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  • Trump’s attacks on Ilhan Omar highlight concerns about normalisation of racism in US politics

    Trump’s attacks on Ilhan Omar highlight concerns about normalisation of racism in US politics

    In a recent appearance at the White House on Tuesday, former President turned incumbent Donald Trump escalated his years-long verbal assault on Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, openly floating the possibility that the naturalized citizen could face both deportation and imprisonment over unproven questions about her immigration records.

    Trump, who has targeted Omar since she took office in 2019, repeated his inflammatory attacks, calling Omar “a very dishonest person” who “hates our country.” He went on to denigrate Omar’s country of birth, Somalia, describing it as “a real shithouse” and repeating long-debunked tropes about Somali immigrants damaging the state Omar represents. The comments represent a new high water mark in Trump’s sustained campaign against Omar, and they have amplified broader national concerns about the normalization of racist and xenophobic rhetoric in mainstream American political discourse.

    Omar’s biography frames the entire controversy: she fled civil war in Somalia as a child refugee, arrived in the U.S. in 1995, and gained American citizenship in 2000. As one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress, Omar has been a consistent critic of Trump’s restrictive immigration policies and hawkish foreign policy positions, making her a top target for Trump and his conservative allies. This pattern of attack is not new: during his first term in office, Trump repeatedly insisted that Omar and three other progressive minority congresswomen—collectively known as “the Squad”—should “go back” to the countries they came from, even though all four are U.S. citizens. At a 2019 campaign rally, Trump’s supporters even chanted “send her back” directly targeting Omar, sparking national outrage and widespread accusations of racism.

    This is not the first time Trump has used derogatory language to describe majority-non-white nations. Back in 2018, he faced widespread international condemnation after reports emerged that he referred to Haiti and multiple African countries as “shithole countries.” At that time, Trump’s White House staff tried to downplay and deny the remarks. Now, Trump openly repeats the same language on camera—a shift that has not gone unnoticed by political commentators. “During [Trump’s] first term his whole White House denied that he used this language to describe foreign countries, now he just says it on camera,” journalist Zaid Jilani noted on social media, echoing fellow commentator Mehdi Hasan’s observation that open bigotry that once sparked national controversy has now become normalized in American politics.

    The current controversy comes amid an active federal investigation into Omar’s immigration and naturalization records. Federal authorities searched Omar’s Washington, D.C. home on October 12 as part of an inquiry into whether Omar or her family provided false information when entering the U.S. as refugees and applying for citizenship. The investigation has also revived longstanding, unsubstantiated conservative allegations that Omar married her brother to commit immigration fraud, a claim Omar has repeatedly denied. Just this month, the New York Post reported that federal prosecutors are examining DNA evidence tied to the allegations, but no public proof of wrongdoing has been released, and no court has upheld the claims. Notably, the Washington Post confirmed that officials in Trump’s first administration reviewed Omar’s immigration history back in 2019 but declined to open a full investigation due to a lack of evidence. The decision to revive the inquiry has led to widespread accusations that the Trump administration is weaponizing federal law enforcement to target a political opponent. Omar’s legal team has publicly denounced the probe as politically motivated, while the Department of Justice has defended its actions, stating all investigative steps complied with federal legal requirements.

    The escalating attacks on Omar have also put the Democratic Party under increased scrutiny over its response. Critics of top Democratic leaders have argued that the party has not done enough to push back against attacks that target Omar’s identity as a Black, Muslim, refugee-born American lawmaker. One progressive commentator went as far as accusing the Democratic National Committee of cowardice for its perceived lack of public support for Omar. Still, Democratic leadership has not been entirely silent: after the FBI raid on Omar’s home, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other senior House Democrats released a joint statement condemning the search and accusing the Trump administration of abusing federal power to target political opponents. Even former President Barack Obama weighed in, criticizing the administration’s push to potentially revoke Omar’s citizenship and warning about the dangerous long-term precedent this sets for all elected officials.

    As the November midterm elections approach, the controversy over Omar has crystallized growing national anxiety about three overlapping issues: the use of political intimidation against minority elected officials, the erosion of independence for U.S. law enforcement, and the normalization of virulent bigotry in mainstream presidential discourse. Trump’s latest comments do not merely question a political opponent’s policy stances; they call into question the legitimacy of Omar’s citizenship, her patriotism, and her fundamental right to serve in the U.S. Congress. As one democracy activist asked on social media, “Are we all seriously just letting him talk about imprisoning a sitting duly elected member of Congress because he doesn’t like her?”

  • The real reasons there are so few young politicians in the US

    The real reasons there are so few young politicians in the US

    At 88 years old, Republican Hal Rogers is set to run in November’s midterm elections, seeking a historic 24th term representing Kentucky’s 5th Congressional District, a seat he has held continuously since 1981. Rogers, who first won office the same night Ronald Reagan secured his first presidential term, is far from an outlier. A growing number of top U.S. politicians are serving well into their 80s and beyond: former President Donald Trump is 80, ex-President Joe Biden left office at 82, former House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi stepped down at 82, and 93-year-old Chuck Grassley remains an active senator, having entered politics back in 1958 — before Alaska and Hawaii were admitted as U.S. states.

    This concentration of political power among senior leaders has pushed the question of age in U.S. politics back into the national spotlight, sparking widespread debate across both major political parties over whether mandatory age limits or regular health screenings should be required for elected officials. The U.S. political system is increasingly defined as a gerontocracy: rule by older leaders, who are significantly older than the majority of the adult population. Compounding this trend is data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union that shows the U.S. has one of the lowest shares of lawmakers under 45 among all developed democracies.

    Against this backdrop, 27-year-old Republican Riley Owen stands as one of the few Gen Z candidates running for a congressional seat in the November 3 midterm elections. Owen is campaigning in a newly drawn Utah district that analysts favor Democrats, and he has built his platform on issues that typically resonate with younger and independent voters, including paid parental leave, restrictions on stock trading by members of Congress, and urgent action on climate change. After securing the Republican nomination, Owen took the stage to Billy Joel’s *We Didn’t Start the Fire*, arguing that his generation must step up to renew the American Dream.

    For Owen, the dominance of senior leaders is a bipartisan problem. “We’ve got people who have become career politicians, and they spend their lives in Congress,” he explains, arguing this entrenched dynamic has created a system that fails to deliver results for ordinary Americans. One of the biggest structural barriers Owen faces is the outsized role of money in U.S. elections. Campaign donors overwhelmingly favor incumbent candidates, and his Democratic rival, 51-year-old former congressman Ben McAdams, had raised more than $2.6 million by mid-October, compared to just $150,000 for Owen, according to Federal Election Commission records.

    Owen pushes back against the common critique that younger candidates lack sufficient experience, pointing to his own background as a military officer and former White House policy analyst. He argues that Gen Z candidates bring a unique, necessary perspective on modern policy challenges — particularly those tied to technology — and that U.S. politics needs the “disruptive innovation” that younger candidates can bring.

    Age has long been a conversational centerpiece in U.S. politics. Back in 1984, then-73-year-old President Ronald Reagan, at the time the oldest person to hold the office, famously defused concerns about his age by joking about the “youth and inexperience” of his 56-year-old opponent Walter Mondale. Today, the upward trend in congressional age is clear: according to Congressional archives, the lowest median ages for the House and Senate were recorded in the early 1980s, at 48 and 52 respectively. By the start of the current congressional session, Pew Research Center analysis puts the median age at 58 for House members and 65 for senators — far above the 39-year median age of the overall U.S. population.

    Recent high-profile health events have amplified public and political scrutiny of older leaders. 84-year-old Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell faced new questions after a lengthy absence from Congress for medical treatment. On the Democratic side, 88-year-old Maxine Waters is facing a leadership challenge for her role as top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, with many observers noting her age as a contributing factor.

    Critics of the current gerontocratic dynamic often come from the left of the political spectrum, particularly among democratic socialist candidates, whose policy platforms focused on cost-of-living issues tend to resonate strongly with Millennial and Gen Z voters. A key demographic factor reinforcing the status quo is that voter turnout also skews heavily older. Pew Research data shows the share of non-voters who are young adults (18 to 29 years old) has risen from 25% in 2020 to 30% in 2024. While voters under 30 make up 20% of the eligible voting population, they only cast 15% of all votes in recent elections, meaning their policy priorities are often underrepresented on the legislative agenda.

    Grace Mausser, co-chair of the New York City branch of the Democratic Socialists of America, explains that when older voters make up the majority of the electorate, it not only leads to more older candidates winning, it also shifts which issues politicians prioritize. “Yes, that might result in older people being elected, but I think it really skews, too, what issues are important; what issues politicians are incentivised to talk about and to take care of,” she says. Mausser worked on the successful 2024 campaign of 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani, who became New York City’s youngest mayor since 1892, but she argues that age alone is not the determining factor of good governance. She points to 85-year-old progressive Senator Bernie Sanders as an example of a long-tenured older leader who has consistently pushed for new ideas and resonates across all age groups. She explains that the real problem is not how long someone has served, but whether they remain stuck in the outdated norms of the political establishment and closed to new perspectives.

    A 2025 Pew survey underscores just how deep young adult distrust in politicians runs. In the U.S., 62% of 18-34-year-olds believe few or no elected officials are honest, compared to just 45% of adults over 50. Among all 25 countries surveyed, only young adults in Greece held a more pessimistic view of political honesty.

    James Sloam, a political scientist from Royal Holloway, University of London who studies political engagement across the U.S. and Europe, argues that this widespread youth disengagement is a core reason for the lack of young representation. Compounding this issue are the minimum age requirements for federal office: candidates must be 25 to serve in the House and 30 to serve in the Senate. Sloam notes that many young people today also see opportunities to wield influence outside of formal elected politics, which reduces their incentive to pursue careers as lawmakers.

    For the young people who do break into national politics, structural barriers remain, particularly when it comes to balancing public office with family life. This summer, two high-profile young female politicians sparked new debate about the compatibility of congressional service with parenthood. 37-year-old Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who first took office at 29, announced she had begun the process of freezing her eggs. Just days later, 29-year-old Karoline Leavitt, who became the youngest White House Press Secretary in history two years prior, announced she would leave the Trump administration to focus on raising her young children, explaining that the role demands constant time and energy that would take away from being the parent she wants to be. Very few women have given birth while serving in Congress, and the U.S. federal government does not mandate paid parental leave for lawmakers, leaving many young working parents in politics at a disadvantage. Even 42-year-old Vice President JD Vance, one of the youngest people to hold the office, has acknowledged that raising four young children may impact his decision to run for president in 2028.

    The structure of the U.S. two-party system is another widely cited barrier to youth political participation. Sloam explains that the two major parties tend to represent a narrow range of policy views, and young people are often more engaged in issue-based campaigns and social movements than traditional party politics. While there have been exceptions — such as Zohran Mamdani’s progressive challenge outside the Democratic mainstream, and Donald Trump’s MAGA movement energizing young conservative men over the last decade — these breakthroughs remain sporadic. By contrast, Sloam points to multi-party Scandinavian democracies, where political systems are more pluralistic and parties regularly integrate social movements and youth voices into formal politics, creating a cycle of higher youth turnout, greater trust, and more young people running for and winning office.

    While many experts agree that incumbent leaders should know when to step aside, they also warn against writing off older politicians purely based on their age. Tracey Gendron, a gerontology professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, argues that age alone is a poor predictor of political competency. “You can have a 45-year-old who is experiencing depression or substance abuse who may not have the cognition necessary for the job,” she says. “And equally: You can have an 85-year-old with incredible integrity and political judgement and wisdom who is fully capable of doing the job.” Gendron acknowledges that Congress does not reflect the age diversity of the U.S. population, but notes that a lack of demographic diversity is not unique to age — Congress also underrepresents women, LGBTQ+ people, religious minorities, and people of color across the board.

    Back in Utah, despite his opponent’s far larger campaign budget, Riley Owen remains optimistic about his chances in the midterm. He says he is energized by the issues that matter most to Gen Z, including the role of technology in public life, immigration reform, and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Like Mausser, Owen agrees that what matters most is a candidate’s ideas, not their age. Echoing a growing cross-partisan sentiment among younger voters, he argues that the broken “us versus them” partisan framework in Washington is not working for most Americans, regardless of their age or political affiliation.

  • Property sales of illegal Israeli settlement lands challenged in complaint in Canada

    Property sales of illegal Israeli settlement lands challenged in complaint in Canada

    A coalition of human rights organizations and six anonymous complainants has submitted an official complaint to Canada’s Competition Bureau, calling for a full investigation into deceptive marketing practices by four Israeli real estate developers and one Canadian marketing agency that sells properties in illegally occupied Palestinian territory to Canadian homebuyers. The filing, submitted in Ottawa Wednesday, comes amid growing international scrutiny of unregulated settlement expansion that undermines global efforts to establish a sovereign Palestinian state. The complaint was brought jointly by the Global Echo Litigation Center, an organization founded in 2018 to pursue strategic legal action against entities complicit in violations of Palestinian human rights, and Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights. The six complainants, who include both Palestinian and Jewish individuals, have chosen to keep their identities private for personal safety concerns. The 127-page filing centers on a series of real estate promotional events held between March 2024 and May 2025 in two major Canadian cities: Montreal and Toronto. According to the document, the marketing materials used at these events deliberately create a misleading impression for average, first-time international property buyers that all showcased projects are located within Israel’s internationally recognized borders. In reality, the complaint alleges, each of the four named Israeli firms – Tivuch Shelly, Noam Homes, Meny Group, and Effi Capital – actively promotes developments built in illegal Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This is territory that Canada itself formally recognized as part of a future Palestinian state just over one year ago. Effi Capital, one of the developers named, partners on Canadian marketing outreach with a domestic firm called the Cohen Group. The complaint argues that these deliberate misrepresentation to the Canadian public qualify as reviewable deceptive conduct under Section 74.01(1)(a) of Canada’s Competition Act, which prohibits false or misleading marketing for commercial gain. Emily Schaeffer Omer-Man, executive director of Global Echo, emphasized that while the complaint follows formal consumer protection processes, the stakes go far beyond routine cases of misleading product labeling. Comparing the issue to everyday consumer fraud such as false sugar-free labeling, she drew a clear line between routine consumer protection violations and this case. “This is not just a mislabeled consumer product. Buying property in occupied territory that is the site of an illegal occupation and ongoing armed conflict puts Canadians at risk of being complicit in war crimes,” she explained. The filing also highlights a stark contradiction between Canada’s stated foreign policy and its lack of domestic regulatory action. Just last month, the Canadian government publicly stated that unregulated Israeli settlement expansion and rising settler violence are actively destroying any chance of a two-state solution. Yet to date, Ottawa has not implemented any rules or enforcement actions to block the marketing and sale of occupied Palestinian land to Canadian citizens. One high-profile example cited in the complaint is Adumim Towers, a luxury residential development located in the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, roughly seven kilometers east of Jerusalem. The settlement sits directly along the route of the proposed E1 settlement project, a plan that would cut off contiguous Palestinian access between the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem – effectively eliminating any possibility of a geographically connected sovereign Palestinian state, mirroring the separation of the besieged Gaza Strip from the West Bank. In August, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney publicly condemned Israeli plans to advance construction tenders for the E1 project, saying “the decision to publish these tenders is unacceptable.” He warned businesses that “they should not consider bidding, and they should be aware of legal and reputational consequences, including the risk of involvement in serious breaches of international law.” Following widespread international outcry, Israel postponed the tender to avoid it becoming an election issue ahead of its October 27 national vote. Even as Adumim Towers is marketed to Canadian buyers as an eco-friendly development with panoramic views of Jerusalem, the complaint reveals discriminatory screening practices for event attendees. Schaeffer Omer-Man told Middle East Eye that most of these promotional events require attendees to answer intrusive questions before entry, such as which synagogue they attend and who their rabbi is. While organizers frame this as a security measure, investigations found the practice is overwhelmingly used to exclude non-Jews, and specifically bar Palestinian attendees from entering. Basel Adra, a prominent Palestinian lawyer, Academy Award-winning filmmaker and head of community engagement at Global Echo, argues that enforcement of international law by Western nations can reverse the accelerating erasure of Palestinian territorial sovereignty. “Many say the two-state solution is dead, and it’s true that the Israeli government has worked tirelessly to change facts on the ground to make it impossible,” Adra told Middle East Eye. “But Western nations hold enormous power to enforce international law. The problem is not that no solution exists – it’s that global decision-makers have not been willing to act. International law is clear, and countries like Canada, the U.S. and Europe have the power to enforce it through targeted measures.” The complaint comes amid a dramatic escalation of violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in the wake of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza. Data from international charity Oxfam shows more than 1,200 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military crackdowns in the West Bank – a death toll higher than the total number of Palestinian fatalities in the territory over the previous 17 years combined. An additional 4,600 Palestinians have been displaced by Israeli raids and home demolition orders, and violent attacks on Palestinian civilians, farmers, activists, and journalists by Israeli settlers have grown exponentially. Just last month, Awdah Hathleen, Adra’s collaborator on his Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, was killed by an Israeli settler. Just last week, veteran Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine suffered broken bones after being repeatedly kicked by settlers during a reporting trip. Adra argues that settlement expansion depends on international financing and consumer demand, so cutting off access to Western buyers is a critical point of leverage. “Settlers keep stealing more land, building hundreds of illegal outposts and never stopping construction. They claim the land was given to them by God, but without money, they cannot continue this project,” he said. One unnamed Palestinian-Canadian complainant, who withheld their name to avoid being barred from entering the occupied West Bank to visit family, said grassroots legal action is needed to force change even after Canada’s formal recognition of a Palestinian state. “I don’t trust Canadian institutions to follow through on their own stated commitments now that they recognize Palestinian statehood. This is just opportunistic, following shifting global public opinion against Israeli occupation, and without grassroots pressure, it will go nowhere. Small, targeted actions like this complaint are what turn policy statements into real change,” the complainant said.

  • Trump’s green card curbs test Indian tech workers’ American dream

    Trump’s green card curbs test Indian tech workers’ American dream

    For generations of ambitious Indian technology professionals, the path to career success and long-term prosperity in the United States followed a well-worn blueprint: earn an engineering degree, secure a role at an Indian tech services firm, earn a transfer to the US on a temporary work visa, renew visas year after year, and eventually secure a green card granting permanent residency. Today, that established script is at risk of being permanently rewritten.

    Earlier this month, the US administration issued an unprecedented order suspending eight major technology firms — including US giant Microsoft and India’s four largest IT services providers, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, and HCL Technologies — from permanently hiring skilled foreign workers through the Permanent Labor Certification Program (PERM), the most common pathway to green cards for temporary visa holders. All new and pending PERM applications from the listed companies are now frozen, a change that hits Indian workers particularly hard: Indians currently hold the vast majority of H-1B temporary skilled worker visas, the primary vehicle that allows them to work in the US while pursuing permanent residency via the PERM process.

    Industry analysts and trade groups note that the direct financial impact on major tech firms will likely be muted, as the new restriction aligns with a years-long shift away from dependence on H-1B visas for US-based roles. India’s $300 billion technology sector trade association Nasscom says domestic Indian firms have steadily increased local hiring in the US over the past decade, bringing down the number of workers seeking PERM-based green card transitions dramatically.

    Wipro has publicly reported that over 80% of its US workforce is hired locally, while TCS says its PERM application volume dropped to single digits over the past two years, falling from 1,804 filings in 2023-24 to 513 in 2024-25, and just two filings for 2025-26, per a Business Standard report citing PERM Tracker. Infosys and Wipro recorded zero PERM filings in the 2025-26 period, the report added. Microsoft noted that most of its H-1B petitions are filed to retain existing skilled employees, not to bring in new foreign workers. Brokerage HDFC Securities echoed the assessment that the business impact will be minimal, as PERM-linked roles account for only a tiny share of overall revenue for the affected firms.

    But while the hit to corporate bottom lines may be small, the human toll and broader uncertainty for thousands of Indian tech professionals already in the US is significant. A senior US-based executive at one of the eight suspended firms, speaking to the BBC on condition of anonymity, explained that the restriction will not sink the business, but it has created acute distress for workers stuck in limbo. “A good number of people we know are stuck in a space where they have spent some years in the US but their green card application hasn’t moved,” he said. “Even if they are ready to move back to India, their children don’t want to because they grew up here.”

    The PERM suspension is just the latest in a growing slate of restrictive immigration policies that have amplified anxiety and hostility toward Indian immigrants. Since the 2024 US election, US non-profit Stop AAPI Hate, which tracks anti-Asian discrimination, has recorded a sharp spike in anti-South Asian hate speech online, with Indian H-1B visa holders as frequent targets. US Vice President JD Vance drew fierce backlash when he described H-1B holders as “foreign indentured servants” in comments accompanying the PERM ban. While Vance later called the phrasing “imperfect,” India’s foreign ministry condemned the remark as “unwarranted” and “deeply offensive” for its harmful colonial-era connotations.

    Immigration legal experts point out that many Indian professionals who built their careers in the US invested heavily to get there, often taking on significant debt for education and professional development, and now have far fewer options as rules tighten. “Many came to the US for better prospects, borrowing heavily to study and build careers. But as rules tighten now, they have fewer options and less ability to absorb the costs,” explained Poorvi Chothani, founder and managing partner of global immigration law firm LawQuest.

    With pathways to permanent residency now severely limited for workers at the affected firms, immigration experts say many will be forced to reconsider their long-term plans to stay in the US, and younger professionals may choose not to relocate at all. While some workers could theoretically move to a tech firm not affected by the suspension, Stanford Immigration Policy Lab postdoctoral fellow Ahmet Gulek notes that many employers are wary of hiring foreign workers amid the shifting policy landscape, for fear of future government retaliation. The current tech industry climate, marked by widespread layoffs, cost-cutting, and rapid AI-driven restructuring, also makes job transitions far more difficult than in years past.

    India-born professionals already account for a staggering share of the US employment-based green card backlog. As of December 2025, nearly one million Indian nationals were waiting for employment-based green cards, making up 79% of all pending applications, according to data from the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP). The group’s 2026 analysis projects wait times ranging from 5 years to 179 years for highly skilled Indian workers filing new petitions, depending on their visa category.

    Alternative pathways to green cards do exist: workers with extraordinary professional achievements or work that advances US national interests can apply for categories that skip the PERM requirement, and wealthy applicants can pursue the EB-5 investor visa, which requires a minimum $800,000 investment in a US business. But experts warn that these alternative routes may be targeted for future restrictions, and most ordinary workers do not have the capital to qualify for the EB-5 program.

    Like prior restrictive immigration measures implemented by the current Trump administration, the PERM suspension is expected to face legal challenges in federal courts. Previous actions, including a $100,000 fee imposed on certain new H-1B petitions, were ultimately struck down by courts, and the administration has recently proposed a new $70,000 fee for universities sponsoring international students for post-graduation work visas. Even if the current ban is overturned, the cumulative effect of these policy shifts has created a far more restrictive climate for anyone hoping to study, work, or settle permanently in the US.

    One Indian professional who recently secured an H-1B visa after a years-long wait, speaking anonymously to the BBC, noted that immigration reform enjoys bipartisan support in the US, even as the two major parties disagree on the details, and this trend toward tighter restrictions is unlikely to reverse in the near term.

    Some industry analysts point to an unexpected long-term consequence of the curbs: rather than shifting jobs to American workers, the restrictions may simply push more tech work offshore to India. The anonymous senior executive noted that many companies are already accelerating this shift, boosted by widespread post-pandemic acceptance of remote work among global clients and the persistent benefit of cost arbitrage.

    While experts agree that US companies’ demand for skilled Indian tech talent will not disappear, the way the US accesses that talent is fundamentally shifting. For millions of Indian professionals who once dreamed of building a life in the US, the old, predictable path to permanent residency is no longer a given, requiring a complete rewrite of their long-held career and life plans.

  • Airbnb hosts can no longer make guests strip beds and wash dishes under new rules

    Airbnb hosts can no longer make guests strip beds and wash dishes under new rules

    For years, short-term travelers booking stays through Airbnb have vented frustration about a pervasive industry grievance: being forced to complete time-consuming cleaning tasks before checking out, even after paying a separate cleaning fee. Now, the global accommodation marketplace has answered those complaints with sweeping changes to its host policy framework, aimed at bringing clarity and fairness to both sides of the sharing economy.

    Starting November 20, all new bookings made through the platform will fall under the updated guidelines. The new rule structure limits hosts to seven core standard house rules, with permission to add extra requests only if those demands qualify as reasonable. A key addition to the policy is a ban on requiring guests to carry out jobs that would typically fall to a professional cleaner. That means hosts can no longer mandate that guests wash and put away dirty dishes, strip used bed linens, or haul trash off the property before departure.

    Airbnb representatives told the BBC that the policy overhaul came in direct response to feedback from the platform’s global community of hosts and guests. “House rules help guests understand what hosts expect, but we’ve heard from our community that they can be confusing, onerous and hard to manage,” the company said. “So, we’ve redesigned them to make them easier to discover and clearer to set, alongside a new policy that keeps requests reasonable, with no surprises.”

    The company did carve out narrow exceptions for requests that align with local regulations or extraordinary community needs. For example, hosts located in regions facing severe drought can require guests to limit their daily shower time to comply with local water use restrictions. Written contracts will also only be permitted in limited scenarios, such as when they are required by local law or a property’s homeowners association guidelines. While hosts will not be allowed to issue direct fines to guests who break house rules, the company confirmed that hosts will still retain full authority to set legitimate expectations for stays.

    Moving forward, all house rules will be displayed far more prominently to potential guests during the booking process, and will also be included in automated reservation reminders ahead of check-in. If a host submits a request that violates the new platform policies, the system will automatically flag the issue, and hosts will have the right to appeal flagged rules if they disagree with the platform’s assessment.

    The policy change comes amid growing public conversation about overly stringent host rules, sparked by viral content on social media platform TikTok. Recently, two Georgia-based Airbnb hosts, Cassie and Jon, saw their post-stay inspection videos go viral after viewers called out their extremely strict standards. In one widely shared clip, the pair accused guests of disrespecting house rules for leaving a television controller out of its designated spot. Though the couple defended their content, claiming it had been misinterpreted by the public, the viral clip sparked widespread criticism of excessive host demands. It also inspired a wave of parodies from other content creators mocking rigid, unreasonable standards set by some hosts across the platform.

    Industry observers note the update marks a major shift for Airbnb, as the company works to address longstanding friction between guests and hosts while maintaining its position as a leading player in the global short-term rental market.

  • New Mexico sues Epstein lawyer and accountant, accusing them of hiding his sex crimes

    New Mexico sues Epstein lawyer and accountant, accusing them of hiding his sex crimes

    Nearly five years after Jeffrey Epstein’s death, the long hunt for accountability for his co-conspirators has entered a new phase: prosecutors in New Mexico have filed a landmark civil lawsuit against two of the disgraced financier’s closest, longest-serving aides, alleging they actively facilitated his sex trafficking operation and continue to profit from it decades later.

    The targets of the suit are Darren Indyke, Epstein’s longtime personal lawyer, and Richard Kahn, his accountant. The two men also serve as the sole executors of Epstein’s estate, putting them in control of the late financier’s sprawling $635 million fortune, a sum estimated at the time of his death in 2019. Both men have forcefully denied all allegations of involvement in Epstein’s criminal activity.

    At the center of the new legal action is Epstein’s remote Zorro Ranch, located outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez alleges that Indyke and Kahn knowingly helped conceal ongoing sexual abuse of underage victims at the property for years, and have continued to block efforts by survivors to secure rightful compensation from Epstein’s estate even after his death.

    This civil lawsuit is separate from a criminal investigation into Epstein’s activities in New Mexico that state officials reopened back in February 2024. The new complaint was filed Wednesday in state court, citing both the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act and New Mexico’s state-level Racketeering Act.

    During a public press conference announcing the suit, Torrez emphasized that the $635 million in assets controlled by the two aides should rightfully go to Epstein’s survivors, not to the men who helped enable his crimes. Torrez argued, “Those resources rightfully belong in the hands of survivors – there should be no distribution of Mr Epstein’s remaining assets to people like Mr Indyke and Mr Kahn for participation in what I think is one of the most horrific criminal enterprises in modern America.”

    Indyke and Kahn have worked alongside Epstein for decades. Both previously testified before Congress that they had no knowledge of Epstein’s sex trafficking crimes, which he committed alongside his longtime accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell was convicted of child sex trafficking in 2021 and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.

    Daniel Weiner, an attorney representing both Indyke and Kahn, issued a formal statement to media rejecting all claims in the lawsuit. Weiner said his clients “emphatically reject” the allegations, and are confident they will prevail in court. He added, “Both Mr Indyke and Mr Kahn reject as categorically false the allegations that they knowingly facilitated or assisted Mr Epstein in his sexual abuse or trafficking of women, or that they were aware of Mr Epstein’s actions while they provided legal or accounting services to him.”

    Weiner also claimed that New Mexico prosecutors never reached out to interview either man before filing the lawsuit, calling the action “baseless.” He countered that the two aides have fully cooperated with all official investigations when requested.

    The legal role of Indyke and Kahn as estate executors dates back to just two days before Epstein’s suicide in a New York jail in August 2019, where he was being held while awaiting trial on federal child sex trafficking charges. Shortly before his death, Epstein revised his last will and testament to transfer all of his assets into a trust named after his birth year, naming Indyke and Kahn as the administrators of the fund.

    In their role as executors, the pair previously negotiated partial compensation packages for survivors, but these agreements included clauses that barred survivors from taking further legal action against Indyke and Kahn personally. Even so, a number of legal claims against the estate remain unresolved. As named beneficiaries of the trust, legal analysts note that Indyke and Kahn stand to collect tens of millions of dollars each once all outstanding claims against the estate are settled.

    Torrez’s core argument in the new suit echoes a long-held belief among prosecutors and survivor advocates that Epstein’s widespread abuse was only possible because of a network of enablers who have yet to face justice. “Jeffrey Epstein did not operate alone, and his death does not end the pursuit of accountability for the people who helped make his crimes possible,” Torrez said. “Those who allegedly enabled this exploitation should not be allowed to profit from it while survivors continue to live with its consequences.”

  • Japan is known for world-class events – but the Asian Games were chaotic

    Japan is known for world-class events – but the Asian Games were chaotic

    Japan has built a decades-long global reputation for seamless execution of large-scale international gatherings, from the Summer Olympic Games to annual Tokyo gaming conventions that draw hundreds of thousands of attendees. But the 2026 Asian Games, hosted across Nagoya and Aichi Prefecture, have shattered that image, marred by an unbroken string of organizational missteps, diplomatic gaffes, and logistical failures that have drawn widespread public condemnation.

    From the pre-tournament planning phase, warning signs emerged. In an effort to cut down on overall costs, organizers made the controversial decision to scrap construction of a centralized, purpose-built athletes’ village, opting instead to house 17,000 participating athletes and delegation members across scattered city hotels and prefabricated container-style units across Nagoya. Even before opening ceremonies, complaints poured in: athletes reported insufficient room blocks, substandard living conditions, and cramped sleeping quarters. A senior South Korean basketball official noted that tall athletes staying in the container units could not fully extend their legs on the undersized beds provided.

    A last-minute surge in participant numbers exacerbated the housing crisis. Originally, organizers had arranged accommodations for a maximum of 15,000 delegation members, aligned with the original host city agreement. But after multiple new sports were added to the Asian Games program, total participation rose by 2,000, pushing the final headcount to 17,000. Initially, organizers told late-registered delegations there was simply no available housing and instructed them to secure their own accommodation, before reversing course in a joint statement with the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) that pledged all attendees would receive Games-appropriate lodging. To close the gap, organizers even chartered an Italian cruise ship with 1,500 cabins to absorb the overflow.

    The problems extended far beyond housing. Over the course of the tournament, competing athletes were repeatedly bussed to the wrong competition venues. Diplomatic errors drew international outcry: the North Korean national anthem was mistakenly played for the South Korean men’s hockey team during a pre-game ceremony, the South Korean flag failed to be properly raised during the men’s football gold medal match, and Taiwan’s sports minister was temporarily barred from entering an official flag-raising ceremony. Even volunteer appreciation efforts went awry: in the final days of the Games, volunteers received an official email offering free tickets to the closing ceremony, only for organizers to later clarify that the offer had never been approved and was still under internal review.

    The deputy director general of the Asian Games organizing committee, Takaaki Omi, has acknowledged the cascade of failures, admitting that the event – which actually hosted more participants than the 2024 Paris Olympic Games – created significant inconvenience for many delegations. “Hosting and managing an event of this scale was a major challenge for us, and each day involved addressing a range of unexpected issues and challenges,” Omi told the BBC. He added that organizers actively collected feedback from competing athletes and implemented prompt adjustments to resolve issues as they arose.

    Local Japanese media has quickly pinned much of the blame on GL Events Japan, the French-owned firm that won the 63 billion yen ($405 million) contract to manage venue operations. The contract was awarded to GL Events Japan over domestic advertising giant Dentsu Group, a firm with decades of experience successfully delivering major Japanese sporting events that was sidelined after a criminal bid-rigging conviction. A source close to the bidding process told Kyodo News that GL Events submitted a bid that was overwhelmingly cheaper than competing proposals. The Tokyo Shimbun has since accused the firm of cutting critical corners on staffing, failing to hire enough experienced personnel and leaving recruited staff insufficiently trained to handle emerging issues.

    Organizers have pushed back against that criticism, noting that GL Events has deep experience delivering major international competitions, including the 2024 Paris Olympics. “We believe the necessary competition environment was in place by the start of competition, including thorough discussions and co-ordination with GL Events,” Omi said. Kozo Tomiyama, a professor at Osaka University who specializes in major sporting event management, argued that placing all blame on GL Events is overly simplistic. He noted the firm was given an extremely broad scope of responsibility, adding that the contract was awarded through direct negotiation rather than competitive bidding, raising questions about the vetting process and post-award oversight of the contractor. GL Events has not responded to multiple requests for comment from the BBC.

    These repeated missteps have stood in stark contrast to Japan’s famed omotenashi spirit of whole-hearted hospitality that the country had hoped to showcase to the global sports community. Japanese officials ultimately issued a formal public apology to the South Korean delegation for the string of errors that affected its athletes. Problems have even extended into the post-Games Para Asian Games, where incorrect national anthems were played at three separate events, prompting Nagoya Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa – who also serves as deputy head of the organizing committee – to call the mistakes unacceptable and issue a formal apology.

    Not all feedback on the Games has been negative. OCA director general Husain al-Musallam highlighted that 54 new world records were set across swimming, weightlifting, and shooting, arguing that this level of athletic achievement proves the Games were ultimately successful. “This achievement does not come without the best environment that the organising committee created for the athletes,” he said. “The athletes cannot perform if they don’t sleep good, the athletes cannot perform if they don’t have good transportation.”

    For experts like Tomiyama, the biggest long-term risk is the impact these failures could have on Japan’s ability to bid for and host future international competitions. “If these problems damage international confidence in Japan’s ability to operate sporting events, they could also affect Japan’s ability to attract international competitions in the future,” he warned. He added that he hopes organizers will conduct a full post-event review to extract critical lessons that can improve future event delivery across the country. Online, Japanese and international sports fans have already called for a full independent investigation into the organizational failures, with some commenters labeling the 2026 Nagova Asian Games the “worst Games in history”.

  • Azerbaijan bans 31 Turks from entering country as headscarf ban dispute escalates

    Azerbaijan bans 31 Turks from entering country as headscarf ban dispute escalates

    Once defined by deep ethnic, religious, cultural and historical kinship, the diplomatic relationship between Azerbaijan and Turkey is facing its most significant strain in recent years, sparked by a dispute over a domestic education policy that quickly escalated into a full-blown bilateral crisis. In the latest punitive measure from Baku, authorities have banned 31 Turkish citizens from entering the country, accusing the group of posting social media content that endangers Azerbaijani national security and promotes the violent overthrow of the national government. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs added that many individuals on the entry ban list also employed violent rhetoric tied to religious radicalism. The roster of barred individuals cuts across Turkey’s political, media and academic spheres, including several high-profile conservative and ultraconservative figures. Top among them is Fatih Erbakan, leader of Turkey’s far-right New Welfare Party, who openly criticized Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on social media platform X following Aliyev’s meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Baku last week. “After hosting the Zionist murderer Herzog in Baku, you became blind to your true friends,” Erbakan wrote in the post that drew Baku’s ire. Other banned individuals include sitting Turkish Member of Parliament Omer Gergerlioglu, deputy chairman of the right-wing Free Cause Party Yahya Ugras, prominent journalists Adem Ozkose, Ismail Kilincarslan and Hakki Eren, well-known conservative writer Yusuf Kaplan, and theology professor Mehmet Boynukalin. The vast majority of those named hold explicit conservative religious or political views, aligning with their public criticism of Baku’s new policy. The current crisis traces back to last month, when Azerbaijan implemented a ban on headscarves in primary and secondary schools. The policy immediately sparked widespread public protests across Turkey, turning a domestic education rule into a major diplomatic flashpoint between the two traditionally allied nations. Beyond the entry ban, Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s office announced on Monday that a Baku district court has issued in absentia international arrest warrants for seven Turkey-based residents who organized or participated in anti-ban demonstrations outside Azerbaijani diplomatic missions in Turkey. Those targeted in the warrants include Ridvan Kaya, head of the conservative Turkish association Ozgur-Der, Abdullah Imamoglu, a writer for conservative news outlet Haksoz, and Fatih Tezcan, a prominent commentator with well-documented Islamic conservative views. The Azerbaijani interior ministry has made clear that additional restrictive measures remain on the table, vowing further action against any actors it deems to be engaging in threatening activity against the state. Even as tensions surge, the two countries maintain deep economic ties, holding billions of dollars in mutual investments across key sectors including energy, transportation, construction and agriculture. That has not stopped pro-Baku Azerbaijani news outlets from launching sharp new attacks this week, however, with multiple outlets accusing Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan of orchestrating efforts to incite an insurrection against Aliyev’s government. With reciprocal public criticism and punitive measures piling up, the once-close bilateral partnership now faces one of its most challenging periods in modern history.

  • Albania’s revolt: How Rama’s Kushner resort deal became a threat to his leadership

    Albania’s revolt: How Rama’s Kushner resort deal became a threat to his leadership

    Weeks after Donald Trump secured his 2024 U.S. presidential election victory, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama gave preliminary greenlight to a €1.4 billion luxury coastal resort project tied to the incoming U.S. president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner – a decision that would eventually spark a nationwide protest movement roiling the small Balkan nation. The development is earmarked for the strategic island of Sazan and the adjacent Zvernec coastline, located adjacent to Albania’s ecologically protected Narta wetlands, a habitat home to iconic flocks of flamingos. On December 30, 2024, Rama’s national Strategic Investments Committee formally granted Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC – the Kushner-linked firm leading the project – official strategic investor status, clearing a major regulatory hurdle for construction. For Rama, the deal was more than just an infrastructure investment: it offered a critical backchannel to the incoming Trump White House, a relationship the long-serving prime minister has relied on to shore up his grip on power after 13 years in office. What Rama did not anticipate, however, was that the controversial resort would become a lightning rod for years of simmering public anger over elite corruption, stagnant economic opportunity, and the hollowing out of Albanian democracy. For decades, large-scale development deals in the country have siphoned wealth to a small circle of connected political and business insiders, while ordinary Albanians have grappled with stagnant low wages, chronic unemployment, and widespread economic insecurity that has pushed millions to leave the country. Between 2011 and 2023 alone, more than 600,000 Albanians emigrated abroad in search of better prospects. Today, Albania’s total population hovers at just 2.3 million, declining by roughly one percent annually as working-age people flee the country’s lack of opportunity. To fill gaps in the workforce left by mass emigration, Rama’s government has increasingly turned to bringing in low-wage migrant workers from poorer countries like India and the Philippines – with more than 22,000 foreign work permits issued by June 2026 – even as it ignores widespread voter demands for economic and political reform. The first local protests against the Sazan resort project erupted in the affected coastal region, before snowballing into daily mass demonstrations in the capital city of Tirana starting in late May 2026. The movement quickly adopted the name the “Flamingo Revolution,” a nod to the vulnerable wetland ecosystem that would be damaged by the resort development, and the name quickly drew international attention, in large part due to the project’s ties to a senior figure connected to the incoming U.S. administration. By October 2026, university students joined the protests in force, bringing with them their own grievances over soaring education costs, crumbling university infrastructure, and the lack of professional opportunities waiting for them after graduation. Unlike traditional protest movements, the Flamingo Revolution has deliberately rejected centralized leadership, a strategic choice that movement supporters say protects it from government co-optation. “The lack of leadership figures amongst the protesters is a good thing – the government doesn’t have a chance to buy someone off or threaten their family,” explained Ervin Salianji, a former Democratic Party lawmaker who has emerged as a prominent critic of both the Rama government and the unofficial power-sharing deal between Rama and his own party’s long-time leader, Sali Berisha. Salianji accuses both leaders of colluding to control candidate selection for elections, shutting out voter input and allowing a tiny elite to accumulate massive wealth at the expense of the public. “If we had a single leader of the movement they might be in jail right now. This is an advantage at the moment. Rama now realises that he has few options to respond to the protest now,” Salianji added, noting that the prime minister has already resorted to heavy-handed tactics: threatening students, teachers, and public workers who join the demonstrations, while offering police officers a €2,000 bonus to use violence against protesters. For Fatos Lubonja, a prominent Albanian writer and long-time dissident who spent 17 years as a political prisoner under the country’s former communist regime, the protests lay bare a far deeper crisis: the complete collapse of democratic institutions in Albania, which he says has been captured by a criminalized elite. “There is a crisis of institutions and democracy. We don’t have a healthy economy but a criminal economy and crime has captured the state,” Lubonja told Middle East Eye in an interview from Tirana. Lubonja has been an outspoken critic of Rama’s authoritarian turn during his 13 years in power, noting that unlike the former communist regime, which ultimately yielded power to democratic forces, Rama has shown no willingness to step down even as public anger mounts. The controversy over the Kushner resort has also shed light on Rama’s deliberate strategy to strengthen ties with Israel, leveraging Kushner’s well-documented close friendship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to curry favor with the incoming Trump administration. In April 2025, Israeli President Isaac Herzog awarded Rama the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honour in recognition of his strong public support for Israel. That same month, Albania’s state-owned defense firm Kayo signed a memorandum of understanding with major Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems to launch a new aviation academy in the Albanian port city of Vlore. During a January 2026 visit to Jerusalem, Rama pledged even deeper defense cooperation between the two countries. Rama’s government has also invested in building three new Jewish museums in Albania, a country with almost no historic Jewish resident population, to drive tourism from Israel – a gambit that has succeeded wildly: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar confirmed in October 2026 that annual Israeli visitor numbers had already surged past 100,000, a more than 500% increase from just one year prior. Critics have drawn unflattering comparisons between the Sazan resort project and Kushner’s controversial proposal to forcibly displace Palestinian residents of Gaza to redevelop the territory, while many protesters have labeled the development “another Epstein Island,” a shorthand for the unaccountable abuse of power by a global elite that disregards the needs and rights of ordinary people. Photographs from the October 2026 protests in central Tirana show violent clashes between demonstrators and riot police, with officers taking cover from Molotov cocktails thrown by protesters, and damaged vehicles littering city streets after days of unrest. For the protesters who have flooded Tirana’s streets demanding Rama’s resignation, the escalation to violent clashes in October came after months of peaceful mobilization failed to win any of their core demands: an independent crackdown on systemic corruption, the formation of a transitional caretaker government, and the end of Rama’s 13-year rule. The protest movement comes as a wave of corruption investigations has already swept up senior figures across Albania’s political establishment. Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj has been held in pre-trial detention since February 2025 on charges of corruption and money laundering, which he denies. Former Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku faces corruption charges linked to more than €200 million in public sector contracts, and she also denies any wrongdoing. In September 2026, an Albanian court placed national intelligence chief Vlora Hyseni under house arrest and suspended her from office, following a request from the country’s Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organised Crime (SPAK). Investigators suspect Hyseni of leaking classified information to organized crime groups. Rama has repeatedly denied any connection to the corruption cases against his close political allies. International bodies have so far offered measured responses to the crisis. The European Commission, which oversees Albania’s ongoing accession process to the bloc, has condemned arson, attacks on state institutions, and property destruction, while welcoming the Albanian government’s stated commitment to protecting the right to peaceful protest and praising Tirana’s progress toward EU membership. The EC has also demanded that Albanian authorities respond to the protests lawfully and proportionately, and the EU delegation to Albania has previously called for formal investigations into widespread reports of excessive police violence against protesters and independent journalists. The U.S. Embassy in Tirana has issued a statement urging all sides to exercise restraint and ensure demonstrations remain peaceful. Speaking from Tirana, Lubonja framed the current moment as a defining crossroads for Albanian democracy. “The protests stand at a crossroads: either Edi Rama creates a police state, or with courage, a different Albania can emerge. The situation is frightening – democracies are also defended through blood,” he said.

  • Ex-prosecutor charged with treason in Mexico over US drug raid

    Ex-prosecutor charged with treason in Mexico over US drug raid

    A high-stakes legal case has unfolded in Mexico following the weekend arrest of César Jáuregui Moreno, the former top prosecutor of the northern border state of Chihuahua, who faces federal treason charges for granting unapproved access to U.S. agents during an April counter-narcotics raid. The incident that sparked the charges came to tragic light when two American agents, widely reported by U.S. media to be CIA operatives, died alongside two Mexican law enforcement officers from Chihuahua’s State Investigation Agency in a deadly car crash. The crash occurred as the team’s convoy returned from a mission targeting an illicit methamphetamine production lab in Chihuahua’s remote mountain terrain, when the vehicle veered off a roadway and plummeted into a deep ravine.

    Jáuregui held the position of Chihuahua’s attorney general from 2023 through early 2025, and is currently a member of Mexico’s conservative opposition National Action Party (PAN). Federal Attorney General Ernestina Godoy Ramos has laid out formal allegations that Jáuregui permitted foreign agents to carry out law enforcement activities that are legally reserved exclusively for Mexican state authorities, and that he deliberately withheld critical information about the agents’ involvement from federal officials. In addition to the federal treason charge, the ex-prosecutor also faces separate state charges in Chihuahua, including a count of abuse of public office.

    Following his arrest over the weekend, Jáuregui appeared before a judge on Sunday for an initial hearing on the state-level charges, where he issued a full denial of all accusations against him. He repeated his assertion that he never gave instruction or consent for U.S. agents to participate in the operational raid. When the crash first occurred in April, Jáuregui addressed reporters in his then-official capacity, framing the American individuals as “instructor officers” from the U.S. Embassy who were in the region for routine training as part of standard bilateral law enforcement exchange programs.

    A preliminary court hearing on the federal treason charge is scheduled for this coming Saturday, after which a judge will rule on whether sufficient evidence exists to move forward with a full trial, according to reporting from Reuters. The case comes at a tense moment in U.S.-Mexico relations, as Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has faced growing pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to escalate crackdowns on transnational drug trafficking. Sheinbaum has consistently rejected proposals for U.S.-led counter-narcotics operations within Mexican territory, maintaining a firm stance that all foreign personnel can only conduct activities on Mexican soil with explicit, prior authorization from the Mexican federal government. The president has repeatedly emphasized that upholding Mexico’s national sovereignty is non-negotiable, and that any breach of that sovereignty will not be tolerated.