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In the news today: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization – led by Russia, China, and India – could emerge as a challenge to America's global leadership; a major landslide has become one of the deadliest natural disasters in Sudan's history; and the legal impacts of President Donald Trump sending National Guard troops into US cities. Also, scientists are helping a red-legged frog return to Southern California. |
Russia's Vladimir Putin, India's Narendra Modi, and China's Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin, China, Monday. (Indian Prime Minister's Office/Video Pool via AP)
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SCO summit could challenge US dominance and lend weight to China's vision of a multipolar world
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The leaders of Russia, China, India and seven other nations met Monday in northern China for the latest annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in what could be an emerging challenge to America's global leadership. Read more. |
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- The full membership also includes Belarus, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Originally seen as a foil to U.S. influence in Central Asia, the organization expanded to include India and Pakistan in 2017, Iran in 2023 and Belarus in 2024. Some of those are clear foes of the West, especially Iran and close Russian ally Belarus.
Since its 2001 founding, the SCO has been dominated by China, the regional economic superpower, with Russia seeking to use the group to maintain its influence over former Central Asian Soviet republics Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
- Both Russia and China have used the alliance as a framework for regional military cooperation, albeit limited to joint drills and firing competitions. Belarus, Iran, Pakistan and India joined later in an apparent attempt to share in the SCO's budding influence.
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Sudan landslide kills more than 1,000 people after wiping out village in Darfur
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A landslide wiped out an entire village in Sudan's western region of Darfur, killing an estimated 1,000 people in one of the deadliest natural disasters in the African country's recent history, a rebel group controlling the area said late Monday. Read more. |
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The tragedy happened Sunday in the village of Tarasin in Central Darfur's Marrah Mountains after days of heavy rainfall. The village was "completely leveled to the ground," the Sudan Liberation Movement-Army said as it appealed to the U.N. and international aid groups for help to recover the bodies.
"Initial information indicates the death of all village residents, estimated to be more than 1,000 people, " the rebel group said in a statement. "Only one person survived."
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As Trump threatens more Guard troops in US cities, here's what the law allows
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Since sending the National Guard to Los Angeles and Washington, President Donald Trump has openly mused about sending troops to some of the nation's most Democratic cities. The threats to expand a federal intervention have legal experts and some military officials raising concerns that the move could set up conflicts not seen since the civil rights era. Read more. |
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While Trump pushed the limits of the law, a California lawsuit over his intervention centers on whether the president was allowed to use the Guard to closely shadow federal law enforcement and whether that runs afoul of the prohibition on using the military as law enforcement, known as the Posse Comitatus Act, said Todd Huntley, director of the National Security Law Program at the Georgetown University Law Center.
If Trump wants the freedom to use the National Guard as he pleases in Chicago, the easiest legal path is to invoke the Insurrection Act — a vaguely worded 1792 law that allows the president to deploy federal troops inside the U.S. to conduct law enforcement, an exception to the restrictions of the Posse Comitatus Act.
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Preciouslight Ukachi, John John Obot, Keturah Heman, Ogunremi Temitope Timothy, and Stephen A Oyelami, in Lagos, Nigeria, Saturday. (Alhamdu Monday/JLM Media via AP)
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A Nigerian group attempts a 431-hour reading marathon to set a Guinness World Record
In Lagos, Nigeria, three men and two women have been reading aloud for over 431 hours to set a Guinness World Record as part of a campaign to promote literacy in Africa's most populous country. The group read 79 books by Nigerian authors, taking turns to keep the marathon going. |
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