All posts tagged: ties

Indonesia’s Board of Peace dilemma: Prabowo caught between domestic backlash and US ties

Indonesia’s Board of Peace dilemma: Prabowo caught between domestic backlash and US ties

Published by Sam Flores

JAKARTA: When Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto accepted the United States’ invitation to join the Board of Peace (BoP) on Jan 22, he cast it as a strategic step to achieve lasting world peace and elevate Indonesia’s global standing as a middle power. But public scepticism of Indonesia’s BoP participation has grown in the wake of the US-Israeli war on Iran and the death of three Indonesian peacekeepers in Lebanon last month.  The board was originally established to oversee post-conflict reconstruction in Gaza. With politicians, including figures from Prabowo’s own coalition, now urging a reassessment of Indonesia’s membership, observers say the president risks being caught between domestic backlash and preserving ties with the US. “The Board of Peace has become the Board of Problems,” declared Teuku Rezasyah, an international relations lecturer at Indonesia’s President University. LATEST PUBLIC SENTIMENTS Over half of respondents in a survey conducted last month disagree with Indonesia’s decision to join the BoP.  Conducted by three Indonesian research companies, the survey found that 50.9 per cent of more than 1,000 respondents disagreed with Indonesia’s decision …

Judge Dismisses Trump’s B Lawsuit Against WSJ, Murdoch Over Reporting on Ties to Epstein

Judge Dismisses Trump’s $10B Lawsuit Against WSJ, Murdoch Over Reporting on Ties to Epstein

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles in Florida wrote in the order that Trump had failed to make the argument that the article was published with the intent to be malicious, but gave the president a chance to file an amended complaint. In a social media post several hours after the ruling, Trump said the decision “is not a termination” but rather a “suggested re-filing” of his “powerful case,” which Trump said would be done “on or before April 27th.” Trump filed the lawsuit in July, following up on a promise to sue the paper almost immediately after it put a new spotlight on his well-documented relationship with Epstein by publishing an article that described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper said bore Trump’s signature and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday. Attorneys for the newspaper and Murdoch had asked Gayles to rule that the article’s statements were true and therefore couldn’t be defamatory, but the judge wrote that “whether President Trump was the author of the Letter or …

Blumenthal presses sports leagues over betting ties and new integrity concerns

Blumenthal presses sports leagues over betting ties and new integrity concerns

Published by skeptic

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is stepping up scrutiny of how deeply betting companies are now woven into professional and college sports, warning that the trend could threaten both competitive fairness and fan safety. In a fresh round of letters, he asked major organizations, including the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association, to spell out exactly how they work with sportsbooks and newer prediction market platforms. The pervasive spread of sports betting is leading to addiction, personal bankruptcies, & mental health challenges. I'm proud to see young people speaking out on this rapidly growing issue impacting communities in CT & across the country. pic.twitter.com/u9m7nuJAKc — Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) March 30, 2026 His inquiry focuses on issues including game integrity, addiction, athlete safety, and compliance with state laws as gambling becomes more deeply embedded in sports. Blumenthal shares concerns about betting companies’ influence on sports integrity In a letter to MLB Commissioner Robert Dean Manfred Jr., Blumenthal sharply criticized the league’s ties to betting-related companies. …

Rubio pulls green cards of 3 Iranian immigrants with alleged ties to regime

Rubio pulls green cards of 3 Iranian immigrants with alleged ties to regime

Published by Sam Flores

The Trump administration has revoked green cards for three more Iranian immigrants with alleged ties to the regime, a week after arresting two relatives of slain Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani. The State Department said in a statement that Seyed Eissa Hashemi, Maryam Tahmasebi and their son were taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody,… Source link

Melania Trump denies ties with paedo Epstein in unexpected bombshell statement | World | News

Melania Trump denies ties with paedo Epstein in unexpected bombshell statement | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

Melania Trump has issued a bombshell statement denying any ties to the disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Esptein. Speaking in the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, Donald Trump’s wife and the US First Lady said: “To be clear, I never had relations with Epstein or his accomplice Maxwell. “I was never friends with Epstein. Donald and I were invited to the same parties as Epstein from time to time. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband by chance.” The bombshell statement was totally unexpected, as there had not been any recent revelations linking her to Epstein, who committed suicide while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in August 2019. Mrs Trump told the packed room: “I am not Esptein’s victim. I am not Epstein’s victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband by chance at a New York City party in 1998.” The US First Lady added she had seen “fake images and statements” linking her to the disgraced financier on …

Hungary and Russia struck 12-point plan for closer ties, documents show – POLITICO

Hungary and Russia struck 12-point plan for closer ties, documents show – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

While Orbán flaunts his close ties with the Kremlin, his electoral rival, Péter Magyar, has argued this is an Achilles’ heel, accusing the government of “outright treason” over its ties to Moscow. The December summit in Moscow was the 16th meeting of the Russian-Hungarian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation (IGC), which according to Russian state media was launched in 2005. The commission has met on a roughly annual basis in either Russia or Hungary since then — with a break between the 14th meeting in November 2021 and the 15th in September 2024. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. According to one of the documents, Russia and Hungary “addressed current issues of bilateral trade and economic cooperation, joint activities in the energy sector, industry, health care, agriculture, construction, and other areas of mutual interest, as well as in the cultural and humanitarian sphere” at the meeting in Moscow on Dec. 9, 2025. They also underscored the importance of “developing long-term, mutually beneficial ties between the two countries in areas of …

NYT Cuts Ties With Writer as Scrutiny of AI Content Grows

NYT Cuts Ties With Writer as Scrutiny of AI Content Grows

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Amid mounting scrutiny into AI usage creeping into the newspaper of record, the New York Times has cut ties with a freelance writer after discovering he turned to an AI model to help write a book review, The Guardian reports. A thudding prose style wasn’t the giveaway this time, but accidentally-cribbed work. The NYT was alerted to the issue by a reader who observed that a January review of “Watching Over Her” by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, written by author and journalist Alex Preston, bore remarkable similarities to a review of the same book by Christobel Kent that was published in The Guardian last August. After the NYT launched an investigation, Preston admitted he used an AI tool to help draft the review and failed to spot the sections that were pulled from The Guardian. In a statement to the British newspaper, which Preston has previously written for, Preston said he was “hugely embarrassed” and had “made a serious mistake.”  …

France denies blocking US flights as Israel cuts defence ties

France denies blocking US flights as Israel cuts defence ties

Published by Sam Flores

The office of President Emmanuel Macron, who is in Tokyo this week, said on Tuesday it was “surprised” by criticism from US President Donald Trump, who claimed France would not allow planes carrying military supplies to Israel cross its territory. Trump wrote on social media that France had been “very unhelpful” and said it would not let “planes headed to Israel, loaded up with military supplies, fly over French territory”. French officials said US aircraft can still cross French airspace under international rules, but must first obtain diplomatic clearance. Each flight is reviewed individually. The French presidency said its position had not changed since the start of the conflict. Europe confronts fragmented defence systems as pressure to rearm grows Airspace under scrutiny France has not imposed a blanket ban on military overflights to Israel or the Middle East, several sources told French daily Le Monde. The newspaper said both combat and logistical aircraft crossing French airspace must first obtain diplomatic clearance, and that each flight is assessed on a case by case basis. France has also hosted US …

Macron hails France-Japan ties after talks in Tokyo with PM Takaichi

Macron hails France-Japan ties after talks in Tokyo with PM Takaichi

Published by Sam Flores

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that he shared Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s position on the need to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, speaking alongside her on the second day of his visit to Tokyo. The two leaders were expected to discuss security and partnerships in the space sector, and planned to sign a roadmap on nuclear power in Japan, the Élysée Palace said ahead of Macron’s Asia trip, which will also include a visit to South Korea. The French president earlier praised Europe’s “predictability” during a meeting with Japanese business leaders, contrasting it with countries that “could hurt you without even informing you” in an apparent swipe at US President Donald Trump. Read moreMacron touts Europe’s ‘predictability’ during Japan visit in apparent swipe at Trump “I’m well aware that sometimes Europe can be seen as a continent that is slower than others,” Macron told the audience in Tokyo. “But predictability has value, and we have demonstrated that over all these past years and, dare I say, even these past weeks: we are where …