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Fear of Trump 'blow-up' has NATO officials on edge as talks set to begin

NATO allies admitted they will tiptoe around Donald Trump at this week's summit in Ankara, and they're not even trying to hide it, according to a report from Politico.European diplomats are pulling out all the stops to prevent a Trump "blow-up," using what one called "Trump management." Speaking with Politico, diplomats were upfront about tactics to be used: lavish praise on defense spending increases, avoid divisive topics, and signal "unwavering" support on Iran policy. In other words: whatever it takes to keep Trump satisfied."There's no alternative how to approach him but to be diplomatic and not to extremely offend him and saying that we're stepping up," Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken told Politico. "That's what we need to do and that's what we're doing."One senior NATO diplomat bluntly added, "The aim is to keep one person happy and satisfied"The problem is that Trump has a reputation for being fundamentally unpredictable. Grievances over defense spending, U.S. base access, defense funding, and the volatile Iran ceasefire could all ignite an explosion at any moment. "If this conflict flares up again — which can't be ruled out — and then Trump again puts [out] statements that Europeans should step up," explained Gerlinde Niehus, a security expert and longtime NATO official, "then that topic would of course overshadow everything else."Last week, Trump again attacked European allies over their defense commitments by writing on Truth Social: "Ridiculous for the U.S.A. to continue along this one-sided path when the relationship is not reciprocal."Even worse, German officials are now bracing for Trump to potentially derail the entire summit by demanding Europe contribute to a purported €300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran. That demand alone could explode the fragile consensus NATO has been working to maintain, Politico is reporting.

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Dowry murders in India no longer spark public anger or debate, study finds

Thousands of women are killed in dowry disputes each year, despite the practice being banned in 1961Dowry deaths in India no longer provoke the public anger they once did, despite thousands of women’s lives still being lost every year, according to new research.The killings – women who are murdered or driven to suicide following dowry disputes between families – have also faded from political debate, despite an increase in cases. Continue reading...

Rubio threatens to accost Belgium at NATO summit in Trump soccer scandal escalation

Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened to escalate the controversy over President Donald Trump's intervention in a U.S, soccer player's suspension by using an upcoming NATO summit to focus on it.While meeting with Chilean Foreign Minister Francisco Perez Mackenna on Monday, Rubio was asked about Belgium's appeal of FIFA's decision to reverse U.S. player Folarin Balogun's suspension ahead of the World Cup match with Belgium."It was a bad decision," Rubio said of the suspension. "I think it was the right decision to reverse it.""And if you're Belgium, why would you want to play a game and win a match, and then you win this match, and then everyone will argue you didn't really win it because their best player, leading scorer, was not on the pitch during that — during the match?" he continued. "You want the other side to be at its best so that your victory is not tainted in that way."The U.S. Secretary of State went on to claim that Belgium might be "trying to get an international incident.""I don't know; maybe we'll bring it up at NATO tomorrow when we're there with the Belgians and everybody else," he warned. "But I just hope the match will go on, everyone will be at full strength, and the winner will be the winner."

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‘Living like this is agony’: Cuba suffers third nationwide blackout in six months

Impoverished island was already struggling to keep the lights on before the US imposed a blockade in JanuaryCuba on Monday suffered its third nationwide power outage since the start of the year, the state electricity company said.The impoverished island was already struggling to keep the lights on before the US president, Donald Trump, imposed an oil blockade in January, which has depleted the already dwindling supply of fuel for Cuba’s power plants. Continue reading...

Trump 'preference' for 'white people' costs him in blistering court ruling

A federal judge blocked part of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, citing the president's own "preference" for white immigrants.U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley of the Southern District of Ohio issued the ruling Monday, blocking three U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services policies that had frozen green card and work permit applications for people from seven countries."This general hostility to immigration contrasts with an apparent interest in and preference for the migration of white people," Marbley wrote. "Aside from a stated desire for more Scandinavian immigration, President Trump has sought to welcome white South Africans."From October 2025 through May 2026, the ruling notes, 6,665 of the 6,668 refugees admitted to the U.S. were from South Africa.At a December 2025 rally in Pennsylvania, Trump asked: "Why can't we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few?... Send us some nice people.""In sum, both the President and the Vice President have publicly and repeatedly expressed outright hostility toward immigrants, both before and after the 2024 presidential election," the judge wrote, finding the pattern impossible to ignore."Their ire appears focused on immigrants from countries in the Caribbean, South America, Africa, and Asia," he added.Trump has claimed that white South African farmers face a "genocide" and made their plight a priority. "Farmers are being killed," he told PBS in May 2025. "They happen to be white."The administration has since proposed raising the U.S. refugee cap to 17,500 — with the additional 10,000 slots reserved exclusively for white Afrikaners."We are processing resettlement cases for white Afrikaners at a record pace," Sharif Aly, president of the International Refugee Assistance Project, told Democracy Now!. "This program has never been a fast program, and it's being expedited for just this one population."Marbley also cited Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan's dissent in a recent immigration case, calling Trump's statements about certain countries "repellent and racially inflected" — including his claim that immigrants from those nations are "poisoning the blood" of the United States.The ruling is the 11th of its kind. At the hearing, the government told the judge it expected to lose — and spent its argument focused only on how narrow the remedy should be.