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Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner's secret resort deal on Albania's only island has sparked a mass revolt that now threatens to bring down the country's entire government.Kushner's private equity firm, Affinity Partners, quietly secured rights to build a $1.6 billion luxury resort on Sazan Island — a protected Adriatic nature preserve — and a $4 billion coastal development on a nearby wildlife reserve.The Albanian government granted the project special investor status, bypassed public tenders, and stripped the land of its protected status — all without disclosing the deal to parliament or the public, WIRED reported.Heavy machinery rolled in without permits, private security guards dragged away environmental protesters on video, and what critics describe as an alleged "land grab" went viral overnight, the report said.Hundreds of thousands of Albanians have since flooded the capital, Tirana, under signs reading "Albania is not a Gucci bag on sale," according to WIRED. The movement calls itself the Flamingo Revolution, named after the birds whose protected habitat is under threat of destruction.Now protesters aren't just demanding the resort be stopped, they want Prime Minister Edi Rama's resignation, a caretaker government, and early elections — a full governmental reset that would put every elected official's job on the line.Ivanka Trump told a podcaster she and Kushner stumbled onto Sazan by accident during a 2021 yacht trip. "We were on a friend's boat, and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that's how we found it," she said, according to PBS NewsHour. Dea Dervishi, an Albanian student, had a pointed response: "She said she discovered the island, but the island belongs to us."A U.S. Senate investigation found Affinity has pocketed roughly $157 million in fees from foreign governments — including $87 million from Saudi Arabia — while generating zero return for investors.Kushner simultaneously serves as the president's Middle East envoy. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) called it "a glaring and incurable conflict of interest."Albania's special anti-corruption prosecutors have opened a formal probe and frozen developer assets. It's a pattern critics recognize: Kushner ran the same play in Serbia, where four government officials were charged with corruption to enable his resort deal. He withdrew from that project in December 2025.Protesters are organizing a nationwide mobilization on Saturday and are demanding early elections that would put every elected official's job on the line.

Cape Verdeans in Britain feeling ‘incredibly proud’ after team’s hard-fought draws against Spain and UruguayWorld Cup live – latest updatesFor as long as she can remember, 13-year-old Lauryn struggled to find a map that included Cape Verde. Now, to her great delight, the tiny African island nation is finally centre stage.“Seeing our country shown across the world at the World Cup makes me feel incredibly proud,” Lauryn says. “After the first match, everyone was talking about Cape Verde. People saw the talent and the skill of our players.” Continue reading...

Fears over ‘huge community transmission’ as modelling predicts thousands of deaths in DRC by SeptemberThe whereabouts of almost 300 people who have tested positive for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is unknown, according to Africa’s top public health official.The humanitarian crisis amid the conflict in the affected areas means more than 1 million people are living in camps to which health workers have no access, Dr Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said on Thursday. Continue reading...

Sentencing of 27-year-old Sadia Moalim Ali condemned by former president and prime ministers as well as rights groupsA rickshaw driver in Somalia has been sentenced to three years in prison for comments she made on social media, in a case that has caught the public’s attention and provoked outrage in the country.Sadia Moalim Ali, a 27-year-old nursing graduate, was originally charged with insulting government institutions and incitement to commit a crime, but convicted only of the former. Her sentence, immediately condemned as “fundamentally unjust”, was handed down on 25 June. Continue reading...

Four Republican senators broke ranks with President Donald Trump and voted to limit his Iran war powers on Tuesday, according to CNN. The "major rebuke" from lawmakers, including GOP leaders, has directed the Trump administration to begin removing military forces in Iran, CNN reported.Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) all voted for the resolution. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voted against it. The final vote tally was 50-48."The measure passed the House earlier this month. But because it is what’s known as a concurrent resolution, it does not require the president’s signature and, by definition, does not carry the force of law," CNN reported.A House Democratic aide involved in the effort to pass the war powers resolution told CNN earlier this month "that they believe the measure would be binding and it would be a legal matter to work out.""This is a major rebuke of President Trump," CNN anchor Boris Sanchez said.Republicans have had increasing concerns over Iran war negotiations, said CNN anchor and chief political correspondent Manu Raju."This is the first time that this has happened," Raju explained. "The Senate and the House have passed an identical measure to limit President Trump's powers with Iran, essentially to stop the war altogether, unless Congress has a say, and if the president wanted to escalate things in Iran, he'd have to come back to Congress to get approval." The White House has not yet responded to the vote."Democrats effectively pushed this bill through the House with the support of some Republicans," Raju said. "And now we are seeing the same thing happening today on the Senate side. A sign of some concern within the GOP ranks over the way this war is being waged and a message being sent to the White House, now that both chambers of Congress are calling to limit the President's war powers with Iran."

Trump saw his power to continue waging war in Iran checked by a Senate vote on Tuesday, per reporting by the New York Times.The Senate resolution tells Trump to end the war in Iran or seek congressional authorization to resume it, according to the Times, which described the 50-48 Senate vote as "the most significant bipartisan rebuke yet of the conflict."GOP senators Rand Paul from Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, Susan Collins from Maine and Bill Cassidy from Louisiana crossed over and joined with Democrats to check Trump's Iran war powers. However, the Times noted that the resolution does not have the force of law and is unlikely to lead to an immediate change in policy. The Senate resolution marks the second time that Republicans have rebuked Trump over the war in Iran. The House of Representatives recently passed a similar resolution. Trump can veto the resolution.

President Donald Trump has become desperate to "erase the sting of defeat," an analyst argued on Tuesday.Salon's Heather Digby Parton described how the Iran negotiations and failed foreign policy maneuvers have left Trump in a position where he needs a "big win." And now, he has turned his attention to Cuba and Greenland in an attempt to restore his MAGA base after a "profound defeat.""For his part, Trump has already declared victory," Digby Parton wrote. "He is clearly eager to move on from what is undoubtedly the worst foreign policy failure of his presidency — and one of the worst in U.S. history. But since his psyche is so fragile, he will not be able to admit that to himself. Trump will need to bag himself a 'win' as soon as possible to erase his defeat in the minds of the MAGA faithful — and to quiet the voices in his head screaming that he has screwed up once again."Trump has been influenced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, "whose politics were fermented in that anti-communist petri dish — and who tells him that this one will be easy," Digby Parton explained.And since "Trump is a Florida man now," there's another reason he could be eyeing Cuba."And let’s talk about beachfront property: Nothing would thrill Trump more than to fulfill the Mafia dream of a gambling resort on the island 90 miles off the coast of Florida without all those pesky laws and regulations," Digby Parton wrote. "He saw 'The Godfather Part II,' and he knows he could pull it off, unlike those losers JFK and Michael Corleone.""If he does, it’s pretty clear that he’ll anoint Rubio as his successor, even over his own vice president. (Vance made the mistake of being right about Iran, which Trump will find unforgivable.) According to 'Regime Change,' the new book by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, when Trump was asked if he thought his successor would keep all the gilt trappings in the Oval Office, he replied, 'Cubans like gold.' Rubio, it appears, is already on track," Digby Parton added.

Vice President JD Vance’s becoming the face of the Iran peace negotiations has all the appearances of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Donald Trump leaving the veep out to dangle in the wind by defending a deal that will go nowhere.That is according to MS NOW’s Jake Traylor, who told host Stephanie Ruhle on Tuesday morning that one administration insider called Vance’s hyping up the negotiators' efforts a “complete capitulation” to Iran and characterized Trump’s initial praise of it as “salesmanship,” before adding, “That’s putting lipstick on a very ugly pig.”Traylor reported on Tuesday that Rubio has artfully “sidestepped” becoming involved in the negotiations, effectively dumping them on Vance.“I was told by a White House official that initially Rubio sort of strategically sidestepped this role as the lead of negotiations, this official told me that Rubio knew, Rubio had the foresight and awareness to say, ‘This deal is not going to be successful. I don't want my name attached to it,'” Traylor told the host. “Another White House official told me that they thought Vance was the wrong person for the job but Rubio didn't really want it. It kind of fell in Vance's lap and, as the Vice President, he had to sort of play a long.”“Probably the most illuminating moment for how difficult this uphill battle is for Vance right now comes from over the weekend,” he reported. “During the negotiations, we saw Vice President Vance touting progress, saying they were going to turn over a new leaf, a new relationship between the US. And Iran, and literally minutes later, we have a Truth [social media post] from President Trump that is threatening to restart military strikes again.”“It just it just shows the juxtaposition here that ultimately Vance can be the face of this thing, but it doesn't mean he has the control here,” he added.“Yeah, so Marco Rubio sidesteps this thing, noting that it's putting lipstick on a very ugly pig and maybe more importantly, Donald Trump lets him do it,” the amused Ruhle observed. - YouTube youtu.be