After landslides and catastrophic floods that claimed more than 1,400 lives across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, were captured on aerial footage, villages in North Sumatra were found buried in mud. Officials and residents in Indonesia claim that the scale of the disaster was likely increased as a result of deforestation.
Published On 3 Dec 2025
Published On 3 Dec 2025
Republican US Congressman Henry Cuellar, who was accused of being targeted by the administration of former US President Joe Biden, has received a pardon from Donald Trump.
Trump has used pardons frequently since taking office, but his pardon of Cuellar, who was charged with money laundering and foreign influence in 2024, stands out. Republican Trump has hardly ever used his position to aid Democratic Party opponents.
list of 3 itemsend of list
Trump claimed in a Truth Social post that Cuellar and his wife had been “speaking the truth” about how the Biden administration handled the southern US border.
Cuellar, whose district borders the US-Mexico border, had been one of the most vocal Democrats criticizing the Biden administration’s immigration policies and messaging.
Trump refuted his claims that Biden abused the US Department of Justice to punish his political rivals in his post. Trump has been accused of doing that by critics, though.
Trump retorted the Congressman and even his wife, Imelda, for speaking the truth, according to Trump.
I’m hereby announcing my full and unwavering support for Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar and Imelda because of these details, and other factors as well.
Trump emailed the congressman a personal note, “Your nightmare is finally over,” noting that he didn’t know him.
A letter asking for pardon that appeared to be from Cuellar’s children was included in the post. They also questioned how their “father’s independence and honesty may have contributed to the beginning of this case.”
Cuellar and his wife were accused of being involved in “bribery, unlawful foreign influence, and money laundering” by federal authorities.
In exchange for influence-peddling in Congress and the executive branch, the pair allegedly accepted bribes worth up to $600,000 from two foreign entities, including the government of Azerbaijan and a bank in Mexico.
Imelda Cuellar’s alleged ownership of the money was allegedly through shell companies.
Cuellar and his wife’s innocence has been maintained despite the fact that the trial is scheduled to begin in April 2026.
He thanked Trump for “taking the time to examine the circumstances” of his case in a post on X.
Vladimir Putin’s dressing “like a soldier at the front,” according to NATO’s Mark Rutte, made a mockery of Vladimir Putin for not being on the front lines. Putin declared that he was prepared for a war with Europe if necessary during a NATO meeting on the Russia-Ukraine peace talks.
Published On 3 Dec 2025
The country’s president, Donald Trump, has made the most recent immigration crackdown known, this time aimed at New Orleans, in the country.
The administration’s “Operation Catahoula Crunch” was named after a New Orleansian parish and a state-wide dog breed, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday.
list of 3 itemsend of list
The Trump administration’s most recent effort is to increase immigration enforcement in Democrat-led cities, particularly those with laws known as “sanctuary policies” that forbid local authorities from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
According to Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesman for DHS, the enforcement will target undocumented individuals who have been found guilty of crimes in New Orleans and have since been free.
By releasing illegal criminal aliens and making DHS law enforcement risk their lives, Sanctuary policies “endanger American communities” said McLaughlin in a statement.
She said, “It is asinine that these monsters were released back onto New Orleans streets and COMMIT MORE CRIMES and DESISTANTS.”
New Orleans was previously listed as one of the so-called “Sanctuary Cities” by the US Department of Justice, but the local government officials have questioned its inclusion, according to The Times-Picayune newspaper.
They claim that the city has no laws that directly impair federal immigration enforcement. According to the newspaper, the closest measure to change is an Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office policy that forbids local jails from holding prisoners who have served their sentences until they are ready to serve them.
However, those who have been found guilty of a serious crime have some exceptions to that rule.
On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security released no details about how many immigration agents would be dispatched to New Orleans.
However, the Trump administration’s “Swamp Sweep” initiative was reportedly slated to deploy about 250 federal agents throughout Louisiana as part of the wider effort.
According to the news agency, the operation aims to arrest 5, 000 people.
The move appears to be in line with a well-known playbook used by the Trump administration in Charlotte, North Carolina, Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, D.C.
The National Guard’s deployment has often been preceded by the surge in federal agents. There has been a lot of opposition to the tactic.
Republican governor Jeff Landry, the governor of Louisiana, has officially requested that the military send up to 1, 000 National Guard members to New Orleans, in contrast to many Democrat-controlled states.
Landry stated on Tuesday that he anticipated approval of a deployment by the end of December. Trump also stated that the anticipated timeline would be “a few weeks” in the same day.
The plan is out of step with the needs of the city, according to several local officials, who claim it is likely to lead to a dangerous escalation.
“New Orleans welcomes partnership. US Congressman Troy Carter, who sits in the federal legislature with Louisiana, wrote on Twitter that “we do not welcome occupation.”
An incomplete and frequently misleading picture of Bangladesh’s actual economic trajectory is provided by the recent wave of pessimism that has been roiling the country’s economy under its interim administration, which is largely amplified by carefully framed local commentary. The headline indicators, which show a need for structural correction as opposed to an economic collapse, overstate much of this concern.
Although a battered banking sector and higher inflation are real, serious challenges, they do not constitute free fall evidence.
A more in-depth analysis, which takes into account both the disruptive legacy of the previous administration and the remedial steps taken in response to the political transition, reveals a challenging but necessary period of structural rebalancing.
The claim that the new government is inherited a sluggish economy ignores the fact that the previous administration left behind a financial system supported by fabricated data and systematic risk concealment.
Ignoring Bangladesh’s longer arc of resilience in South Asia would be misleading to describe the current economy as stagnant. Russia-Ukraine war and COVID-19, both of which caused global shocks, saw stronger growth than most of its regional neighbors.
It registered 3.5 percent growth in 2020, followed by 6.9 percent in 2021 and 7.1 percent in 2022. The deliberate fiscal tightening that has helped to restore macroeconomic balance after years of decline reflects today’s slower growth.
This is the predetermined cooling that occurs after the artificial stimulus ends rather than a sign of decay.
An even more revealing story emerges from the concern for non-performing loans and credit in the private sector, not a result of new stress but rather of long-buried flaws that have been finally exposed.
A long-overdue commitment to honest accounting is responsible for the alarming rise in nonperforming loans, which range from over 20% in ADB assessments to more than 35% under the central bank’s revised classification rules.
The previous regime reportedly put years of pressure on regulators to relax classification standards, ease defaults, and permanently extend loan rescheduling. A banking industry that appeared to be healthy but seemed to be deteriorating all at once.
Faceing the real world of the system is therefore the price of the rise in nonperforming loans.
It is also important to understand the contraction in private credit growth, which fell to 6.29 percent in the late 2025 period. Massive, politically motivated borrowing that did little to increase the previous double-digit credit growth fueled the ballooning nonperforming loan crisis.
Many of these loans, according to reports, were funneled into offshore real estate or offshore accounts without ever being paid back. Banks today are more cautious, with credit flowing into less vulnerable areas of the economy.
Although lending has decreased, the quality has increased. On top of a mountain of bad debt, an economy cannot support sustained growth. Instead of a decline in investment appetite, the current adjustment reflects a shift toward stability.
The financial sector’s overall adjustment is only one-third of what is being corrected. The transformation that is taking place in the fiscal and external sectors is the most important refutation of stagnation claims. The government has sharply reverted the long-standing practice of taking large amounts of money from the banking system in an unusual display of discipline.
In contrast to the more than 150 billion taka ($1.23 billion) borrowed during the same time a year earlier, it repaid more than 5 billion taka (roughly $40.9 million) to banks between July and October of the 2025-26 financial year.
Economists note that this change eases the pressure on interest rates and frees up more liquidity for private borrowers, breaking a significant trend that the state has historically followed.
This action represents a significant shift toward stability for a nation that has long been accustomed to fiscal indolence.
A similar story is told in opposition to what foreign direct investment (FDI) suggests. Bangladesh’s FDI increased by nearly 20% in the fiscal year 2024-25, in contrast to the assumption that political upheaval dissuades investors.
This is unusual for a post-transition economy that has experienced a significant uprising that resulted in more than 1,400 deaths. Foreign investment levels in countries that have experienced political uprisings typically decline sharply for years.
Global businesses continued to exist in Bangladesh while also reinvested their profits. This indicates a greater sense of confidence in the nation’s long-term prospects.
The external sector has probably experienced the most significant change. Foreign currency reserves have stabilized and strengthened after months of steady erosion, rising from less than $20 billion in mid-2019 to more than $30 billion in 2024.
Remittances increased to a record $ 30.33 billion in the 2024-2005 fiscal year, an increase of 26.8% based on renewed confidence in the formal financial system, money laundering prevention, and return to a market-based exchange rate.
Expatriates who previously relied on hundi networks are now able to send money legally in response to a more rigourous and predictable currency system. One of Bangladesh’s strongest macroeconomic buffers in years is the combination of rising reserves, significant remittance inflows, and exchange-rate stability.
Rightfully so, inflation continues to be the most important issue. The pressure on cost-of-living is severe because rates are above 8%, which is higher than any other South Asian nation.
Comparisons again call for nuance, though. Following a complete economic meltdown and draconian monetary tightening under the auspices of the IMF, Sri Lanka’s inflation rate is low.
Bangladesh’s inflation is structurally different, largely due to supply chain constraints, persistent market distortions, and subsequent effects of earlier monetary expansion. It’s challenging, but not unstable.
Similar to a limited-sample private study, which yields the poverty rate of 28 percent frequently cited by critics. Even with inflation, according to projections from the World Bank, poverty is likely to continue to decline modestly this year.
The battle is not just about preserving growth rates; it also involves eradicating bureaucratic bottlenecks, extortion networks, and bureaucratic squabbling that have been a source of invisibility for the poor for years.
After more than a decade of rule that preferred cosmetic stability to institutional stability, Bangladesh’s economy is not collapsing; instead, it is going through a challenging but necessary reconstruction.
The presence of high structural issues is a sign that the economy is finally confronting structural issues. Slower credit growth, higher interest rates, and persistent inflation are just a few examples. That conflict was overdue and inevitable.
Instead, a number of accomplishments are unheard of in a post-transition economy: a sharp rebound in reserves, a record rise in remittances, nearly 20 percent FDI growth, and an unheard-of example of fiscal restraint.
These serve as the foundation for a more objective, long-lasting economic future, not stagnation markers. The political will that Bangladesh has to implement reform, particularly in the banking sector, will determine whether it succeeds. Today’s economy has a story of corrective surgery rather than collapse. The main question is whether the nation will be able to complete the operation.
President Donald Trump has recently launched a sharp attack on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of stoking drug trafficking and causing mass emigration from the Caribbean.
Trump has launched an anti-drug trafficking campaign against Venezuela in recent months by increasing pressure and mounting military spending in the Caribbean Sea. Caracas claims that US actions are merely intended to overthrow Maduro’s government.
list of 4 itemsend of list
According to media reports, Trump met with his team for “next steps” on Venezuela on Monday. Concerns about a potential war have been raised by Washington’s continued deployment of military assets in the area.
Maduro stated to a crowd outside the Miraflores Palace last weekend that he wanted to have “sovereignty, equality, and freedom” with the US, but only under the pretext of “sovereignty, equality, and freedom.” Never, ever, Colonia! Never, ever, “slaves”!
Trump’s confirmation of his approval of the CIA carrying out secret operations in Venezuela was made in recent weeks. He has also deployed the largest aircraft carrier in the world, the USS Gerald R. Ford, to the Caribbean with thousands of soldiers and F-35 military jets.
Trump stated on November 20 that Venezuelan land attacks were on the horizon. Trump told reporters last weekend not to “read anything” into his recent actions, even though some may view the president’s remarks and operations as a military action preparation.
Venezuela has been conducting regular military exercises to prepare for any potential attacks over the past few weeks.
Washington’s recent display of force recalls a a long history of military interventions by successive US governments, frequently motivated by fear of hostile powers close to US borders.
Washington and Caracas have been tense ever since the 1990s due to tensions linked to Hugo Chavez, Maduro’s left-wing predecessor. Following Chavez’s passing in 2013, the bilateral relationship deteriorated even more.
Relations between US military operations in recent months and alleged Venezuelan drug smugglers in the Caribbean have dominated.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio alleged Maduro to be responsible for “trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe” and the “leader of the designated ‘narcoterrorist’ organization Cartel de los Soles” in a statement in July. He disproved his assertion with no supporting evidence.
Additionally, experts assert that Cartel de los Soles is not a cartel.
Maduro claims that Washington used the drug war as a pretext to smuggle Venezuelan oil and orchestrates regime change.
In the area, the US has deployed an aircraft carrier and amassed 15, 000 troops.
Up to 83 people have been killed by it since September when it launched at least 21 strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Meanwhile, Caracas claims that the US is seeking regime change while the US’s current arsenal in the Caribbean Sea far exceeds what is required for a drug-trafficking operation.
A Delaware judge ordered the sale of Venezuelan oil company Citgo, a Houston-based subsidiary of the state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, SA (PDVSA), last week to make up for billions of dollars in debt that had been owed.
Venezuela on Tuesday denounced Venezuela’s opposition to the oil company’s “forced sale,” which would obliterate Venezuela of important foreign earnings.
Trump  also stated that Venezuelan airspace had been “closed” on November 29. His comments came after the US Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning about a “potentially hazardous situation” in Venezuelan airspace.
Trump’s recent actions in Venezuela, including the threat of military strikes, indicate a willingness to cause tensions, despite his professing opposition to “forever wars.”
The US strikes in international waters are illegal under both domestic and international law, according to numerous legal scholars. The US Congress is looking into whether survivors of an initial attack perished in a second attack on an alleged drug boat in September. The deadly attack has been defended by the White House.
The US strikes on alleged boats are “not compatible with international law,” according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. He has expressed his concern about Venezuela’s growing hostility.
A common resistance to US influence in the region brings Venezuela’s top political allies together. Russia offers diplomatic support and military support, continuing to be its strongest geopolitical supporter. Venezuela’s top oil exporter, China, also has economic support.
In addition to being anti-Western, Venezuela and Iran are both looking for alternative economic and diplomatic channels in the face of sanctions.
Venezuela has long-standing ideological allies in Latin America, including Cuba, Nicaragua, and Bolivia. These governments consistently support Caracas in regional bodies and maintain close ties through programs like ALBA-TCP and Petrocaribe.
Brazil and Colombia’s governments are left-wing-run, but they have rejected Maduro’s reelection in 2024. They have, however, expressed concern about Venezuela’s military threats.
Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, with 303 billion barrels expected to be produced by 2023. However, it only exported $4 billion worth of crude oil that year, which is largely attributable to US sanctions imposed during Trump’s first term, which was significantly lower than other oil-producing nations.
PDVSA, which produces the majority of Venezuela’s oil, has experienced difficulties such as ageing infrastructure, underinvestment, mismanagement, and sanctions, all of which have prevented the country from fully exploiting its vast reserves.
Venezuela exported only $4.05 billion worth of crude oil in 2023, according to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC). Saudi Arabia ($181 billion), the US ($125 billion), and Russia ($122 billion) are among the major exporters with this figure.
The cost of imports has also increased as a result of the sanctions. The IMF projects that the nation’s goods shortages and rabid inflation will reach 600 percent in the coming year. Millions of people have recently been forced to flee to neighboring countries as a result of the economic crisis, which has been made worse by the US sanctions.
Venezuela’s gross domestic product (GDP) was $119.8 billion in 2024, making it one of Latin America’s smallest economies. Years of severe sanctions and a reliance on oil have contributed to Venezuela’s economic instability.
Maduro requested assistance from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on November 30 to assist his nation in reversing the Trump administration’s “growing and illegal threats.”
Venezuela’s President Maduro wrote, “I hope I can count on your best efforts to stop this growing aggression,” in a letter to OPEC members.
Gustavo Petro, the president of Colombia, claimed on November 25 that Trump is “not thinking about the democratization of Venezuela, let alone the narco-trafficking.” The Caribbean nation, according to him, handles only a small portion of the world’s drug trade.
Trump responded to reporters at the White House on November 17 when asked about the possibility of deploying US forces there. “I don’t rule out that,” he said. Nothing is ruled out by me. Venezuela needs to be looked after only.
Then, on Monday, Reuters reported that Trump called on November 21 and offered to let Maduro leave Venezuela for a safe ride. According to allegations, Maduro allegedly told Trump that he wanted to leave Venezuela if his family received full legal amnesty.
More than 100 Venezuelan government officials are reportedly facing sanctions after the Venezuelan president is asked to remove them, many of whom the US accuse of human rights violations, drug trafficking, or corruption.