International
Trump election campaign blames Iran for hacked emails
Trump election campaign blames Iran for hacked emails
US presidential candidate Donald Trump has accused Iran of hacking his campaign.
The Republican nominee’s campaign team issued a statement late on Saturday claiming that the Iranian government stole and distributed sensitive internal documents. The accusation came after Microsoft issued a report detailing foreign attempts to interfere in this year’s US election campaign.
The campaign team cited past tensions between Trump and Iran but did not provide direct evidence.
“These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our democratic process,” campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said.
Late on Saturday, Trump posted on his Truth Social app that Microsoft had informed the campaign that Iran had hacked one of its websites, but said they were “only able to get publicly available information”.
A report by Politico just ahead of the accusation said an anonymous source had offered to supply to the US outlet documents from inside Trump’s operation, including a report about running mate JD Vance’s “potential vulnerabilities”.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council said in a statement that it takes any report of foreign interference “extremely seriously” and condemns any entity that attempts to undermine US democratic institutions.
Microsoft’s report stated that “foreign malign influence concerning the 2024 US election started off slowly but has steadily picked up pace over the last six months, due initially to Russian operations but more recently from Iranian activity”.
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Iran’s permanent mission to the UN in New York said in an email that “the Iranian government neither possesses nor harbors any intent or motive to interfere in the United States presidential election”.
“We do not accord any credence to such reports,” it said in response to the Trump campaign’s allegations.
Iran’s UN mission told the Reuters news agency its cyber capabilities were “defensive and proportionate to the threats it faces”, and that it had no plans to launch such cyberattacks.
Tehran has poor relations with Trump. During his presidency, the US killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020 and withdrew from a multilateral Iran nuclear deal.
“The Iranians know that President Trump will stop their reign of terror just like he did in his first four years in the White House,” Cheung said.
The suspect in Trump’s assassination attempt in July had no ties to Iran, but a CNN report last month stated that US intelligence had uncovered an Iranian plot against Trump. Iran denied the charges.
The US Department of Justice this past week unsealed criminal charges against Pakistani national Asif Merchant, with ties to Iran and who is alleged to have plotted assassination attempts against political figures in the US, including Trump.
Trump election campaign blames Iran for hacked emails
International
Canada denies 13,000 Nigerians refugee status
Canada denies 13,000 Nigerians refugee status
Over 13,000 Nigerians who applied for refugee protection in Canada from January 2013 to December 2024 were rejected.
According to data from the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, this figure includes 811 Nigerians whose applications were turned down in 2024.
The board placed Nigeria among the top five countries with the most rejected claims.
Mexico tops the list with 2,954 rejections, followed by India and Haiti, which have 1,688 and 982 rejected claims, respectively.
Colombia is in fourth place with 723 rejected claims, while Nigeria is in fifth place with 13,171 rejections.
In Canada, asylum seekers get refugee protection if the RPD satisfactorily confirms that their claims meet the United Nations definition of a Convention refugee.
In its definition of the Status of Refugee, the 1951 UN Convention states refugees are persons who have a substantiated fear of persecution because of their race, nationality, religion, political ideology or membership in a particular social group, which can include sexual orientation, gender identity, being a woman and persons living with HIV/AIDS.
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However, in Canada, asylum seekers are expected to show evidence that they are in danger of torture, risk to their life or risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment if they return to their country of nationality.
According to the Refugee Board’s application guideline, if an applicant’s “claim is eligible, it is sent to the RPD to start the claim for refugee protection process.”
The breakdown of the rejections showed that 127 Nigerian claims were rejected in 2013, 241 in 2014 and 248 in 2015.
Canada denies 13,000 Nigerians refugee status
International
Nurse punished in UK for addressing convicted transgender paedophile as ‘Mr’
Nurse punished in UK for addressing convicted transgender paedophile as ‘Mr’
A senior nurse in the UK is battling to save her career after facing disciplinary action for refusing to refer to a convicted child sex offender as a woman.
Jennifer Melle, 40, from Croydon, was working at Epsom and St Helier University Hospital Trust when she declined to use female pronouns for a paedophile known as ‘Mr X,’ per report from the London Standard.
The offender, currently serving time in a high-security male prison, was jailed for grooming boys online while posing as a teenage girl.
Following her refusal, Melle claims she was subjected to racial abuse and physical threats.
She was, reportedly, then issued a final written warning and referred to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) for allegedly breaching professional standards.
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NHS lawyers argued that Melle’s Christian belief—that people are born male or female—was “not worthy of respect in a democratic society.”
An internal investigation found she had violated the NMC Code of Conduct by failing to respect the patient’s “preferred identity” and uphold the Trust’s core value of “Respect.”
As a result, Melle has been moved to another ward, which she says is a demotion, and has had her name removed from internal hospital systems, preventing her from applying for additional shifts.
Now, with the backing of the Christian Legal Centre, she has launched legal action against the Trust, alleging harassment, discrimination, and breaches of her human rights.
The case comes amid growing controversy over gender policies in public institutions.
A recent report, the Sullivan Review, revealed that UK police forces have been allowing criminals to self-identify their gender on official records, sparking nationwide debate.
Nurse punished in UK for addressing convicted transgender paedophile as ‘Mr’
International
Gaza: Iran begins talks with S’Arabia, Egypt as Israel renews attacks
Gaza: Iran begins talks with S’Arabia, Egypt as Israel renews attacks
Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Saturday exchanged views with his Saudi Arabian and Egyptian counterparts on Israel’s renewed attacks on Gaza.
In a phone conversation with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Araghchi strongly condemned Israel’s attacks in Gaza, and urged other countries in the region to take collective action, said the Iranian Foreign Ministry in a statement.
For his part, Faisal reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s condemnation of Israeli aggressions and emphasized regional coordination to prevent further escalation.
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In a separate phone call with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, Araghchi condemned Israel’s renewed attacks on Gaza as well as obstruction of humanitarian aid delivery to the Palestinian coastal enclave “in flagrant violation” of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
The Egyptian foreign minister underscored the need for consultations and diplomatic efforts to prevent further escalation.
Both Egyptian and Iranian ministers agreed to maintain consultations on regional developments.
Gaza: Iran begins talks with S’Arabia, Egypt as Israel renews attacks
Xinhua
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