Newsom Christens Trump’s CONCRETE COMBOVER Rose Garden With Brutal New Nickname

Jack Revell
Sat, September 6, 2025

DAILY BEAST


Photo Illustration by Eric Faison/The Daily Beast/Getty Images/X


California Governor Gavin Newsom has launched a fresh round of attacks on President Donald Trump in his unrelenting campaign to reality-check the MAGA base.

Honing in on Trump’s grand reopening of the freshly paved-over Rose “Garden” on Friday, Newsom rebranded the concreted area the “Predator Patio.”

“Welcome to Predator Patio! Admission? Just prove you’re on the Epstein List!” the Newsom Press Office account wrote on X. The tweet was accompanied by an image of Trump holding a microphone, superimposed over a shot of the dinner held in the garden on Friday.

Newsom did not stop there. The press account launched a stinging rebuke of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson for attending the event.

“After ripping health care from 17 million Americans and slashing food stamps for kids, we’re glad Mike ‘Marie Antoinette’ Johnson and his boy friends had time to toast the grand opening of the Predator Patio,“ Newsom’s press office wrote on X.

Johnson was instrumental in passing Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” in July. The bill, it has been estimated, could leave 17 million Americans at risk of losing health care coverage. It also cuts $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program over the coming decade.

During the pandemic, Newsom found himself compared to Marie Antoinette—the luxury-loving last queen of France—for attending an indoor, 12-person fine-dining experience while advising Californians to maintain social distance and mask up.

Newsom continued his tirade over Trump’s dinner for Republican allies in a third message. Replying to the same tweet, Newsom trashed the hypocrisy of the luxury meal for the newly formed “Rose Garden Club.”

“Our economy is in a downward spiral, but don’t worry—the @GOP are spending their time cheersing Diet Cokes at a new, exclusive ‘club’," Newsom wrote on his own X account.



The Trump administration’s latest economic report paints a bleak picture of the impact of the leadership’s policies.

Trump fired his statistics chief, Dr. Erika McEntarfer, in August, claiming she was manipulating data for political ends. Even so, the jobs report released Friday shows just 22,000 new jobs were created in August, far below the projected 75,000.

The report also revised down the June figures, showing a net loss of 13,000 jobs in the month. The unemployment rate climbed to 4.3 percent—its highest level since December 2021.

Donald Trump speaks at a dinner for lawmakers in the newly renovated Rose Garden, which Gavin Newsom dubbed the “Predator Patio.” / Brian Snyder/Reuters

Trump’s inaugural Rose Garden Club dinner was attended by Vice President JD Vance, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, as well as Johnson. Trump told guests on Friday that the club is for “people that can bring peace and success to our country.”

Newsom has been on an all-out social media offensive against the Trump administration—often satirically referring to himself as “America’s favorite governor,” a nod to Trump’s penchant for describing himself as “America’s favorite president”—ever since the president deployed Marines to Los Angeles in June.

Chicago protesters defiant in face of Trump's deportation threats

Renee Hickman and Heather Schlitz
Sat, September 6, 2025 
REUTERS

Chicago protesters defiant in face of Trump's deportation threats


By Renee Hickman and Heather Schlitz

CHICAGO (Reuters) -Several thousand demonstrators marched past Trump Tower as the sun began to set in downtown Chicago on Saturday, protesting U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to flood the city with immigration agents.

The protest came after fears of increasing deportations chilled a normally raucous Mexican Independence Day celebration, as Trump signaled his intention to ramp up immigration enforcement on social media.

In a social media post depicting himself as a U.S. military officer from the movie "Apocalypse Now," Trump wrote, "I love the smell of deportations in the morning," above an image of the president in uniform juxtaposed against flames and Chicago's skyline.

For many protesters, the threats felt personal.

Tracy Quinonez, 50, said her father, who recently died, came to the U.S. from Guatemala as a refugee. "I'm here for him," she said. "It's not criminals being taken off the street. It's families being ripped apart."

Quinonez, who like many other protesters was waving the blue stripes and red stars of Chicago's city flag, told Reuters, "They really picked on the wrong city."

Protesters also opposed Trump's threats to deploy National Guard troops to fight crime in Chicago, which would be an extraordinary effort to militarize the country's third-largest city. On Wednesday, however, Vice President JD Vance said there were "no immediate plans" to send the National Guard to Chicago.

Trump, a Republican, has mobilized troops in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., cities that, like Chicago, are run by Democratic politicians.

Peg Devlin, 76, said on Saturday that she was marching against what she called the rise of fascism, which she said her mother had fled in Europe.

"I've never experienced what my mother experienced as a German Jew," said Devlin, "I will not sit back and watch that happen here."


Lisa Matuska, 39, walked the route with her two young children because, she said, "I think they need to see that if there's something you don't agree with and you're mad about it, physical presence is a good way to show that." She also praised the event's organizers for its safety.

'SCARED BUT HERE'

Elsewhere in the city, the threat of deportations had a chilling effect on a normally festive month in which numerous Mexican Independence Day celebrations are held throughout Chicago.

A parade to mark the holiday in the historically Mexican Pilsen neighborhood turned quiet and nervous.

In a break from traditional celebrations, twirling folklorico dancers decked in glimmering jewelry and billowing, multi-colored dresses distributed "know your rights" pamphlets to sparse crowds.

Horses wore the colors of Mexico's flag in their tails, while their riders wore neon-orange whistles around their necks in case they needed to alert attendees to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Along the sidelines, volunteers also kept watch for ICE.

"This place would normally be packed," Eddie Chavez, a lifelong Pilsen resident, said while waving a Mexican flag in a lone row of lawn chairs along the parade route. "Now it's empty, like a ghost town."

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat and vocal critic of Trump, said on Tuesday he believed ICE raids would coincide with Mexican Independence Day festivals scheduled for this weekend and next weekend. Some Mexican festivals in the Chicago area were postponed or canceled amid fears of immigration raids.

"We're scared, but we're here," said Isabel Garcia, a dancer in Saturday's parade. "We're Mexican. We have to celebrate, and they're not going to stop us."

ICE did not respond to requests for comment on whether it had sent more agents to Chicago, and residents said they had not seen significantly stepped-up immigration enforcement so far.

In addition to Chicago, Trump has suggested the possibility of deploying troops to Democratic-run Baltimore in Maryland, as well as in the Republican-led state of Louisiana.

Trump last month deployed National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., saying they would "re-establish law, order and public safety." Justice Department data shows crime in the nation's capital hit a 30-year low last year.

The president sent 4,000 National Guard members and 700 active-duty U.S. Marines to Los Angeles in June, against the wishes of California's Democratic governor.

(Reporting by Renee Hickman and Heather Schlitz in Chicago; Editing by William Mallard)

UKRAINIAN NATIONALIST ARMY OUN–UPA AND THE NAZI GENOCIDE

Poland buries wartime remains in western Ukraine as part of reconciliation

NAZI ALIGNED UKR NATIONALISTS MURDERED POLES

Reuters
Sat, September 6, 2025 


Mass burial of, previously exhumated, Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalists during World War II, in the former village of Puzhnyky

Mass burial of, previously exhumated, Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalists during World War II, in the former village of Puzhnyky

Mass burial of, previously exhumated, Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalists during World War II, in the former village of Puzhnyky

Mass burial of, previously exhumated, Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalists during World War II, in the former village of Puzhnyky

Mass burial of, previously exhumated, Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalists during World War II, in the former village of Puzhnyky


PUZHNYKY, Ukraine (Reuters) -Remains of Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalist insurgents during World War Two were buried in western Ukraine on Saturday as officials from both countries looked on, a move to ease a rare strain in relations between the two close allies.

Poland was allowed to exhume the remains in the former Polish village of Puzniki, in present-day Ukraine, earlier this year after longstanding demands from Warsaw over the issue, which has caused friction between the neighbouring countries.

With Polish Catholic priests officiating, the simple wooden coffins of 42 Poles, each marked with a cross and flanked by wooden cross, were placed in a long, narrow grave in a wooded, abandoned cemetery.

Lanterns and wreaths draped in Polish red and white and Ukrainian yellow and blue colours were laid alongside.

"The victims of the Puzniki massacre rested in an unmarked grave for decades, but their memory endures for their loved ones and those who fought for this remembrance, truth, and act of elementary justice," Polish Culture Minister Marta Cienkowska was quoted as saying by state news agency PAP.

"Today's burial is a restoration of dignity to those who had it stripped from them in the most inhumane way."

Cienkowska expressed confidence that it would be possible to locate and identify remaining victims, according to PAP.

Survivor Maria Jarzycka-Wroblewska, 90, said groups of men had assured residents they would be safe and then the killings occurred overnight.

"No one in my immediate family was murdered here, but neighbours, friends and even a distant cousin were," she said.

"Thank God that the Ukrainian authorities and the Poles came to an agreement and this is finally done...You cannot put all Ukrainians in the same basket."

The abandoned village is among sites where Polish officials say more than 100,000 people were killed by insurgents between 1943 and 1945.

Large swathes of modern-day western Ukraine were under Polish control at the time. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which fought against both Nazi German forces and the Soviet Red Army, is widely held responsible for the killings as part of efforts to limit Polish influence over the area.

The so-called Volhynia massacres have complicated relations even as Poland has backed Ukraine against Russia's 2022 invasion by supplying weapons and taking in almost a million refugees.

Ukraine has rejected Poland's description of the killings as "genocide", saying thousands of Ukrainians were also killed in events that were part of a wider conflict between the neighbours.

The exhumations involving around 20 specialists had been aimed at identifying victims and burying them. Polish officials have called on Ukraine to allow more operations to take place.

(Additional reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw; Writing by Dan Peleschuk and Ron Popeski, Editing by Franklin Paul)

UKRAINIAN NATIONALIST ARMY OUN–UPA AND THE NAZI GENOCIDE

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for UPA

Four Telescopes Confirm There's Something Deeply Strange About the Mysterious Object Headed Into the Solar System

Victor Tangermann
Sun, September 7, 2025 
FUTURISM

By definition, scientists don't know what to expect as they inspect the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, since it's only the third object detected from beyond the solar system in human history.

But the surprises just keep coming. The mysterious entity, which was first spotted hurtling towards the Sun from far beyond in early July, has fascinated researchers ever since. As Science Alert points out, a quartet of powerful telescopes — NASA's Hubble, SPHEREx, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), and James Webb Space Telescope — have now turned their powerful gazes to observe 3I/ATLAS.

And while there's a broad consensus among experts that the object is a comet — a small, icy body that releases gases as it passes by the Sun — the data tells a strikingly more nuanced story, making clear that the object is deeply strange in ways that will make it a topic of study and comparison for many years.

For one, SPHEREx and James Webb observations have both shown that its coma, which a large atmosphere of gas and dust that surrounds a comet's nucleus, bears a much higher proportion of carbon dioxide gas than expected. In fact, scientists found it to have the highest carbon dioxide to water ratio ever observed in a comet.

TESS, which had technically already spotted the object months ahead of its July discovery that were later found in its archived observations, showed the object was already bright and active when it was six astronomical units from the Sun, well past the orbit of Jupiter, far more distant to be showing activity than most comets.

NASA's Hubble revealed a "teardrop-shaped cocoon of dust coming off of the comet's solid, icy nucleus," yet it "does not feature a distinct cometary tail," according to Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb (who has colorfully suggested that the object could have been sent to us by an extraterrestrial civilization.)

The object's origins remain as elusive as ever. In a preprint paper, an international team of researchers posited that 3I/ATLAS may contain "ices exposed to higher levels of radiation than Solar System comets," or it could've "formed close to the CO2 ice line in its parent protoplanetary disk."

For now, we'll have to be patient until the findings — as well as any future observations before it screams back out of the solar system's other side — undergo further analysis and peer review.

By the time the object makes its departure, it will have made relatively close flybys of Jupiter, Mars, and Venus. Loeb has proposed that NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter should have a closer look, as the object comes within less than two million miles of the Red Planet.

And roughly five months later, NASA's Juno probe could intercept it as it approaches Jupiter. Perhaps then, we could finally get a better sense of its peculiar nature.

Paper Finds Earth May Have Been Terraformed by "Advanced Extraterrestrials"

THE GREAT OLD ONES

Victor Tangermann
Sat, September 6, 2025  

FUTURISM

It's one of the most longstanding questions in biology: how did life first arise?

Research on the topic abounds, but there's no one accepted answer. And according to one new paper, the chances that life emerged by pure chance on Earth are so slim that it's possible that our planet was instead seeded by "advanced extraterrestrials."

While Imperial College London professor of systems biology Robert Endres concedes that the emergence of life still could've been the result of chemical reactions moving from highly disordered to ordered arrangements, as Universe Today reports, he's also leaving open to that much more exotic possibility.

The "aliens did it" hypothesis would "violate Occam's razor," Endres admitted in his yet-to-be-peer-reviewed paper, but he refuses to rule it out as a "speculative but logically open alternative."

Panspermia, you'll recall, is the theory that life spread throughout the universe via planetoids, asteroids, or other natural objects. Push the idea one step further, and you land on "directed panspermia": the hypothesis that an extraterrestrial civilization deliberately brought life to Earth.

The theory was first proposed in the early 1970s to explain the incredible unlikeliness of life on Earth. Even at the time, the authors — including molecular biologist Francis Crick, famous for discovering the helical structure of DNA, and Salk Institute for Biological Studies chemist Leslie Orgel — admitted that "scientific evidence" was "inadequate" to "say anything about the probability."

For his research, Endres developed a "framework based on information theory and algorithmic complexity" to estimate the "difficulty of assembling structured biological information under plausible prebiotic conditions."

He concluded that a "purely random soup," made up of molecules that eventually enabled the formation of life on Earth, was "too lossy," and that "some form of prebiotic informational structure must precede Darwinian evolution."

Endres also explored the "irresistible" question of whether our planet was terraformed by another species.

"Today, humans seriously contemplate terraforming Mars or Venus in scientific journals," the paper reads. "If advanced civilizations exist, it is not implausible they might attempt similar interventions — out of curiosity, necessity, or design."

Still, he admits that it's a long shot.

"Invoking terraforming adds explanatory complexity without constraint," Endres wrote. "And while we cannot prove that abiogenesis is inevitable, it remains consistent with thermodynamics," he added, referring to a hypothetical natural process by which life would arise from non-living matter.

Scientists Intrigued by Non-Human Skull Embedded in Cave Wall

Noor Al-Sibai
Sat, September 6, 2025 

FUTURISM

Scientists believe they're close to solving an ancient mystery involving a strange hominin skull, neither Neanderthal nor human, that was found fused to a cave wall — with a stalagmite sticking out of the top, to complete the eerie scene — in Macedonia, Greece.

In a new study published in the Journal of Human Evolution, researchers from France's Institut de Paléontologie Humaine (or Human Paleontology Institute in English) claim they've been able to place an age on the "Petralona cranium," which was named after the cave system where the mysterious, almost-horned skull, as seen below, was discovered some 65 years ago.

A partial skull, covered in brown-orange calcite with a partial stalgmite sticking out of its top, sits fused to a cave wall of a similar hue in the Petralona caves in Macedonia, Greece. Image via Nandina/Wikimedia Commons.More

As Archaeology Magazine explains, this bizarre, non-human noggin has fascinated and frustrated scientists ever since it was discovered in 1960, sans lower jaw and encrusted with the mineral calcite, by a villager in the nearby port city of Thessaloniki.

For decades, researchers fiercely debated the age of the skull in hopes of determining what Homo genus it came from — because, as shown below, it doesn't resemble any other known hominin cranium.

A black-and-white photo of the left side of a skull

With researchers over the years claiming the skull was anywhere between 170,000 and 700,000 years old based on various dating techniques, scientists have had to rely on the best technology and hypotheses of the era when attempting to figure out when the skull dates from — and more importantly, who or what creature it came from.

In this new study, the Human Paleontology Institute team, led by archaeologist Christophe Falguères, used a remarkably simple technique to offer a more concise time frame for the Petralona skull. Using calcite samples directly from the skull itself and from the deposits surrounding it, the researchers used a technique known as uranium-series dating that measures the decay rate of uranium isotopes as they morph into thorium over time.

In typical outdoor environments, as Archaeology Mag explains, uranium is abundant, making the dating technique a non-starter for most materials. Caves, however, are different: as a closed system, water moves through rocks before evaporating, leaving behind uranium-rich calcite deposits whose thorium byproducts can ultimately be aged using this highly accurate radiometric dating technique.

Using that methodology, Falguères and his team determined that calcite deposits on the skull started forming at least 286,000 years ago, with a margin of error of about 9,000 years. Ultimately, the French paleontologists determined it could be as young as 277,000 years and as old 539,000, placing it smack-dab in the Middle Pleistocene epoch that took place between 773,000 to 126,000 years ago.

In an interview with Live Science about the research, paper co-writer Chris Stringer of the Museum of Natural History in London said that the new age range for the Petralona skull suggest a "persistence and coexistence of this population alongside the evolving Neanderthal lineage in the later Middle Pleistocene of Europe."

While it certainly wouldn't be the first time we've seen evidence of modern humans and other hominins, including Neanderthals, coexisting (and interbreeding), these new dates for the Petralona skull offer a more detailed reckoning of our prehistoric past.

Never mind Xi, Kim or Putin, this outcast leader was the real winner on China’s grandest stage

BURMA'S BULLY BOY

Shweta Sharma
Fri, September 5, 2025

THE INDPENDENT

Four years after Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup, the junta remains largely internationally isolated – but it found a sudden and important foothold in Asia this week. Increasingly, some of the region’s most powerful leaders are extending diplomatic recognition to General Min Aung Hlaing, offering him a platform on the global stage despite accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Xi Jinping rolled out the red carpet in Tianjin for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit last week, where Min Aung Hlaing hobnobbed with dictators and democratically-elected leaders alike. The junta hailed the “successful and fruitful” trip as proof of growing “international recognition”.

The general held bilateral talks with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, discussed cooperation with Xi, and was photographed alongside Russian president Vladimir Putin and leaders from more than 20 countries. For a man largely shunned by the international community since ousting Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021 and igniting a brutal civil war, it was a striking moment of rehabilitation.

China and Russia have long shielded the regime diplomatically and militarily. What is surprising now, however, is the willingness of India – the world’s largest democracy – to extend public recognition to Myanmar’s generals. India’s engagement jars with its democratic identity, and its self-styled role as a counterweight to autocracies in Asia.

On Sunday, Modi met Min Aung Hlaing on the sidelines of the SCO summit, and Modi even went as far as to express his hope that the upcoming elections in Myanmar would be "held in a fair and inclusive manner involving all stakeholders".

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meet Myanmar's Senior General Min Aung Hlaing at BIMSTEC Summit, in Bangkok, Thailand, 4 April

The election Modi refers to will be an entirely stage-managed affair, given the military rounded up and jailed most of the country’s civilian leadership when it carried out its coup, as well as thousands of supporters and volunteers from its most popular political party. The Independent released a documentary at the end of last year putting a spotlight on this episode and how Suu Kyi lost the support of the international community in the lead-up to the coup.

The election, the junta says, will be held in stages in December 2025 and January 2026. Further dates may be declared but cannot yet due to security risks, the junta says – an implicit admission that it still faces a fight for control of large swathes of the country.

Myanmar’s government-in-exile, the National Unity Government (NUG), condemned diplomatic engagement with Min Aung Hlaing, saying those acknowledging his sham election were “indirectly endorsing the military’s war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

“This sham election will not be free and fair. What is certain, however, is that it will be a blood-stained election,” U Nay Phone Latt, spokesperson for the NUG, told The Independent. “Meeting with the military leader in this manner is completely against the will and stance of the people of Myanmar.”

The NUG, which represents the elected administration ousted by the coup, accuses the junta of using images from such encounters as propaganda, while warning that the military will commit “targeted human rights violations and brutal atrocities” in the run-up to its staged polls.

According to Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, the junta's survival hinges on three pillars: “Money, weapons, and legitimacy.”

Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing (C) speaks during a bilateral meeting with China's President Xi Jinping ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Indian prime minister Modi’s meeting with the general and his comments about the election risk providing the kind of legitimacy the junta needs to stay in power, he tells The Independent.

“India has expressed hope for ‘fair and inclusive’ elections in Myanmar. But the brutal fact is that tens of thousands of these stakeholders are political prisoners, languishing behind bars, including Myanmar’s democratically elected president and State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi.

“You cannot have a fair and inclusive election when political opponents are arrested, detained, tortured and executed.”

China pledged for the first time to support Myanmar’s efforts to become a full member of the SCO during Xi’s meeting with Min Aung Hlaing in Tianjin.

The Chinese leader discussed “opposing foreign interference in Myanmar’s politics, China’s positive stance and future actions for the country’s stability and peace,” the National Defence and Security Council said in a statement.

This was general Min Aung Hlaing’s second visit to China and his second meeting with Xi since the 2021 coup. Unlike their earlier encounter in Moscow in May on the sidelines of Russia’s Victory Day celebrations, this time Xi personally invited him to attend the SCO Summit and the subsequent military parade on Wednesday, giving him a prominent spot alongside leaders from more than 20 nations.

Myanmar military chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, center left, talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, center right, during their meeting in Moscow, Russia 9 May

“China’s support for Myanmar’s bid to join the SCO is yet another example of its efforts to bolster the junta’s legitimacy. Let us keep reminding the world: the junta is illegal, it is criminal, and it does not deserve to be represented at any multilateral organisation,” Benedict Rogers, senior director of the human rights NGO Fortify Rights, tells The Independent.

He says there is a very serious risk that engagement of the kind we have seen recently risks wrongfully legitimising the junta.

“Let us never forget that this junta is completely illegitimate. It seized power in an illegal coup, overthrowing the democratically elected government. It has jailed the country’s legitimate leaders, arresting and imprisoning almost 30,000 political prisoners over the past four years. And it is conducting a war against the people of Myanmar with airstrikes, ground attacks and massacres that have killed thousands and displaced an estimated four million people,” he says.

He said the regime should be sanctioned, prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide – not given a red carpet welcome by a country that repeatedly professes to be a force for global peace.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Myanmar's Military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing talk during their meeting at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia, 4 March (AP)

India’s position is tangled in contradictions. As the world’s largest democracy, New Delhi’s courtship of Myanmar’s junta has invited particular scrutiny. Modi’s handshake with general Min Aung Hlaing was more than just a diplomatic gesture – it symbolised the hard pragmatism of a neighbour where fears over border security and rivalry with China routinely trump democratic solidarity.

Yet this approach carries reputational risks. “India needs to seriously reconsider its position. It has the potential to be not only a moral leader in the region but a serious counterpoint to the axis of authoritarianism led by China and Russia,” Rogers said. “It does not belong in Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin’s club of tyrants.”

He underscores that “embracing Min Aung Hlaing and his blood-stained, criminal junta only bodes ill for those who do so, and for us all.”

UN investigators have gathered evidence of systematic torture, summary executions of fighters and suspected informers, the detention of children as young as two in place of their parents, and airstrikes deliberately targeting schools, homes and hospitals.

The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) – covering a period from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025 – found evidence of “war crimes and crimes against humanity committed” in Myanmar with an increasing frequency since the 2021 military coup.

Shayna Bauchner, Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, says any engagement with Min Aung Hlaing undercuts crucial efforts by Myanmar activists to pressure and isolate an individual who the ICC prosecutor has requested an arrest warrant against for crimes against humanity.

“Instead of shaking hands with an alleged war criminal, leaders should be publicly condemning the junta’s farcical ‘elections’ and coordinating with other concerned governments, particularly regional actors, to deny the junta any technical assistance or support.”

US 

Bad economic news might actually be bad again

Hamza Shaban · Senior Reporter

YAHOO FINANCE
Updated Sat, September 6, 2025

This is The Takeaway from today's Morning Brief,

The August jobs report on Friday morning confirmed what the market had expected after July's slowing job growth and prior months' revisions: The labor market's Cal Ripken-esque run of indefatigability has ended.

The data revealed the economy added 22,000 jobs in August, weaker than the 75,000 economists expected, and the unemployment rate rose from 4.2% to 4.3%.

Revisions to earlier data also showed the labor market was weaker than previously thought. Job growth for June was revised into negative territory to -13,000 jobs, while July showed below-trend growth compared with the past year, marking three months of slowing job growth.

Certainly enough to show a trend.

Given the likelihood of a Fed cut was already at the high 90% level, the weak jobs report had little positive impact on the market — a zag from what we'd grown accustomed to seeing.

Since the post-COVID inflation spike and rate hikes, investors have been keen for reasons to cut. And given that inflation has consistently resisted being tamed, investors have hoped for some labor market cooling to force the Fed to finally lower rates.


That's where the rationale behind "bad news is good news" comes from. Job losses, stalled careers, and businesses hiring fewer people may not be great news for individuals and households.

But a diminished labor market means that central bankers would step in to figuratively save the day, juicing the economy to reignite growth and make it cheaper for companies and people to borrow money.

Except, investors were already expecting the Fed to cut rates at the September meeting. The Fed's rescue was already "priced in," so to speak. And while weak jobs figures now make a rate cut all but certain — and have increased the likelihood of back-to-back cuts in October and December — investors are also contemplating the risks of a downturn.

And now, when it comes to jobs reports and other macroeconomic readings, bad news may once again look like bad news.

From here on out, the economy will tread a fine line, with investors pining for a goldilocks scenario where the economy is good enough to keep up the growth but bad enough to keep the cuts coming.

It’s hard to deny the stock market loves rate cuts. But why those cuts are needed in the first place is also important. Wall Street’s gains are fundamentally about earnings. And positive earnings are harder to come by when the economy is struggling.

With time to digest what looks like a summer stall-out, complicated by the ongoing impacts of tariffs, investors sent stocks into the red.

"This year's jobs data tells a story that worker sentiment saw coming long before official numbers caught up," said Mischa Fisher, an economist at Udemy. "Job seekers and employees were living the reality of a dramatically weakened hiring environment. Today's report and the accompanying prior-month's revisions finally confirms they were right."

Hamza Shaban is a reporter for Yahoo Finance covering markets and the economy. Follow Hamza on X @hshaban.

Hyundai has for decades poured billions into America's South. Then ICE rattled its biggest US project yet.

Hyundai has for decades poured billions into America's South. Then ICE rattled its biggest US project yet. · Business Insider

Lloyd Lee
Sun, September 7, 2025


Hyundai has a two-decade history of investing in America's South.


The company most recently pledged to invest an additional $26 billion into the US.


Now its scrambling to contain the fallout of an ICE raid on its largest US project ever.

The impact of an immigration raid on a sprawling Hyundai factory on Thursday is reverberating far beyond its home in rural Georgia.

The operation, called by one US official the "largest single-site enforcement operation" in history, detained nearly 500 workers, most of them South Korean.

It also jolted a company that has poured billions into America's South, helping transform the region into a major global auto manufacturing hub. For South Korea, the raid hit a national champion that has played a decadeslong role in deepening economic ties with its Western ally.

South Korea's leaders are now scrambling to contain the fallout both at home and in the United States.

Gi-Wook Shin, a sociology professor and founding director of Stanford University's Korean Studies Program, told Business Insider that the raid puts South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in a difficult position.


The Korean leader needs to balance the country's alliance overseas with his nation's own interests, he said. Back home, Lee faces his liberal supporters who, while not enthusiastic about Trump, nonetheless accept that the country needs to work with the US, Shin said.

"The Lee Government is really trying to work with the Trump administration to strengthen the alliance and really trying to accommodate Trump's policy," Shin said. "So that's why what happened now is not good timing, and Mr. Lee will be in a tough position politically inside Korea."

In recent months, South Korean officials have met with the Trump administration for trade talks and announced massive investments in the United States.

After Lee's August summit at the White House, South Korea unveiled a $150 billion investment into the US, backed by private companies. Hyundai Motor Group alone announced a $26 billion pledge — part of which would go toward a new steel mill plant in Louisiana.


The Hyundai factory raided on Thursday in Ellabell, Georgia — about 30 miles west of Savannah — is the company's largest manufacturing footprint in the South. The facility had its grand opening in late March with an event that was attended by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.

With a joint investment from LG Energy Solutions, the so-called Metaplant grew into a $7.59 billion investment, projected to bring in 8,500 jobs to the state. Parts of the 3,000-acre campus were still under construction during the raid.


A spokesperson for LG Energy Solutions said about 250 affected workers were affiliated with the HL-GA Battery Company, a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution.

"For now, our top priority is ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees and partners, and we will commit our best efforts to ensure their safe and prompt returns," the spokesperson said.


When asked for comment, Hyundai Motor Group referred Business Insider to its statement released on Friday.

"We are reviewing our processes to ensure that all parties working on our projects maintain the same high standards of legal compliance that we demand of ourselves," the company said. "This includes thorough vetting of employment practices by contractors and subcontractors."

A.J. Jacobs, an East Carolina University professor who has written two volumes on the Korean automotive industry, told Business Insider that Hyundai has so far supported nearly 30,000 direct and indirect jobs in the United States.

Hyundai's first major US plant was completed in Montgomery, Alabama, in 2005. In 2009, the Korean automaker opened another plant about 90 miles away in West Point, Georgia, bringing in another 3,200 jobs.


Both investments came at a time when the regions were seeing high unemployment rates and industrial decline, Jacobs said. Alabama and Georgia weren't yet the major auto manufacturing centers they are today.

"What it's done is it brought prestige to their governors and mayors, got them re-elected, and it's brought some visibility to those states for international investors and foreign direct investment," Jacobs said. "To quantify the impact of these investments — I really couldn't even venture to guess how many billions of dollars have been invested in Alabama and Georgia prior to the Metaplant."

Because of its deep roots in the South, Jacobs said there's little that would push Hyundai to abandon its production centers there.


"In my opinion, there's almost nothing that would get them to stop producing vehicles in the United States and stop growing," Jacobs said. "They hit an all-time sales record again this month. Every year they do."

Shin, the Stanford professor, said South Korea will likely be cautious in its response, especially if the probe unveils that any of the detainees were breaking the law.

On Sunday morning, multiple Korean media reported that the president's chief of staff, Kang Hoon-Sik, announced a deal to release more than 300 South Korean workers detained in the raid. The official said a charter plane will be sent to bring the workers home.

No criminal charges have been announced.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement to Business Insider that "Trump will continue delivering on his promise to make the United States the best place in the world to do business, while also enforcing federal immigration laws."

Business Insider

South Korea says US release of video showing workers' arrest was regrettable

Hyunjoo Jin
Sat, September 6, 2025 
REUTERS

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung visits Washington

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea said the U.S. government's release of images of the arrest of hundreds of Korean workers was regrettable, especially as the incident followed so closely after a summit between the two nations' leaders.

U.S. immigration officials raided a Hyundai Motor car battery factory on Thursday. On Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement released a video and photos of workers shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles getting on a bus after the raid.

The crackdown could risk damaging ties between Washington and Seoul, a key Asian ally and U.S. investor, when the two are trying to narrow their differences and complete a trade deal after the summit between President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.

First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo told U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker in a telephone call that it was regrettable the incident "occurred at a critical time, when the momentum of trust and cooperation between the two leaders, forged through their first summit, must be maintained," the foreign ministry said in a statement late on Saturday.

Park also asked Hooker to ensure a fair and swift resolution to the matter.

"The economic activities of our companies that have invested in the U.S. and the rights and interests of our citizens should not be unfairly infringed upon during the course of U.S. law enforcement," he said.

The arrest of some 475 workers at the plant near Savannah, Georgia, included more than 300 Koreans, and was the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE.

The video and photos of the raid, which involved a helicopter and armoured vehicles, showed hundreds of workers standing in front of a building, some wearing yellow vests with the names "Hyundai" or "LG CNS." Two workers hid in a pond before they were arrested.

TRUMP CALLS WORKERS 'ILLEGAL ALIENS'

U.S. lawmakers from Georgia and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus said on Saturday they were "deeply alarmed" by the massive raid

"Instead of targeting violent criminals, the Trump administration is going after immigrants at work and in communities of color to meet its mass deportation quotas. These senseless actions rip apart families, hurt the economy, and undermine the trust of our global partners," they said in a statement.

President Lee ordered a swift, all-out response to the arrests, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told an emergency meeting on Saturday. Cho said he may go to Washington to meet with officials if needed.

LG Energy Solution, which is working with Hyundai to build the factory, said it had asked employees to return from U.S. business trips while suspending travel to the United States except for customer meetings.

The company said on Sunday it had sent a human resources executive to Georgia to "ensure the swift and safe release of those detained".

Hyundai Motor said it would investigate its suppliers and their subcontractors to ensure they meet regulations.

Trump, when asked about the raid, said on Friday: "I would say that they were illegal aliens and ICE was just doing its job."

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Additional reporting by Cynthia Kim; Editing by Edmund Klamann and William Mallard)

Raid at Hyundai’s Georgia plant sparks diplomatic tensions

/ Mitchel Lensink - Unsplash

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By bno - Surabaya Office September 8, 2025

The detention of hundreds of foreign workers at a Georgia construction site has ignited a storm that spans labour rights, corporate accountability, and international diplomacy. What began as a workplace investigation, over the weekend quickly escalated into a flashpoint between Washington and Seoul, raising questions about how global companies manage sprawling contractor networks in the United States.

On September 4, 2025, US immigration officers carried out what officials have called the largest workplace immigration enforcement action in the history of the Department of Homeland Security. The operation unfolded at a Hyundai and LG Energy Solution electric vehicle battery facility under construction in Ellabell, Georgia. Approximately 475 people were detained, most of them South Korean nationals, according to The Washington Post.

At dawn that day, heavily armed officers from multiple agencies descended on the 2,900-acre construction site. Roads were blocked and security perimeters set. Workers were ordered to line up against walls while agents checked their identities. Those found with legal permission were released with slips confirming clearance to exit; others were transported to the Folkston ICE Processing Centre, more than 100 miles away.

According to CNN, several individuals tried to escape, some fleeing into a sewage pond, forcing officers to use boats to retrieve them. A handful attempted to hide in air ducts. Video later published by ICE showed detainees shackled and led to buses, sparking outrage in Seoul.

Witnesses described the scene as chaotic and intimidating, comparing it to a military zone. 

Who was detained?

Officials confirmed that those taken into custody fell into three main categories: some had entered the United States without authorisation, others had overstayed visas, and many had entered under visa waiver programmes such as ESTA, which explicitly forbids employment, according to AP News and Barron’s.

Based on CBS reports, South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun later said over 300 nationals from his country were among the detainees. Mexico’s consulate in Atlanta reported that 23 Mexican citizens were also being held.

Although the raid targeted the Hyundai site, neither Hyundai nor LG Energy Solution directly employed those detained. Instead, they were hired by contractors and subcontractors involved in the plant’s construction. The Washington Post notes that a filing by the US Attorney’s Office acknowledged it remained unclear which specific companies were responsible for hiring undocumented workers.

Hyundai Motor Group stressed that none of its own employees were among those detained. A spokesperson told CNN the firm would review vetting processes and ensure contractors and subcontractors complied fully with US employment law. “We demand the highest standards of legal compliance,” the company said, reiterating its zero-tolerance stance on unlawful practices.

The Georgia plant represents Hyundai and LG’s first fully dedicated EV and battery facility in America, a $4.3bn joint venture intended to employ up to 8,500 people. Construction has since been halted, according to the Associated Press.

South Korea’s response

The Korean government moved quickly to secure its citizens’ release. The Korea Times reports that Seoul negotiated with Washington to repatriate more than 300 detainees. A charter flight was arranged, and Foreign Minister Cho Hyun indicated he was prepared to travel to Washington personally if necessary.

Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik said at a policy meeting that only final administrative steps were left before citizens could be repatriated, adding that the government would stay on high alert until their return.

South Korea also voiced concern over the treatment of its nationals. Officials stressed that investment projects and citizens’ rights should not be undermined by US enforcement actions. Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had urged Washington to exercise “extreme caution” when dealing with Korean workers.

Local and diaspora reaction

The raid sent shockwaves through Korean communities in the United States. The Korea JoongAng Daily reports that residents called the event “shocking” and “inhumane,” with helicopters, military vehicles and shackled workers creating imagery more akin to a war film.

On MissyUSA, a popular Korean online forum, commenters accused the US of betraying Korean investors. Others suggested Korean companies had exposed themselves by relying heavily on short-term visas not designed for employment.

One Atlanta-based immigration lawyer told JoongAng Daily that businesses should have anticipated such risks under the Trump administration’s uncompromising immigration stance. Another noted that many detained engineers and skilled staff had come on ESTA or B1/B2 visas, which were never intended for work.

Legal implications

Although being undocumented is generally a civil rather than criminal violation, prior convictions can complicate immigration status. ICE confirmed that one lawful permanent resident with past firearm and drug offences was detained. Spokesman Lindsay Williams told the Associated Press that no US citizens were held, adding, “Once citizenship is verified, we have no authority.”

Families have struggled to make contact with loved ones. James Woo of Asian Americans Advancing Justice in Atlanta said many relatives were still in South Korea, unable to reach detainees.

Immigration attorney Charles Kuck told CNN two of his clients, engineers visiting briefly under the visa waiver scheme, were mistakenly detained. Both had been authorised to travel for business consultations and were due to return to Korea within weeks.

According to CNN, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that the raid followed months of investigation into suspected unlawful employment practices. Agencies including the FBI, DEA, IRS, US Customs and Border Protection, and Georgia State Patrol joined forces. Officials said the warrants sought employment records, recruitment documents, and immigration paperwork.

“This has been a multi-month criminal investigation,” Homeland Security Investigations chief Schrank explained, denying that it was a simple round-up. Homeland Security declared the action a warning to companies and individuals exploiting the US workforce.

Political fallout

Meanwhile, in Seoul, ruling Democratic Party lawmakers urged Washington to treat Korea’s investment commitments with respect. One described the incident as a humiliation occurring barely ten days after a Korea and US summit. Opposition politicians blamed President Lee Jae Myung’s administration for not responding more forcefully.

Diplomats on both sides now face the delicate task of resolving the crisis while safeguarding a multibillion-dollar industrial project considered vital to both countries’ economic partnership.

The raid has become more than an immigration story. It now stands as a test of how the United States enforces its labour laws while courting foreign investment, and how South Korea balances defending its citizens with protecting strategic economic ties.