Far-right extremist from Stafford who discussed killing Jews, Muslims and migrants is jailed

• The United Nations appointed Kenya’s Martin Kimani as the Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, replacing Ghana’s Martha Pobee. • Kimani will lead political and peace operations across the continent, focusing on preventive diplomacy and mediation to resolve conflicts before they escalate.

• DeepSeek released Logic 2 in January 2025, causing U.S. tech stocks to lose approximately one trillion dollars in value. • China is leveraging open-weighting, or sharing the internal parameters of AI models, through the 29-country World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization and 5,000 training slots for developing nations.

• The conflict between the US and Iran is colliding with Yemen's long-term civil war, forcing more residents to flee their homes. • Economic collapse is compounding the hardship for millions of people already affected by the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

• The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Tuesday to address rising violence in Yemen and threats to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait shipping route. • UN agencies reported that nearly 100,000 people have been displaced since fighting intensified earlier this month, with thousands fleeing to Djibouti.

• Southeast Asia is experiencing a regional arms race characterized by military expansion and increased securitization across Myanmar, the Philippines, and Indonesia. • Intensified military operations and foreign defense cooperation in the Philippines and Indonesia have exacerbated local conflicts and humanitarian crises.

• The UN Secretary-General and the UN Mission in Libya welcomed the House of Representatives' endorsement of the Smaller Convening Agreement signed on August 30. • This endorsement serves as a formal step toward resolving the current political deadlock within the country.

• Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned an alleged drone attack attempt on Mecca and praised Saudi armed forces for stopping the strike. • The Prime Minister described the attempted attack by Yemen's Houthis as "dastardly and heinous."

• Saudi Arabia is struggling to balance military deterrence and diplomacy as conflict escalates with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. • The kingdom faces increasing security and economic pressures resulting from the ongoing instability in its neighboring country.

• A new UN Global Risk Report identifies the threat of a large-scale war as the top global fear among experts. • The report notes that this risk has shifted from a distant hypothetical to the primary concern in just two years.

• The United Nations appointed diplomat Martin Kimani as the Assistant Secretary-General for Africa to oversee political and peace operations across the continent. • Kimani will lead efforts to resolve conflicts through preventive diplomacy, mediation, and early warning analysis to address crises before they escalate.

• A Saudi-led coalition promised to respond firmly to recent Houthi strikes targeting urban areas within Saudi Arabia. • The coalition issued this warning following attacks launched by Houthi forces against populated centers.

A ‘generous wedding gift’ from a ‘dear friend’ raises questions not entirely answered by Bettina and Don Jr’s Instagram captionThis was originally published in This Week in Trumpland. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every WednesdayAnyone who has gotten married knows how the costs can rack up. There’s the venue, the photographers, the flowers, the cake, the napkins, the DJ (can you tell I got married earlier this year?), the disco ball that costs a barely believable $700, the outfits for the flower girls, the knives and forks, the tuxedo socks, which you previously didn’t know existed, the gifts for the best man and maid of honour, the events that you decided to throw before and after the day itself (honestly, it’s just a never-ending stream of people with their hands out), the seating chart that despite you making it yourself somehow ended up costing three figures, the chairs that you paid extra for because your now-wife didn’t like the colour of the ones the venue would have provided for free, the tanning moisturiser that you had to buy in two different shades because the first one made you look like a corpse, the teeth whitening, the Uber credit that you have a sneaking suspicion your best friend turned a profit on, the honeymoon and more (for the record, it was a lovely day and worth every penny).It almost makes one wish they had a recent acquaintance who is a Russian oligarch and a close Putin ally who is willing to spend, for no particular reason, hundreds of thousands of dollars to defray some of the costs.In response to detailed questions, a spokesperson for Trump Jr did not dispute the wedding payments from Kremlev. ‘Umar is a personal friend of Don,’ he said. The spokesman said that Kremlev is ‘not someone he has a business relationship with’ and that the men met through a mutual friend in the hunting world and bonded over their love of boxing and the outdoors. Continue reading...