Trump is giving Netanyahu his “COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT” ahead of the Oct 27 election: “Bibi will never let you down…” POTUS praised the PM as a “Great Warrior Prime Minister” and a strong partner against Iran.
His endorsement comes as Netanyahu’s Likud trails fmr. army chief Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party in the polls. For a moment, it seemed Trump would be happy to be rid of Netanyahu… But old habits die hard, I guess
Source: Truth Social / Writer: Marie
Trump:
France is burning! The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country.
Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late!
Oct 17, 2026
“It’s like a knife that can decide by itself whether to cut salad or commit murder,” says historian and one of the most influential public intellectuals, Yuval Noah Harari, about artificial intelligence. He argues that AI will become super-intelligent in a completely alien and non-human way. What will be the consequences? What can we do to avoid losing control? And how have social media algorithms hacked our evolutionary program?
File photo of US President Donald Trump signing an executive order. Photo Credit: POTUS, X
By RFE RL
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By Alex Raufoglu
US President Donald Trump has waived nearly all substantive sanctions, tariffs, and restrictions included in a bipartisan law aimed at pressuring Russia to end its war against Ukraine, prompting sharp criticism from Ukraine advocates and lawmakers from both parties who say the move undermines efforts to force Moscow to negotiate.
The legislation, known as the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, was signed into law by Trump in September. It was named posthumously for Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a prominent congressional supporter of Ukraine who died on July 11.
The law was designed to give the administration additional leverage over Russian President Vladimir Putin by authorizing tariffs of up to 100 percent on major purchasers of Russian oil and gas, including China and India, and providing for sanctions targeting Russian officials, financial institutions, and the country’s so-called shadow fleet of tankers used to circumvent existing restrictions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded on October 17 by saying that it was an unfortunate decision to backtrack on the sanctions at a time when “pressure is needed”
“At a time when the Russians have carried out such a massive attack on our energy sector, a decision was unfortunately made in America to completely disregard the Lindsey Graham Act, which was supposed to impose truly effective pressure on Russia to bring this war to an end,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “This Act could have helped enormously — and still can! But it needs to actually work, and every voice in support of it matters.”
“Russia is trying to cause a blackout in Ukraine — right before winter,” he said. “Russia is trying to leave millions of our people without electricity and heating. Pressure is needed to stop this. A U.S. sanctions blackout, easing pressure on the aggressor, financial rewards for Putin — all of this only encourages him to keep attacking.”
Trump’s decision to waive the measures has raised questions about whether his administration intends to use the economic pressure Congress sought to place on Moscow to compel an end to the war.
In the order, Trump said the legislation authorized him to waive the application of sanctions provisions against foreign individuals. He said he had submitted a certification to Congress that issuing the waiver was in the national interest.
The law also requires the administration to provide a report explaining the basis for that certification. The report must be submitted in unclassified form, although it may include a classified annex.
The White House has not publicly detailed, in the material provided for this report, the substantive justification for waiving the law’s major provisions.
Mykola Murskyj, director of advocacy at Razom for Ukraine, a US-based nonprofit supporting Ukraine, told RFE/RL that Trump had squandered an opportunity to increase pressure on Putin.
“Trump squandered a golden opportunity to bring peace to Ukraine,” Murskyj said.
He said lawmakers had spent months building bipartisan support for the legislation, which included tariffs on countries buying Russian oil, restrictions on purchases of Russian sovereign debt, and limits on new investments in Russia.
“All that has been erased in a late-night order Friday from the White House,” Murskyj said.
He also questioned the duration of the waivers. “Shockingly, these waivers don’t even have an expiration date,” he said.
Razom condemned the decision in a separate statement, saying that refusing to use the tools available to pressure Russia was a deliberate policy choice.
“Lacking the tools to end this war would be a tragedy. Having them and refusing to use them is a cruel policy choice,” said Daniel Balson, Razom’s director of advocacy.
Balson said the legislation had been painstakingly negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators working with White House officials over several months before winning substantial support in both chambers of Congress.
“Today’s implementation order signals to the Kremlin that it can continue its invasion,” he said, adding that Ukrainians would continue fighting despite mounting humanitarian and energy challenges.
In the week before the waiver, Russia reportedly launched more than 700 drones, along with ballistic and cruise missiles, against Ukrainian cities and power plants.
The decision has also raised questions about what explanation the Trump administration provided to Congress for setting aside the sanctions and tariff provisions.
Max Meizlish, a former official at the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control who is now deputy director of the Center on Economic and Financial Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told RFE/RL that the administration’s justification was now a central issue.
“The question now is what substantive justification the administration provided Congress for waiving virtually every major sanctions and tariff provision of legislation that passed with bipartisan support,” Meizlish said.
Under the law, the administration must submit a written certification that the waiver is in the national interest, along with a report explaining the basis for that determination. The reporting requirements are intended to provide Congress with an account of the reasoning behind the administration’s decision.
Separately, Section 113 of the law sets out requirements for providing written justification to relevant congressional committees in connection with the imposition of tariffs. Sources familiar with the matter told RFE/RL that the administration had missed an October 8 deadline related to those requirements.
The waiver also follows a separate decision by Trump to permit Russian diesel sales amid concerns over rising fuel prices and global supply shortages.
Trump said last week that Russia could immediately supply 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by another 500,000 tons in November and then 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.”
The waiver comes as the administration seeks to bring down US fuel prices ahead of November’s midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress. Energy prices have also been affected by the US war in Iran.
It has drawn criticism from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers who had supported the Graham legislation and urged the president to implement it fully, as well as from Ukraine and its European allies. Zelenskyy called it “a gift” for Putin.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat and co-author of the bill, accused Trump of siding with Putin and the networks that sustain Russia’s war effort.
“Donald Trump confirms again that he stands on the side of a bloodthirsty thug and the enablers of Russia’s war machine,” Blumenthal wrote on social media, arguing the decision ran counter to the views of most Americans, members of Congress, and European allies.
“These waivers have nothing to do with our national security, and everything to do with sucking up to Vladimir Putin,” he added.
Republican Representative Don Bacon also criticized the president’s move, saying: “The President is prolonging the war, not ending it.”
On October 16, Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced bipartisan legislation to block Trump’s proposed deal to buy diesel from Russia.
The deal “will hand Putin millions of dollars to continue slaughtering Ukrainian civilians with impunity,” Meeks said, urging Congress to pass the legislation.
RFE/RL journalists report the news in 21 countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established.
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News|Videos|October 9, 2026
Author(s)Mena Mirhom, MD, FAPA
A distinct presentation, a growing evidence base, and specialized clinical expertise support formally recognizing postpartum psychosis in the next DSM update.
Mena Mirhom, MD, FAPA, a board-certified psychiatrist and Psychiatric Times section editor, argued that postpartum psychosis should be considered for inclusion in the next iteration or update of the DSM. He said the Lindsay Clancy case and the national conversation around it raise the question for good reason.
The DSM-5-TR does not list postpartum psychosis as its own diagnosis. Clinicians instead apply a peripartum-onset specifier to mood disorders, or a postpartum-onset specifier to brief psychotic disorder. Both cover onset during pregnancy or within 4 weeks after delivery.1 Mirhom said the current evidence supports a more specific approach.
Mirhom cited 3 lines of evidence. The first is the nature of the condition itself, which presents in a nuanced and distinct way. The second is the growing research literature on postpartum psychosis. Researchers have described features that set it apart from other psychotic illnesses, including rapid onset in the early postpartum weeks, a strong link to bipolar disorder, and fluctuating, sometimes delirium-like symptoms.2
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The third is clinical expertise. Mirhom pointed to fellowships focused on peripartum care for women as evidence that the field already recognizes a specific body of knowledge. He said this expertise shows the need for a specifier and a defined approach to how clinicians study, treat, and work together to understand and support women with postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.
Mirhom said formal recognition in the DSM matters beyond classification. “Being able to put this on paper in our DSM facilitates [and] opens a door for us to be able to better study a subject, better address it as a psychiatric community,” he said. That recognition would support research, academic, and clinical work alike.
For these reasons, Mirhom said, the psychiatric community should consider advocating for postpartum psychosis to be included in the DSM. He described this as an important public health priority.
Dr Mirhom is past president of the New York County Psychiatric Society, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, a Forbes contributor, and chief wellbeing officer at Athletes for Hope.
References
1. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed, text revision. American Psychiatric Association Publishing; 2022.
2. Bergink V, Rasgon N, Wisner KL. Postpartum psychosis: madness, mania, and melancholia in motherhood. Am J Psychiatry. 2016;173(12):1179-1188.
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1867
Planet One Images/Universal Imag
Published: November 24, 2009 Last Updated: May 28, 2025
On October 18, 1867, the U.S. formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre. Indigenous peoples had settled the unforgiving territory thousands of years earlier. The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice the size of Texas, and was championed by William Henry Seward, the enthusiastically expansionist secretary of state under President Andrew Johnson.
Russia wanted to sell its Alaska territory, which was remote and difficult to defend, to the U.S. rather than risk losing it in battle with a rival such as Great Britain. Negotiations between Seward (1801-1872) and the Russian minister to the U.S., Eduard de Stoeckl, began in March 1867. However, the American public believed the land to be barren and worthless and dubbed the purchase “Seward’s Folly” and “Andrew Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden,” among other derogatory names. Some animosity toward the project may have been a byproduct of President Johnson’s own unpopularity. As the 17th U.S. president, Johnson battled with Radical Republicans in Congress over Reconstruction policies following the Civil War. He was impeached in 1868 and later acquitted by a single vote. Nevertheless, Congress eventually ratified the Alaska deal.
Andrew Johnson’s deal for the purchase of Alaska was initially mocked, but has since proven to be a monumental bargain for the nation.
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The name Alaska is derived from the Aleut word alyeska, which means “great land.” Alaska has two official state holidays to commemorate its origins: Seward’s Day, observed the last Monday in March, celebrates the March 30, 1867, signing of the land treaty between the U.S. and Russia, and Alaska Day, observed every October 18, marks the anniversary of the formal land transfer.
By: Jesse Greenspan
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Tina Gerhäusser 10/16/2026
Opposition parties have forced a debate in the Bundestag on the early-20th-century genocide Germany carried out in Namibia. Will this finally spur progress in addressing colonial crimes?
Gaob Daniel Timotheus Frederick was sitting in the front row of the visitors’ gallery in the Bundestag this week. Wearing a suit and hat, he had traveled all the way from Namibia to see this parliamentary debate unfold. For almost 120 years, his family had been waiting for the return of human remains of their ancestor, Cornelius Frederick (sometimes spelled Fredericks), who had led the Nama resistance against German colonial rule and died on Shark Island in Germany’s first concentration camp.
In the name of his great-grandfather and as a member of the Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA), Frederick was there to demand an “unconditioned apology” from Germany.
Sitting next to him, in uniform and white gloves, with a carved lion on the handle of his walking stick, was the head of the Ovaherero Traditional Authority, Paramount Chief Mutjinde Katjiua. Speaking before the Bundestag debate, the chief said: “We call upon the Bundestag to recognize unequivocally the genocides committed against the Ovaherero and Nama peoples.”
Jürgen Zimmerer, a professor of history at the University of Hamburg whose research focuses on Africa, told DW that the Bundestag and government lack the will to confront this era in German history. “There are Bundestag resolutions on the Armenian genocide, one on the Holodomor [in Ukraine], and one on the genocide against the Yazidis [by the “Islamic State” in Iraq]. But there is no recognition of the genocide against the Herero and Nama by the German Bundestag.” If there were any political will to do so, Zimmerer said, it could happen very quickly.
The socialist Left Party initiated the Bundestag debate by drafting a resolution calling for full recognition and compensation in collaboration with representatives of the descendants. The goal: “restorative justice.” Paramount Chief Katjiua has rejected the existing agreement between the Namibian and German governments. “Development aid cannot substitute for comprehensive reparations,” he said.
Since 2021, the governments have been negotiating a joint declaration that pledges €1.1 billion ($1.24 billion) in reconstruction aid to Namibia over 30 years. Once the agreement is signed, Germany’s president is set to issue a formal apology.
But the Foreign Ministry warned: “Legal claims to compensation cannot be derived from the recognition of genocide. With these negotiations — which are unique worldwide — Namibia and Germany have broken new ground and are pioneers in confronting their colonial past.”
Political scientist Andreas Mehler, the director of the Anton Bergstraesser Institute at the University of Freiburg, said the government’s plan sounded like “checkbook diplomacy.”
Zimmerer also said there was a financial calculation: “If we were to recognize an obligation to provide reparations to the families of those killed — given the millions of victims of World War II, the victims of the Germans — it would ruin us.”
Four lines in the 144 pages of the coalition agreement of the current German government — between the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — summarize the extent of the government’s commitment to reconciliation with Namibia.
“We will intensify our efforts to come to terms with colonialism,” the text reads. “This includes transnational research into artifacts and the restitution of cultural property in dialogue with the countries of origin. Particular attention will be paid to establishing a dignified memorial site and the repatriation of human remains.”
Compared with the efforts to address colonialism led by the SPD-led government from 2021 to 2025, “the issue has lost visibility,” said Alexander Stroh-Steckelberg, a professor of political scientist at the University of Bayreuth who specializes in Africa.
Zimmerer has an even more critical take: “I wouldn’t even call it a stalemate anymore. I believe this government is rolling back the progress that has been made in terms of raising awareness of colonial injustices.”
Much remains to be done, as far the descendants of the Ovaherero are concerned: The remains of tens of thousands of people are believed to still be in Germany. Gaob D. Timotheus Frederick and other descendants of the victims have been fighting to heal these wounds for generations.
In March, Germany established a coordination council, headed by the Foreign Ministry, which stated that the government did not wish to “dictate to the countries and societies of origin which cultural artifacts and human remains they should reclaim, what priorities they should set or how restitutions should be handled.”
Serap Güler, a state minister in the Foreign Ministry and the chair of the coordination council, defends the government’s actions so far. Recounting her own official trips — she has already been to Togo, and next week she plans to travel to Rwanda and Burundi — she said: “Everywhere I go, I receive recognition for our sincere and trusting approach to the past — as well as for our determined commitment to a future of freedom, security and prosperity.”
Zimmerer said Germany “has earned a reputation as a country that takes a critical view of its own history and learns from its mistakes” — which gives it “enormous cultural capital” on the world stage. But he is concerned that this capital is currently being squandered.
The government’s memorial policy does not appear to address colonialism. Zimmerer even detects an attempt to “marginalize German colonial crimes” in the recent proposal by Minister of State for Culture Wolfram Weimer to create a dignified memorial site in Bremen. He notes that victim groups have not been included in Weimer’s proposal and said the colonial capitals of the German Empire — Berlin and Hamburg — must also become sites of remembrance.
Ninety-five percent of the colonial troops set sail from Hamburg’s Baakenhafen, including Commander Lothar von Trotha, who issued the orders to exterminate the Ovaherero and Nama. According to Zimmerer, the fact that a new opera house — rather than a memorial site — is being built at Baakenhafen constitutes a staggering case of “art-washing of history.” Mehler also hopes that a productive debate on memorial sites will still take place and that, overall, “many more places will come to terms with colonial history.”
Meanwhile, Gaob D. Timotheus Frederick continues to call for a collective effort to come to terms with the past: “Let us give opportunity to the affected communities that are being represented by us to have a seat on the table to discuss with them the rest of the way.”
This article was originally written in German.
https://www.dw.com/webapi/iframes/widget/en/72492986
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Carolina Machhaus10/17/2026October 17, 2026
The “Houses of Hope” turn inclusive housing into a reality by encouraging integration. Here, people from both migrant and non-migrant backgrounds live together under one roof.
Germany’s“House of Hope” (or Hoffnungshaus in German) project is testing a different approach to refugee integration: bringing refugees and local Germans together under one roof. In Schwäbisch Gmünd, residents from different nationalities, religions and generations share everyday life, helping newcomers navigate everything from German customs to daily challenges.
Supporters say the model fosters belonging, reduces isolation and strengthens social cohesion through personal contact. While some neighbors initially feared the project, many have since become convinced that regular interaction is key to successful integration and preventing segregation.
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Federal agents are reportedly digging through Ilhan Omar’s trash for DNA. And that’s not even the whole story. The New York Times reports that investigators seized her sister Sahra Noor’s phone and are examining private family messages as part of a possible immigration fraud investigation. NewsNation reports that agents also collected garbage, apparently looking for DNA evidence. What they hope to prove remains unclear. Omar’s home has already been searched under a warrant, and relatives have reportedly received grand jury subpoenas. She denies wrongdoing and calls the investigation politically motivated. A case involving immigration paperwork from 26 years ago is now reaching into family texts, private homes and even the garbage outside. Writer: Oliver
https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/2111498268622631271/video/1
