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Britain under pressure to put tariffs on cheap Chinese vehicle imports ahead of protectionist trade measuresBritain’s car industry is grappling with a “difficult trade-off” between China and Europe, as manufacturers struggle to balance the benefits of both markets ahead of looming trade measures that could restrict UK exports to the EU.The UK is an outlier in choosing not to put import taxes on Chinese vehicles, even as the US has shut them out almost entirely, and the EU imposes duties of up to 45%. Continue reading...

Fears mounted Saturday that the Trump administration was “gearing up for something” ahead of Brazil’s presidential election on Sunday, in which incumbent president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will face off against far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, an ally to the White House.“They are absolutely gearing up for something and they won’t try to hide it because they assume nobody will do anything to stop it,” argued Vesper Jordan, an independent filmmaker and video essayist.In what some critics called an “unprecedented move,” the Trump administration suspended all U.S. consular services in Brazil on Friday, just two days before Brazil’s first-round presidential election. The U.S. State Department said the suspension was due to unspecified “security concerns,” though critics feared the move was part of an effort to “interfere in the country’s democratic elections.”Critics also expressed outrage over the apparent lack of media attention that the Trump administration’s actions in Brazil had received. Foreign affairs journalist Ishaan Tharoor argued that “the U.S. role in Brazil’s election” was “criminally under-discussed in the U.S.,” and journalist Noah Kulwin issued a similar but far more blunt assessment.“If we had a real news media instead of smug a------- who do video podcasts and video podcasts that are now broadcast on TV, this is the kind of thing that would be breaking through,” Kulwin wrote in a social media post on X.Bolsonaro is a lawyer, politician and son of Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former president who’s currently serving a 27-year sentence on charges related to an attempted coup after his election loss in 2022.Last year, Trump imposed a 50% tariff on Brazil in response to Jair Bolsonaro’s prosecution, calling it a “Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY.”“The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace,” Trump wrote in a July 2025 letter to Lula. “This Trial should not be taking place.”The US role in Brazil's election is criminally under-discussed in the US, though obviously front and center of the conversation in Brazil. https://t.co/qqnagh3LX0— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) October 2, 2026

Jared Kushner's questionable ties to a deal he helped negotiate are again in the spotlight a day after he spoke out to defend himself.On Saturday, The New York Times reported that Kushner's business partners stand to profit from a Russian oil deal he helped broker. A day earlier, Kushner took to X to blast a CNN report scrutinizing his business dealings in Israel.Talks between the Trump administration and Russia over ending the war in Ukraine have widened to include a multibillion-dollar sale of international assets owned by Lukoil, one of Russia's largest oil companies, the Times reported. Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the deal during a September 5 Kremlin meeting with Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff, according to the report.The leading group bidding for Lukoil's assets includes Trump megadonor Todd Boehly, a federal agency and two Middle Eastern investment groups with business ties to Kushner or Witkoff's family. One is a Qatar-based conglomerate run by brothers Moutaz and Ramez Al-Khayyat, who have partnered with Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, on a luxury resort in Albania.Another member of the group is a fund controlled by Emirati national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, whose separate fund Lunate ranks among the biggest backers of Kushner's private equity firm.The Times found no sign that Kushner or Witkoff would personally profit. But a senior administration official confirmed both men had a direct hand in shaping the federal government's financial stake, pushing for a "substantial upfront payment and profits interest for the United States."Hui Chen, a former Justice Department prosecutor and ethics adviser, raised red flags about the arrangement."This is an alarming and very concerning set of entanglements," Chen told the Times. "And it means you have to question how the Trump administration is evaluating the different bidders involved here. Are the personal interests involved going to wrongly influence the outcome?"The revelations land one day after Kushner went on the offensive against CNN, which reported Thursday that his firm Affinity Partners is the top shareholder in an Israeli financial company invested in suppliers to Israel's military. CNN noted it found no evidence his diplomacy affected those holdings."For the last 10 years, I have ignored false and misleading stories about me and focused on the work," Kushner posted on X Friday. He called CNN's story "deeply misleading" and vowed to start publicly rebutting coverage he views as inaccurate.

The Trump administration suspended all U.S. consular services in Brazil on Friday in what one political economist feared was a ploy to “interfere in the country’s democratic elections this weekend.”The State Department told Reuters that the suspension of all consular services across the South American nation was due to “security concerns,” but did not provide additional details, including what those concerns were or when consular services would be restored.“Consular Services in the US Embassy and Consulates in Brazil will be suspended starting Friday, October 2 due to security concerns," the State Department said in a statement, according to Reuters. "US citizens seeking emergency assistance during this time should not come to the Embassy, the Consulates, or other US diplomatic facilities."The timing of the move was suspect, argued David Adler, co-general coordinator of Progressive International and former advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Brazil’s first-round presidential election is on Sunday, pitting Flávio Bolsonaro — a far-right politician supported by President Donald Trump — against incumbent Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a progressive Workers' Party member and frequent Trump critic.“Holy s---. In an UNPRECEDENTED move, the United States suspends ALL embassy services in all American consulates in Brazil… with no justification whatsoever,” Adler wrote in a social media post on X. “Yet another fear-stoking effort to interfere in the country’s democratic elections this weekend.”Brazilian political commentator Julio Freiress — whose commentary was cited by the Brazilian Supreme Court earlier this year — expressed similar concerns.“Trump has already started interfering in the Brazilian election,” Freiress wrote, according to an automatic translation by X’s Grok chatbot from its original Portuguese. “There's no reason whatsoever for the United States to suspend embassy services. There's already a whiff of interference in the air.”

The Montana set of a film championing immigration agents, tied to Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro, was flooded with hours of chanted insults against him after locals obtained the script.Residents of Livingston obtained the 86-page script for the production, known by the working title "Pawn Shop," and began protesting soon after filming started Sept. 22, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported this week.In a report Thursday, The Bulwark, which also obtained a draft of the script, said the Daily Wire production opens with a scene based on the January fatal shooting of protester Renée Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis.Keegan Nashan, a Livingston political organizer and abortion-rights advocate, spent five hours on Sept. 23, the second day of filming, shouting "Ben Shapiro is a cuck" into a megaphone to the tune of "London Bridge Is Falling Down," according to the Chronicle."People initially thought the film was anti-ICE," Nashan told the Chronicle. "[The production has] every right to do with their money as they see fit, as I have every right to protest with my time as I see fit. It is clear this is a pro-ICE film."Other locals honked car horns and tried small-scale disruptions of the shoot, according to The Bulwark."We want them to know: Don't come do this s--- in our town," one protester, who asked not to be named for fear of online retaliation, told The Bulwark.Alicia Jongeward, who lives along the alley where the crew is filming, told the Chronicle she started asking around when cones blocked her street Sept. 22 and eventually received the script from a Yellowstone Film Ranch worker. The script has since circulated in overlapping neighborhood group chats, she said."It is very much going along with the shots they've been doing within 100 meters from my home," Jongeward said. "The opening scene of the script talks about this car squealing in ... A woman is killed. … I saw it happen."That opening scene centers on a character the script calls "MELANIE (40), a fat blue-hair," The Bulwark reported. She slams her Subaru into an ICE van and then fatally hits an agent named "Juan" before his partner, "Mike," shoots her."She MASHES on the gas as she throws the car into reverse, accidentally SLAMMING Juan out of the way. He goes flying into the gutter, bleeding..." the script reads."The first shot takes the [sic] Melanie in the neck, below her covid mask. The second in the head, above her covid mask," it continues. "Blood SPLATTERS on her PASSENGER's (40s, female, overweight) forehead and matching covid mask."In the real shooting on Jan. 7, ICE agent Jonathan Ross fired three shots as Renée Good moved her SUV forward and turned away from him, the Chronicle reported. Federal officials said at the time that Ross acted in self-defense, according to the Associated Press."I asked the [actor playing the] ICE agent if they were method actors and could really put themselves in the shoes of Jonathan Ross who shot Renee Good," Nashan said."An unarmed woman was shot blocks from her own home by masked unidentified men employed by the U.S. federal government," she added. "We haven't seen any accountability."Carter Boehm, a Livingston film producer who helped scout the set, confirmed Shapiro's involvement to the Chronicle. Producer Dallas Sonnier, whose company filed for the city permit, did not respond to the paper."I now know the gist of it," Boehm said of the film's ICE theme. "I know Ben Shapiro is involved."Livingston Police Chief Wayne Hard told the Chronicle the department has received noise complaints about both the protesters and the production."The city was not aware of any connections to ICE when the permit was approved," City Manager Grant Gager told the paper. "Certain members of the public have made us aware."Renée Good's family sued the U.S. government and several immigration officials Thursday, alleging wrongful death and a conspiracy to interfere with civil rights, the AP reported. The defendants include Ross, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.Family attorney Benjamin Berkman spoke about the lawsuits at a news conference in Minneapolis on Thursday, which LiveNOW from Fox carried live."What happened to us should never happen to any family," Becca Good, Renée Good's partner, said in a news release Thursday, according to the AP.

Indian government issued with warning it would be in contempt of court if it failed to release Jagtar Singh JohalThe British Sikh activist Jagtar Singh Johal has been released from a Delhi prison after the Indian high court warned the government it would be found in contempt of court if it continued to attempt to keep him in jail despite an 18 September court order releasing him on bail. Johal has been incarcerated for nine years without any full trial.The court order was issued after Johal’s lawyers issued a writ of habeas corpus alleging he was being detained against the express direction of the court. Continue reading...

A $50 billion investment deal touted by President Donald Trump during a Wednesday Oval Office event is running into pushback from the ally he says agreed to it.Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters South Korea would invest more than $50 billion in the long-stalled Alaska LNG pipeline project, plus another $120 billion in U.S. nuclear power plants, as part of a "broader trade package." That earned applause in the Oval Office on Wednesday.Sen. Dan Sullivan, an Alaska Republican who has pushed the pipeline for years, celebrated on X: "Alaska LNG is happening thanks to a $50 billion+ investment from South Korea that we announced today at the White House. This project will deliver low-cost energy for Alaskans for generations and create 10,000+ good-paying jobs. A historic day for our state!"But South Korea's government says the celebration is premature, the Wall Street Journal reported early Thursday morning.Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan pushed back on the U.S. framing, saying "the announcement went far beyond what was agreed, as the countries agreed to proceed with the Alaska project only on the premise that commercial reasonableness is guaranteed," according to the Korea Times.South Korean President Lee Jae Myung echoed the objection, insisting no blank check had been written. "We agreed to begin working on the Alaska LNG project on the conditions that, first, its commercial viability is confirmed and, second, it complies with Korea's legal procedures," Lee said.According to the Journal, Seoul has reportedly secured "a $20 billion annual investment ceiling and a $200 billion overall cap" as part of the broader trade framework, guardrails that leave the specific Alaska pipeline commitment far from finalized despite Wednesday's applause line. "The clashing versions add another twist to protracted, and often contentious, talks between Washington and Seoul over last year’s trade pact. South Korea has pledged $350 billion in U.S. investments, plus an additional $100 billion for American energy purchases, in exchange for dropping tariffs on most goods from 25% to 15%," the Journal reported.

Evangelical voters who once worshiped President Donald Trump are quietly abandoning the conservative party, a religious expert with close ties to the White House told Raw Story.Professor J. Derrick Lemons — author of the upcoming book “Trump and the Politics of Prayer: Inside the Spiritual World of His Faith Advisory Team” — told Raw Story that the religious community cannot forgive their president. “It's not like the cheerleader years of yesteryear,” said the University of Georgia’s Religion department head. “The midterms are not looking good.”Lemons has devoted his career to studying the influence of Christian pastors on American society, focusing in recent years on their complex and sometimes duplicitous relationship with Trump. In his 2022 article “The Room Where It Happened: How Evangelical Leaders Used a Closed-Door Meeting to Change Sentiment for Donald J. Trump,” Lemons spoke with Trump's evangelical advisor Reverend Johnnie Moore about a 2016 meeting orchestrated to draw voters to Trump’s side. "Organizers knew the questions that needed to be asked, and these questions were vetted with candidate Trump in advance,” Lemons wrote. "These staged questions allowed candidate Trump to provide correct answers to the key issues evangelicals cared about...The result is that millions of evangelicals who were on the fence about candidate Trump voted for him.”And they voted in droves.Evangelicals comprised a record 26 percent of the electorate in 2016 with more than 80 percent of white born-again voters throwing support behind Trump, according to Time.Their support continued into 2020, as Lemons explores in his soon-to-be released book about Trump’s Faith Advisory Team's actions ahead of the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021.Those leaders framed Trump’s efforts to remain in the White House as a mandate to “re-Christianize” America — and this prepared them to present Trump’s 2024 return as a resurrection, Lemons argues.In his interview with Raw Story, Lemons said faith leaders were able to make this pitch because Trump, in his first term, had bucked a political norm: he'd kept his promises to them.“Trump really delivered some significant wins for evangelicals,” Lemons told Raw Story. “That explains a lot of excitement.”That’s why, in 2024, roughly 80 percent of evangelical voters were once again willing to vote for a man convicted of fraud, found liable for sex abuse and accused of conspiring to steal an election, Lemons argued. When Trump promised an isolationist policy — they believed him.But as gas prices soar, evangelicals’ concerns have come to mirror those of Trump’s top critics, Lemons told Raw Story; that his Defense Department lacks an exit strategy and Iran has only been empowered by U.S. aggression.“If anything, Iran discovered that they had more control than maybe they even thought they had,” Lemons said, summarizing evangelicals’ views. “What's the end game here?”Recent polling from Reuters aligns with Lemons’ ear-to-the-ground perspective. In a June poll, about 54 percent of evangelicals said the war was not in line with their Christian values — and Trump's approval rating among evangelicals stood at just 52. “He really ran on ‘Isolationism of America’... the next thing you know, you're in a war,” Lemons said. Now, “There's anger in the evangelical community.”