda in mid-August,&#8221; Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said in a statement.
&#8220;Three of the individuals have expressed a desire to return to their home countries, while four wish to stay and build lives in Rwanda. Regardless of their specific needs, all of these individuals will receive appropriate support and protection from the Rwandan government.&#8221;
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
U.S. President Donald Trump has taken a strong approach toward immigration, aiming to deport millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally and seeking to ramp up removals to third countries.
In early August, Rwanda and the United States entered an agreement for Rwanda to take in up to 250 migrants, with Washington sending to Rwanda an initial list of 10 people to be vetted.
Rwanda has, in recent years, positioned itself as a destination country for migrants that Western nations would like to remove, despite concerns by rights groups that Kigali does not respect basic human rights.
The Trump administration says that third-country deportations help quickly remove some migrants, including those with criminal convictions. Supporters of the Trump administration&#8217;s immigration policies see third-country removals as a way to deal with offenders who cannot easily be deported and could pose a threat to the public.
Critics argue that the deportations are dangerous and cruel, since people could be sent to countries where they could face violence, have no ties, and do not speak the language.
Makolo said earlier this month that under the agreement reached with Washington, migrants deported to Rwanda would be provided with workforce training, healthcare, and accommodation.
On Thursday, Makolo said that those deported to Rwanda were accompanied by an international organization and receiving visits by the International Organization for Migration and Rwandan social services.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and George Obulutsa; Additional reporting by Nairobi Newsroom; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

FILE PHOTO: Rwanda government spokesperson to hold press briefing in Kigali

Rwanda Received Migrants Deported From the U.S. Earlier This Month

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