TODAY

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a speech delivered on October 23rd, launched family support initiatives aimed at boosting Russia’s population. Essentially, the initiatives are not new ideas, but reiterating them demonstrates the Kremlin’s unprecedented and renewed commitment to the earlier promises of reversing population decline within the framework of creating investment opportunities and working for economic growth.

Putin, attending the first meeting of the Council for the Implementation of State Demographic and Family Policy, made several points, including the following:

– outlined concretely comprehensive steps and created conditions that enable the birth of as many children as possible in Russia. A family with three or more children should be considered as a minimum standard. At the same time, it is also essential to encourage students in the system of higher education to combine studies with family life.

– suggested, without delay, providing financial support for families as an underlying factor for strengthening the demographic policy. It is necessary to work on incentives such as maternity capital, preferential loans, flat-rate benefits for low-income families, and low-interest mortgages.

– trashed side, in absolute terms, migration to replace the native population, which often sacrifices national identity and culture, and, importantly, could cause internal political instability.

– advocated strongly for addressing the demographic challenge by supporting large family traditions and preserving genuine Russian family values.

It is important to regularly analyze the effectiveness of the measures in the sphere of family policy, improving the system of social support to make it as transparent as possible, understandable, and convenient for families with children. This approach guarantees the future, preserves the ethno-cultural balance in Russian society, and strengthens Russia’s sovereignty.

Demographic complexities and implications

There are several complications in Russia’s demography policy, although officials and demographers keep analyzing family support measures currently in effect and identifying and scaling up the most effective of them. At least, for the past decade, Russia’s approach has simply not been working perfectly well as expected. Accurate statistics and population surveys reflecting the realities are needed for correct managerial decisions.

There is a constant temptation to use maternity capital to resolve various other issues. Naturally, families with children always face many of them; they are endless. Considerable efforts have been taken to raise the level of population, but with little results. Russia’s population figures are seriously staggering, with researchers and demographers pegging it at approximately 142 million. 

In the first place, Russia has a relatively high death rate, influenced by health issues and lifestyle factors. In the second place, the birth rate has been declining over the years, contributing to a natural decrease in population. Third, emigration, especially among young professionals and specialists, is due to a lust for better economic and living conditions outside the Russian Federation.  

Moscow, the capital city of Russia, is currently under reconstruction. Alternatively, the city periphery (outskirts), the new micro-region where residential apartment blocks are undergoing construction, needs serious migrant labor. Moscow city mayor Sergey Sobyanin reiterated that the municipal administration needed 250,000 (a quarter of a million) to work on the construction sites (fields). In addition, many are required for tidying up the city. Sobyanin complained that there was a shortage of labor. St. Petersburg, the second largest city, and other major cities are constantly complaining and stuck with new construction projects.

On one hand, Putin, in his October 23rd speech, indicated categorically his opposition to raising population by naturalizing citizens from the Central Asian republics. On the other hand, Putin, during the second Russia–Central Asia Summit, held in Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe, considered aspects of agreements encompassing migration of Central Asian citizens to Russia as a logical continuation of the close partnership within the framework of regional collaboration. 

Regrettably, legalizing 1.5 million (the majority from former Soviet republics) and transferring them to the Arctic and Far East regions to boost employment and systematically engage this labor in the production spheres is extremely hard for the Russian government. A well-coordinated and controlled ‘immigration’ could be one of the surest ways to allow population growth and comprehensive sustainable development and economic growth. 

Russia’s Logical Decision

In Putin’s candid views: “Different countries respond to this demographic challenge in various ways, including encouraging uncontrolled and even chaotic migration to replace the native population.” As a result, nations often sacrifice national identity, culture, and internal political stability.

Therefore, Russia opposes migrants replacing the native population, as contained in the speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin. It was explicitly made clear that offsetting falling birth rates with immigration is destructive to internal stability and national identity. There stands the only option: Russia will support family values as the foundation of its society, rather than following in the footsteps of countries that try to solve demographic issues by replacing their native populations with “chaotic migration,” according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Nearly two dozen world leaders are descending in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur for a three-day summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from Sunday to Tuesday, and multiple other meetings on the sidelines.

This will be the 47th summit of the ASEAN.

Here’s what you need to know:

What is ASEAN, and who’s attending the summit?

ASEAN is made up of 10 members – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Together, they have a population of 678 million people and a gross domestic product of $3.9 trillion, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

This year, ASEAN will induct its 11th member, East Timor. The country gained independence from Indonesia in 2002 and is home to 1.4 million people.

The summit will bring together leaders from every country in the bloc except for Myanmar’s acting president, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

The ASEAN summit is accompanied annually by the East Asia Summit, a gathering of leaders of the ASEAN nations, the US, China, India, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

This year, US President Donald Trump, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, newly appointed Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will be attending.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak will represent Moscow while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take part virtually.

Beyond the leaders of ASEAN and the East Asia Summit nations, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will be in Kuala Lumpur too.

The heads of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the International Labour Organization and the International Federation of Association Football, better known as FIFA, will also attend some sessions, according to Bernama, Malaysia’s state news agency.

What events will take place during the summit?

Apart from the ASEAN summit and the East Asia Summit, ASEAN will also hold separate conclaves with leaders of key powers in Kuala Lumpur.

There’s also a peace deal to be signed on Sunday when Cambodia and Thailand ink a pact to end a deadly border dispute. The ceremony will be presided over by Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, according to Bernama.

The long-running border conflict rekindled in July when dozens of people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced along the border. A ceasefire was reached after five days with the help of Malaysia, China and the US.

Despite the high-profile nature of the event, some critics have questioned whether the deal will be more of a photo-op for Trump than a lasting resolution. Ceasefire violations have continued since July while the original issue around border demarcation has also not been resolved, according to Mu Sochua, a former Cambodian opposition leader and president of the Khmer Movement for Democracy.

She told Al Jazeera the threat of tariffs from Trump helped bring Thailand and Cambodia to the negotiating table in a move that was effective in the short term but also controversial. “Critics in both countries say it amounted to economic blackmail – trading peace for trade benefits rather than addressing justice, sovereignty or local needs,” she said.

What will be discussed at the summit? 

The ASEAN summit will discuss pressing issues like US tariffs and access to rare earth minerals, which are essential to high-tech manufacturing and whose production is dominated by China.

Trump launched his “Liberation Day Tariffs” in April against most US trading partners in a bid to lower the US trade deficit. After much negotiation, US tariffs for most ASEAN countries range from 10 to 20 percent while Brunei’s tariff rate is 25 percent. Tariffs for Laos and Myanmar are both 40 percent.

In response to Trump’s tariffs, China has tightened export restrictions on rare earths, a move that has been felt around the world.

Marco Foster, ASEAN director at the professional services firm Dezan Shira & Associates, told Al Jazeera that most attendees will be vying for a chance to speak to Trump about tariffs. “Pretty much everyone is going to be going after him or trying to get in the room with him or his people to talk about their deal,” he said. “Everyone will want to have a sideline meeting with Trump.”

Attendees are also expected to discuss pressing issues like Myanmar’s civil war and the proliferation of scam centres in Southeast Asia, which have earned criminal networks tens of billions of dollars.

Why is Myanmar skipping the summit? 

Myanmar’s acting president will not attend the ASEAN summit, and Myanmar will not take the helm from Malaysia as next year’s ASEAN chair because it has been embroiled in a civil war since 2021. Instead, the role will fall to the Philippines.

In 2021, ASEAN issued a Five-Point Consensus, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Myanmar and humanitarian assistance while creating a special ASEAN envoy to help mediate the conflict. Four years later, critics said it has had little impact on the crisis.

Charles Santiago, co-chairman of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, told Al Jazeera that he expected Myanmar and the fallout from the civil war to be discussed at the summit.

“Myanmar has become a destabilising factor, both [in terms of] security and social cohesion in the other parts of Southeast Asia,” he said. The civil war has facilitated the spread of the flow of drugs and weapons while creating a refugee crisis, he added.

Still, Santiago said he did not expect much to come from the ASEAN summit. “This will be a major photo opportunity for everybody,” he said, but “nothing much will happen” in terms of policy.

What are ASEAN’s limitations?

ASEAN has sometimes been criticised for lacking an enforcement mechanism to force members to abide by its rulings. This makes it different from other regional blocs like the European Union, whose members must abide by EU laws and rulings.

It’s a criticism that has been heard recently around issues like Myanmar as well as the Cambodian-Thai border conflict.

Foster said this feature is a legacy of ASEAN’s unique history. The organisation was founded in 1967 after a major wave of decolonisation around the world. Its structure reflects the norms of the era, he said.

“Because of the narrative that ASEAN was born out of independence, it will never lead to an ASEAN that will limit [member states’] independence by accepting rules from a body that is above the state,” Foster said. “The nation state will always be the number one in ASEAN.”

Premier League holders Liverpool’s title defence continues to stutter as Brentford’s recovery persists.

Champions Liverpool suffered a fourth successive Premier League defeat as they lost 3-2 at Brentford to continue their miserable run of form in London.

Arne Slot’s stumbling side fell behind after five minutes on Saturday when Dango Ouattara volleyed in following a long throw, and Kevin Schade went through to make it 2-0 in the 45th.

Milos Kerkez replied for the visitors in first-half stoppage time with his first Liverpool goal from Conor Bradley’s cross.

Liverpool’s expected second-half siege never really materialised, however, and Igor Thiago restored Brentford’s two-goal advantage from the penalty spot on the hour mark.

Mohamed Salah gave Liverpool hope with a clinical finish in the 89th minute, but they had left it too late.

It is the first time since 2021 that Liverpool have lost four successive league games, with three of those matches being in London after defeats at Crystal Palace and Chelsea.

They are now sixth in the table on 15 points, four points behind leaders Arsenal, who could extend that margin on Sunday when they host Crystal Palace.

Brentford’s second win in a row moved them up to 10th place, two points behind Liverpool.

Brentford fans taunt Liverpool manager Slot

The home fans took delight in taunting Liverpool manager Arne Slot with chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning”, and while the Dutchman need not worry about that, the sense of his side’s title defence wilting was palpable.

They looked fragile at the back and were often out-muscled by Brentford. Doubts about Salah’s lack of impact will also continue, despite him slamming home a fine late goal to end a more than a month-long scoreless run in the Premier League.

Brentford’s threat from long throws could not have escaped Slot’s attention, but his side were caught cold by the tactic on a chilly night in southwest London.

Michael Kayode wound up a long delivery into the box, and when Kristoffer Ajer flicked it on, Ouattara reacted superbly to hook his volley past Giorgi Mamardashvili.

Liverpool responded with chances for Florian Wirtz and Cody Gakpo, but they were not convincing and were undone again as halftime loomed. Mikkel Damsgaard’s superb long pass sent Schade away, and he kept his composure to beat Mamardashvili.

Kerkez fired home from close range in the fifth minute of stoppage time, despite fierce Brentford protests about an infringement.

Brentford earned a penalty when Virgil van Dijk clipped Ouattara’s foot on the edge of the area, and after a long VAR check, referee Tim Robinson awarded a spot-kick, and Thiago coolly slotted his shot down the middle.

Salah’s instant control and finish set up a chaotic period of stoppage time that took the game into its 100th minute, but Brentford held on for a thoroughly deserved three points.

US president says Ontario government’s anti-tariff ad featuring Ronald Reagan needed to be taken down ‘immediately’.

Donald Trump has announced an additional 10-percent tariff on Canada, as the United States president continues to slam his country’s northern neighbour over a contentious anti-tariff advertisement featuring former President Ronald Reagan.

In a social media post on Saturday, Trump said the ad “was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but [Canada] let it run last night during the World Series, knowing that it was a FRAUD”.

“Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now,” he said.

The advertisement, produced by the Canadian province of Ontario, features a 1980s speech by Reagan in which the former Republican leader had warned against the ramifications that high tariffs on foreign imports could have on the US economy.

The US government suspended trade talks with Canada this week over the ad, accusing the Ontario provincial government of misrepresenting Reagan’s position and seeking to influence a looming US Supreme Court ruling on Trump’s tariffs policy.

On Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that, after consulting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the province would “pause its US advertising campaign effective Monday so that trade talks can resume”.

“Our intention was always to initiate a conversation about the kind of economy that Americans want to build and the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses. We’ve achieved our goal, having reached US audiences at the highest levels,” Ford wrote on X.

“I’ve directed my team to keep putting our message in front of Americans over the weekend so that we can air our commercial during the first two World Series games.”

The Canadian government did not immediately comment on Trump’s announcement of additional tariffs on Saturday.

It is unclear whether the ad will run during the second World Series game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers, which is set for 8pm local time in Toronto on Saturday (00:00 GMT Sunday).

Since taking office in January, Trump has unveiled sweeping tariffs against a number of countries including Canada, straining relations with the US’s longtime ally.

More to come…

Reuters

‘Woman with a very independent mind’

Army installations within the lower 48 states will have operating nuclear microreactors starting in the fall of 2028 if the Army’s Janus program moves forward on schedule. The addition of nuclear power will diversify the energy sources available on military bases and provide a critical enhancement to their resiliency, the Army says. 

“What resilience means to us is that we have power, no matter what, 24/7,” Dr. Jeff Waksman, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment, said during a media roundtable attended by TWZ at last week’s Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) main annual conference.

Waksman’s comments followed a briefing earlier in the day at which Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll and Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Christopher Wright jointly announced the launch of the Janus Program. 

“The U.S. Army is leading the way on fielding innovative and disruptive technology,” Driscoll said. “We are shredding red tape and incubating next-generation capabilities in a variety of critical sectors, including nuclear power.”

Janus is the Army’s plan to realize President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14299, titled “Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security,” which directs the Department of War to commence operation of an Army-regulated nuclear reactor at a domestic military installation no later than September 30, 2028.

Some time in the next few weeks, barring a long extension of the government shutdown, the Army will release an Area of Interest (AOI) solicitation with a draft request for proposals (RFP) attached, according to Waksman. An industry day event thereafter will give the Army feedback on potential microreactor approaches and contact with interested companies and startups. 

A competition will follow, after which the Army expects to select multiple companies to build and deliver microreactor prototypes to an initial batch of base/installation sites (likely nine sites) yet to be determined. The companies selected will each be given one Army site to deliver their prototypes to, and each firm will be required to build two reactors.   

“They will build one, and then in a staggered fashion, build a second,” Waksman explained. “The reason why we’re doing that is because you have to get to Nth-of-a-kind to have a commercial product. [By Nth-of-a-kind Waksman means multiple units of a product or, in this case, reactor.] We want to see that these companies have a path to get from their first prototype to the second one and beyond to the Nth-of-a-kind.”

The program is named for Janus, an ancient Roman god of beginnings, gates, and transitions. Accordingly, its approach is about transitioning from one-off prototypes to multiple-unit commercial systems, Waksman added. 

It dovetails with an initiative announced by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) last April called Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations (ANPI). It also seeks to field nuclear microreactors that can supplement energy sources at DoW installations, whose power is typically drawn from commercial grids.

DIU is a partner in Janus and will contribute funding to the program. It will also act as the contracting officer, and Janus will use its contracting authorities. However, the Army will conduct program management. Waksman says Janus will have different technical requirements than ANPI and reflect changes in the nuclear power market, including new entrants that have emerged since last spring. 

Hovering in the background is yet another nuclear project called Pele, which emerged from the DoD’s Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) in 2022. The stated intent there was to “design, build, and demonstrate a prototype mobile nuclear reactor within five years.” 

Pele was envisioned as potentially transportable operational nuclear energy, and the project continues with integrator BWXT, which is in the process of manufacturing and delivering the first advanced microreactor. The transportable nuclear reactors developed for Pele are designed to be transported within four 20-foot shipping containers, allowing them to be potentially moved to areas where the military or government may need to stand up power generation infrastructure to support military or other operations. 

While Pele is developmentally interesting, Waksman said, “We do not at this time see nuclear power as a tactical application.” This is largely because tactical reactor development drives up cost, and there is currently no need for megawatt power at the combat edge, Waksman explained.

As such, Janus microreactors will go to domestic installations to bolster energy supply, and some certainly have unique needs for power beyond redundancy. For example, remote Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska relies on a 70-year-old coal-fired power plant on the base for its primary energy needs. Since 2021, the Air Force has been working to at least demonstrate a small nuclear reactor at Eielson for exactly this reason.

A next step beyond could see the deployment of small nuclear reactors to strategic support areas, which could range from the Indo-Pacific periphery, from Hawaii to Pacific islands, for instance, as well as other locales. However, Waksman stresses the need to complete the first phase before further extending the program. 

Energy resilience is the core of Janus. Waksman observed that on Army installations and other service installations, power resiliency is currently 100 percent provided by fossil fuels. Renewable power generation exists on some installations, but is not considered highly resilient, nor a primary source of energy. He added that every grid globally is reliant on a base-load power source – fossil fuel, geothermal, hydropower, or nuclear. 

“Unless you’re in one of the few places in the world where geothermal is viable or you have a dam nearby, your only choices are nuclear or fossil fuel at this time…There’s just no ability to have a grid that works solely on solar and wind and batteries at this point.” 

“Anyone who’s seen big solar arrays on military installations knows that the moment that you have a Black Start exercise and the grid goes down, those are immediately cut off. They do not provide power, so the resiliency is fossil fuels. You have a certain number of backup power days, but that is a huge vulnerability…”

Black Start is a congressionally mandated requirement for DoW installations, testing their ability to operate without grid power in an emergency.

The microreactors that Janus will seek to deploy will be what commercial industry refers to as Generation IV or so-called “Passive Reactors” which, by design, cannot melt down. Utilizing low-enriched uranium (to about 5 percent), they will generally not be higher than 20 megawatt plants. Even so, they’ll likely offer surplus power, which could potentially provide energy resiliency to local communities. 

“If everything goes black outside the fence, that’s where most soldiers live, where their families live and where a lot of critical infrastructure is,” Waksman said. “I’ve been to a lot of hardened [military] sites. I’ve yet to see one that is resilient to everything going down outside the fence line. Selling some of this [power] outside the fence line is something that we’re actively interested in doing.”  

Such a scheme is in a legal gray area, Waksman noted, but there is precedent — a military-based reactor sold energy to an adjacent community in the early 1980s. However, the Army believes it could offer excess power commercially with some limitations. Waksman said that the Department of the Army is currently negotiating with Congress on this issue and is seeing bipartisan support. 

Thanks to the low-enrichment nature of the small reactors, the Army does not expect a requirement for extra force protection at nuclear-powered installations. 

The United States’ existing fleet of reactors runs on uranium fuel that is enriched up to 5 percent with uranium-235, called Low-enriched uranium (LEU). U-235 — the main fissile isotope that produces energy during a chain reaction — is considered safe for use in commercial nuclear reactors.

The ubiquity of LEU makes integration of small reactors on military installations more affordable, Waksman noted. Affordability is a major consideration within Janus. How much the military is willing to pay for resiliency is a hard question, Waksman admits. He offered that the Army doesn’t think nuclear power cost needs to be equivalent with fossil fuels, but just reasonably close. He cites the roughly 40 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) that consumers pay in Hawaii and Alaska, rather than the 10 to 12 cents per kWh paid in the continental U.S. to illustrate the point. At the 40 cents per kWh level, the Army expects there will be a significant commercial market over and above military nuclear power generation demand.  

Hawaii and Alaska also illustrate the kind of environments, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, where there is current energy scarcity. Such scarcity makes moving a missile defense system, directed energy systems, large radars, or artificial intelligence data centers to an island or a remote Arctic site problematic. 

The strain on available local energy infrastructure imparted by these kinds of systems means they are often limited by ad hoc diesel power generation or other arrangements, Waksman explained. Installing advanced microreactors could potentially transform such locales from energy-scarce environments to a state of energy abundance, which could support defense and other infrastructure. This could be critical to U.S. success in the Pacific. 

There may be political challenges to placing microreactors on Pacific islands, other foreign territories, or even within the United States, Waksman acknowledged. But he opined that many places don’t necessarily oppose nuclear power. They oppose not being consulted about it. He says there will be pre-engagement discussion with any proposed local community. If they object, the Army won’t go there. 

“We’re not here to impose nuclear power on any local communities,” he added. Foreign placements would fall under Status of Forces Agreements. Waksman points to the fact that the Navy has successfully concluded these throughout the Pacific, “so it can be done”. 

Janus could also bring second and third-order benefits with it. Introducing advanced microreactors to military installations could kick-start the U.S. commercial nuclear power market and attract new blood to replenish the current critical shortage of nuclear engineers in America, Waksman said. 

The model being used for the Janus competition, he explained, is the NASA COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation System) model, which was the catalyst for the creation of SpaceX. Elon Musk’s company made space engineering cool again, inspiring students to go into the rocketry/space field, Waksman says.  

“There’s a feeling [that] nuclear needs a SpaceX. There are innovative, exciting startups, so we’re hoping to cultivate them in the same way that NASA cultivated SpaceX and make nuclear sexy again and encourage more top young engineering talent to go into the field.”

Trump’s Executive Order has put the Army on a tight timeline to make Janus a reality. 

“We will do everything in our power to successfully meet the Executive Order,” Waksman affirmed. 

Brandon Cockrell, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Energy and Sustainability, also attended the roundtable and concluded the meeting by asserting that there is already significant competition among states and municipalities to get advanced microreactors at local bases.

“There are some states across the U.S. that are already leaning forward heavily with tax deferments and resources… This is a whole concerted effort to get the nuclear industry to the next phase in the nation.”  

Contact the editor: [email protected]

Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, has energised liberal voters and has strongly condemned Israel’s war on Gaza.

Polling places have opened for the start of in-person voting for one of the year’s most closely watched elections in the United States, the New York City mayor’s race.

New Yorkers on Saturday began choosing between Democrat Zohran Mamdani, who has built up a sizeable lead in the polls, Republican Curtis Sliwa and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat appearing on the ballot as an independent. The incumbent mayor, Eric Adams, is also on the ballot, but dropped out of the race last month and recently threw his support behind Cuomo.

Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, has energised liberal voters, drawn to his proposals for universal, free child care, free buses, and a rent freeze for New Yorkers living in about 1 million rent-regulated apartments.

Cuomo has assailed Mamdani, who would be the city’s first Muslim mayor, over his criticism of Israel.

Mamdani, who has weathered anti-Muslim rhetoric during the contest, says Israel’s military actions in Gaza have amounted to genocide, a view shared by a UN inquiry, genocide experts and numerous rights groups.

In an emotional speech on Friday, Mamdani said the attacks against him are “racist, baseless”.

“To be Muslim in New York is to expect indignity, but indignity does not make us distinct. There are many New Yorkers who face it. It is the tolerance of that indignity that does,” said Mamdani, who in June beat Cuomo to achieve a landslide victory in the Democratic mayoral primary.

Cuomo has portrayed Mamdani’s policies as naive and financially irresponsible. He has appealed to voters to pick him because of his experience as the state’s governor, a position he gave up in 2021 after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment.

New York has allowed early voting since 2019, and it has become relatively popular. In June’s mayoral primary, about 35 percent of the ballots were cast early and in person, according to the city’s campaign finance board.

In neighbouring New Jersey, the governor’s race is also being closely followed. It features Republican state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli against Democratic US Representative Mikie Sherrill. New Jersey adopted early voting in 2021.

The off-year elections in the two states could be bellwethers for Democratic Party leaders as they try to decide what kinds of candidates might be best to lead their resistance to Republican President Donald Trump’s agenda.

The races have spotlighted affordability and cost of living issues as well as ongoing divisions within the Democratic Party, said Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

“New York City pits the progressive wing against the establishment old guard in Mamdani versus Cuomo, while New Jersey is banking on moderate candidate Mikie Sherrill to appeal to its broad middle,” she said.

The New Jersey gubernatorial candidates, in their final debate earlier this month, sparred over the federal government shutdown, Sherrill’s military records, Trump’s policies and the high cost of living in the state.

The winner would succeed Democratic Governor Phil Murphy, who is term-limited.

Catherine Connolly, a pro-Palestine, left-wing candidate, is on course for a landslide victory as vote counting continues.

Left-wing independent candidate Catherine Connolly is set to become Ireland’s next president after her rival conceded defeat.

Vote counting in the presidential election was still under way on Saturday, but Heather Humphreys of the centre-right Fine Gael party told reporters she “wanted to congratulate Catherine Connolly on becoming the next president of Ireland”.

“Catherine will be a president for all of us, and she will be my president, and I really would like to wish her all the very, very best,” Humphreys said.

Voting slips were being counted by hand with the final result of Friday’s election expected to be declared later on Saturday once all 43 electoral constituencies across the country have completed counting.

Polls had suggested consistent and strong voter support for Connolly, 68, over her rival Humphreys, 64.

Deputy Prime Minister and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris also was quick to wish Connolly “every success”, adding: “She will be President for all this country.”

“Her success will be Ireland’s success,” he posted on X.

Connolly, a former barrister and independent lawmaker since 2016, has been outspoken in criticising Israel over its war in Gaza and has garnered the backing of a range of left-leaning parties, including Sinn Fein, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats.

Her campaign was especially popular among young people, who approved of her strong pro-Palestine stance and her commitment to social justice, among other issues.

Connolly and Humphreys were the only contenders after Jim Gavin, the candidate for Prime Minister Micheal Martin’s Fianna Fail party, quit the race three weeks before the election over a long-ago financial dispute. Martin had backed Gavin in the race.

While Irish presidents represent the country on the world stage, host visiting heads of state and play an important constitutional role, they do not have the power to shape laws or policies.

The winner will succeed Michael D Higgins, who has been president since 2011, having served the maximum two seven-year terms.

If confirmed, Connolly will be Ireland’s 10th president and the third woman to hold the post.

New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani has condemned Islamophobic attacks against him after opponent Andrew Cuomo laughed at a radio host’s remark that Mamdani would ‘cheer another 9/11’. In an emotional speech, Mamdani said such rhetoric reflects a wider tolerance of anti-Muslim sentiment.

Nigeria’s corridors of power are again trembling under the weight of suspicion. President Bola Tinubu’s dramatic overhaul of the nation’s military command has ignited debate, fear, and whispers of betrayal within the ranks, days after reports of a foiled coup attempt surfaced.

On Oct. 24, the President dismissed General Christopher Musa, his Chief of Defence Staff, replacing him with General Olufemi Oluyede, formerly Chief of Army Staff. Major General Waidi Shaibu now heads the army, Air Vice Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke becomes the new Air Chief, and Rear Admiral Idi Abbas takes charge of the navy. Only Major General Emmanuel Akomaye Parker Undiandeye, Chief of Defence Intelligence, retained his seat — a notable exception in an otherwise sweeping purge.

A State House statement signed by Sunday Dare, Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, claimed the changes were made “to strengthen Nigeria’s national security architecture.” But some Nigerians are taking the government’s explanation at face value.

The shake-up comes amid rumours of an attempted coup — reports that Tinubu’s administration has tried to downplay but cannot entirely dismiss.

Although the Defence Headquarters did not directly acknowledge any intentions of a coup, Brigadier General Tukur Gusau, a representative of the organisation, mentioned on Oct. 4 that 16 officers were being investigated for disciplinary issues and breaches of service protocols. This situation arose a year after Nigerians demanded a military intervention in response to escalating economic difficulties.

However, sources within Nigeria’s corridors of power have told HumAngle that more reshuffling will occur in the coming weeks as the Tinubu-led administration fights to maintain its grip on democratic power. The sources stated that amid ongoing investigations, the service chiefs were rejigged to fill the gaps in the military intelligence system. 

Over 20 officers are now under detention following what officials described as “disciplinary breaches”. However, insiders suggest something deeper, pointing to a widening rift inside the armed forces and a purge disguised as reform.

“All the suspects are from one region,” a source familiar with the investigation said. “If this were really a coup, how could it have succeeded? What’s happening looks more like a purge than a coup plot. Perhaps they may be clearing the path for someone not yet in the picture.”

The officer added that growing grievances among northern officers have festered for months, notably since recruitment shifted from state-based quotas to geopolitical zones. “The north, which has three regions, has now been reduced to one,” another senior officer lamented.

For many within the ranks, the move feels political. Yet the government remains tight-lipped, neither naming nor prosecuting the detained officers. And “the evidence is sketchy,” one insider admitted. “In the end, what may happen is compulsory retirement for many of them, and rarely will there ever be a treason trial.”

Nigeria has experienced this troubling pattern in its history. The country’s modern timeline is marked by a series of military interventions, beginning with the first coup in 1966 and continuing through violent takeovers in 1975, 1983, and 1985, culminating in the Abacha dictatorship that suffocated the nation during the 1990s. Each coup was accompanied by promises of reform, yet the reality was one of repression, economic decline, and bloodshed.

What makes today’s situation chillingly familiar is the regional context. Across Africa, coups are no longer distant echoes of a troubled past; they have become resurgent realities. From Mali and Burkina Faso to Niger, Gabon, and now Madagascar, nine coups have shaken the continent since 2020, eroding democratic norms and emboldening soldiers who see themselves as saviours of failed civilian governments.

In Nigeria, where frustration is soaring over economic collapse, inflation, and insecurity, the thin line between democracy and disorder is wearing dangerously thin.

For President Tinubu, the latest reshuffle is both a desperate consolidation of power and an implicit admission of fragility. Analysts warn that internal divisions within the military, especially along regional lines, could prove explosive if left unchecked.

“There’s no better time to reform the armed forces than now,” one senior intelligence officer told HumAngle. “It’s far more important than even a constitutional review. We cannot afford a significant population bearing guns to remain aggrieved.” There are so many things wrong with the security sector that we must pay attention to, said the senior intelligence officer. 

The U.S. Coast Guard is in line to get a new version of the H-60 helicopter based on the MH-60R Seahawk, which is in service with the U.S. Navy and other armed forces globally. The additional helicopters will supplement, at least initially, the Coast Guard’s aging MH-60T Jayhawks. The Coast Guard also plans to boost its overall capabilities by replacing its fleet of smaller MH-65s with H-60 variants.

Earlier this week, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) put out a contracting notice announcing its intent to award Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems a sole-source deal to design and produce an unspecified number of “MH-60R variant aircraft for the United States Coast Guard.” Lockheed Martin is the current parent company of Sikorsky, which is the prime contractor for the H-60 family of helicopters. The Navy and the Coast Guard, the latter of which is a uniformed military service that falls under the Department of Homeland Security rather than the Department of War, have a long history of cooperation on helicopter-related efforts, as well as other programs.

“The Coast Guard anticipates new aircraft procurements may be based off Sikorsky’s MH-60R aircraft, which is the maritime variant of the H-60 in active production,” the service told TWZ when reached for more information. “Differences between the MH-60T and in-production MH-60R will be addressed with Sikorsky to ensure Coast Guard aircraft are delivered with the appropriate capabilities for Coast Guard missions.”

In September, the Coast Guard had announced contracting actions intended in part to help accelerate the delivery of “new MH-60 medium-range recovery helicopters.” At that time, the service made no mention of plans to acquire a new version based on the R model.

The Coast Guard currently has some 45 MH-60Ts in inventory, which are stationed at bases around the United States. The Coast Guard also has a number of cutters, including its newest and most capable Legend class types, that can support helicopter operations.

The Jayhawks are utilized for search and rescue, as well as various law enforcement and homeland security tasks, including counter-narcotics interdiction missions. In the latter role, the helicopters can be fitted with an Airborne Use of Force (AUF) package that includes a mounted 7.62x51mm M240 machine gun, stowage for precision rifles that can be fired from the main cabin door, add-on armor protection, and additional onboard communications systems.

The bulk of the Coast Guard’s current fleet of MH-60Ts helicopters started their service lives in the early 1990s as HH-60Js, and were later upgraded to the T configuration starting in the late 2000s. The upgrades include a new glass cockpit, as well as improvements to the helicopter’s sensor suite and other capabilities. Sikorsky had developed the original HH-60J design in parallel with the HH-60H combat search and rescue helicopter for the Navy. The Coast Guard subsequently acquired a small number of additional T variants converted from second-hand SH-60 Seahawk variants.

The MH-60R is designed primarily for anti-submarine warfare and general sea control missions, and replaced various SH-60 variants when it first began entering Navy service in the mid-2000s. The Navy replaced its HH-60Hs, which were also heavily used to support U.S. special operations forces, as well as its tandem-rotor CH-46 Sea Knights, with a separate Seahawk variant, the MH-60S.

The full extent of changes that may have to be made to the MH-60R to meet Coast Guard needs, and whether the resulting configuration may receive a new designation, is unclear. The baseline R model is packed full of anti-submarine warfare and other mission systems that the Coast Guard will not need. It does have some elements that would likely be carried over directly, such as its external winch, a key feature for performing the search and rescue mission.

Certain Coast Guard-specific requirements could require more significant changes to the core MH-60R configuration. For instance, existing MH-60Ts have weather radars fitted to their noses, something that standard R variants lack. Coast Guard Jayhawks are often called upon to fly in bad weather and otherwise demanding conditions, as can be seen in the videos below.

U.S Coast Guard HH-60 almost crashes into the sea after being hit by bad weather while evacuating a passenger onboard a cruiseliner.

📹 Damion Bailey pic.twitter.com/HXjWWMDJD7

— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) May 2, 2023

Interestingly, one of the Navy’s MH-60Rs was embarked on the Coast Guard Legend-class National Security cutter Midgett during the biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise in 2022. That was the first time an MH-60R had been embarked on any Coast Guard vessel, and underscored the often-overlooked role the service plays in missions well beyond the shores of the United States. The Navy and the Coast Guard have been working to more deeply integrate their activities overseas in recent years, especially as part of larger efforts to challenge China in the Indo-Pacific region.

The new H-60s, whatever their exact configuration might be, are part of a larger Coast Guard effort to modernize and transform its helicopter fleets that has already ongoing for years now. The service’s existing MH-60T fleet is being put through a service life extension program (SLEP), which is intended to keep them flying into the 2040s. As part of the current SLEP effort, MH-60Ts are receiving a completely new central fuselage ‘hull.’ The Coast Guard had previously used hulls taken from retired Seahawks with lower total flight hours to help extend the life of its T variants.

The Coast Guard has said in the past that it also plans to “organically produce” 36 additional T variants from second-hand Seahawks, though the current status of that effort is unclear.

“As part of the U.S. Coast Guard’s service life extension program (SLEP), we continue to build replacement MH-60T Jayhawk hulls at our Troy, Alabama, facility,” Lockheed Martin told TWZ in response to questions about how the plans to acquire new MH-60R-based variants might impact the SLEP work and other work it is doing for the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard also currently plans to retire all of its remaining MH-65 helicopters and replace them with H-60 variants, a process it expects to be complete by the early 2040s. The service currently has some 94 MH-65s, which are variants of the French-made AS365 Dauphin. Originally developed in the 1970s by Aerospatiale, the design subsequently came under the umbrella of Eurocopter and then Airbus Helicopters. The AS365 line is no longer in production, with the last example having been delivered in 2021.

The Coast Guard has argued that transitioning to a pure H-60 fleet will offer more capability and the benefits of a still-in-production design, but has faced some pushback from Congress. In January of this year, Airbus Helicopters announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Coast Guard for continued support for the MH-65s at least through 2037.

New Coast Guard H-60s based on the R variant would also be able to leverage the Navy’s existing logistics and sustainment ecosystem for those helicopters. The Navy expects to keep flying its MH-60Rs well into the 2030s, at least.

How exactly the Coast Guard ultimately proceeds with its larger helicopter modernization efforts remains to be seen, but those plans now include a new service-specific version of the H-60.

Contact the author: [email protected]

If the United States federal government shutdown continues, millions of low-income Americans could lose access to a monthly benefit that pays for food.

About 42 million people receive money through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), sometimes called food stamps. The Department of Agriculture told states in an October 10 letter that if the shutdown continues, the programme would run out of money to pay for benefits in November.

President Donald Trump’s Republican administration is blaming the Democrats with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins repeating a false healthcare talking point on October 16 on X: “Democrats are putting free health care for illegal aliens and their political agenda ahead of food security for American families. Shameful.”

The government shutdown stems from disagreements between Democrats – who want Congress, as part of approving federal funding, to extend expiring enhanced subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), through which uninsured Americans can buy health insurance – and Republicans, who want to extend federal funding first before negotiating over whether or how to extend the ACA subsidies.

SNAP is a federal programme operated by state agencies. Participants receive an average individual monthly benefit of about $190 or $356 per household. Recipients may use the benefits to buy fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy products, bread and other foods. The majority of SNAP households live in poverty.

Lawmakers and social media users have made several statements about SNAP with varying degrees of accuracy about the shutdown and the Republican tax and spending law that Trump signed in July. Here’s a closer look:

Social media posts say food stamps will disappear on November 1

Many social media posts have said food stamps are going away as soon as November 1.

“Let that sink in – just in time for the cold season and the month of giving thanks,” one Instagram post said.

That could happen for millions of people. But it might not happen for all of them, and it could happen throughout the month of November because the monthly date when people receive their benefits varies by state.

The Trump administration could use SNAP’s contingency fund to pay for nearly two-thirds of a full month of benefits, or it could transfer other Agriculture Department funds, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank. The administration has said it has found funding to continue the Women, Infants and Children programme, another food programme for low-income families.

According to an Agriculture Department funding lapse plan, SNAP “shall continue operations during a lapse in appropriations, subject to the availability of funding”.

An Agriculture Department letter told states to hold off on steps that would lead to people receiving their November benefits. Federal regulations require that reductions be made in a way that higher-income recipients lose more benefits than the lowest-income recipients.

We asked administration officials for more detail but received no response to our questions.

Many state officials – including in Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin – said that if the shutdown continues, participants might not or will not receive benefits in November. A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Children and Families told PolitiFact that if the shutdown continues into November, benefits will not be issued.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday that he will deploy the National Guard and California Volunteers, a state agency, to support food banks and provide $80m in state money.

“Empty cupboards and stomachs are not abstract outcomes,” Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers told Rollins in a Wednesday letter. “They are the very real and near consequences of the dysfunction in Washington. These are also consequences you can prevent today.”

Meanwhile, food banks across the country have taken a hit from other Trump administration policies. ProPublica reported on October 3 that earlier in the year, the administration cut $500m in deliveries through the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which provides food to state distribution agencies.

So what have key lawmakers said on this issue and how true are their claims?

‘We are not cutting’ SNAP

– Mike Johnson, speaker of the US House of Representatives, on the TV programme Face the Nation on May 25

This is false.

Johnson spoke after the House passed a Republican-backed bill known at the time as the One Big Beautiful Bill, which included many of Trump’s policy priorities.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the nonpartisan number-crunching arm of Congress, estimated in May that 3.2 million fewer people per month on average would receive SNAP benefits over the next nine years based on the bill’s changes to work requirements and restrictions on states’ ability to waive the work requirements in areas with high unemployment.

A more recent August CBO analysis estimated the changes would reduce participation in SNAP by roughly 2.4 million people.

‘Nearly 25 cents of every $1 spent via SNAP goes to farmers and ranchers’

– Wisconsin state Representative Francesca Hong in a June 12 X post

This is true.

In a series of X posts, Hong said it wouldn’t be only families receiving food aid that would be hurt by the legislation.

A chart published this year by the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service showed that in 2023, farm establishments made 24.3 cents of every dollar spent on food at home, including at grocery stores and supermarkets.

‘About 20 percent of households with veterans rely upon’ SNAP

– House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries at a May 8 news conference

This is mostly false.

An April 2 study found that 8 percent of veterans rely on SNAP benefits. No state had a share higher than 14 percent. Studies with data from a few years earlier showed rates from 4.9 percent to 6.6 percent.

Louis Jacobson, Staff Writer Loreben Tuquero and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Madeline Heim contributed to this article.

Donald Trump has departed for Malaysia, where he’s set to attend the ASEAN summit and hold trade talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Speaking before he left, the US President criticised Canada over its ‘crooked ad’ about tariffs, and said he’d be open to meeting North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

The United States has imposed multiple sanctions on Chinese companies for assisting the Russian military-industrial complex in its war against Ukraine. The US Department of Commerce and the Treasury alleged that several Chinese companies evaded US sanctions by selling sensitive technology needed by Russia to manufacture military weapons. One of these Chinese companies subject to US sanctions and its military dealings with Russia is “Sino Electronics Chinese Company,” which is considered as a part of a network of companies that has allegedly sent shipments worth approximately $200 million to Russia since the Chinese company was placed on the US sanctions list in September 2022. The shipments sent by the “Chinese Sino Network” to Russia included several microchips, cameras, and navigation equipment, technologies critical to Russian weapons used in its war with Ukraine, according to US accusations against Beijing.

 These measures include broad US sanctions in 2024 and 2025 targeting entities in China and several other countries that support Russia’s war efforts. In October 2024, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on two Chinese drone companies, accusing them of participating in the production and supply of long-range attack drones to the Russian Air Force. Immediately following, in May 2024, US sanctions targeted Chinese companies and companies in several other countries for allegedly supplying electronic components and chemicals used in the manufacture of Russian weapons and missiles. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also warned that “the United States will take action against any Chinese companies that assist Russia in its efforts to obtain military supplies.” As a result of these US sanctions, Chinese banks have become more cautious in dealing with Russia, leading to a slowdown in trade between the two countries during 2024.

  Since July 2025, the United States has threatened to impose secondary sanctions on any entity that continues to cooperate with Russia in an attempt to isolate Moscow by striking its cross-border trade networks, particularly with China. Secondary sanctions target third parties that deal with the directly sanctioned country, Russia in particular.  The sanctions are not imposed because of the actions of the third party, but rather because of its economic ties to the sanctioned entity. Washington uses these sanctions to deter any entity that might indirectly contribute to supporting the sanctioned regime or helping it circumvent sanctions. In 2018, the United States imposed sanctions on a Chinese bank for allegedly conducting financial transactions with North Korea, even though the bank itself had not previously been subject to any sanctions.

 A series of US sanctions on China have been imposed, alleging its military cooperation with Russia in its war against Ukraine. In July 2025, US intelligence reports alleged that Chinese companies were shipping engines to the Russian arms company IEMZ Kupol by mislabeling them to evade sanctions.

The US Department of Commerce expanded its blacklist of Chinese companies and state-owned entities, alleging their cooperation with Russia and supporting it in its war against Ukraine. The US Department of Commerce added several Chinese companies to the US blacklist, including Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics, which was added to the US list of banned Chinese companies for supplying technology to the Russian military sector. Washington also imposed controls on the Chinese export sector, expanding export control restrictions to include Chinese companies that are 50% or more state-owned, as well as entities on the US blacklist. 

 Here, China has rejected all US accusations regarding its dealings with Russian military companies in its war against Ukraine. Beijing has repeatedly denied US accusations of providing military support to Russia. China has also taken several countermeasures, such as imposing sanctions on US companies, in a move to escalate trade tensions between the two countries. Regarding China’s response to US sanctions, China has publicly rejected all these accusations. At the same time, these US sanctions have raised concerns among Chinese banks and companies about secondary sanctions, which may indicate that these US measures are having an impact on trade relations between China and Russia.

 As for China’s official response to the US sanctions imposed on it for its dealings with Russia, the Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed in an official statement that the United States, by demanding that countries stop purchasing Russian oil, is participating in threatening and undermining international trade.  In response to Trump’s threats regarding the purchase of Russian oil, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that “China will take decisive countermeasures if its legitimate rights and interests are harmed, and that China opposes the United States using Beijing as a pretext to impose illegal unilateral sanctions on the Russian side.” The Chinese Foreign Ministry also stressed that “China has lodged a protest with Britain regarding the inclusion of Chinese companies on the sanctions list against Russia. Cooperation between Russian and Chinese companies should not be subject to interference or influence.” The Chinese Foreign Ministry also commented on the British sanctions imposed on it for allegedly dealing with Russian companies and entities, saying that “Beijing will take necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.”

 China has categorically rejected all unilateral US sanctions against it, and the punitive tariffs imposed by Trump have angered Beijing. However, unlike Europe or other countries, China has shown confidence, with official Chinese authorities declaring that “it will fight to the end.” An official statement issued by China on October 13, 2025, stated that “threatening to impose high tariffs is not the right way to negotiate with China. The United States must adjust its position.” Beijing has already responded by imposing counter-tariffs and restrictions on US exports, including rare earths.

 As for the nature of the sanctions directed against Russia in 2025, these new US sanctions focus on indirectly strangling the Russian economy by pressuring countries and companies that deal with Moscow in strategic sectors such as energy, metals, and technology. In July 2025, US President Donald Trump announced a 50-day deadline for reaching a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine; otherwise, tariffs of up to 100% would be imposed on countries importing Russian oil or gas. Meanwhile, the US Congress is discussing a bill that would impose tariffs of up to 500% on Russian exports, including secondary sanctions on financing or transporting entities.  Trump warned that all companies dealing with Russia, especially Chinese companies, entities, and institutions, particularly those operating in the technology and metals sectors, could be barred from entering the US market or using the international financial system.

  Finally, regarding the impact of these unilateral US sanctions on China and other countries for allegedly dealing with Russian companies, I believe these US threats will not go unchallenged, as they could undermine confidence in the global economic system and raise questions about who has the right to punish whom and under what international legitimacy? Applying this to Russia, we find that Moscow is linked to extensive trade networks with major economies in strategic sectors such as energy, minerals, and food. These Russian entanglements with global economies make attempts to isolate Moscow a test not only of Washington’s ability but also of the ability of the entire global system to bear the cost of confrontation.