NEWS

U.S. President Donald Trump has sued the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department for $10 billion over the disclosure of his tax returns to the media in 2019 and 2020. The president sued alongside his two oldest sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and the Trump Organization. The complaint names the IRS and the Treasury Department as defendants. In a complaint filed in Miami federal ‍court, Trump, his adult sons, and his namesake company said the agencies failed to take “mandatory precautions” to prevent former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn from leaking their tax returns to “leftist media outlets”, including the New York Times and ProPublica. The plaintiffs said they suffered “significant and irreparable harm” to their reputations and financial interests, and ma...

The son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway has gone on trial on r@pe charges. Marius Borg Hoiby, Mette-Marit's 29-year-old son from a relationship before she married Crown Prince Haakon, has been charged with a total of 38 counts, some of which date back to 2018. He faces up to 16 years in prison if the Oslo district court finds him guilty. The trial, scheduled to last until March 19, is expected to attract intense media coverage. "When it comes to the Norwegian royal family, it is without a doubt the biggest scandal" in its 120-year history, Trond Noren Isaksen, a historian and expert on Norway's monarchy, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). "There have been controversies surrounding the choice of spouses, about renovations of the palace and these kinds of thi...

French lawmakers on Wednesday, Jan. 28, unanimously approved a bill seeking to end the notion of "marital duty" following criticism from women's rights groups that it undermines s£xual consent and enables marital r@pe. The text – backed by more than 120 MPs in the lower house National Assembly – clarifies in the civil code that cohabitation does not create any obligation for spouses to have sexual relations. The cross-party bill will now have to go through the Senate upper chamber for approval. The French civil code lists four duties attached to marriage – fidelity, support, assistance and cohabitation – but it does not mention s£xual obligation.  However, older court rulings sometimes interpreted cohabitation as implying a "share...

South Africa’s major cinema chains have withdrawn a documentary on US First Lady Melania Trump just days before its scheduled release, with the local distributor citing “the current climate” as the reason. The documentary, titled Melania, was absent from the listings of Nu Metro and Ster Kinekor cinemas on Thursday, January 29, a day ahead of its planned international release on January 30. Local media reports indicated that the South African distributor, Filmfinity, had abruptly dropped the film. According to the distributor’s head of marketing, Thobashan Govindarajulu, the decision was taken due to the prevailing climate in the country, although no further clarification was provided. Attempts to obtain additional details from the company were unsuccessful. Nu Metro later confirm...

China has carried out the execution of 11 individuals linked to cyber scam centres operating in Myanmar, including figures authorities described as key members of the criminal network, according to reports from state media. The executed individuals were identified as members of the Ming family crime syndicate and were convicted of several serious offences, including intentional homicide, large-scale fraud and running illegal gambling operations. State broadcaster China Central Television reported that the group played a central role in cross-border online and telecommunications scam activities. Cyber scam networks worth billions of dollars have grown rapidly across Southeast Asia, particularly in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has noted that ...

A twin-propeller aircraft carrying 15 people, including a Colombian lawmaker, Diogenes Quintero, crashed in a mountainous region near the Venezuelan border. According to AFP, the aircraft departed from the border city of Cúcuta and lost contact with air traffic control shortly before it was scheduled to land in the nearby town of Ocaña at about 5:00 p.m. GMT on January 28. “There are no survivors,” an official of the aviation authority told AFP. The plane was carrying 13 passengers and two crew members.  The government deployed the Colombian Air Force to locate the aircraft and recover the bodies. Local parliamentarian Wilmer Carrillo expressed concern over the incident, saying, “We have received with concern the information about the air accident in which my colleague, Diogenes Quinter...

A London bus driver who chased down and restrained a thief after a passenger was robbed has been dismissed from his job, despite police finding that his actions were lawful and proportionate. Mark Hehir was driving the 206 bus between Wembley and Maida Vale in June 2024 when a man boarded the vehicle, snatched a necklace from a female passenger and fled. Acting instinctively, Hehir left the bus and pursued the suspect, successfully recovering the necklace and returning it to the victim. However, because the driver left the bus unattended with the engine running while he chased the suspect, Metroline, the company he had worked for for two years, initiated disciplinary proceedings, accusing him of bringing the company into disrepute. According to tribunal evidence, the suspect later...

The Rwandan government is claiming it is owed £100m by the UK over payments due under an asylum agreement cancelled by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Rwanda has filed an international arbitration case, arguing the UK has breached the terms of the deal to send some asylum seekers to the east African nation. Under the deal, which was signed by the previous Conservative government, the UK agreed to make payments to Rwanda to host asylum seekers who had arrived illegally in Britain. In a statement, Rwanda’s government said it had decided to pursue claims in arbitration after facing the UK’s “intransigence on these issues”. A Home Office spokesperson said: “The previous government’s Rwanda policy wasted vast sums of taxpayer time and money. “We will robustly defend ou...

Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, says his administration is steadily building a new Edo State anchored on effective governance, large-scale infrastructure development and economic growth. Governor Okpebholo made the statement on Thursday while speaking to journalists after inspecting several ongoing road and drainage projects across the Edo South Senatorial District. He expressed satisfaction with the quality and speed of work on the projects, particularly those along Sapele Road and its adjoining corridors, noting that the visible changes reflect his government’s commitment to transforming the state’s development landscape. “We inspected many projects today and work is progressing steadily. I am particularly impressed with what we have seen so far, especially along S...

US President Donald Trump has instructed his team to significantly expand the details of his public schedule, a move aimed at countering growing scrutiny over his energy levels and workload as he approaches 80. In recent months, vague entries such as signing ceremonies, policy discussions and meetings with industry executives, many of them held behind closed doors, have increasingly appeared on the daily schedule released to the media each night. According to sources familiar with the decision, the changes were deliberate and personally directed by Trump. Despite frequent public appearances, some lasting several hours, Trump had grown irritated by reports suggesting his days were lighter than during his first term. Analyses of his official schedule had fueled speculation about his he...