United News of Bangladesh

As the cost of inaction becomes increasingly evident, securing financing for clean alternatives to fossil fuels—key contributors to climate change—will be top of the agenda at COP29, the upcoming UN climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, starting on November 11. The stakes are high as COP29 takes place in a critical yet not hopeless context. A recent UN climate report, released just ahead of the conference, revealed that global temperatures are nearing a rise of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. If this trend continues, the world could face a catastrophic increase of 2.6-3.1°C by the end of the century, unless significant cuts to greenhouse gas emissions are implemented immediately. A failure to act will result in more frequent and severe extreme weather events. The UN is urging swift collective action, particularly from the G20 nations and major emitters, to achieve the emissions reductions necessary to limit global warming. What is the UN Climate Change Conference? The climate crisis is a global challenge requiring unprecedented international collaboration. The UN and its Secretary-General play a pivotal role in leading these efforts. The annual UN Climate Change Conferences, also known as COPs (Conferences of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change), serve as the primary multilateral platform for climate action. These conferences gather nearly every country to negotiate and decide on global climate solutions. COPs are essential in addressing the climate crisis, limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C, supporting vulnerable communities, and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. These forums bring together a diverse range of participants, including world leaders, government officials, business executives, climate scientists, Indigenous Peoples, and youth, all working together to advance effective climate solutions. What is the focus of COP29?A top priority for negotiators in Baku will be agreeing on a new climate finance goal, one that ensures every country has the means to take much stronger climate action, slash greenhouse gas emissions and build resilient communities.  The aim is for the conference to help unlock the trillions of dollars that developing countries need in order to mitigate harmful carbon emissions, adapt to climate change and cope with the loss and damage it has caused. Look out for a continuation of discussions held at the UN Summit of the Future earlier this year on reforming the international financial architecture. The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres has described the current system as “entirely unfit for purpose” and ill-equipped to cope with today’s challenges:  many poor countries are facing unsustainable levels of debt that leave them unable to invest in social protection and health care, let alone measures that would bring about the transition to a low carbon economy. What will happen over the two weeks? As ever, there will be a packed schedule of negotiations, speeches, press conferences, events and panel discussions at the conference site, divided into a Green Zone – which is overseen by the COP29 Presidency and open to the general public – and a Blue Zone managed by the UN. This is where the nitty-gritty of the negotiations will take place, as the representatives of the nations of the world try to thrash out a deal by the end of the event. An agreement is usually reached, but not without drama, with last minute disagreements pushing the talks beyond their official deadline. Why are COPs important?The importance of COPs lies in their convening power: the decisions made at each of them may not go as far as some may hope, in terms of addressing the climate crisis, but they are made by consensus, uniting the countries of the world in international agreements that set standards and advance action in critical areas. In 2015, at COP21 in Paris, a landmark climate agreement was reached in which countries agreed to reduce global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees. The Paris Agreement works on a five- year cycle of increasingly ambitious climate action by countries. The next updated national climate action plans - known as Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs - are due in 2025. This process has led to incremental but important improvements, in terms of reduced emissions and measures to promote the adoption of renewable energy sources. Each year, negotiators build on progress made at the previous year’s COP, strengthening aspirations and commitments, and pushing for new agreements, based on the latest scientific findings on the climate, and the role of human activity in the crisis. Bangladesh and COP29   Despite contributing minimally to global emissions, Bangladesh is one of the countries most affected by climate change. Bangladesh has urged developed countries to fulfill their climate finance commitments and provide technological support to nations most vulnerable to climate impacts.   "It’s time that developed nations uphold their commitments to support the most affected countries," said Environment Adviser to interim government of Bangladesh Rizwana Hasan , recently, highlighting the disproportionate challenges faced by vulnerable nations like Bangladesh. She called for equitable solutions that reflect the realities of nations on the frontlines, emphasizing that Bangladesh’s resilience must be bolstered by substantial support from the global community. She also noted the government's commitment to increasing youth engagement in climate initiatives.

Forty-three monkeys bred for medical research that escaped a compound in South Carolina have been spotted in the woods near the site and workers are using food to try to recapture them, authorities said Friday. The Rhesus macaques made a break for it Wednesday after an employee at the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee didn't fully lock a door as she fed and checked on them, officials said. “They are very social monkeys and they travel in groups, so when the first couple go out the door the others tend to just follow right along,” Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard told CBS News. Westergaard said his main goal is to have the monkeys returned safely with no other problems. “I think they are having an adventure,” he said. The monkeys on Friday were exploring the outer fence of the Alpha Genesis compound and are cooing at the monkeys inside, police said in a statement. “The primates are exhibiting calm and playful behavior, which is a positive indication,” the police statement said, adding company workers are closely watching the monkeys while keeping their distance as they work to safely recapture them. The monkeys are about the size of a cat. They are all females weighing about 7 pounds (3 kilograms). Alpha Genesis, federal health officials and police all said the monkeys pose no risk to public health. The facility breeds the monkeys to sell to medical and other researchers. “They are not infected with any disease whatsoever. They are harmless and a little skittish,” Yemassee Police Chief Gregory Alexander said Thursday. Authorities still recommend that people who live near the compound about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from downtown Yemassee shut their windows and doors and call 911 if they see the monkeys. Approaching them could make them more skittish and harder to capture, officials said. Eve Cooper, a biology professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who has studied rhesus macaques, said the animals have the potential to be dangerous and urged people to keep their distance. Rhesus macaques monkeys can be aggressive. And some carry the herpes B virus, which can be fatal to humans, Cooper said. However, Alpha Genesis states on its website that it specializes in pathogen-free primates. Cooper noted that there are pathogen-free populations of rhesus macaques that have been quarantined and tested. “I would give them a wide berth,” Cooper said. “They’re unpredictable animals. And they can behave quite aggressively when they’re afraid.” Alpha Genesis provides primates for research worldwide at its compound about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Savannah, Georgia, according to its website. Locally, it is known as “the monkey farm.” And there is more amusement than panic around Yemassee and its population of about 1,100 just off Interstate 95 about 2 miles from Auldbrass Plantation, a Frank Lloyd Wright house designed in the 1930s. There have been escapes before, but the monkeys haven't caused problems, said William McCoy, who owns Lowcountry Horology, a clock and watch repair shop. “They normally come home because that’s where the food is," he said. McCoy has lived in Yemassee for about two years and while he plans to stay away from the monkeys, he has his own light-hearted plan to get them back. “I’m stocking up bananas, maybe they’ll show up," McCoy said. The Alpha Genesis compound is regularly inspected by federal officials. In 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture fined Alpha Genesis $12,600 in part after officials said 26 primates escaped from the Yemassee facility in 2014 and an additional 19 got out in 2016. The company's fine was also issued because of individual monkey escapes as well as the killing of one monkey by others when it was placed in the wrong social group, according to a report from the USDA. The group Stop Animal Exploitation Now sent a letter Thursday to the USDA asking the agency to immediately send an inspector to the Alpha Genesis facility, conduct a thorough investigation and treat them as a repeated violator. The group was involved in the 2018 fine against the company. “The clear carelessness which allowed these 40 monkeys to escape endangered not only the safety of the animals, but also put the residents of South Carolina at risk,” wrote Michael Budkie, executive director of the group. The USDA, which has inspected the compound 10 times since 2020, didn't immediately respond to the letter. The facility's most recent federal inspection in May showed there were about 6,700 primates on site and no issues. In a 2022 review, federal veterinarians reported two animals died when their fingers were trapped in structures and they were exposed to harsh weather. They also found cages weren't adequately secure. Inspectors said criminal charges, civil penalties or other sanctions could follow if the problems weren't fixed. Since then, Alpha Genesis has undergone six inspections with minor problems reported only once. In January 2023, the USDA said temperatures were out of the 45 to 85 degree Fahrenheit (7.2 to 29.5 degree Celsius) required range at some of the compound's monkey cages. The inspection found moldy food in one bin, sharp edges on a gate that could cut an animal and sludge, food waste, used medical supplies, mechanical equipment, and general construction debris on the grounds. Supporters of medical research involving nonhuman primates said they are critical to lifesaving medical advances like creating vaccines against COVID-19 because of their similarities to people. Keeping a domestic supply of the animals is critical to prevent shortages for U.S. researchers. Humans have been using the rhesus macaque for scientific research since the late 1800s. Scientists believe that rhesus macaques and humans split from a common ancestor about 25 million years ago and share about 93% of the same DNA. These monkeys have been launched into space on V2 rockets, used for AIDS research, had their genome mapped and made stars of their own reality television show. They were in such high demand in the early 2000s that a shortage led to scientists paying up to $10,000 per animal. Outside of rats and mice, rhesus macaques are one of the most studied animals on the planet, said Dario Maestripieri, a behavioral scientist at the University of Chicago who wrote the 2007 book “Macachiavellian Intelligence: How Rhesus Macaques and Humans Have Conquered the World.” The animals are very family oriented, siding with relatives when fights break out. And they’re adept at building political alliances in the face of threats from other monkeys. But they can be painful to watch. Monkeys with lower status in the hierarchy live in a constant state of fear and intimidation, Maestripieri said. “In some ways, they kind of represent some of the worst aspects of human nature,” Maestripieri said.  

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant officially stepped down Friday in a ceremony that replaced him with Israel Katz, the former foreign minister, just three days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Gallant, sparking protests. Many in Israel view Gallant as the sole moderate voice in a far-right government, and see his removal as a sign that Netanyahu has lost interest in returning hostages still held in Gaza. Katz currently serves as foreign minister and is a longtime Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister. Also Friday, the Israeli military body handling aid to Gaza said it was preparing to open a new aid crossing into Gaza, without specifying when. The Israeli military says it will allow 300 truckloads of humanitarian aid supplied by the United Arab Emirates to enter the Gaza Strip in the coming days. That’s less than the 350 trucks per day that the United States said it wants to see enter the war-ravaged territory. The Israel-Hamas war began after militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others. Israel’s military response in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. They do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed were women and children. Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Since the conflict erupted, more than 3,100 people have been killed and nearly 13,900 wounded in Lebanon, the health ministry reported.

Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano spewed towering columns of hot ash high into the air Saturday, days after a huge eruption killed nine people and injured dozens of others. Activity at the volcano on the remote island of Flores, in East Nusa Tenggara province, has increased since Monday’s initial eruption. On Thursday, authorities expanded the danger zone as the volcano erupted again. Friday's activity saw the largest column of ash so far recorded at 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) high, Hadi Wijaya, the head of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, told a news conference. Wijaya said volcanic materials, including smoldering rocks, lava, and hot, thumb-size fragments of gravel and ash, were thrown up to 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the crater on Friday. There were no casualties reported from the latest eruption as the 1,584-meter (5,197-foot) volcano shot billowing columns of ash at least three times Saturday, rising up to 9 kilometers (5.6 miles), the volcano monitoring agency said. Authorities increased Lewotobi Laki Laki’s alert status to the highest level since Monday, and expanded the danger zone on Thursday to a radius of 8 kilometers (5 miles) on the northwest and southwest sides of the mountain slope. “We are still evaluating how far the (danger zone) radius should be expanded,” Wijaya said. Hot clouds of ash “are currently spreading in all directions.” The volcanic activity has damaged schools and thousands of houses and buildings, including convents, churches and a seminary on the majority-Catholic island. Craters left by rocks falling from the eruptions measured up to 13 meters (43 feet) wide and 5 meters (16 feet) deep, experts found. Authorities have warned the thousands of people who fled the area not to return home, as the government planned to evacuate about 16,000 residents out of the danger zone. The series of eruptions throughout the week have already affected more than 10,000 people in 14 villages, with more than half moving into makeshift emergency shelters. A total of 2,384 houses and public facilities were damaged or had collapsed after tons of volcanic material hit the buildings, said Kanesius Didimus, head of a local disaster management agency. It also destroyed a main road connecting East Flores district where the mountain is located to neighboring Larantuka district. Rescue workers, police and soldiers searched devastated areas to ensure all residents had been moved out from the danger zone. Logistic and relief supplies were provided to about 10,700 displaced people in eight evacuation sites as of Saturday. The National Disaster Management Agency said residents of the hardest-hit villages would be relocated within six months, and each family waiting to be rehoused would be compensated 500,000 rupiah ($32) per month. About 6,500 people were evacuated in January after Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki began erupting, spewing thick clouds and forcing the government to close the island’s Fransiskus Xaverius Seda Airport. No casualties or major damage were reported, but the airport has remained closed due to seismic activity. Three other airports in neighboring districts of Ende, Larantuka and Bajawa have been closed since Monday after Indonesia’s Air Navigation issued a safety warning due to volcanic ash. Lewotobi Laki Laki is one of a pair of stratovolcanoes in the East Flores district of East Nusa Tenggara province, known locally as the husband-and-wife mountains. “Laki laki” means man, while its mate is Lewotobi Perempuan, or woman. It's one of the 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, an archipelago of 280 million people. The country is prone to earthquakes, landslides and volcanic activity because it sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.

Donald Trump's biggest European fan, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, predicted on Friday that a new U.S. administration under Trump will cease providing support to Ukraine in its fight against Russia's full-scale invasion. Orbán's comments were a signal that Trump's recent election could drive a wedge among European Union leaders on the question of the war. Hungary's leader hosted the second of two days of summits on Friday in the capital, Budapest, just days after Trump's election victory. The war in Ukraine was high on the agenda for the gathering of the EU's 27 leaders, most of whom believe continuing to supply Kyiv with weapons and financial assistance are key elements for the continent's security. The nationalist Hungarian leader has long sought to undermine EU support for Ukraine, and routinely blocked, delayed or watered down the bloc’s efforts to provide weapons and funding and to sanction Moscow for its invasion. He has sought to use the summits to make his case to other leaders that they should rethink their commitments to the war-ravaged country. In comments to state radio before Friday's summit, Orbán, who is considered close to both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, reiterated his long-held position that an immediate cease-fire should be declared, and suggested that Ukraine has already lost its fight. “The situation on the front is obvious, there’s been a military defeat. The Americans are going to pull out of this war,” Orbán said. The Hungarian leader has cast himself as the exemplar of some in the EU who are skeptical of providing indefinite support to Ukraine, especially in light of uncertainty over whether U.S. assistance could evaporate under Trump. He said Friday that Trump's reelection had created a “new situation” for Europe, and that the continent "cannot finance this war alone.” But numerous EU leaders made a point to downplay the risk of a shift in U.S. policies drifting across the Atlantic into European capitals. Arriving at the summit, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said a new U.S. administration wouldn't lead Europe to change course. “We cannot outsource our capacity of action. Whatever happens in the U.S., we have our interests, we have our values,” Borrell said. Italy’s hard-right leader, Premier Giorgia Meloni, who is aligned with Orbán on many issues but breaks with him sharply on Russia’s war, said: “As long is there is a war, Italy is on the side of Ukraine.” Western support is crucial for Kyiv to sustain the costly war of attrition, but Trump's repeated statements criticizing U.S. aid, and his claims that he could bring the conflict to a rapid end, have led to uncertainty over how long the help will continue. At a gathering on Thursday of European leaders in Budapest, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy objected to Trump’s claim that Russia’s war with Ukraine could be ended in a day, something he and his European backers fear would mean peace on terms favorable to Putin and involving the surrender of territory. “If it is going to be very fast, it will be a loss for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. Despite Orbán's attempts to throttle aid packages, EU leaders have largely found workaround solutions to any obstruction to providing Zelenskyy with assistance, and have been able to signal their commitment to supporting Ukraine in its fight, regardless of who occupies the White House. Closing out the summit on Friday, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said the EU would “discuss with our American friends also the fact that Russia is not only a threat to Europe, but a threat to the global security as a whole” in an effort to dissuade a new Trump administration from abandoning aid to Ukraine. “We see that technology from China and Iran is used by Russia on the battlefield,” she continued. "It shows that the security of the Indo-Pacific and Europe are interconnected, and so are the European and the United States interests in this course.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday congratulated Donald Trump on his election victory in his first public comment on the U.S. vote, and he praised the president-elect's courage during the July assassination attempt. “His behavior at the moment of an attempt on his life left an impression on me. He turned out to be a brave man," Putin said at an international forum following a speech in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. "He manifested himself in the very correct way, bravely as a man,” he added. Putin also said that what Trump has said “about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to help end the Ukrainian crisis, in my opinion, deserves attention at least.” The Kremlin earlier welcomed Trump’s claim that he could negotiate an end to the conflict in Ukraine “in 24 hours” but emphasized that it will wait for concrete policy steps. ″I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate him on his election as president of the United States of America,” Putin said in a question-and-answer session at the conference. As to what he expects from a second Trump administration, Putin said, “I don’t know what will happen now. I have no idea.” "For him, this is still his last presidential term. What he will do is his matter,” added Putin, who this year began a fifth term that will keep him in power until 2030 and could seek six more years in office after that. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday the Kremlin is not ruling out the possibility of contact between Putin and Trump before the inauguration, given that Trump “said he would call Putin before the inauguration.” Peskov has emphasized that Moscow views the U.S. as an “unfriendly” country that is directly involved in the Ukrainian conflict. He dismissed arguments that Putin’s failure to reach out quickly to Trump could hurt future ties, saying that Moscow's relations with Washington already are at the “lowest point in history” and arguing that it will be up to the new U.S. leadership to change the situation. The Kremlin’s cautious stand reflected its view of the U.S. vote as a choice between two unappealing possibilities. While Trump is known for his admiration of Putin, the Russian leader has repeatedly noted that during Trump’s first term, there were “so many restrictions and sanctions against Russia like no other president has ever introduced before him.”

U.S. presidents usually pay lip service at least to being leaders of the free world, at the helm of a mighty democracy and military that allies worldwide can rally around and reasonably depend upon for support in return. Not so under President-elect Donald Trump, a critic of many existing U.S. alliances, whose win of a second term this week had close European partners calling for a new era of self-reliance not dependent on American goodwill. “We must not delegate forever our security to America,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at a European summit Thursday. Based on Trump’s first term and campaign statements, the U.S. will become less predictable, more chaotic, colder to allies and warmer to some strongmen, and much more transactional in picking friends globally than before. America’s place in world affairs and security will fundamentally change, both critics and supporters of Trump say. His backers say he simply will be choosier about U.S. alliances and battles than previous presidents. When it comes to the U.S. role on the world stage, no more talk of the country as leader of the free world, said Fiona Hill, a former Russia adviser to Trump and preceding U.S. presidents. Maybe “the free-for-all world, his leadership?” Hill suggested in a recent European Council for Foreign Relations podcast. “I mean, what exactly is it that we’re going to be leading here?” Trump, with varying degrees of consistency, has been critical of NATO and support for Ukraine and Taiwan, two democracies under threat that depend on U.S. military support to counter Russia and China. Trump has shown little interest in the longstanding U.S. role as anchor of strategic alliances with European and Indo-Pacific democracies. Before the election, partners and adversaries already were reevaluating their security arrangements in preparation for Trump's possible return. European allies in particular bolstered efforts to build up their own and regional defenses, rather than rely on the U.S. as the anchor of NATO, the mutual-defense pact both Trump and running mate JD Vance have spoken of scathingly. Within hours of Trump’s win over Vice President Kamala Harris this week, defense chiefs of France and Germany scheduled talks to address the impact. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin have appeared to shape war strategies with hopes that Trump could allow them freer rein. Victoria Coates, a security adviser to Trump in his first term, rejects any portrayal of him as isolationist. “I think he is extremely judicious about the application of the American military, and about potentially getting embroiled in conflicts we can’t resolve,” she said recently on a security podcast. As evidence of his engagement globally, Coates pointed to Trump's support of Israel as it wages wars against Iranian-backed militant groups in Gaza and Lebanon. She called Iran's nuclear program the “greatest concern” abroad and suggested its progress toward the possibility of nuclear weapons meant Trump might have to act more forcefully than in his first term, when he surged sanctions on Iran in what he called a “maximum pressure” campaign. Trump, long an open admirer of Putin, has been most consistent in pointing to U.S. support of Ukraine for possible policy change. Philip Breedlove, a former Air Force general and top NATO commander, said he can see both positive expectations and deep concerns for Ukraine and NATO in the next four years under Trump. While Trump’s NATO rhetoric during his first administration was often harsh, it didn’t lead to any actual U.S. troop reductions in Europe or decreased support for the alliance, Breedlove said. And 23 NATO nations are spending at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense, compared with 10 in 2020 — a showing that now negates a persistent Trump complaint. More concerning, Breedlove said, is Trump’s vow to end the war in Ukraine right away. While that goal is noble, “ending wars on terms that are appropriate is one thing. Capitulating to an enemy in order to stop a conflict is a different thing. And that’s what worries me,” Breedlove said. He and others have warned that an end to the war that gives Russia additional territory in Ukraine will set a bad precedent. European nations fear it will embolden Putin to come after them. So do supporters of Taiwan, a democratically run island that China has said it will one day annex, by force if necessary. Trump has ranged from saying Taiwan should pay the U.S. for its defense support to claiming he could charm Chinese President Xi Jinping out of threatening Taiwan. “One thing that does make me nervous about Trump vis-à-vis the Taiwan Strait is his reliance on unpredictability, his reliance on being something of a chaotic actor in a situation that is finely balanced," said Paul Nadeau, an assistant professor of international affairs and political science at Temple University's Japan campus. The situation is one “that requires a profound reading of very subtle signals between Taiwan, between the United States, between China,” Nadeau said. The world that Trump will face has changed, too, with Russia, North Korea, Iran and China further consolidating in a loose, opportunistic alliance to counter the West, and particularly the U.S. In places where the U.S. has withdrawn, Russia, China and at times Iran have been quick to extend their influence, including in the Middle East. During his first term, Trump repeatedly vowed to pull all U.S. forces out of Iraq and Syria, at times blindsiding Pentagon officials with sudden statements and tweets that left officials fumbling for answers. A backlash from some Republican lawmakers and counterproposals by U.S. military leaders slowed those plans, including suggestions that some U.S. troops should remain in Syria to protect oil sites. The U.S. still has about 900 troops in Syria, which could plunge under Trump. The number of U.S. forces in Iraq is already dwindling based on a new agreement between the Biden administration and Baghdad. The plan would wrap up the U.S.-led coalition’s mission to fight the Islamic State group by next year but likely shift at least some U.S. troops to northern Iraq to support the fight against IS in Syria. Trump's first term — followed by Joe Biden's foreign policy increasingly becoming consumed by unsuccessful efforts to reach cease-fires in the Middle East — already have spurred allies to speak of building up their own military strength and that of smaller regional alliances for security. “Factored into calculations is there’s going to be less United States than before” on the world stage, Hill said. “There can’t be this dangerous dependency on what happens in Washington, D.C.”

As he bid farewell to Washington in January 2021, deeply unpopular and diminished, Donald Trump was already hinting at a comeback. “Goodbye. We love you. We will be back in some form,” Trump told supporters at Joint Base Andrews, where he'd arranged a 21-gun salute as part of a military send-off before boarding Air Force One. “We will see you soon.” Four years later, he's fulfilled his prophecy. With his commanding victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump achieved a comeback that seemed unimaginable after the 2020 election ended with his supporters violently storming the Capitol after he refused to accept his defeat. In the years that followed, Trump was widely blamed for Republican losses, indicted four times, convicted on 34 felony counts, ruled to have inflated his assets in a civil fraud trial and found liable for sexual abuse. He still faces fines that top more than half a billion dollars and the prospect of jail time. But Trump managed to turn his legal woes into fuel that channeled voters' anger. He seized on widespread discontent over the direction of a country battered by years of high inflation. And he spoke to a new generation — using podcasts and social media — to tell those who felt forgotten that he shared their disdain for the status quo. And he did so while surviving two attempted assassinations and a late-stage candidate replacement by Democrats. “This was a campaign of October surprises," Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita said hours after clinching victory. “When you think about it, whether it was indictments, convictions, assassination attempts, the switching out of the candidate — I mean it was a campaign of firsts on so many different levels.” ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’ Trump had entered the general election after sweeping the GOP primaries and routing a crowded field of candidates. The indictments against him dominated news coverage and forced even his rivals to rally around him as he cast himself as the victim of a politically motivated effort to hobble his candidacy. A late June debate against President Joe Biden — which the Biden campaign had pushed for — ended disastrously for the president, who struggled to put words together and repeatedly lost his train of thought. When Trump arrived at the Republican National Convention to formally accept his party's nomination for the second time weeks later, he seemed unstoppable. Just two days earlier, a gunman had opened fire at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, unleashing a hail of bullets that grazed his ear and left one supporter dead. After the gunman had been killed, Trump stood, surrounded by Secret Service agents, his face streaked by blood, and raised his fist in the air — shouting “Fight! Fight! Fight!” — as the crow erupted into cheers. The moment became a rallying cry for his campaign. “If you want to make somebody iconic, try to throw them in jail. Try to bankrupt them. ... If you want to make somebody iconic, try to kill him," said Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative who has known Trump for 45 years and was pardoned by the former president. ”All of those things failed. They just made him bigger and more powerful as a political force. Every one of those things turbocharged his candidacy." A sudden reversal Trump had appeared to be on a glide path to victory. But just days later, Democrats, fearing a blowout loss and panicking over Biden's age and ability to do the job for another four years, successfully persuaded the president to step aside and end his bid, making way for Harris’ history-shattering candidacy. Trump campaign aides insisted they were prepared. Videos for the convention had been cut with two different versions: One featuring Biden, the other Harris, and versions attacking both were played on the big screens in Milwaukee. But the change sent Trump into a tailspin. He had spent millions, he complained, beating Biden, and now had to “start all over” again — this time facing a candidate who was not only nearly two decades younger, embodying the generational change voters had said they wanted, but also a woman who would have become the country's first female president. In one particularly hostile appearance, Trump questioned the racial identity of the first woman of color to serve as vice president and to lead a major-party ticket before the National Association of Black Journalists. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black,” Trump said of the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, who had attended a historically Black college and served as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. On his Truth Social site, he amplified a post that suggested Harris had used sexual favors to advance her career. Harris fails to make her case for change Trump's campaign aides quickly pivoted to taking Harris down. They belittled her as unserious, with ads focused on her laugh. They labeled her “dangerously liberal," highlighting the progressive policies she had embraced when she first ran for president in 2020. They argued her “joyful warrior” messaging was fundamentally at odds with the sour mood of the electorate, and responded gleefully to Harris telling voters “We are not going back" when many voters seemed to want just that. Though Trump had left office with a dismal approval rating, that number had ticked up considerably in the years that followed, amid concerns over high prices and the influx of migrants who entered the country illegally after Biden relaxed restrictions. Harris’ momentum was just a sugar high, they said. Tony Fabrizio, the campaign pollster, called it “a kind of out-of-body experience where we have suspended reality.” Soon, they predicted, what they dubbed the “Harris honeymoon” would subside. Trump’s campaign insisted they did not fundamentally change their strategy with Harris as their rival. Instead, they tried to cast her as the incumbent, tying her to every one of the Biden administration's most unpopular policies. Trump, the 78-year-old former president, would be the candidate of change — and one who had been tested. Harris played right into their hands. Asked during an October appearance on “The View" if there was anything she would have done differently than Biden over the last four years, she responded that there was “not a thing that comes to mind.” Trump's campaign rejoiced when they heard the clip, which they quickly cut into ads. Harris, they believed, failed to articulate a forward-looking agenda that represented a break from the unpopular incumbent. And she struggled to distance herself from some of the far-left positions she had taken during the 2020 Democratic primary — sometimes denying positions she was on record as having taken, or failing to offer a clear explanation for her change of heart. She spent much of the final stretch of the campaign reverting to Biden’s strategy of casting Trump as a fundamental threat to democracy. But the country made clear it was "ready to move in a different direction,” said longtime Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski. “They want someone who’s going to change. They don’t have to think back 20 or 30 years. They can think back to four and five years ago. And they want that back in the White House.” A new Republican coalition After his 2020 loss, Trump's campaign worked to grow his appeal beyond the white working-class base that had delivered his first victory. The campaign would court young people and Black and Latino men, including many who rarely voted but felt like they weren't getting ahead. They seized on divisions in the Democratic Party, courting both Jewish voters and Muslims. In a scene that would have seemed unthinkable eight years ago, Trump — the man who called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims" entering the country and later perused targeted travel bans — appeared onstage at his last rally of the campaign with Amer Ghalib, the Democratic, Arab American mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan. Days earlier, Trump had gone to the majority Arab American city of Dearborn, Michigan, for a campaign stop. “They saw him as their last hope to end these wars in the Middle East and bring back peace. And this was made very clear when he came to Dearborn," said Massad Boulos, the father of Trump’s son-in-law, who led Trump’s outreach with Arab Americans. He noted Harris "didn’t even come close to Dearborn.” Trump received another boost when the International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined to endorse either candidate, citing a lack of consensus among its 1.3 million members. While much of the campaign's messaging centered on the economy and immigration, Trump also tried to court voters with giveaways, promising to end taxes on tips, on overtime pay and on Social Security benefits. And his aides seized on the culture wars surrounding transgender rights, pouring money into ads aimed at young men — especially young Hispanic men — attacking Harris for supporting “taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners," including one spot featuring popular radio host Charlamagne tha God that aired predominantly during football games. “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you," the narrator said. Trump's campaign succeeded in its mission, picking up a small but significant share of Black and Hispanic voters, and forging a new working-class coalition crossing racial lines. “They came from all quarters: union, non-union, African American, Hispanic American, Asian American, Arab American, Muslim American,” Trump in his victory speech. “We had everybody and it was beautiful. It was a historic realignment, uniting citizens of all backgrounds around a common core of common sense.” Podcast bros and Mickey D's The campaign decided early that it would focus much of its efforts on low-propensity voters — people who rarely turn out to the polls and are more likely to get their news from non-traditional sources. To reach them, Trump began a podcast blitz, appearing with hosts who are popular with young men, including Adin Ross, Theo Von and Joe Rogan. He attended football games and UFC fights, where audiences erupted into cheers at arrivals broadcast live on sports channels. The campaign also worked to create viral moments. Trump paid a visit to McDonald's, where he donned an apron, manned the fry station and served supporters through the drive-through window. Days later he delivered a news conference from the passenger seat of a garbage truck, while wearing a yellow safety vest. Clips of those appearances racked up hundreds of millions of views on platforms like TikTok, which Trump embraced, despite having tried to previously ban the app at the White House. The appearances helped to highlight an aspect of Trump's appeal that is often lost on those who aren't supporters. Jaden Wurn, 20, a student at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania who was casting his ballot for Trump, said he was drawn to the former president in part because of his sense of humor. “Trump is able to just chat," he said. “It can be policy. It can be culture. It could be golf. It could be whatever it is, and he’s just able to sit down and have a nice, good conversation. Be relatable. Crack some jokes. He’s a funny guy. It’s refreshing.” A new team and a ground game gamble Unlike past campaigns marked by backstabbing and turnover, Trump's operation was widely praised for being his most competent and disciplined, with credit given to Florida operative Susie Wiles, who will now serve as his White House chief of staff. Haunted by lessons from 2020, aides were careful to save money for the race's final stretch even as they were dramatically outraised by Democrats and shelled out millions on legal expenses. And they took risks, including outsourcing a large portion of their paid get-out-the-vote operation to outside groups, taking advantage of an FEC ruling that allowed unprecedented coordination with a PAC formed by billionaire Elon Musk, his newest benefactor, and Charlie Kirk's Turning Point group. Ten days of chaos As the race headed into the race's final stretch, Trump's team continued to project confidence, even as public polling showing a dead heat. They were on offensive, scheduling rallies in Democratic states like Virginia and New Mexico, as well as what was intended to be the marquee event of the campaign's end: a rally at New York's Madison Square Garden. But the event — which Trump had talked of for years — was derailed long before he even took the stage as a series of pre-show speakers delivered vile, crude and racist insults, including a comedian who called Puerto Rico “a floating pile of garbage.” Trump was livid, angry that the event had been overshadowed by vetting failures and he was being attacked for something he hadn't said. While aides insisted they saw no impact on their polling — their internal data had him leading through the final three weeks of the race, albeit with a razor-thin margin — even Trump's most diehard supporters expressed concerns that the fallout was resonating with undecided friends and family members. “A couple of them were making the comment that he was against Puerto Rico or he’s racist and I’ve been trying to educate them,” said Donna Sheets, 51, a caregiver who lives in Christiansburg, Virginia, describing friends who had yet to make up their minds in the race's final stretch. But yet again Trump caught a break. Biden, in a call organized by a Hispanic advocacy group, responded to the insults by calling Trump's supporters “garbage.” Trump quickly seized on the gaffe, coming up with the idea of hiring a garbage truck to ride in. Aides quickly scrambled to find a truck and print a “Trump” campaign decal to tape to its side. They also presented him with an orange worker's vest — which he decided he liked so much that he continued to wear it onstage at a subsequent rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Supporters began showing up at his rallies wearing their own vests and garbage bags. Still, Trump continued what felt, at times, like self-sabotage. He doubled down on his controversial pledge to “protect women," saying he would do so whether they “like it or not.” He railed against former Rep. Liz Cheney, saying she would be less inclined to send Americans into war if she experienced what it felt like to be standing with nine rifles “trained at her face.” And on the Sunday before the election, at a rally in Pennsylvania, an exhausted Trump, fully unleashed, abandoned his stump speech altogether to deliver a profane and conspiracy-laden diatribe in which he said he “shouldn’t have left” the White House after his 2020 loss and wouldn't mind much if reporters were shot. The performance was so unhinged that Wiles was spotted coming out to stare at Trump as he spoke. While aides were alarmed, they urged him to stick with the plan. Trump, onstage the next day, seemed to acknowledge their efforts as he repeated a familiar complaint about how he’s not allowed to call women “beautiful” anymore, and then asked that it be struck from the record — saying, “So I’m allowed to do that, aren’t I, Susan Wiles?” Victory As his top aides huddled upstairs in his office at Mar-a-Lago, Trump spent much of election night holding court with friends and club members as well as Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — leaders of a new Make America Great Again majority that bears little resemblance to the Republican Party of old. While aides described him as confident, Trump watched the TVs that had been set up in the ballroom intensely as he mingled. This was more than an election, friends noted. He was fighting for his freedom. He will be able to end the federal investigations he faces as soon as he takes office. After Fox News had called the race, Trump emerged, flanked by campaign staff and family. “This will forever be remembered as the day the American people regained control of their country,” he said.

Typhoon Yinxing battered the northern Philippines with floods and landslides before blowing away from the country on Friday, leaving two airports damaged and aggravating a calamity caused by back-to-back storms that hit in recent weeks. There were no immediate reports of casualties from Yinxing, the 13th major storm to hit the disaster-prone Southeast Asian archipelago this year. The typhoon, locally called Marce, was last tracked over the South China Sea about 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of the northern Philippine province of Ilocos Norte with sustained winds of up to 150 kilometers (93 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 205 kph (127 mph), according to government forecasters. It is expected to weaken further before hitting Vietnam. The typhoon flooded villages, toppled trees and electricity poles, and damaged houses and buildings in Cagayan province, where Yinxing made landfall Thursday afternoon, provincial officials said. More than 40,000 villagers were evacuated to safer ground in the province. In the northernmost island province of Batanes, Gov. Marilou Cayco said Yinxing’s fierce winds and rain blew away roofs of houses and damaged seaports and two domestic airport terminals. More details of damage, including in two northern mountain towns hit by landslides, were expected after provinces battered by the typhoon complete an assessment, officials said. The new damage will complicate recovery efforts from two powerful storms that lashed the northern region in recent weeks. Tropical Storm Trami and Typhoon Kong-rey left at least 151 people dead in the Philippines and affected nearly 9 million others, mostly in the northern and central provinces. More than 14 billion pesos ($241 million) in rice, corn and other crops and infrastructure were damaged. Trami dumped one to two months’ worth of rain in just 24 hours in some regions. In the hardest-hit province of Batangas, south of Manila, at least 61 people died in floods and landslides. More than 630,000 people were still displaced due to Trami and Kong-rey as of Thursday, officials said, including 172,000 who remained in emergency shelters as Yinxing blew across the country's mountainous north. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. decided not to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru next week to focus on recovery efforts, Communications Secretary Cesar Chavez said. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened entire villages and caused ships to run aground and smash into houses in the central Philippines. The archipelago also lies in a region often hit by earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.

Myanmar’s Rakhine state, home to the Rohingya minority and engulfed in conflict between government forces and a powerful ethnic group, could face an imminent acute famine, the United Nations development agency warned in a new report. The U.N. Development Program said in the report issued Thursday that “a perfect storm is brewing” which has put western Rakhine “on the precipice of an unprecedented disaster.” It pointed to a chain of interlinked developments including restrictions on goods from elsewhere in Myanmar and neighboring Bangladesh, the absence of income for residents, hyperinflation, significantly reduced food production, and a lack of essential services and social safety net. As a result, UNDP said, “an already highly vulnerable population may be on the brink of collapse in the coming months.” Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long considered the Rohingya Muslim minority to be “Bengalis” from Bangladesh even though their families have lived in the country for generations. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982. In August 2017, attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on Myanmar security personnel triggered a brutal campaign by the military which drove at least 740,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh. The military is accused of mass rape, killings and burning thousands of homes. Since Myanmar’s military seized power in 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, pro-democracy guerillas and ethnic minority armed forces have been attempting to oust the military from power. Read: Head of Myanmar's military government to visit close ally China Last November, the Arakan Army, which is seeking autonomy from Myanmar’s central government, began an offensive against the military in Rakhine and has gained control of more than half of its townships. The Arakan Army, which is the well-armed wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority movement, is also a member of the armed ethnic group alliance trying to topple the military. The UNDP report said that based on data the agency collected in 2023 and 2024, “Rakhine’s economy has stopped functioning, with critical sectors such as trade, agriculture, and construction nearly at a standstill.” With domestic and international markets no longer accessible because of blockades, UNDP said people’s incomes are collapsing because they can’t export goods, and that agricultural jobs are disappearing for the same reason. In addition, it said, imports of cement have stopped, leading to “an exorbitant price increase” and shutting down the construction industry, a major employer. The report, titled “Rakhine: A Famine in the Making,” said, “Rakhine could face acute famine imminently.” Read more: New sanctions target Myanmar's military suppliers “Predictions indicate that domestic food production will only cover 20% of its needs by March-April 2025,” UNDP said. “Internal rice production is plummeting due to a lack of seeds, fertilizers, severe weather conditions, a steep rise in the number of internally displaced people who can longer engage in cultivation, and escalating conflict,” the U.N. agency said. “This, along with the near-total cessation of internal and external trade, will leave over 2 million people at risk of starvation.” UNDP called for immediate action to allow goods and humanitarian aid into Rakhine, enable unimpeded access for aid workers and ensure their safety, and urgently provide financial resources to enable the agricultural sector to recover. “Without urgent action, 95% of the population will regress into survival mode, left to fend for themselves amid a drastic reduction in domestic production, skyrocketing prices, widespread unemployment, and heightened insecurity,” UNDP warned. “With trade routes closed and severe restrictions on aid, Rakhine risks becoming a fully isolated zone of deep human suffering,” the U.N. agency said.