Row erupts over Cairo mural depicting Tutankhamun and Nefertiti with dark skinArtwork created in Tahrir Square for Chinese president's state visit to Egypt is painted over amid allegations it revived Afrocentric claims about pharaohs' originsOn the eve of the Chinese president Xi Jinping's state visit to Cairo last month, the city authorities were busy removing a 66-metre-long mural from the esteemed guest's line of sight.Depicting the Pharaoh Tutankhamun and Queen Nefertiti, the painting was among 40 murals commissioned to beautify the city for Xi's arrival and was painted by a group of young volunteers, Rasmet Basma, in Tahrir Square. Continue reading...
Trump administration diverts human rights funds to push far-right agenda abroadSupport such as for white Afrikaners and anti-communism reveals how US is redefining what qualifies as human rightsWith hours left before the funding expires, the Trump administration is pushing to direct more than $175m of the state department's flagship human rights fund to a slate of awards that includes a huge $40m grant for an anti-communism fund, support for a group advancing white Afrikaner rights in South Africa, a campaign against Brazil's supreme court and programs that would reward ideological allies in Europe who protect "western civilizational norms".On Wednesday, the state department obligated the funds to the grantees hours before the deadline despite congressional concerns and requests not to do so, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The state department declined to comment on questions from the Guardian specifically on whether it had obligated the funds and had "blown" holds from Congress due to concerns about the money's use. Continue reading...
South African leader urges men to speak up on gender-based violence after series of killingsPresident announces measures amid anger at authorities over recent murders of womenSouth Africa's president has called on men to take more responsibility for violence against women as he announced measures to tackle the problem, amid anger at authorities over a recent wave of murders.Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged that not enough had been done to protect women. He said police would be reviewing unsolved murders, attempted murders and serious sexual offences against women and children, as well as producing a funded plan to reduce the forensic backlog for such cases, both within 60 days. Continue reading...
DRC politician beaten to death after radio appearance about Ebola outbreakMarie-Celestin Karondwa was attacked on Sunday after promoting measures to prevent spread of disease, his party saysA senior member of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's ruling party was beaten to death on Sunday after appearing on a radio programme to raise awareness about the Ebola outbreak, a party representative has said.Marie-Celestin Karondwa, the acting president of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party's federal executive committee in Butembo, a new hotspot for the outbreak, was attacked after taking part in a radio show during which he promoted prevention measures for the disease, the UDPS federation in the city said in a statement, Reuters reported. Continue reading...
Brazil's Lula says only he can stop rise of fascism under Bolsonaro's sonPresident leads huge rally in Rio before election on Sunday seen as most important for decadesThe Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has claimed he is the only thing standing in the way of far-right "fascists" reclaiming power, as he led a huge rally through the streets of Rio ahead of Sunday's crunch election.Speaking on the eve of the demonstration, the 80-year-old leftwinger said he had decided to seek a historic fourth term because he believed only he could prevent the family of his rightwing rival, Flávio Bolsonaro, returning to government. Continue reading...
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Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito confirms he's considering retirement Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito confirms he's considering retirement Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has confirmed that he is considering retirement, leaving open the possibility that he could leave after next year's term and hand another nomination to President Donald Trump.Alito said in excerpts of a CBS News interview released Friday that he thought about retiring this year and will do so again in 2027."It's something that I think that somebody at my age has to think about every term," the 76-year-old said in the interview scheduled to air Monday. "But I thought that I could still make a valuable contribution, which is why I became a justice and a judge in the first place."Alito's interview, the first in a number of expected appearances to coincide with the release of a book about his judicial philosophy, raises the possibility that Trump, whose judicial picks shifted the Supreme Court to the right, may get an opportunity to nominate a fourth justice.The president, who expressed regret in a recent interview about several nominees who ruled against his administration on some issues, would have a harder time getting a fourth pick through the Senate if Democrats win control in the midterms.Alito, in the CBS interview, pushed back on concerns that the timing of his retirement and his replacement could potentially unravel his work on the bench."It's too hard to predict what the political situation will be and what any president might do with respect to a replacement," he said.Alito also defended his majority opinion in June 2022 that struck down Roe v. Wade and overturned the constitutional protections for abortion that had prevailed for decades. The decision closely matched one that had leaked a month earlier."We didn't know it when we produced the draft that was leaked, but it required courage to go ahead with that because of the implications," he said.He said the decision resulted in the loss of old friendships."That's something you have to live with," he said, adding, "It's part of the job that you're going to displease people by making decisions on controversial matters, because one side or the other is going to really dislike you because of the decisions."This article originally appeared on Politico at https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/02/alito-supreme-court-retirement-01105789
Rape allegations spark outrage and soul-searching over campus culture at Cornell Rape allegations spark outrage and soul-searching over campus culture at Cornell By Maria Tsvetkova ITHACA, New York, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Cornell University student Sophia Riley Sim skipped classes this week, consumed by allegations in a lawsuit that several members of a fraternity raped a young woman in 2024 and troubled by how her university handled the case. "Cornell has failed our community through its lack of accountability, transparency, and failure to address the state of the Cornell student body at this time," Sim, a junior, said at a public hearing on sexual assault organized by Cornell's Student Assembly on Thursday. "There has been a lack of meaningful communication from university leadership, administrators, and faculty." The Ivy League school has defended its handling of the matter, saying it launched a comprehensive investigation and barred the Chi Phi fraternity involved in the alleged assault from campus. The school said it imposed a range of disciplinary measures, including expulsions. It did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment. The hearing, held in one of Cornell's historic halls, came days after the allegations became public with the filing of a civil lawsuit and the announcement that a criminal investigation would be reopened. The case has reignited scrutiny of how law enforcement and universities handle sexual assault complaints, with students questioning whether processes are enough to protect them. It has also drawn the attention of New York state officials, who have appointed a special prosecutor to investigate. FEELING UNSAFE At the Assembly hearing, speakers recounted experiences with sexual assault, broke down in tears and criticized the response of the prestigious university. The Student Assembly - which represents Cornell's undergraduate students and can make proposals to the university's bodies or officers - unanimously approved a resolution calling on Cornell administrators to provide a full account of how the investigation was handled. It also asked the university to disclose any disciplinary measures imposed on the accused students, and publish annual reports on the outcomes of any future sexual misconduct cases. Organizers asked that many of the dozens of speakers at the hearing not be identified or recorded. One student said she had worked all her life to be accepted to Cornell and now felt that it had not been worth it. Several others said they did not feel safe on the 2,300-acre campus in New York's Finger Lakes region. Thirty-five percent of undergraduate women reported experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact involving force or incapacitation since entering Cornell, according to a university survey conducted in 2025 and published on its website. That figure was up from 20% in 2021. "WE ARE GOING TO FIGHT" The lawsuit alleges fraternity members supplied the woman with alcohol, marijuana and ketamine before sexually assaulting her after she became incapacitated. It also alleges Cornell failed to adequately punish some of the accused students and allowed some to seek reduced penalties by writing essays. Cornell denied that essays were the only punishment meted out. The New York Times, citing internal Cornell documents, said the men all denied any wrongdoing, with some saying the sex was consensual and others denying participation. Cornell students have scheduled a rally for Monday to call for additional measures to protect victims. Jane Wang, a public policy major, said she had reported a sexual assault to the university and that the process caused additional distress. "In the midst of all of my mental, physical, and emotional recovery from the assault, I was also met with an abundance of paperwork, very little instruction on how to navigate it, and no follow up from our office about an outcome," she said. The Ivy League school said in a statement on its website that it could not provide full information regarding individual students and disciplinary outcomes because of restrictions imposed by privacy laws. "Our adherence to privacy laws should not be interpreted as indifference to the seriousness of the conduct at issue," the statement said. A handful of other female students told the hearing they had been sexually assaulted on Cornell's campus in the past, without sharing details. Saanya Agarwal, Cornell University's student women's issues representative, said the findings of the 2025 survey on sexual assaults were unacceptable. "Clearly, this is an issue our campus and campuses throughout the United States... it's something that we're not going to accept," said Agarwal. "We are going to fight." (Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; editing by Paul Thomasch and Deepa Babington) This article originally appeared on Reuters at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/cornell-rape-allegations-spark-outrage-172822680.html
Christa Pike is unconscious and on a ventilator after failed execution, filing says Christa Pike is unconscious and on a ventilator after failed execution, filing says Correction: An earlier version of this story mistakenly said the emergency court hearing request was granted by a judge.An Oct. 2 emergency court filing seeks to preserve all evidence related to Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike, arguing the state botched the lethal injection procedure. A judge was considering the request shortly after it was filed. While an unsigned document for the hearing was filed in the court system, no date or time was immediately listed.Pike was set to be executed by the Tennessee Department of Correction on Sept. 30, but survived two doses of pentobarbital. The document, filed in Davidson County Chancery Court on Oct. 2, revealed more details about Pike's condition. It said she is intubated, on a ventilator and unconscious, and that both her arms were swollen, burned and blistered. As of the night of Oct. 1, Pike was still in critical condition at a Nashville-area hospital, the motion said."Hospital staff are working to save Ms. Pike's life and to clear the pentobarbital from her system," the Oct. 2 motion stated.Pike was convicted in 1996 for the first-degree murder and torture of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. 'She's still talking': Inside each minute of Christa Pike's failed execution attemptPentobarbital is the single drug required under the state's lethal injection protocol. The failed execution attempt came after a complex legal back-and-forth delayed her execution several hours that day, which was originally set for 10 a.m. Media witnesses of the procedure said the blinds to the observation room were opened and closed multiple times between around 7:40 p.m. and 8 p.m. As they were shuffled out of the room at 8:53 p.m., media witnesses said they could still hear Pike breathing."Apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed or that the veins had blown and that the pentobarbital was, in whole or in part, entering Ms. Pike's body," the emergency motion stated. "Instead of remedying this failure, TDOC elected to prepare a backup set of syringes (if they were not also prepared earlier that day) and then administered another lethal dose of pentobarbital."The motion said the state committed a "manifest violation" of Pike's constitutional rights and called its actions "reckless" and "incompetent." After the attempted execution, the state said that it had "followed every step" of its protocol. TDOC officials said the protocol did not allow them to perform additional procedures.In an Oct. 1 news conference, Pike's attorney Randy Spivey said she was alive, in critical condition and receiving medical care."We don't have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment, but we do know that she is alive right now and receiving life-saving medical care," Spivey said.No other information on Pike's condition was available as of 2 p.m. Oct. 2. Pike and her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp beat Slemmer to death on Jan. 12, 1995. Pike was 18 at the time, while Shipp was 17. Both were convicted of first-degree murder the next year.Slemmer was born and raised in Orange Park, a suburb of Jacksonville, Florida. She was known for computer skills and her volunteer efforts, including helping out with painting her school and during Special Olympics competitions. At the time of the murder, Pike said she thought Slemmer was romantically interested in Shipp. The couple lured Slemmer to a Knoxville park, then beat and tortured her. A pentagram was also carved into Slemmer's body. Pike delivered the fatal blow. Investigators said Pike later bragged about the murder and showed part of Slemmer's skull to others. A third person, then-18-year-old Shadolla Peterson, was arrested but given probation after agreeing to testify against Pike and Shipp. Tennessee's history of execution failure, issuesPike's survival of state-administered lethal injection drugs appeared to be unprecedented in the modern history of the U.S. death penalty. Medical experts told The Tennessean that a problem with Pike's IV or the delivery of the pentobarbital is among the most likely explanations for her survival, though exactly what happened remains unknown.The failed execution is expected to intensify ongoing litigation over Tennessee's lethal injection procedures. Pike's attorneys had raised concerns before the execution about her thrombocytosis, a blood condition they argued could make lethal injection unnecessarily painful. They also questioned the state's ability to establish reliable IV access. More: Christa Pike's veins, blood disorder were the focus of a three-day hearing"Her concerns were called 'speculation,'" the Oct. 2 emergency motion stated. "They were laughed off, scoffed at, and dismissed. In the words of one media witness: we have a lot of questions, and the Department of Correction has a lot of answers that it needs to provide to the public about what happened here. We agree."In May, execution personnel repeatedly tried to establish IV access for death row prisoner Tony Carruthers but could not properly place the second line required under the state's protocol. Dr. Mark Fowler then unsuccessfully attempted to place a central line. After Carruthers spent more than an hour strapped to the execution gurney, the state abandoned the execution.Fowler had not placed a central line in at least 13 years, according to his deposition in litigation over Tennessee's execution procedures. Fowler testified that he had placed about a dozen central lines during his career and had no current hospital privileges. Fowler was also set to oversee Pike's execution on Sept. 30, according to news reports.In 2022, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee temporarily halted executions after TDOC acknowledged it had failed to follow its own execution protocol. An independent investigation found systemic failures stretching back years, including the department's failure to consistently test lethal injection drugs for potency, purity and contaminants. The state resumed executions in 2025. More: Unsuccessful Christa Pike execution follows years of lethal injection issues Lee halts Tennessee executions as TDOC scrutiny growsMeanwhile, Lee has halted executions in Tennessee for the rest of the year and ordered a comprehensive, third-party review into what went wrong during Pike's attempted execution. TDOC has not said if any accountability measures will be taken or released details on what the investigation entails.Lee called the failed execution "deeply disturbing" and said the review would seek to determine exactly what happened. The pause postpones the execution of Gary Wayne Sutton, which was scheduled for Dec. 3.Tennessee's candidates for governor quickly distanced themselves from TDOC Commissioner Frank Strada after the failed execution of Pike. Democratic nominee Jerri Green called for his immediate resignation on Oct. 2. Representatives for Republican nominee Sen. Marsha Blackburn and independents David Hatley and Lauren Pinkston told the USA TODAY Network in Tennessee they would not allow Strada to keep his job if they are elected. The election is set for Nov. 3. Knox News reporter Allie Feinberg contributed to this story.Reach Tennessean reporter Rachel Wegner at RAwegner@tennessean.com. Reach Tennessean reporter Kelly Puente at KPuente@tennessean.com.This story has been updated to add more information and to add video.This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Christa Pike unconscious, burned and intubated, court filing shows
Former GOP Rep. David Rivera gets 10 years for secret Venezuela lobbying Former GOP Rep. David Rivera gets 10 years for secret Venezuela lobbying MIAMI (AP) - A former Miami congressman and longtime friend of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison in connection with a secret $50 million lobbying campaign on Venezuela's behalf during the first Trump administration. Republican David Rivera has been jailed since jurors found him guilty in May on all counts, including failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering as part of his work for former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro 's government. Rivera, 61, appeared stone-faced as Judge Melissa Damian denounced him for betraying his life's mission, saying he would surely have been judged harshly his many friends had the millions of dollars come from the Cuban regime instead of its allies in Caracas. "Nobody would accept that's ok and I don't think this is different," the judge said. "There's no dispute this money came from the Maduro regime." The seven-week trial offered a rare glimpse into Miami's role as a crossroads for foreign influence campaigns aimed at shaping U.S. policy toward Latin America, highlighting the city's reputation as a magnet for both anti-communist crusaders and corruption among its sizable exile population. It included testimony from President Donald Trump's secretary of state, Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas and a top Washington lobbyist - all of whom testified they felt betrayed when learning of Rivera's mammoth consulting contract with a U.S.-based affiliate of Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA. Attorneys for Rivera plan to appeal and in June applied for a presidential pardon. Rivera faces additional federal charges in Washington, D.C., in a related foreign lobbying case. Prosecutors said betrayal featured coded figures - 'Sombrero' and 'Miss Clairol' In an indictment unsealed in 2022, prosecutors alleged that Rivera was tapped by then Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez - now Venezuela's acting president - to work Republican connections to get the first Trump administration to abandon its hard line and crippling sanctions on Venezuela. As part of the charm offensive, Rivera and a co-defendant, political consultant Esther Nuhfer, sought to manipulate influential friends, including Rubio and Sessions. Their goal was to normalize relations with the new Trump administration even as the Maduro government faced sanctions over serious accusations of human rights violations. But Rivera and Nuhfer didn't disclose their lobbying work as required, for fear it would have ended Rivera's political career as an anti-communist stalwart, prosecutors argued at trial. "The United States and the public were the true victims of this fraud," Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Cruz said in urging a stiff sentence. "He used his position of trust - and betrayed it consistently and repeatedly." To hide his work, prosecutors allege, Rivera also set up an encrypted chat group called MIA - for Miami - with his main conduit to the Maduro government: Venezuelan media tycoon Raúl Gorrín, who was subsequently charged in the U.S. with bribing top Venezuelan officials. Members of the group used playful code words to discuss their activities: Maduro was the "bus driver," Sessions "Sombrero," Rodríguez "The Lady in Red," and their windfall payments "La Luz," Spanish for "The Light," according to copies of text messages presented to the jury. Rubio was known as "Miss Clairol," because rubio means blond in Spanish. Defense said only missing paperwork made the $50 million contract illegal At Friday's sentencing, attorneys for Rivera repeated their trial argument that the former congressman believed he was under no requirement to disclose the work. The three-month, $50 million contract with Rivera's one-man consulting firm, they said, was focused on luring oil giant ExxonMobil back to Venezuela - commercial work that is generally exempt from the Foreign Agents Registration Act. "David Rivera does not deserve to die in prison because he failed to file a FARA registration," defense attorney Ed Shohat said at Friday's hearing. "If he had filed that paper, that form, everything he did, including the $50 million contract, which totally distorted this case, is perfectly legal." Wholly distinct from that consulting work, they say, were Rivera's meetings with Rubio and Sessions, which were focused on ushering in leadership in Venezuela that would be less hostile to the U.S. - not supporting Maduro in normalizing relations with the U.S. "There's not one word in any chat, not one document, not one thing he did to help Nicolás Maduro," said Shohat. Prosecutors said Rivera used the contract with the affiliate, New York-based PDV USA, as cover for illegal lobbying. "This is a classic money laundering case," the judge said Friday in rejecting Rivera's motion to lower the federal guidelines range. Where did the money go? A luxury yacht, among other things The partners tried to hide the work - backdating documents and coming up with sham agreements, like one to justify a wire transfer of $3.75 million to a South Florida company that maintained Gorrín's luxury yacht, prosecutors said. The political activity included setting up meetings for Rodríguez in New York, Caracas, Washington and Dallas. As part of the effort, Rivera roped in Sessions, who later tried to broker a meeting for Rodríguez with the ExxonMobil executive who took over as CEO when Rex Tillerson became Trump's first-term secretary of state. After a secret meeting in Caracas with Maduro, Sessions also agreed to deliver a letter from the Venezuelan president to Trump. The outreach quickly unraveled, however. Within six months of taking office, Trump sanctioned Maduro and labeled him a "dictator," launching a "maximum pressure" campaign to unseat the president. And now, nearly a decade later, Rodríguez has emerged as the second Trump administration's trusted partner after the U.S. military's ousting of Maduro. Rubio's former housemate faced scandal before, but Cuban Americans support him Before being elected to Congress in 2010, Rivera was a high-ranking Florida legislator and shared a Tallahassee home with Rubio, who eventually became the Florida House speaker. Rivera faced earlier controversy, including allegations that he secretly funded a Democratic spoiler candidate in a 2012 congressional race. Last year, federal prosecutors dropped that case after an appeals court threw out a sizable fine imposed by a lower court. Rivera was also investigated - but never charged - for alleged campaign finance violations and a $1 million contract with a gambling company while serving in the Florida Legislature. Despite all that, Rivera remains popular among Miami's Cuban American establishment. Friends of the former congressman, including the former president of Florida International University and Miami-Dade County's supervisor of elections, packed the courtroom to show their support. Sessions, in a letter seeking leniency that was read into the record by his chief of staff, said his former congressional colleague devoted decades to public service, much of it focused on defending liberty and democracy. "I don't think it's productive for society by sending David away for a long, long time," testified Liliana Ros, a longtime Miami GOP committee member.This article originally appeared on Associated Press at https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/former-gop-rep-david-rivera-182044649.html
Campaign-style Trump ads use money meant for border security, federal records show Campaign-style Trump ads use money meant for border security, federal records show The Trump administration is airing campaign-style television ads using money Congress approved for border security upgrades, efforts to combat drug trafficking and memorials for officers killed in the line of duty, according to federal spending records. Democrats say the ads break multiple federal laws by using taxpayer money for political purposes that Congress never authorized. The White House defends the ads as public service announcements. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. One of the spots closely resembles a 30-second video produced by the Trump campaign in 2024. The latest ad features President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth advocating for the Iran war. They feature disclosures saying they are "Paid for by the U.S. Government." On Sept. 19, a few days before the ads began airing, the White House Office of Management and Budget added $20 million to a Department of Homeland Security budget line designated for "commemorative events," according to publicly disclosed OMB data. Congress approved the spending for those events in Trump's 2025 domestic spending package, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, and intended it for "Line-of-Duty death memorials, Department or agency anniversaries, and commendation ceremonies," according to a House budget committee report. The next day, Sept. 20, DHS awarded a $20 million contract for a "national media campaign" to the LMD Agency, a Maryland-based public relations and media firm that had previously worked for the department. The company did not respond to requests for comment. DHS and OMB had originally planned to spend only $1 million on "commemorative events," according to OMB records. To add $20 million to that budget line, OMB drew on almost $6.7 billion that the law allocated to Customs and Border Protection. The law specified seven other uses for the money: new inspection equipment for ports of entry; air and marine response capabilities; border surveillance upgrades; biometric technology; screening people crossing the border; screening unaccompanied children; and enhanced border security targeting drug trafficking. "In order to use this fund for anything, you have to point to one of the eight things in this list and say, 'I'm doing that because Congress has said you have this money for one of these things,'" said Cerin Lindgrensavage, a lawyer with Protect Democracy, an advocacy group that frequently sues the Trump administration. "The problem is this discrepancy between what 'commemorative events' meant when the House was sitting down and putting the full language together and passing it, which was memorials and commendation ceremonies and such, and what these ads actually are." She added: "From our perspective, to the extent these ads are propaganda, there really isn't funding that has a permissible purpose that would include their use." A White House spokesperson, who did not identify themself, described the ads as educational and patriotic and referred questions to OMB and DHS. A DHS spokesperson said the agency makes contracting decisions in accordance with applicable laws. Since the 1950s, congressional appropriations have routinely prohibited using federal funds for "publicity or propaganda purposes." The Government Accountability Office has interpreted those restrictions to cover, among other things, communications that are "purely partisan" and "designed to aid a political party or candidates." "Using government funding to create or air political ads like the ones that have been running over the last few days is illegal and a shockingly corrupt misuse of taxpayer dollars," Sens. Patty Murray (D-Washington) and Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) said in a letter Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. "… This administration's defense of using Americans' tax dollars to air these ads is as absurd as it is offensive." Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said the ads could also violate the Hatch Act's bar against using official authority to influence elections, the Antideficiency Act's prohibition against spending federal money without congressional authorization, and criminal statutes against embezzling or stealing public funds. "Stealing taxpayer dollars to pay for Mr. Trump's narcissistic ego trips is plainly illegal," Raskin and Rep. George Whitesides (D-California) said in a letter Wednesday requesting a GAO investigation. The White House has indicated the ads will not stop and will instead expand. Officials argue the ads aren't political because they don't explicitly tell people to vote or take any other action and Trump is not on the ballot. Trump has repeatedly told his supporters to vote as if he were. The White House pointed to government-funded education campaigns under previous administrations, one of which the GAO found did violate the anti-propaganda law. There is no precedent for using government money to air political ads in an election season. The backlash includes a cease-and-desist letter from Christian Berishaj, the artist known as JMSN, whose song "Love Me" was featured in one of the ads without his permission. Lawyers for the artist said the ad infringed on his copyright and falsely suggested he is affiliated with the administration. Super PACs led by Trump advisers have spent more than $185.8 million on ads for the midterms, according to AdImpact data. The flagship super PAC, MAGA Inc., had $415.8 million as of Aug. 31, according to the Federal Election Commission, and Trump claimed to have about as much in an allied nonprofit group. Related ContentThis article originally appeared on Washington Post at https://washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/10/01/trump-ads-use-money-border-security-slain-officers-memorials/
Trump rules out diesel export ban after Europe agrees to tap reserves Trump rules out diesel export ban after Europe agrees to tap reserves President Donald Trump said Friday he was ruling out a diesel export ban and never really considered one in the first place, hours after Europe caved to U.S. pressure and agreed to release fuel from its stockpiles.The announcement appears to put to rest more than a week of frantic lobbying across two continents after surging fuel prices - caused by the ongoing war against Iran as well as Ukrainian attacks against Russian refineries - have angered farmers and put pressure on the Trump administration to act ahead of the November midterm elections."Europe has a lot of diesel, and they're going to be making a major world contribution, and so are we," Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a campaign trip. "And we're not going to be doing the export ban."It was never really ever on the table, but what Europe did was a great thing," he added.Trump had repeatedly said over the last two weeks that he was open to suspending exports of the fuel, which would have been the first restriction on U.S. energy exports since the Obama administration lifted a decades-old ban on oil exports in 2015. The president said just over a week ago that "I've called for that" when asked about a possible ban.But Energy Secretary Chris Wright and the president's allies in the oil industry publicly condemned the idea, warning it could pose major economic problems for foreign countries who rely on U.S. imports and eventually result in higher pump prices at home as refiners scaled back production.Those advisers urged Trump instead to push Europe to release fuel from its stockpiles, prompting a frantic public and private campaign of European governments by Trump administration officials. The G-7 announced Friday morning they would release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil from their strategic reserves over the next four months, beginning with a "frontloaded substantial diesel release within the first 20 days."POLITICO reported earlier Friday that the U.S. had essentially strong-armed hesitant EU governments into releasing their diesel supplies with the threat of an export ban, with one European diplomat labeling it "blackmail."Trump told reporters Friday that he had "asked for" Europe to tap its stockpiles, but maintained that the Europeans had decided to tap their stockpiles out of their own volition."We have a very good relationship with Europe, and they wanted to do it because they have a lot of diesel," Trump said. "I said it would be great if you put it out to the markets, and they did it."The Trump administration could still announce further measures on diesel prices short of a ban next week, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Among the ideas being evaluated are pushing more states to lift restrictions on red-dyed off-road diesel and suspend excise taxes on diesel sales.Meredith Lee Hill and Ben Lefebvre contributed reporting.This article originally appeared on Politico at https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/02/trump-rules-out-diesel-export-ban-after-europe-agrees-to-tap-stockpiles-01105569
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