US President Donald Trump has never had much time for developing nations, using particularly ugly language to describe African states and Haiti during his first term.
He was back at it this week, blasting what he called “Third World” nations as he approved an indefinite pause on all immigration applications filed by immigrants from 19 countries that had already been under visa restrictions since June.
The move comes after an Afghan immigrant allegedly shot two members of the National Guard near the White House. Among the other nations on the list is Somalia, a country the US President seems to find particularly affronting.
During a lengthy cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Mr Trump said of Somalis: “We don't want them in our country. They just run around killing each other. Their country stinks.”
He has apparently been rankled by Representative Ilhan Omar, a Somalia-born Democrat from Minnesota and long-standing critic of Mr Trump and Republican policies.
“We can go one way or the other, and we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in rubbish into our country,” Mr Trump said. “Ilhan Omar is garbage. She's garbage, her friends are garbage.”
Ms Omar responded by saying his “obsession with me is creepy”, adding that she hoped he gets the “help he desperately needs”.
Mr Trump's physical appearance also raised eyebrows during the more than two-hour Cabinet briefing. His right hand was covered with make-up and a sticking plaster, possibly to mask another bruise that the President, 79, has previously insisted comes from his vigorous handshake. He also appeared to be on the brink of dozing off on several occasions as his Cabinet members took turns flattering him.
Notably present at the meeting was Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Observers had thought he might join a Nato summit in Brussels or top officials in Moscow trying to sell Russia on a US-backed plan to end the war in Ukraine. Instead, Mr Rubio stayed in Washington to credit his boss for the “most transformational year in American foreign policy" since the end of the Second World War.
Eye on the White House
Pentagon chief comes under fresh fire
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is again dominating headlines, this time after a news report said he had issued a verbal order for all crew members to be killed in a maritime attack against an alleged drug-smuggling boat on September 2.
He vigorously denied any direct role in attacking survivors of an earlier strike and accused the press of making up stories.
“You sit in your air-conditioned offices or up on Capitol Hill and you nitpick and you plant fake stories in The Washington Post about 'kill everybody' phrases … not based in any truth at all,” he said at the Cabinet meeting.
The statement irked veteran Pentagon reporters, many of whom have reported from combat zones and seen colleagues or loved ones killed.
Mr Hegseth is drawing further scrutiny after the Pentagon's watchdog reportedly found that he had put US personnel and their mission at risk when he used the Signal messaging app to convey sensitive information about a strike against Houthi militants in Yemen. That watchdog report is due to be released today.
What's Washington talking about?
Tourism goals The US hopes to lay out a giant welcome mat for international tourists at next year's Fifa World Cup but geopolitics and the Trump administration's harsh anti-immigrant stance could discourage some from visiting. A surge in tourism would bring a boost for businesses after a projected decline in overall visitor numbers since Mr Trump took office in January.
Muslim Brotherhood designation The House foreign relations committee yesterday passed along a bill to the full chamber that would compel Mr Trump to designate the whole of the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organisation. It goes further than a recent executive order that sought to proscribe some chapters of the Brotherhood, but not all, and notably not its branches in Turkey or Qatar.
Truth storm Journalists and others with the dubious honour of getting push notifications from Mr Trump's Truth Social account saw their mobile phones melt down on Monday night, when @realDonaldTrump sent out more than 150 messages in a matter of hours. Perhaps that explains his drowsiness at the Cabinet meeting. Happily, smartphones have a mute notification option.
Spotlight Can Zohran Mamdani save New York's tourism industry?
There’s a moment in Sex and the City that has outlasted the show itself: Carrie Bradshaw, strolling through Manhattan with her friends, looks out at the city and declares, “You only get one great love – New York may just be mine.”
Lately, though, it feels as if the romance has fizzled out. The Manhattan of 2025 feels noticeably subdued.
The glow of Midtown’s towers still flickers, but the pavements feel emptier, tour buses with spare seats are idle, shops are deserted and queues that once wrapped around Broadway box offices have dissolved into scattered handfuls of theatregoers.
The Empire State Building, once packed daily with photo-snapping, jet-lagged travellers, has had days with no queues at all.
The numbers confirm what the streets suggest. New York City Tourism estimates that international tourism – long the lifeblood of the city’s visitor economy – remains 20 to 25 per cent below 2019 levels. Can Zohran Mamdani, the city's mayor-elect, reverse the trend?
Only in America
Raccoon passes out after breaking into shop selling alcohol
The suspect in a break-in at a shop selling alcohol in the US state of Virginia left a trail of broken glass and ended up in a heap on the bathroom floor.
Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter reported that a raccoon broke into the Ashland ABC Store over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
One of the shelter's officers was called to the scene on Saturday morning and discovered the “suspect” had ransacked several shelves and passed out in the bathroom.
Photos showed an aisle of the store littered with broken bottles, and the raccoon spread-eagled, facedown, beside the lavatory.
Raccoons, known for their dexterous paws, are native to North America. They are nocturnal and often rifle through rubbish and other places as they scavenge for food.
– AFP
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