International Glance
Propped up in her hospital bed, railway conductor Olha Zolotova speaks slowly and quietly as she talks about the day her train was hit by a Russian drone.
"When the Shahed [drone] hit I was covered in rubble. I was in the second car. People pulled me out," she says.
"My eyes went dark. There was fire everywhere, everything was burning, my hair caught fire a little. I was trapped."
Olha is a victim of Russia's increasingly frequent attacks on the Ukrainian railway system – vital infrastructure that keeps the country moving three and a half years since Moscow's full-scale invasion.
Ukraine's 21,000km-long (13,000-mile) railway system is not merely a mode of transport, it is a central pillar of Ukraine's war effort and a powerful national symbol of resilience.
Russia intensifies attacks on Ukraine's trains in 'battle for the railways'
Trump says he authorized covert CIA operations in Venezuela as Maduro decries the move as ‘coups d’etat’
Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela, marking a sharp escalation in his administration’s pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro’s government.
Trump further suggested he was considering strikes on Venezuelan territory, a dramatic step that would go beyond a series of recent lethal attacks on boats in the Caribbean, which Democrats and United Nations experts have forcefully condemned as unlawful.
Maduro decried what he called “coups d’etat orchestrated by the CIA” after Trump’s comments.
“No to war in the Caribbean … No to regime change … No to coups d’etat orchestrated by the CIA,” the leftist leader said in an address to a committee set up after Washington deployed warships in the Caribbean for what it said was an anti-drug operation.
Trump’s remarks about the CIA confirmed an earlier story from the New York Times, which had reported on a classified directive about the secretive operation in Venezuela.
Trump threatens to cut US aid to Argentina if Milei loses election
President Donald Trump has acknowledged that a $20bn (£15bn) US lifeline to help calm Argentina's currency crisis is an attempt to sway legislative elections this month in the South American nation.
Welcoming Argentina's libertarian leader Javier Milei to the White House, Trump warned that the US would not "waste our time" with helping Argentina if Milei's party did not prevail.
Milei praised Trump for his peacemaking efforts and said the US president's policies would lead to "prosperity".
Argentina's financial turmoil comes ahead of national midterm elections on 26 October, seen as a test of voters' desire to continue backing Milei's cost-cutting, free-market reform agenda.
Trump says U.S. struck 5th boat accused of carrying drugs off coast of Venezuela, killing 6
President Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. struck another small boat that he accused of carrying drugs in the waters off the coast of Venezuela.
The president said in a post on Truth Social that six people aboard the vessel were killed in the strike and no U.S. forces were harmed. It's the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean, where the Trump administration has asserted it is treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force. At least 27 people have been killed in the five strikes, according to figures released by the administration.
Frustration with the use of force has been growing on Capitol Hill among members of both major political parties. Some Republicans are seeking more information from the White House on the legal justification and details of the strikes. Democrats contend the strikes violate U.S. and international law.
László Krasznahorkai wins the Nobel prize in literature 2025
The Nobel prize in literature for 2025 has been awarded to the Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, the Swedish Academy has announced.
The academy cited the 71-year-old’s “compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”.
Krasznahorkai is known for his dystopian, melancholic novels, which have won numerous prizes, including the 2019 National Book award for translated literature and the 2015 International Booker prize. Several of his works, including his novels Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, have been adapted into feature films.
“I am deeply glad that I have received the Nobel prize – above all because this award proves that literature exists in itself, beyond various non-literary expectations, and that it is still being read,” said Krasznahorkai. “And for those who read it, it offers a certain hope that beauty, nobility, and the sublime still exist for their own sake. It may offer hope even to those in whom life itself only barely flickers.”
The novelist Colm Tóibín described Krasznahorkai as “a unique literary visionary who has opened up a huge amount of rich space in the contemporary novel showing what can be done”.
US offers $15M reward for team accused of smuggling drone tech to Iran
The State Department is offering a $15 million reward for information linked to four Chinese nationals it says have helped the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) procure U.S. military equipment and drone technology.
Liu Baoxia, Li Yongxin, Yung Yiu Wa and Zhong Yanlai are accused of facilitating the sale of U.S. goods to front companies based in China that would send the technology to Iran, according to a State Department release.
Iran would then transport products to the IRGC and its linked companies including Shiraz Electronics Industries and Rayan Roshd Afzar, which use U.S.-controlled technology to develop and manufacture unmanned aerial vehicles, arms and weapons systems, according to the State Department.
Manufactured products are then sold to governments and groups in allied countries such as Russia, Sudan and Yemen in violation of U.S. sanctions.
Israel and Hamas agree on the 'first phase' of Gaza ceasefire deal
Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire deal that's intended to end to the devastating Gaza war which unleashed the deadliest fighting ever between Israelis and Palestinians.
President Trump said on Truth Social that Israel and Hamas "have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan."
"This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace. All Parties will be treated fairly! This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!"
The announcement came just hours after Trump told reporters at the White House he was prepared to travel to the Middle East as early as this weekend.
TVNL Comment: This has happened many times before, and Israel has always broken any deal to continue the cease fire agreement. Phase one is a beginning, but Netanyahu has stated he will never leave Gaza or the West Bank. Never. Watch this space. Once the hostages have been released, the bombing and the slaughter will continue. We would love to be wrong, but the message has been very clear.
More Articles...
- Moscow says momentum for peace deal after Trump-Putin summit has been exhausted
- These numbers show how 2 years of war have devastated Palestinian lives in Gaza
- Ukraine says it struck Russian ammunition plant, oil terminal and weapons depot
- The Guardian view on Trump’s Gaza plan: the bloodshed must end, but this proposal betrays Palestinians
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