عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Trump Escalates Harsh Rhetoric against Immigrants, Harris

Republican presidential candidate, former US President Donald Trump, watches the Alabama Crimson Tide versus Georgia Bulldogs college football game with musician Kid Rock and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) at Bryant-Denny Stadium on September 28, 2024 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Getty Images via AFP)
Republican presidential candidate, former US President Donald Trump, watches the Alabama Crimson Tide versus Georgia Bulldogs college football game with musician Kid Rock and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) at Bryant-Denny Stadium on September 28, 2024 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Getty Images via AFP)
TT
TT

Trump Escalates Harsh Rhetoric against Immigrants, Harris

Republican presidential candidate, former US President Donald Trump, watches the Alabama Crimson Tide versus Georgia Bulldogs college football game with musician Kid Rock and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) at Bryant-Denny Stadium on September 28, 2024 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Getty Images via AFP)
Republican presidential candidate, former US President Donald Trump, watches the Alabama Crimson Tide versus Georgia Bulldogs college football game with musician Kid Rock and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) at Bryant-Denny Stadium on September 28, 2024 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Getty Images via AFP)

Donald Trump on Saturday deployed some of his harshest rhetoric against immigrants who have crossed the border illegally and committed crimes, especially against young women, while he also escalated his personal insults against Kamala Harris.

In the battleground state of Wisconsin, Trump called Democratic Vice President Harris, who on Friday visited the US-Mexico border for the first time in her 2024 presidential campaign, "mentally impaired" and "mentally disabled".

The Republican presidential candidate was flanked by posters of immigrants in the US illegally who have been arrested for murder and other violent crimes, and banners saying "End Migrant Crime" and "Deport Illegals Now."

His speech was unusually devoted almost entirely to undocumented immigrants. He called those who had committed violent crime "monsters,stone-cold killers" and "vile animals".

Trump is locked in a close race with Harris ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Immigration and the southern border are one of the top issues for voters, according to opinion polls.

Sarafina Chitika, a Harris spokesperson, said after Trump's speech: "He's got nothing 'inspiring' to offer the American people, just darkness."

The former president blamed Harris and Democratic President Joe Biden for allowing undocumented immigrants into the US, accusing some migrants of wanting to "rape, pillage, thieve, plunder and kill the people of the United States of America."

At one point Trump admitted: "This is a dark speech".

Trump's speech was in the small Wisconsin city of Prairie du Chien, where a Venezuelan in the US illegally was detained in September for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman and attacking her daughter.

Some 7 million migrants have been arrested crossing the US-Mexico border illegally during Biden's administration, according to government data, a record high number that has fueled criticism of Harris and Biden from Trump and fellow Republicans.

In her visit to the border on Friday, Harris outlined her plans to fix "our broken immigration system" while accusing Trump of "fanning the flames of fear and division" over the impact of immigrants on American life.

Harris also called for tighter asylum restrictions and vowed to make a "top priority" of stopping fentanyl from entering the US.

Trump also repeated his false claim that his 2020 election defeat to Biden was fraudulent. If reelected, and "if allowed", Trump said he would prosecute people he blames for his loss then.

Studies generally find there is no evidence immigrants commit crimes at a higher rate than native-born Americans and critics say Trump's rhetoric reinforces racist tropes.

Trump typically focuses on young women allegedly killed by Hispanic assailants to drive home that message, eschewing cases that involve male victims.

Trump's opponents accuse him of cynically exploiting grieving families to fuel his narrative that foreign-born, often Hispanic, arrivals are part of an invading army.

But some of the families of the victims have welcomed Trump's focus on the issue of violent crime and the death toll of teenagers caused by the opioid drug fentanyl, much of which crosses into the US over the southern border.

Several parents who had lost children to attacks by immigrants in the US illegally, or to fentanyl, spoke in support of him before Trump's remarks on Saturday.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Iran's President Delivers Defiant UN Speech

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on September 23, 2026. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on September 23, 2026. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
TT
TT

Iran's President Delivers Defiant UN Speech

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on September 23, 2026. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on September 23, 2026. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian delivered a defiant speech at the United Nations on Wednesday as Tehran downplayed talks with the United States.

He said his country's people had been the “victims of terrorism” by the United States.

Delivering the rare wartime speech at the UN General Assembly, Pezeshkian displayed images of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and more than 150 schoolchildren killed in the opening days of the conflict.

“We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,” he said. “Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country.”

Turning to the United States, Pezeshkian added: “Yes, they did hit us, but we did not bend the knee.”

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that President Donald Trump remained open to an agreement “that allows Iran to be what it should be, which is a great and prosperous country.”

Rubio said the prospects for such a deal were hindered by Iran’s nuclear ambitions and “their support of terrorism.” If those policies continued, he said, Trump could exercise “a number of options,” including further military action.

“It must be understood by Mr. Trump and those who seek to bully us that we are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force,” Pezeshkian said in his speech.

World

WHO: Congo is Running Short of Health Workers as Ebola Remains Out of Control

Ebola response teams organize a public demonstration to raise awareness about the Ebola virus disease in Beni, North Kivu province, eastern Congo, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Sebastien Kitsa Musayi)
Ebola response teams organize a public demonstration to raise awareness about the Ebola virus disease in Beni, North Kivu province, eastern Congo, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Sebastien Kitsa Musayi)
TT
TT

WHO: Congo is Running Short of Health Workers as Ebola Remains Out of Control

Ebola response teams organize a public demonstration to raise awareness about the Ebola virus disease in Beni, North Kivu province, eastern Congo, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Sebastien Kitsa Musayi)
Ebola response teams organize a public demonstration to raise awareness about the Ebola virus disease in Beni, North Kivu province, eastern Congo, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Sebastien Kitsa Musayi)

Congo is running short of health workers to staff treatment centers for history's fastest-growing Ebola outbreak, particularly in the eastern province of North Kivu where cases have surged 73% over three weeks, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

The warning came despite signs of improvement in other provinces, including Ituri, the outbreak’s epicenter. The outbreak has spread to seven provinces, with 7,773 confirmed cases and 3,759 deaths, according to the latest government figures.

Between Aug. 31 and Sept. 20, cases fell 26% in Ituri province and 15% in Haut-Uele, said Marie Roseline Belizaire, the WHO’s regional emergency director for Africa. But transmission patterns vary widely and the outbreak remains uncontrolled, she said.

“While cases and deaths are declining in some provinces, they continue to rise in others,” The Associated Press quoted Belizaire as saying. “The outbreak is still not under control and remains spread across a wide geographic area.”

The outbreak is spreading under extremely difficult conditions, fueled by insecurity, displacement, a health workers’ strike and intense population movements. The World Health Organization has said it is on track to surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak, the deadliest on record, which killed more than 11,000 people, primarily in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Catherine Smallwood, the WHO’s Ebola incident manager, said cases and deaths had begun declining in North Kivu after several weeks of increases. But although treatment beds are being added daily, facilities still lack enough staff and partners to operate them.

“The human resources gap is one of the biggest gaps,” Smallwood said.

WHO representative in Congo Anne Ancia said one Ebola treatment center requires about 300 health professionals, including anesthetists, hygienists, nurses and general practitioners.

“We are building Ebola treatment centers but do not always have the human resources needed to operate them,” Ancia said. “Those health workers must be paid.”

Frontline workers in Ituri previously went on strike over unpaid wages, worsening access to care.

Health Minister Roger Kamba said in July that the government was verifying payroll lists after the names of people not involved in the response were added. Frontline workers said officials promised to pay the arrears, but some workers received nothing and others only part of what they were owed.

Another major challenge in the response is the fatality rate among children, according to the WHO. Children under five have the highest case fatality rate, more than 60% compared with approximately 40% among adults, Belizaire said.

WHO Ebola Incident Manager Smallwood said detecting cases among children under five is also very difficult because the children can’t necessarily explain their symptoms, and the presentation of symptoms can be confusing.

World

Pakistani Officials Say Afghan Taliban Shelled Pakistani Border. Kabul Denies the Attack

Pakistani soldiers near a security fence at the border post in Torkham, Pakistan, in December. Credit Salahuddin/Reuters
Pakistani soldiers near a security fence at the border post in Torkham, Pakistan, in December. Credit Salahuddin/Reuters
TT
TT

Pakistani Officials Say Afghan Taliban Shelled Pakistani Border. Kabul Denies the Attack

Pakistani soldiers near a security fence at the border post in Torkham, Pakistan, in December. Credit Salahuddin/Reuters
Pakistani soldiers near a security fence at the border post in Torkham, Pakistan, in December. Credit Salahuddin/Reuters

Afghanistan's Taliban forces shelled Pakistani border posts overnight after Pakistani troops foiled what they described as a cross-border infiltration attempt by militants, local Pakistani officials said Wednesday.

The spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban government, Zabiullah Mujahid, denied any attacks by the Afghan Taliban forces, The Associated Press said.

The conflicting statements came just days after Pakistani fighter jets struck sites in eastern Afghanistan that Islamabad said were militant hideouts, an escalation between Kabul and Islamabad that threatens mediation efforts by regional powers.

Pakistani security forces neutralized two rudimentary drones, which the officials said were launched by the Afghan Taliban, before they could enter the northwestern city of Kohat, the officials said. They said the action underscored Pakistan's round-the-clock vigilance and air-defense systems' readiness to counter emerging aerial threats from Afghanistan.

The airstrikes ended several weeks of relative calm following months of cross-border hostilities. Also, earlier this month, Pakistani security forces killed 15 militants attempting to cross into the country from Afghanistan.

Four local Pakistani officials said Wednesday that militants attempted to infiltrate Pakistan from areas near Afghan border posts in Paktia and Nangarhar provinces, allegedly with support from the Afghan Taliban forces.

The officials referred to the militants as Fitna-ul-Khawarij, a term Islamabad uses for the Pakistani Taliban, a group that is separate but allied with the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of allowing militants to operate from its territory and carry out attacks across the border, an accusation that Kabul denies.

After Pakistani troops thwarted the infiltration attempt, Afghan Taliban forces allegedly fired mortars and other heavy weapons at Pakistani border posts, the four officials said. Pakistani forces responded with artillery fire, targeting Taliban border posts, mortar sites, and defensive positions.

The officials said Afghan Taliban forces subsequently abandoned several positions and suffered casualties. The four officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media about the latest flare-up.

The accounts could not be independently verified. The latest escalations threaten mediation efforts by China, Türkiye, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to broker a lasting peace between Kabul and Islamabad.

In Monday's airstrikes, Pakistan’s Information Ministry said 28 militants were killed, while Afghan authorities said at least three civilians died and four others were wounded. The U.N. mission in Afghanistan confirmed the civilian casualties and Kabul formally protested the attack.

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar expressed concern about what he said was the presence of more than two dozen anti-Pakistani militant groups in Afghanistan.

Monday’s Pakistani airstrikes followed a shootout with militants in Hangu, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border, that killed six Pakistani security personnel. Days earlier, a suicide bomber struck a mosque inside a police compound in the nearby city of Kohat.

Eight gunmen then stormed the compound, triggering a 20-hour gunbattle that killed at least 21 people, most of them police officers. No group had claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Pakistani authorities blamed the violence on the Pakistani Taliban and allied militant groups. The Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, have stepped up their attacks on Pakistani security forces, boosted by the Afghan Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan in 2021.