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Outrage poured in on Sunday after reports indicated a U.S. Marine had been arrested in Japan on suspicion of burglary and murder. The Associated Press reported on the service member's arrest in Okinawa, a southern island that has had a large U.S. military presence since World War II. The report indicated that police arrested a 29-year-old Marine for allegedly killing a 39-year-old woman in a hotel in the island's capital of Naha, and taking her wallet and belongings afterward. The individual who has been accused of the crime was caught on video entering the hotel with the woman and leaving alone, the report added. The report set off a firestorm in Japan and abroad. “The case deals a major shock and adds fear to the Okinawans who have already been forced to live next to U.S. bases,” newly elected Okinawa Gov. Genta Koja told the AP. “It is absolutely unforgivable, and we are outraged.”Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi condemned the report in a statement to CNN. "The occurrence of such an extremely brutal and heinous incident is a matter of profound regret, and as the Japanese government, we have lodged a strong protest with the U.S. side," she said. CNN's Clare Sebastian reported that the U.S. embassy in Japan is cooperating in the investigation, and that it "risks political fallout between the U.S. and its key ally in the Pacific."Geopolitical analysts expressed outrage at the report on social media. "The US military rapes and murders in Japan. But clearly the biggest threat to Japan is China," Aidan Simardone, a geopolitical analyst and immigration lawyer, posted on X. "This is just breaking news here in Japan, pissing off a lot of people and it’s not the first time," Thomas Logan, an East Asia strategist, posted on X.

One of President Donald Trump's supporters found himself caught in the middle of a horrific immigration case last week, one that has him questioning his support for the president, according to a new report. Jack Buhring, a truck driver, was hauling along his normal route on August 31 when his truck struck and killed a 20-year-old Haitian immigrant named Pierre Damas Bel, who had jumped out in front of him near Springfield, Ohio, The Atlantic reported. Bel had been granted Temporary Protected Status to stay in the country because of instability in his home nation. However, Bel was one of thousands of legal immigrants who lost their immigration status when the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to end TPS for Haitians. “I feel really bad for the family,” Buhring, who voted for Trump for the first time in 2024, told the outlet. “I just don’t want to take the chance for the safety of my family. I mean, he jumped out in front of me. But I still killed their son.”"I feel guilty," he added. Dealing with the incident has been a challenge for Buhring, according to the report. Buhring told The Atlantic that Bel made eye contact with him before Buhring's truck killed him. Buhring has also tried to find as much information about Bel as possible since the event, and has continued to reach out to a first responder who helped Buhring get out of his truck after the incident occurred. “I felt a big thump, and I knew it was him,” he told The Atlantic. “I could feel it all.”The incident also has Buhring rethinking his support for Trump. He described the administration as a "joke," even though he does not see Democrats in any more favorable light. Bel's death set off a firestorm in Ohio, The Atlantic reported. "When I visited in early September, much of the Haitian community was in hiding," the report reads in part. "Families were getting food delivered to their homes, attending church services online. Haitian activists told me that some people had spoken of suicide as an alternative to deportation. At the vigils for Pierre, the people who showed up included his high-school teachers, his soccer coaches and teammates, waiters from Texas Roadhouse, and others who described themselves as neighbors, including a man who told a crowd one night that Pierre’s death was 'a failing of broader policy, but I will always bear the guilt that there is more that I could have done and we could have done.'”Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, an immigration attorney, described the report as "searing.""I feel very sorry for Mr. Buhring, who became an unintentional victim of Trump's hate campaign against the Haitians in Springfield," he wrote on X. "The tragedy of what Trump is doing to the Haitians who had safety here keeps growing (sic) worse."

Calls for release of six Matsadaash staff after one is charged, while whereabouts of other five remain unknownAn Egyptian journalist has been charged with joining a terrorist group, days after an entire newsroom was detained in what rights groups have said is a crackdown on press freedoms.Last week, authorities arrested six journalists from the independent fact-checking and investigative platform Matsadaash – literally meaning “don’t believe” – accusing them in a statement of being unlicensed and publishing false news on behalf of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Continue reading...

Suspect allegedly killed woman at hotel in Okinawa as prime minister calls crime ‘exceptionally brutal and vicious’A US marine stationed on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa is accused of murdering a Japanese woman and has been arrested on suspicion of murder, police said on Sunday.The suspect allegedly “killed [a] 39-year-old woman at a hotel in Naha and stole her wallet” as well as her backpack, local police told news media outlets. Continue reading...

The Trump administration has “quietly” set the stage in recent weeks to potentially “resume major combat operations against Iran,” Axios’ Barak Ravid reported on Thursday night, citing multiple U.S. officials.On Sunday, the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and an accompanying strike group "quietly" left California toward the Middle East region, one U.S. official told Ravid. And, within the past few weeks, the Trump administration sent Patriot missile batteries to U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which Ravid noted carried major implications.“The U.S. will need Saudi Arabia to allow it to use the country's airspace if major combat operations resume,” Ravid wrote. “But the Saudis are unlikely to grant permission if they feel oil facilities won't be protected.”In late July, President Donald Trump was “seriously considering” launching a “massive attack” on Iranian energy targets, but ultimately decided against it after being pressed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who feared retaliatory strikes on Saudi energy sites. As suggested by Ravid, the Trump administration’s shipment of Patriot missile batteries “to protect oil and gas facilities in Saudi Arabia and Qatar” could be a sign that Trump is preparing to finally move forward with those plans. U.S. officials further supported the suggestion, telling Ravid that bin Salman’s pleas were a key reason for Trump opting for an economic pressure campaign against Iran over military strikes.On the departure of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, one U.S. official told Ravid that the U.S. military would be well equipped should hostilities resume.“This means the Middle East region could potentially have up to three aircraft carrier strike groups. This is much more firepower,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Up to 300mm of rain could fall in places, while extreme downpours bring landslides and deaths in NepalTorrential rain and potentially damaging flooding are forecast in eastern Spain over the coming days, as cold upper air moves over the warm, humid surface air of the Mediterranean Sea, fuelling violent, slow-moving thunderstorms near Spain’s east coast. The weather pattern, known as a Dana, occurs most often in autumn.Models show more than 100mm of rain could fall across the region on Friday, with 200-300mm possible in some areas. Cities including Valencia and Castelló de la Plana, are most at risk. Valencia has experienced several damaging floods in recent years. Catalonia has now put three towns under lockdown and Valencia has shut schools for nearly half a million children. Continue reading...

Smit Machchhar says in video call with Indian PM that he realised if he did not get up ‘passengers would lose their lives’The Indian pilot who helped thwart an apparent attempt to crash a flydubai flight to Tel Aviv said his faith and his desire to save his passengers allowed him to make a “last push” to open the cockpit door as he fought for his life.Capt Smit Machchhar, who was recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital, described to India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, how he helped save the plane and its more than 170 passengers. Continue reading...

President Donald Trump's ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, faces calls for her removal after reportedly pulling a lobbyist into meetings with foreign officials.Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host who was once engaged to Donald Trump Jr., was confirmed to the post last year. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that top lawmakers on the House and Senate foreign affairs panels have pressed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to examine her conduct. They cited a recent Journal investigation into her campaign to promote natural gas deals involving a Greek company across southeastern Europe."If these reports are accurate, Ambassador Guilfoyle is unfit to represent the United States abroad and should be removed from her position," Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) wrote in a Wednesday letter to Rubio.Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), who supported Guilfoyle's confirmation, sent her own letter Thursday. "Such actions do not serve U.S. credibility overseas and risk undermining U.S. diplomacy," she wrote.The lawmakers want records of every meeting attended by Christos Marafatsos, a registered lobbyist for Aktor Group. Aktor's joint venture with a Greek state-backed energy firm signed a 20-year agreement last fall to buy American liquefied natural gas from Venture Global. They also asked about Guilfoyle's financial interests and her travel on private jets, including one flight covered by Aktor's chief executive. Former embassy staffers told The Journal that ambassadors rarely fly private and need explicit approval to do so.The Journal previously reported that Guilfoyle clashed with Greece's energy minister at a March dinner in Athens. Referring to Romania's government, which was then nearing collapse, she allegedly said, "We can do that to any country we want. We can do that here." Her lawyer disputed that account, per The Journal. Romania's government fell in a no-confidence vote in May.A U.S. Embassy official in Greece said Guilfoyle "continues to follow all State Department ethical guidelines" and that "any insinuation that she was operating outside of ethical guidelines are categorically false."A lawyer for Aktor told The Journal, "The Ambassador has been consistently promoting U.S. interests."