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Jun 26, 2026 - World

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner's secret resort deal on Albania's only island has sparked a mass revolt that now threatens to bring down the country's entire government.Kushner's private equity firm, Affinity Partners, quietly secured rights to build a $1.6 billion luxury resort on Sazan Island — a protected Adriatic nature preserve — and a $4 billion coastal development on a nearby wildlife reserve.The Albanian government granted the project special investor status, bypassed public tenders, and stripped the land of its protected status — all without disclosing the deal to parliament or the public, WIRED reported.Heavy machinery rolled in without permits, private security guards dragged away environmental protesters on video, and what critics describe as an alleged "land grab" went viral overnight, the report said.Hundreds of thousands of Albanians have since flooded the capital, Tirana, under signs reading "Albania is not a Gucci bag on sale," according to WIRED. The movement calls itself the Flamingo Revolution, named after the birds whose protected habitat is under threat of destruction.Now protesters aren't just demanding the resort be stopped, they want Prime Minister Edi Rama's resignation, a caretaker government, and early elections — a full governmental reset that would put every elected official's job on the line.Ivanka Trump told a podcaster she and Kushner stumbled onto Sazan by accident during a 2021 yacht trip. "We were on a friend's boat, and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that's how we found it," she said, according to PBS NewsHour. Dea Dervishi, an Albanian student, had a pointed response: "She said she discovered the island, but the island belongs to us."A U.S. Senate investigation found Affinity has pocketed roughly $157 million in fees from foreign governments — including $87 million from Saudi Arabia — while generating zero return for investors.Kushner simultaneously serves as the president's Middle East envoy. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) called it "a glaring and incurable conflict of interest."Albania's special anti-corruption prosecutors have opened a formal probe and frozen developer assets. It's a pattern critics recognize: Kushner ran the same play in Serbia, where four government officials were charged with corruption to enable his resort deal. He withdrew from that project in December 2025.Protesters are organizing a nationwide mobilization on Saturday and are demanding early elections that would put every elected official's job on the line.

Jun 26, 2026 - World

Fears hard-won gains in reducing child mortality over 20 years are at risk after end of USAID funding for nutrition programmesChild malnutrition in Nepal has reached “alarming” levels, according to the largest ever survey of under-fives in the country.The new figures came just over a year after USAID, the former US flagship agency closed by the Trump administration in 2025, stopped funding work on child nutrition in Nepal. Continue reading...

Jun 25, 2026 - World

Iran has discussed plans with its neighbors to extract billions from the global economy by setting up permanent tolls in the Strait of Hormuz—a direct result of President Trump's disastrous war that handed Tehran unprecedented leverage over the world's most critical oil artery.According to the Wall Street Journal reporting, Iranian officials are boasting to Middle Eastern neighbors that a lucrative new revenue stream is imminent. The Islamic Republic estimated that charging for "security, safety, and environmental services" in the strait could generate $40 billion annually for "participating states."The scheme would represent a dramatic reversal of pre-war conditions. Iran has positioned itself to control and monetize the "global shipping chokepoint" it effectively seized when the war began, causing worldwide pain.To gain regional buy-in, Tehran pitched the toll arrangement throughout the Middle East and to Beijing, proposing that Persian Gulf neighbors share in the revenue, with the Journal noting the model "mirrors" Turkey's system in the Dardanelles, where ships pay a tax known as the gold franc for passage."Everyone needs to know that management of the strait will never return to the way it was before," declared Iran's chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, during a visit to Oman on Tuesday to discuss the arrangements, the Journal reported.According to the report, "The number of ships crossing the strait on Wednesday reached its highest since the war began, with around 70 crossings, according to ship trackers, whose estimates vary. On average, before the war, 130 oil tankers went through the neck of the Persian Gulf each day."Secretary of State Marco Rubio attempted to push back during a Middle East trip this week, insisting that tolls or fees represent an unacceptable precedent that would "spread like a contagion and cause chaos.""No country on earth has the right to charge for the use of international waterways, and that will never be an acceptable condition of any deal," Rubio said in Bahrain, claiming Persian Gulf countries have rejected the toll idea.However, the Journal reported Rubio's objections may prove toothless, noting, "The 60-day deal to end the fighting and reopen the waterway puts Iran in charge of demining it and insists on toll-free passage for ships in that time. But the document also gives Iran, which doesn’t recognize maritime law governing the strait, a say in the future management of the shipping chokepoint."

Nov 21, 2025 - World

The Queen's coffin will lie in state at Westminster Hall until her funeral on Monday.View Entire Post ›

Sep 20, 2024 - World

The Brazilian “King of Football” had been treated for colon cancer since 2021.View Entire Post ›