Prepared for the Office of Public Affairs (OPA)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Editorial Note: The DHS Daily Briefing is a collection of news articles related to Department’s mission. The inclusion of particular stories is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse the political viewpoints or affiliations included in news coverage.

CBS News [10/25/2025 8:01 PM, Frankie McLister, 45245K] reports one week after the historic "No Kings" Rally, another protest formed at the Minnesota State Capitol. Demonstrators shared concerns about President Trump’s use of the national guard, the war in Gaza and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s visit to Minnesota on Friday. "I’m here to stand up for my kids, grandkids, everybody" one woman told WCCO. "I’m just frightened with what’s happening with this country right now." Demonstrators occupied the intersection of University Avenue and Park Street in St. Paul. "We do have an increase of federal officers that will be coming," said Noem while in Minneapolis on Friday. Saturday’s march happened less than 24-hours after. "We have enough ICE in Minnesota. We wait for Ice-out Day every spring, and I would like to see ICE out," said Sue from Mounds View, who was marching on the Capitol grounds. "We don’t need ICE here. They’re not doing the job they’re supposed to be doing." The Republican Party of Minnesota said in a statement: ""Secretary Noem represents exactly the kind of leadership Minnesotans want — tough on crime, supportive of police, and focused on safety, not slogans. Another disgraceful example of the DFL choosing politics over public safety."

CNN [10/25/2025 8:30 AM, Eric Levenson] reports the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration often looks like a car crash. There have been car crashes between federal agents and suspects trying to flee. There have been alleged "rammings" involving pro-immigrant activists. There have been dramatic traffic stops featuring smashed windows and law enforcement shootings. Even the standoffs outside ICE facilities have focused on tense moments around the arrival or departure of federal vehicles. These incidents, many captured on video, have provided some of the most dramatic visuals of the immigration crackdown this year. The crashes show federal law enforcement’s use of aggressive tactics in busy city streets, such as dangerous "PIT" maneuvers, unmarked cars and masked officers, law enforcement and immigration experts said. The collisions also reflect the desperate fear of the immigration targets, who in some cases have tried to flee when faced with the potential end of their freedom. Some of these car crashes have been initiated by federal agents and show a willingness to use aggressive and potentially dangerous tactics.

FOX News [10/25/2025 1:48 PM, Rachel Wolf, 40621K] reports three illegal immigrants and six U.S. citizens were arrested in the Chicago-area on Oct. 22 – what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) dubbed "one of the most violent days" of Operation Midway Blitz. "While conducting immigration enforcement operations in Cicero and Glendale Heights, agitators stalked law enforcement, rammed vehicles, fled scenes, injured agents, and caused multiple accidents across town — putting law enforcement and the public in danger. Despite the violence, CBP arrested three illegal aliens who were breaking our nation’s immigration laws. Six citizens were arrested for impeding and threatening to kill agents," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. The list of five incidents that occurred on Wednesday includes several incidents in which U.S. citizens are accused of threatening violence and taking other actions against immigration enforcement officers.

Chicago Tribune [10/25/2025 2:34 PM, Kate Perez, Alice Yin, Gregory Royal Pratt, and Laura Rodríguez Presa, 4829K] reports federal immigration agents again deployed tear gas on Chicago streets Saturday despite mounting scrutiny from a federal judge over their use of the chemical weapons. The agents deployed tear gas in the Irving Park and Avondale neighborhoods on the northwest side. In recent weeks, immigration agents have tear gassed Logan Square, Brighton Park, Little Village, East Side and Lakeview, drawing intense criticism and legal scrutiny over allegations of excessive force and claims that they are violating a federal court order aimed at curbing use of the chemical weapons. The Department of Homeland Security previously defended using tear gas in Little Village on Thursday, initially saying that its agents were surrounded by protesters who hit Bovino in the head with a rock. On Saturday, the department released a statement defending its use of tear gas in Lakeview saying they were "swarmed by agitators" who allegedly tried to deflate a vehicle’s tires. The department did not immediately comment on the latest use of tear gas.

Univision [10/25/2025 4:56 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports a federal judge has ordered Greg Bovino, a top Customs and Border Protection official, to appear in person in court in Chicago next week as part of a lawsuit against the federal government that challenges immigration enforcement tactics in the city, ABC reported. Bovino, who heads CBP field operations in the city under the operation dubbed "Operation Midway Blitz," is scheduled to attend a follow-up hearing Tuesday in federal court, according to a court order issued Friday. The case is part of a lawsuit brought by journalists and protesters who accuse federal agents of violating a temporary restraining order prohibiting the use of non-lethal munitions without warning or justification. Judge Sara Ellis, who presided over the case, had initially authorized a two-hour interrogation of Bovino, but extended his testimony to five hours after the plaintiffs presented new evidence. The whistleblower group submitted a video that allegedly shows Bovino firing a tear gas canister "without justification" toward a crowd of protesters this week in the Little Village neighborhood, a predominantly Latino community on Chicago’s southwest side. The clip was included in a notice of alleged violation of the court order issued earlier this month. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defended the actions of the official and the federal agents. In a statement released Friday, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said Bovino acted within established protocols and in response to a risky situation. According to McLaughlin, during the immigration operations in Little Village, a group of people threw rocks and other objects at officers, forcing the implementation of " riot control measures." She said Bovino was hit in the head , but did not suffer serious injuries.

AP [10/25/2025 3:03 PM, Staff, 31753K] reports the detention by immigration authorities of a Chicago man whose 16-year-old daughter is undergoing treatment for advanced cancer is illegal, and he must be given a bond hearing by Oct. 31, a federal judge has ruled. Attorneys for Ruben Torres Maldonado, 40, who was detained Oct. 18, have petitioned for his release as his deportation case goes through the system. While U.S. District Judge Jeremy Daniel said in an order Friday that Torres’ detention is illegal and violates his due process rights, he also said he could not order his immediate release. "While sympathetic to the plight the petitioner’s daughter faces due to her health concerns, the court must act within the constraints of the relevant statutes, rules, and precedents," the judge wrote Friday. Torres’ attorney took the ruling as a win — for now. "We’re pleased that the judge ruled in our favor in determining that ICE is illegally detaining Ruben. We will now turn the fight to immigration court so we can secure Ruben’s release on bond while he applies for permanent residence status," his attorney, Kalman Resnick, said in a statement Friday night. The Department of Homeland Security alleges that Torres has been living illegally in the U.S. for years and has a history of driving offenses, including driving without a valid license, without insurance, and speeding. "This is nothing more than a desperate Hail Mary attempt to keep a criminal illegal alien in our country," Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "The Trump administration is fighting for the rule of law and the American people."

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Univision [10/25/2025 3:48 PM, Staff, 5004K]
Washington Examiner [10/25/2025 5:49 PM, Lauren Green, 1394K]

FOX News [10/25/2025 9:26 AM, Michael Dorgan, 40621K] reports the Trump administration said it could soon deport Salvadoran illegal immigrant Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the African nation of Liberia after reaching an agreement with that country, according to a Department of Homeland Security filing Friday. The court filing said that Abrego Garcia could be sent to the West African nation as soon as Oct. 31 to fulfill a standing deportation order against him. The filing noted that Abrego Garcia’s attorneys cited more than 20 countries he allegedly fears would prosecute or torture him if he were removed there and that Liberia is not on that list. DHS said in the filing that it has received diplomatic assurances from Liberia about the humane treatment of people removed there. Attorneys for Abrego Garcia blasted the administration’s latest move as political retribution, arguing the latest deportation plan is part of a pattern of punitive deportation tactics.

NPR [10/25/2025 7:452 AM, Scott Simon, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports cartels are using submersible vessels to traffic drugs. NPR’s Scott Simon speaks to Steven Dudley, co-founder and co-director of InSight Crime, about the narcosubs and if they can be stopped.

San Francisco Chronicle [10/25/2025 7:00 AM, Peter Hartlaub, 4722K] reports a manmade island in the Oakland Estuary has been at the center of Bay Area news this week. Since the Chronicle reported Wednesday that the Trump administration was sending more than 100 federal agents to Coast Guard Island, the entrance to the little-known isle between Oakland and Alameda has become the epicenter of protests over the president’s planned immigration operation and the site of confrontations between demonstrators and federal agents and Coast Guard security personnel. But the base has a long and dramatic history dating back a century, including busting Prohibition rum-runners, training tens of thousands of Coast Guard recruits and holding immigrants after another controversial immigration bust.

New York Times [10/26/2025 5:01 AM, Pooja Salhotra, 153395K] reports when President Trump announced a $20 billion bailout for Argentina this month, Larry Ory, 86, a farmer in Earlham, Iowa, could hardly believe it, especially after boatloads of Argentine soybeans began shipping to China, a once-critical customer for Mr. Ory’s family. For Iowans, losing China’s soybean market in the president’s trade war was only one of many economic shocks that have hit the state since the start of Mr. Trump’s second term. The cost of tractors and fertilizers have shot up with his tariffs. Labor has grown scarcer in agribusinesses. Major manufacturers have laid off workers. Even the ubiquitous wind turbines that provide income for some Iowa farmers are in the president’s sights. “Right now, we’re fighting different economic wars all at once,” said Summer Ory, 37, the wife of Mr. Ory’s grandson, Dan. The couple works in the family’s farm business. “You can sustain it one at a time, but right now it’s death by a thousand paper cuts.”

AP [10/25/2025 2:55 PM, Staff, 31753K] reports more than two dozen people have been indicted on drug-related charges as part of a yearslong investigation into a gang in Philadelphia, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced Friday. Cocaine, fentanyl and heroin were sold in the Kensington area in “one of the most prolific drug blocks in the city” from Jan. 2016 to Oct. 2025, according to the indictment. The charges come as President Donald Trump scales up federal law enforcement operations around the U.S. to crack down on crime, though rates have gone done in recent years in cities including Philadelphia. “We have permanently removed a drug trafficking organization out of the streets of Philadelphia, and they’re going to stop pouring guns and chemicals and drugs into our communities,” said FBI Director Kash Patel at a news conference Friday, touting collaboration between federal and local law enforcement. The group of 33 people were charged with 41 counts related to drug distribution, and the indictment said they maintained control of the area through violence and threats against rivals. “This takedown is how you safeguard America from coast to coast,” he added.

New York Times [10/25/2025 4:51 PM, Carol Rosenberg, 153395K] reports the Navy began evacuating hundreds of U.S. citizens and their pets to Florida from the Navy base at Guantánamo Bay on Saturday, days ahead of the possible arrival of a major hurricane in that portion of eastern Cuba. More than 4,000 people live on the base, about one-fourth of them active-duty sailors and soldiers. The rest include Navy families, kindergarten through high school teachers, hospital staff and hundreds of Jamaican and Filipino workers on long-term Defense Department contracts. The National Hurricane Center said on Saturday that Tropical Storm Melissa had intensified into a hurricane. Projections from the center on Saturday afternoon showed that Melissa could go through Jamaica on Monday as a major hurricane and reach Guantánamo Bay before dawn Wednesday. The evacuations began on a rolling basis on Friday, when the base commander ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees “to relocate to a designated safe haven on the mainland,” ICE said in a statement.

Washington Post [10/26/2025 6:00 AM, Susannah George and Dan Lamothe, 24149K] reports the United States already has warships, an expeditionary Marines unit, drones, fighter planes and surveillance aircraft in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. U.S. forces have blown up at least 10 boats since the start of September, killing at least 43 people. The administration has accused the people of smuggling deadly drugs into the United States but has declined to provide evidence. Several of the strikes have been on vessels along a route used to ship marijuana and cocaine to Europe and West Africa. The administration now appears to be expanding the campaign. After launching several strikes off South America’s Caribbean Coast, U.S. forces Tuesday attacked vessels off South America’s Pacific Coast. "The land is next," Trump said Wednesday. "They’ll be coming in by land a little bit more because they’re not coming in by boat anymore," he told reporters. "And we will hit them very hard when they come in by land. And they haven’t experienced that yet. But now we’re totally prepared to do that.” Trump has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the Tren de Aragua gang of trafficking drugs to the United States. He has authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct missions inside Venezuela. The administration informed Congress this month that the United States is fighting a war against "narcoterrorism." Officials have tried to justify the use of force by designating drug smuggling cartels in Latin America terrorist organizations. The USS Gerald Ford and its associated warships have multiple offensive and defensive capabilities, including surveillance capacity that could be critical to an expanding operation. The Ford is the world’s largest aircraft carrier. It typically carries carrying dozens of fighter jets, helicopters and more than 4,000 sailors. During recent stops in Europe, the Ford was accompanied by the destroyers USS Mahan, USS Winston S. Churchill and USS Bainbridge, but it wasn’t clear if those vessels would travel with it to the Caribbean. The Navy and Marine Corps have deployed a task force off the coast of Venezuela. A forward presence for Naval operations, it’s staffed by more than 4,500 sailors and Marines. The group includes guided missiles destroyers, an attack submarine, a Special Operations ship and reconnaissance aircraft. The Pentagon has also deployed the MV Ocean Trader, a civilian ship converted into a floating base for Special Operations. The ship can serve as both barracks and command center for Special Operations forces in the area. The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, an elite helicopter unit that supports the world’s most dangerous missions is also deployed in the area. "Little Bird" helicopters typically used by this unit were identified operating less than 90 miles from the coast of Venezuela this month by a Washington Post visual analysis. A U.S. official told The Post the helicopters were engaged in training exercises that could serve as preparation for expanded conflict, including the possibility of missions inside Venezuela. There were an estimated 10,000 U.S. sailors and Marines in the Caribbean, based on the ships announced or acknowledged by the Pentagon. The figure doesn’t include personnel in Puerto Rico, which likely make the total significantly higher. Additional aircraft, including MQ-9 reaper drones and F-35 fighter jets, have been spotted at U.S. bases in Puerto Rico, according to images and reporting published by Reuters.

FOX News [10/26/2025 5:34 AM, Frank Viola, John Spencer, 40621K] reports that, for decades, the United States has fought the war on drugs as if it were exclusively a law enforcement issue. It never was. It has always had national security implications. After years of inaction, drugs now kill more Americans each year than every modern war combined. Fentanyl alone claimed more than 100,000 lives in 2021, a number that continues to rise despite billions spent on interdiction, prevention and policing. That is not a criminal nuisance. That is a sustained mass-casualty event inside the homeland. President Donald Trump’s new approach finally treats the crisis for what it is. By designating major drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and authorizing the use of military force against them, his administration has drawn a clear line between criminality and warfare. The cartels are not ordinary traffickers. They are transnational powers that control territory, wield military-grade arsenals and use terror as a tool of governance. In Trump’s words, they are "the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere.” The numbers already justify the policy. In the first weeks of operations, the new Homeland Security Task Force has arrested more than 3,200 gang and cartel members, seized 91 tons of narcotics and captured over 1,000 illegal weapons. Those seizures represent tens of thousands of American lives saved. Every boat stopped and every shipment intercepted means fewer overdose deaths, fewer funerals, and fewer communities shattered by addiction and violence. For too long, Washington treated the cartels as criminals who could be prosecuted rather than enemies who had to be defeated. That approach failed. The cartels wage war on America for profit. They assassinate, extort and kidnap while basking in riches captured through intimidation and terror. They destabilize our neighbors and corrupt governments from Mexico to Venezuela. If America had the right to strike al Qaeda and ISIS abroad for killing Americans, it has an equal right to strike the cartels that kill Americans at home. The legal foundation is clear. In February 2025, the State Department designated Tren de Aragua, Sinaloa, Jalisco Nueva Generación, MS-13 and others as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. A presidential determination in September formally declared that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these groups. No court has challenged the policy because it aligns with both domestic and international law. When foreign networks deliberately kill American citizens, the president has not only the authority but the obligation to act. The ethical case is equally strong. The Just War tradition requires a just cause, competent authority, proportionality and last resort. Every criterion has been met. The cause could not be more just when drug overdoses in the United States claimed more than 100,000 lives for a third consecutive year by 2023. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Los Angeles Times [10/26/2025 6:01 AM, Christian B. Teeter, 14862K] reports that, for more than two decades, the U.S.-China trading relationship has been at the center of globalization’s story: low-cost goods for American consumers, rapid growth for China and an intricate web of supply chains binding the world’s two largest economies together. The Chinese people — hardworking, innovative and industrious — have been essential partners in that story. But economic relationships are strategic choices. What once seemed like a path toward shared prosperity has become a structural imbalance that weakens America’s autonomy. It’s time to end our excessive trading reliance on China — not over global tensions or hostility, but for the sake of pragmatism. This isn’t an argument against global trade or ending relations with China. It’s an argument for better trade. It’s about reinforcing — not rebuilding — America’s economic strength by deepening our engagement with democratic, market-based nations while reducing exposure to a single authoritarian power that wields disproportionate leverage over our economy. The economic facts are stark. In 2024, U.S. exports to China totaled roughly $143 billion, while imports from China reached almost $439 billion. That imbalance produced a trade deficit of more than $295 billion — the largest bilateral deficit the U.S. maintains. Total trade between the two countries approached $659 billion. Some economists have argued that large and persistent deficits with China have contributed to U.S. job losses since China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in December 2001. Such numbers might not matter if trade were evenly distributed across sectors and partners. But much of this dependence is concentrated in strategically sensitive industries. Nowhere is this more dangerous than with rare earth elements, which are critical to nearly every advanced technology, from semiconductors, electric vehicles, wind turbines and smartphones to radars and precision-guided defense systems. China also accounts for the majority of rare earth production and nearly 90% of its processing worldwide. For years, importing these materials from China seemed cheaper than producing them at home or working with allied suppliers. But a low price does not ensure security. A single policy decision from Beijing, for example, could send shockwaves through U.S. defense manufacturing, clean energy industries and many industrial supply chains. In recent years, Chinese export restrictions on gallium and germanium have rattled global electronics supply chains. When the pandemic hit in 2020, American hospitals scrambled to source protective gear from factories thousands of miles away. This dependence is not merely an economic risk — it’s a strategic vulnerability, as it affects supply chains and distorts the policy choices we make. When mission-critical industries rely on inputs controlled by an authoritarian state, economic reliance can turn into political leverage. There’s another, often overlooked consequence of our trade relationship with China: financial market volatility. Over the last decade, U.S. stock markets have repeatedly swung on news of tariff announcements and tensions between the superpowers. Investors know that any sign of trouble in the U.S.-China relationship can threaten corporate earnings and increase market volatility. By contrast, trade with stable democratic partners is less prone to abrupt political shocks. Diversifying and balancing commerce toward democratic, market-oriented nations would likely reduce the frequency and intensity of these market gyrations, offering greater predictability for companies and their investors. The U.S. has always thrived in open economies governed by fair competition. The right response to our current challenge is deeper engagement with nations that share those principles — countries like Japan, Australia, England, Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, South Korea and member states of the EU. Many of these trading partners are already investing in new rare earth supply chains and other critical industries to reduce overreliance on China. By working together consistently over a long period of time, democratic nations can create diversified, independent markets that enhance collective security and competitiveness.

Newsbreak [10/25/2025 4:30 PM, Sean James] reports Todd Lyons, President Donald Trump’s acting director of ICE, lambasted Democrats like Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) for comparing ICE agents to Adolf Hitler’s stormtroopers in Nazi Germany, saying it was “disgusting” and put federal agents at greater risk of being attacked. Lyons rebuked Pritzker and other Dems during an interview with Kayleigh McEnany on Saturday in America on Fox News. “We need to stop all the rhetoric,” Lyons said. “ICE is doing a law enforcement mission, that’s what we’re sworn to do and that’s what we’re signed up to do. We don’t want to be doxxed, we don’t want our families threatened, we don’t want assassination attempts.” He then pointed to the deadly shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas last month, where the anti-ICE shooter killed two detainees. Lyons said he cannot believe that so soon after that attack, where the shooter was found to be using an app to track ICE agents, prominent Dems like former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) are promoting websites and apps to “unmask” federal agents. “They want to demonize us, call us Nazis, call us Gestapos,” Lyons said. “But yet, all across the country, we’re arresting public safety threats, foreign terrorist organizations. Yet they want to demonize us at every turn.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [10/25/2025 2:54 PM, Staff, 39474K] reports a 24-year old Honduran national was struck and killed on a highway as he tried to escape ICE agents who stopped his vehicle, officials said. Jose Castro-Rivera was in a vehicle that was stopped on I-264 eastbound in Virginia around 11 a.m. local time on Thursday, according to Virginia State Police, who were responding to a report of a vehicle-pedestrian crash at the Military Highway interchange. When they arrived, troopers found an adult male who had been hit by a 2002 Ford pickup truck. The man was identified as Rivera, and was pronounced dead at the scene. A preliminary investigation by VSP found that he was "fleeing from a pursuit initiated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when he exited his vehicle and attempted to cross the interstate.". Officials from VSP were not involved in the pursuit but are investigating the pedestrian crash, which remains under investigation. A spokesperson from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said ICE stopped the vehicle in which the Honduran national was traveling as "part of a targeted, intelligence-based immigration enforcement operation." "Upon determining that the occupants were in the United States illegally, officers began detaining the occupants of the targeted vehicle. However, one of the vehicle’s occupants, Jose Castro-Rivera, resisted heavily and fled the scene onto a busy highway, creating a significant safety risk to himself and the general public," the agency said. "Unfortunately, a passing vehicle struck Castro-Rivera." One of the ICE officers gave Castro-Rivera CPR before he died, the DHS spokesperson said.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [10/25/2025 7:44 PM, Orlando Mayorquín, 153395K]
Washington Post [10/25/2025 10:15 AM, Victoria Bisset, 24149K]

USA Today [10/26/2025 6:02 AM, Lauren Villagran, 67103K] reports it was a Sunday like any other for the Brunty-Barojas family. Breakfast croissants for six kids. Keurig coffee brewing in the kitchen. Video games in the living room. Soccer in the backyard. But while the kids ate and played, Chelsea Brunty-Barojas was frantically piling clothes and belongings to fill a 40-gallon container in the garage, preparing for the likelihood that her husband, Antonio Barojas Solano, the family’s sole provider, could be detained by ICE within days and deported to Mexico. She was struggling to comprehend it. "He doesn’t meet the criteria of what people are saying, like the ones that need to be deported in this mass deportation," she said. "He’s not a criminal.” But their application to legalize her husband’s immigration status is unfolding against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s sweeping effort to deport millions of immigrants. And a chance encounter with ICE in August landed Barojas Solano in detention for six weeks, upending his legal process and leaving them terrified that he could be detained again. It didn’t seem to matter that he had been brought to the United States by an uncle when he was 14, a year older then than his eldest son is now. Or that he had been abandoned here. Barojas Solano, now 33, has worked ever since, in landscaping and construction. He and Brunty-Barojas, 37, married in 2022, had a child together – 2-year-old Colette – and forged a blended family. They were in the process of submitting his paperwork for a green card when agents detained him. An immigration judge released him on a $5,000 bond, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement appealed his release, then ordered him to show up for a check-in on Oct. 29 in Birmingham, two hours away. Now each normal day together feels like a blessing laced with fear. "We’re trying to prepare, mentally before anything else," he said in Spanish. "I still have hope, faith, but if the worst is going to happen, we have to be strong.” On Aug. 6, Barojas Solano left the construction site in Huntsville where he and his team were hanging drywall. He needed to make a stop before heading home. Two cousins had died in a tragic car accident overnight, and he wanted to offer condolences and lend a hand to their families. When he arrived, there were police outside the house. He assumed they were there to investigate the accident, he said. But ICE agents had come looking for a man with a criminal background at the same address. They arrested the man, then began asking every Hispanic man there for an ID, Barojas Solano said. He told the agents he had an American wife and an attorney and was applying for legal status. A USA TODAY review of court records showed he had no prior interaction with law enforcement. They arrested him anyway. He tried to call his wife before the agents took his phone away. Brunty-Barojas saw the missed call. She tried him over and over, but he didn’t pick up. Something was wrong, she thought. She checked his phone location and drove to it. "My kids were in the car, like, ‘Where’s Daddy? What happened?" she said, wiping tears. "I was calling my parents who were out of town. I was like, ‘They took Antonio. I don’t know where he is.’".

Univision [10/25/2025 6:35 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports faced with the crisis caused by the deployment of 300 ICE agents to enforce President Trump’s anti-immigrant policy, one of the cities that has put up the most resistance is Chicago , where Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order prohibiting immigration agents from using city-owned parking lots and land. Later yesterday, Mayor Johnson was seen meeting with residents and small business owners in the Brighton Park area who have been negatively impacted by the operations, while handing out “ICE Free Zone” signs, according to a report by chicago.gov. The sign reads: "Protecting Chicago. Private Area. No Trespassing. You are not authorized to enter for civil immigration enforcement purposes." Some of the ICE-protected areas include schools, libraries, parks, parking lots, and other public spaces in the city. “Federal immigration authorities may not use parking lots, vacant lots, or garages owned or controlled by the City as staging areas, processing sites, or bases of operations for civil immigration enforcement activities,” the mayor said. Mayor Brandon Johnson emphasized that the city supports immigrant communities and will not tolerate racial profiling, harassment, or fear-based tactics from the federal government.

Univision [10/25/2025 6:42 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports in addition to Utah, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania will be the sites where construction of new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers could begin next November, according to CNN. The outlet cited unidentified sources as saying the new facilities could accommodate up to 10,000 people each. These headquarters "may or may not" be built on existing U.S. Navy installations. The Department of Homeland Security’s investment in implementing these alleged plans would be approximately $10 billion. According to the CNN report , the “contracting arm” for the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense would be the U.S. Navy Supply Systems Command.

FOX News [10/25/2025 9:47 PM, Jasmine Baehr, 40621K] reports a female protester was arrested outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland, Oregon, Saturday afternoon after crossing a restricted line during a tense standoff with federal officers, according to new video shared with Fox News Digital by TPUSA Frontlines. The clip, just over a minute-long, shows officers shouting commands as a woman in a keffiyeh steps past a blue line painted on the property. Within seconds, several officers pull her toward the entrance of the facility as others move to hold back the crowd. Protesters can be heard yelling as the confrontation unfolds, and pepper spray is deployed. TPUSA Frontlines told Fox News Digital that the woman "crossed the line ICE does not want them passing" and appeared to make contact with an officer before she was detained. Frontlines added that the crowd was expected to grow later in the evening once the rain cleared. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Portland Police Bureau confirmed two arrests connected to Saturday’s protests. "PPB has arrested two people for crimes committed today. I do not have names or charges yet. The officers haven’t even transported them back to the precinct yet, so it will be a while," the spokesperson said. "As we have every night for many weeks, PPB continues to monitor the area for criminal behavior.". ICE did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s inquiry seeking confirmation of whether the woman’s arrest was carried out by its personnel or whether pepper spray was used by agency officers. Protests outside the ICE facility in Portland have become a near-nightly occurrence in recent weeks, with activists opposing detentions and deportations. TPUSA Frontlines also claimed that demonstrators appeared to have a so-called "safe house" near downtown Portland where they stored materials and coordinated activities. That claim has not been independently verified by Fox News Digital. Portland police have repeatedly said they will continue to monitor gatherings near the ICE building for unlawful behavior. The Portland facility is one of several ICE locations nationwide that have been targeted by demonstrators in recent months, often resulting in property damage and arrests. The two individuals arrested Saturday have not yet been publicly identified. Officials said additional information would be released once booking is completed. ICE did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s inquiry seeking confirmation of the arrest or comment on enforcement activity outside the facility. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [10/25/2025 4:52 PM, Lowell Cauffiel, 2416K] reports chaos and violence continued this weekend outside a Portland Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility that left several people injured after a brawl between protestors and conservative activists. But police made no arrests. The violence in the early morning hours of Saturday was posted on X by those in or around the melee. ICE agents were forced to fire rubber bullets and use smoke grenades to try and break up the clashes, the Daily Mail reported. A group of masked protestors dressed in black clashed with a group of conservative activists, one of whom was draped in a Make America Great Again flag. Independent journalist Cam Higby was among those who claimed to have been assaulted.

Axios [10/26/2025 7:00 AM, Russell Contreras, 12972K] reports immigration raids in California’s Coachella Valley — a key source of the nation’s produce — have upended daily life, keeping parents from fields, children from school and multiple families crowded into shared homes. Fear in one of the country’s poorest regions shows how the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is shaking a vulnerable labor force, mostly undocumented, overwhelming churches and food banks. The raids in the region are also partly forcing the Trump administration to warn Americans of a looming food crisis brought on by its own crackdown on undocumented farmworkers. Axios recently interviewed more than a dozen farmworkers, volunteers, advocates and religious leaders in the Coachella Valley, who said the panic is pushing families to the brink of starvation and mental health breakdowns. They said some families with undocumented members are being reduced to one breadwinner (or none) as farmworkers opt not to work out of anxiety that a raid could nab them away. They said families are keeping U.S.-born children home from school, often over images they’ve seen on social media from other cities of immigration agents arresting parents in cars while picking up students. They said three-bedroom trailers have become homes to three families, sometimes accommodating as many as 15 people per dwelling, as people try to combine resources for survival. "People are scared to even come out of the house. They just sit inside, getting depressed," farmworker organizer Rosalba De La Cruz told Axios in Spanish. "Under Secretary (Kristi) Noem, our brave law enforcement officers are delivering on President Trump’s and the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens to make America safe," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin tells Axios.

FOX News [10/25/2025 8:09 PM, Jasmine Baehr, Brooke Taylor, 40621K] reports Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents in Laredo, Texas, arrested a father and son accused of smuggling hundreds of firearms, including rifles, magazines and ammunition into Mexico after Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers discovered hidden compartments in two trailers at the U.S.-Mexico border. On Oct. 23, CBP officers working at the Laredo Bridge 2 Port of Entry stopped two southbound vehicles towing box trailers for inspection. Agents said they noticed irregularities in the trailer walls. A secondary inspection revealed false compartments packed with an arsenal: roughly 400 firearms of various calibers, high-capacity magazines, and thousands of rounds of ammunition. HSI officials said the guns were headed into Mexico, where cartels fuel ongoing violence. The drivers were identified as Emilio Ramirez-Cortez, a lawful permanent resident, and his son Edgar Ramirez-Diaz, a U.S. citizen. Both were arrested on charges of federal firearms smuggling and turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service pending an initial court appearance. ICE said the investigation is ongoing and that additional charges or suspects may be identified later on. ICE did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Univision [10/25/2025 10:46 AM, Staff, 5004K] reports the incident occurred on Sunday, October 12, at around 5:50 pm when an agent observed a group of suspected undocumented immigrants getting into a black Infiniti G37 sedan near the University of Texas. When the driver accelerated toward the 2300 block of Paisano Drive, the officer reported the start of a pursuit. The officer reported that the vehicle’s occupants threw rocks at his windshield. Moments later, the Infinity sedan crashed into a power pole and overturned, coming to rest on its roof. Border Patrol and Texas Department of Transportation officers assisted seven people traveling in the sedan: six immigrants and a U.S. citizen, who was driving the car. Of the six immigrants, two were reported unconscious by EMS and El Paso rescuers.

AP [10/26/2025 6:27 AM, Staff, 31753K] reports Hurricane Melissa strengthened into a major Category 4 hurricane, with the possibility of intensifying to a Category 5 storm Sunday night, unleashing torrential rain and threatening to cause catastrophic flooding in the northern Caribbean, including Haiti and Jamaica, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The weather agency added Melissa is likely to reach the southern coast of Jamaica as a major hurricane late Monday or Tuesday morning, and urged people on the island to seek shelter immediately. “I urge Jamaicans to take this weather threat seriously,” said Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness. “Take all measures to protect yourself.” Melissa was centered about 120 miles (195 kilometers) south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 280 miles (450 kilometers) south-southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba, Sunday morning. It had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 kph) and was moving west at 5 mph (8 kph), the hurricane center said. Melissa was expected to drop torrential rains of up to 30 inches (760 millimeters) on Jamaica and southern Hispaniola — Haiti and the Dominican Republic — according to the hurricane center. Some areas may see as much as 40 inches (1,010 millimeters) of rain. It also warned that extensive damage to infrastructure, power and communication outages, and the isolation of communities in Jamaica were to be expected. Melissa should be near or over Cuba by late Tuesday, where it could bring up to 12 inches (300 millimeters) of rain, before moving toward the Bahamas later Wednesday. The Cuban government on Saturday afternoon issued a hurricane watch for the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin. The erratic and slow-moving storm has killed at least three people in Haiti and a fourth person in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing. “Unfortunately for places along the projected path of this storm, it is increasingly dire,” Jamie Rhome, the center’s deputy director, said earlier on Saturday. He said the storm will continue to move slowly for up to four days. Authorities in Jamaica said on Saturday that the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston will be closed at 8 p.m. local time. It did not say whether it will close the Sangster airport in Montego Bay, on the western side of the island. More than 650 shelters were activated in Jamaica. Officials said warehouses across the island were well-stocked and thousands of food packages prepositioned for quick distribution if needed.

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Bloomberg [10/26/2025 4:33 AM, Brian K Sullivan and Andreina Itriago, 18207K]
Univision [10/25/2025 5:48 PM, Staff, 5004K]

ABC News [10/26/2025 5:47 AM, David Brennan and Kyle Reiman, 30493K] reports Hurricane Melissa strengthened into a Category 4 storm as it churned northwest through the Caribbean Sea on Sunday, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center. A Hurricane Warning -- meaning that hurricane conditions are expected -- was in effect for Jamaica as of early Sunday, the NHC said. A Hurricane Watch -- meaning that hurricane conditions are possible -- was in effect for the southwestern peninsula of Haiti and southeastern regions of Cuba. The multi-day event of torrential rainfall is expected to cause catastrophic and life-threatening flooding, as well as destructive winds and life-threatening storm surge through Tuesday. "Satellite images indicate that maximum sustained winds have rapidly increased to near 140 mph (220 kmph) with higher gusts," the NHC bulletin reported on Sunday. "Continued rapid intensification is expected through tonight, followed by fluctuations in intensity.” "Melissa is expected to be a major hurricane when making landfall in Jamaica Monday night or Tuesday morning and southeastern Cuba late Tuesday," the advisory said. The NHC has warned of "extensive infrastructural damage, long-duration power and communication outages and isolation of communities" in Jamaica and southwestern Haiti. Melissa could progress to a Category 5 storm -- with sustained winds up to 160 mph -- before it makes landfall. The hurricane could be the strongest to impact Jamaica in more than 35 years, since the Category 4 Hurricane Gilbert hit the island in 1988. The hurricane is expected to pass across southeastern Cuba on Tuesday night and across the southeastern Bahamas on Wednesday, the NHC said. The storm is forecast to bring between 15 and 30 inches of rain to parts of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica into Wednesday. Up to 40 inches could fall in some places, the bulletin said. "Catastrophic flash flooding and landslides are probable across portions of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica," it said. Eastern Cuba is expected to see between 6 and 18 inches of rainfall, also possibly prompting dangerous flash flooding and landslides. Dangerous storm surge, surf and rip currents are also forecast. The NHC warned that the southern coast of Jamaica would see "life-threatening storm surge" from late Monday through to Tuesday morning, peaking between 9 and 13 feet above ground level.

FOX News [10/25/2025 9:00 AM, Taylor Penley, 40621K] reports independent journalist Andrew Leyden’s casual bike ride through the nation’s capital took an unexpected turn in July 2023 when he noticed hazmat fire trucks approaching the area around the White House. The "something bigger" was a small baggie of white powder identified as cocaine. That baggie would become the source of speculation for some time, as the Trump administration now takes another look into the case that was shuttered during former President Joe Biden’s term. That incident, and the mysteries surrounding it, are the focus of "Cocaine at 1600." The show investigates who brought the substance into the White House in the first place and incorporates stories and perspectives like Leyden’s to explore the incident in detail. A source close to the investigation has confirmed to Fox Nation that a guest in the White House found the baggie and alerted the Secret Service, who in turn called the D.C. Fire Department.

Washington Examiner [10/25/2025 8:00 AM, Mike Brest, 1394K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations rely on an integrated effort involving air, land, and sea assets to carry out their mission of stopping illegal Mexican fishing in the U.S. part of the Gulf of America. The commercial and recreational fishing industry in the Gulf is a multimillion-dollar business annually, and Mexican fishermen who overfish in their waters have fish in U.S. waters while trying not to get caught. In addition to siphoning a portion of the U.S. industry, the Mexican fishermen have ties to cartels, which get a cut of their profits. The Washington Examiner traveled to U.S. Coast Guard Station South Padre Island and U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi to see firsthand how each component aids the overall mission. The Washington Examiner accompanied a patrol mission, Special Purpose Craft – Law Enforcement II, with Coast Guard officials from South Padre Island last Thursday. The Washington Examiner joined a crew on an overflight of the Gulf aboard an HC-144B fixed-wing aircraft, but the operators did not positively identify any Mexican fishermen in U.S. waters.

NPR [10/25/2025 7:36 AM, Odette Yousef, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk has turbocharged the conversation — and fears — around political violence in the U.S. And, more than perhaps any other recent high-profile incident, it has fed claims that far-left extremists are primarily responsible for the worsening environment. So far, no information has been disclosed that clearly links the man charged with Kirk’s killing to leftist groups or movements. Still, the Trump administration’s claim that domestic terrorism largely comes from the left has flown in the face of data. Federal law enforcement authorities and non-governmental researchers have, for years, found the far right to be the most "lethal and persistent" domestic terrorist threat. But a recent report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) posits that a reversal took place in the first half of 2025. It analyzed roughly 30 years of data and found that between Jan. 1 and July 4 of this year, the number of far-left terrorist plots and attacks outnumbered those from the far right. But the report itself has ignited a firestorm of debate within the field of counterterrorism and extremism research. For many, the conclusions are premature. And ultimately, critics say it does more to reveal the complications around collecting and analyzing data on domestic terrorism than it does to clarify the current state of the problem itself. A claim that left-wing terrorism is rising — but with caveats.

Univision [10/25/2025 5:09 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports the FBI announced indictments against 33 people on 41 counts related to drug distribution in Kensington , particularly in an area allegedly controlled by Jose Antonio Morales Nieves, 45, known as ‘Flaco’. According to details revealed by AP, the detainees are accused of being members of the Weymouth Street drug trafficking organization, accused of selling cocaine, fentanyl and heroin between January 2016 and October 2025 in the 3100 block of the aforementioned street , "one of the most prolific drug spots in the city," the prosecution cites. The document adds that each member of this gang had shifts and duties , such as surveillance, drug replenishment, or violently intimidating rival gangs. A statement from the Department of Justice highlights that this criminal gang "uses violence to control its territory, including shootings, murders, and physical assaults ," in addition to its members retaliating against witnesses who provide "information to law enforcement, and committing violent acts against members of rival drug trafficking organizations."

NBC News [10/26/2025 2:02 AM, Dennis Romero and Janat Batra, 34509K] reports one person is dead and at least six others were wounded in a shooting amid homecoming festivities Saturday night at Lincoln University, one of the nation’s first historically Black colleges, authorities said. One person alleged to have a gun has been taken into custody, Chester County District Attorney Chris de Barrena-Sarobe said during an overnight news conference on campus. He said it was possible someone else may have opened fire as well, but investigators are still trying to piece together what happened. “There’s some evidence that leads us to believe that that is a viable theory right now,” he said. The DA did not provide details about a potential motive or what precipitated the gunfire. Local, state and federal law enforcement officials are investigating, he said. The extent of injuries for the six surviving victims was not immediately available. The attack broke out before 9:30 p.m. after crowds exited a homecoming football game and gathered outside the school’s International Cultural Center, de Barrena-Sarobe said. Marc Partee, Lincoln University chief of police, said the violence took place as visitors gathered for a "tailgate" portion of homecoming weekend festivities. Witnesses told NBC Philadelphia crowds started running from reported gunfire on the campus near Oxford, Pennsylvania, in Chester County, around 9 p.m. Saturday. Though the nature of the shooting was not clear, Chester County Commissioner Eric Roe said in a statement that, "It appears there has been a mass shooting there tonight." He called for people to join him in prayer for students, faculty and law enforcement. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said he’s offered the state’s "full support" to the school’s president, Brenda Allen, and local law enforcement. "Please avoid the area, continue to follow the guidance of local law enforcement, and join Lori and me in praying for the Lincoln University community," the governor said on X. Two women on campus for Yardfest, a homecoming week event, told NBC Philadelphia that they didn’t hear gunfire but joined a large crowd of people running away from their location at about 9 p.m. "It was just a stampede of people," said Ajia Hopkins, who accompanied friend and Lincoln alumna Dahjai Roger to the event Saturday. "There was no explanation after the running." Rogers said her friends were safe, but three of them fell in the rush to get away. Speaking on its Instagram account, Lincoln said counselors will be available to students on Sunday morning, but it otherwise offered little information on the shooting. Lincoln University says on its website that it is “the nation’s first degree-granting Historically Black College and University (HBCU).” "This mass shooting should never have happened — never have happened," said de Barrena-Sarobe, the county DA. Saturday’s gunfire follows a separate shooting Friday night near Howard University, another historically Black college, in Washington, D.C. Five people suffered non-life-threatening injuries in that attack, NBC Washington reported. Police said none of the victims attend Howard, about 120 miles south-southwest of Lincoln. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

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New York Post [10/25/2025 2:31 AM, Anna Young and Nicholas McEntyre, 42219K]
CNN [10/25/2025 11:58 PM, Emma Tucker, Sarah Dewberry, Karina Tsui, 606K]

USA Today [10/25/2025 1:22 PM, Eduardo Cuevas, 67103K] reports over 150 people ran from the party before law enforcement arrived, the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office said. A mass shooting at a large party in rural North Carolina left 13 people shot, with two dead, local officials said. Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said in an Oct. 25 Facebook post that seven others are in critical condition after the shooting on a rural road outside of Maxton, located about 30 miles southwest of Fayetteville. Over 150 people ran from the party before law enforcement arrived, Wilkins said. Deputies were on scene before 3 a.m. Oct. 25, the sheriff’s office said in an earlier update. There was no current threat, he said, adding it appeared to be an isolated incident.”

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ABC News [10/25/2025 11:32 AM, Nadine El-Bawab, 30493K]
Washington Examiner [10/25/2025 4:17 PM, David Zimmermann, 1394K]

The New York Post [10/25/2025 3:01 PM, Geoff Earle, 42219K] reports President Trump hosted the Emir of Qatar aboard Air Force One as he made his way to Asia in a show of thanks for his role in helping shape the Israel-Hamas peace deal. "Peace to the Middle East. They were a very big factor in that," Trump told Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on a refueling stop as he headed to Kuala Lampur for the first stop on his trip for the ASEAN summit. "We have a safe Middle East and we want to keep it that way for a little longer," Trump added, in the planes front cabin, which had a television in the background showing a UFC match. "I was thinking: ‘We’re landing here, we’re going to fuel up. Such an honor to have you on the plane,’" Trump told his guest. Breitbart [10/25/2025 6:26 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports US President Donald Trump on Saturday thanked Qatar’s emir and prime minister for being a "big factor" in helping secure a Gaza ceasefire deal, during a refueling stop on his way to Asia. The Qatari leaders boarded Air Force One when it landed at Al Udeid Air Base, which hosts the regional headquarters for the US military and thousands of American troops. Trump said the duo had played a crucial role in the Middle East peace process, adding that Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani had been his "friend to the world.". "What we’ve done is incredible peace to the Middle East, and they were a very big factor in it," Trump said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, fresh off a trip to Israel as part of an all-out diplomatic push by Washington to keep the Gaza truce on track, was present for the meeting with Qatar’s leaders. Trump is traveling to Asia for the first time since retaking office in January, with two regional summits and face-to-face meetings with China’s Xi Jinping and other leaders on the agenda. The AP [10/25/2025 3:12 PM, Michelle L. Price and Mark Schiefelbein, 31753K] reports President Donald Trump headed for Asia for the first time this term, a trip where he is expected to work on investment deals and peace efforts before meeting face-to-face with Chinese President Xi Jinping to try to de-escalate a trade war. “I think we have a really good chance of making a very comprehensive deal,” Trump told reporters traveling with him on Air Force One. He said he plans to discuss fentanyl trafficking with Xi, as well as China’s lack of soybean purchases from the United States. “I want our farmers to be taken care of. And he wants things also,” Trump said. The Republican president is using the trip to try to advance his diplomatic bona fides after recently brokering a ceasefire and hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas. During a refueling stop in Qatar on his long-haul flight to Malaysia, Trump met briefly aboard his plane with the ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and the prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Trump said they talked about progress on security arrangements in Gaza. “It’s working very well. It’s all smooth. The U.S. doesn’t have to get much involved,” he said.

Reported similarly:

AP [10/25/2025 2:50 PM, Staff, 31753K]

Breitbart [10/25/2025 6:36 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports Qatari officials are preparing peacekeeping troops for Gaza if needed to help maintain a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel, President Donald Trump said during a refueling stop. Air Force One stopped in Qatar on Saturday evening to refuel while the president is flying to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, amid a Southeast Asia trip that includes a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea. Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani joined Trump on Air Force One for a short meeting. Trump announced Qatar likely will be among the nations providing troops to maintain peace in Gaza while seated between the Emir and the prime minister, The Jerusalem Post reported. Emir Al Thani told Trump he wanted to visit him at the refueling stop when he learned of the brief refueling stop by Air Force One.

Wall Street Journal [10/25/2025 7:00 PM, Michael R. Gordon and Joyu Wang, 646K] reports President Trump put the world on notice in his first term that the U.S. was preparing for an era of intensified military and economic competition with Beijing. But as he left for his first trip to Asia since returning to the White House, striking a new trade deal with Chinese leader Xi Jinping has moved to the top of Trump’s agenda, spurring apprehensions among allies that the dealmaking might come at their expense. “Asian allies are experiencing strategic whiplash,” said Craig Singleton, a former U.S. diplomat who directs the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Their central concern now is whether Trump’s transactional instincts could lead to a grand bargain with Xi, especially one that sidelines Taiwan or dilutes allied leverage.” Trump’s blitz through Asia begins Sunday in Malaysia at a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders, where the U.S. president plans to preside over the signing of a peace deal to settle the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, U.S. officials say. Then it is on to Japan, where Trump will meet with Sanae Takaichi, the country’s new prime minister, who advocates close ties with the U.S. and a stronger Japanese military. Takaichi vowed Friday to boost military spending to 2% of gross domestic product two years ahead of schedule, a move that will sweeten the atmosphere for Trump’s visit. But she lacks the established rapport that Shinzo Abe—Japan’s longstanding prime minister, who was assassinated after leaving office—enjoyed with Trump. Trump’s third stop is South Korea, where he will meet President Lee Jae Myung and participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. While Trump has said that he is open to meeting at some point with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a senior U.S. official told reporters Friday that it isn’t on the schedule for this trip. But Trump has cast his Thursday morning meeting with Xi in South Korea as the acid test of his Asia trip. “This seems to be the one that people are very interested in,” Trump said Monday. “I think when we finish our meetings in South Korea, China and I will have a really fair and really great trade deal together.”

Breitbart [10/25/2025 3:42 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports President Donald Trump, during his long flight from Washington to three Asian nations over six days, said he hopes to work out a trade deal with China and assistance in getting Russia to end the war with Ukraine. Trump left the U.S. amid a government shutdown, East Wing demolition for a ballroom and illegal immigration crackdown in U.S. cities. Air Force One departed late Friday from Washington and made a refueling stop in Doha, Qatar, where he met with Qatar’s emir and prime minister aboard the plane, and was joined by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio who has been in the region. "The first message is Trump the peacemaker. The second is Trump the moneymaker," Victor Cha of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told NNBC News. "And then, of course, with the meeting with China, I think what everybody’s expecting is that there’s probably not going to be a big trade deal, but there will be an effort to de-escalate or put a pause on the situation.". On Thursday, Trump plans to meet with China’s President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea. "We want China to help us out on Russia," he said. "We’ll have a good meeting. I’m pretty sure we’re going to have a great meeting, maybe a great meeting.".

Breitbart [10/25/2025 9:52 PM, Jasmyn Jordan, 2416K] reports President Donald Trump announced Saturday that the United States will impose an additional 10 percent tariff on Canadian imports, saying Canada aired a deceptive advertisement using altered audio and video of former President Ronald Reagan to undermine his administration’s tariff policy. President Donald Trump charged that Canada was "caught, red handed" using manipulated clips of Ronald Reagan in an anti-tariff advertisement broadcast during the World Series. The advertisement, produced by the government of Ontario, featured Reagan appearing to denounce tariffs, prompting an immediate response from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. In his Truth Social post, Trump cited a statement from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute that said that Canada had "created an ad campaign using selective audio and video of President Ronald Reagan," and that the material "misrepresents the Presidential Radio Address." The foundation added that Canada "did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks" and was "reviewing its legal options.". Trump asserted, "The sole purpose of this FRAUD was Canada’s hope that the United States Supreme Court will come to their ‘rescue’ on Tariffs that they have used for years to hurt the United States." He continued, "Now the United States is able to defend itself against high and overbearing Canadian Tariffs (and those from the rest of the World as well!). Ronald Reagan LOVED Tariffs for purposes of National Security and the Economy, but Canada said he didn’t!". The ad’s broadcast comes one day after Trump ended trade talks with Canada, as Breitbart News previously reported. The president halted negotiations following the initial discovery of the ad, writing that "ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED." He wrote the advertisement was intended "to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts," and called tariffs "very important to the national security and economy of the U.S.A.". Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who had pledged earlier this year to "fight" Trump’s tariffs, recently softened his approach. Carney’s administration lifted steel and aluminum tariffs on American and Chinese imports on October 15, citing economic pressure on Canadian manufacturers. The move came after months of speculation about a potential U.S.-Canada trade deal that could have been finalized during the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. By subscribing, you agree to our terms of use & privacy policy. You will receive email marketing messages from Breitbart News Network to the email you provide. You may unsubscribe at any time. The new tariff escalation marks a setback in those negotiations. Trump’s announcement Saturday follows months of shifting relations between Washington and Ottawa. Earlier this month, Breitbart News reported that Carney left a White House meeting "empty-handed" after failing to secure relief on steel and automotive tariffs. Despite a cordial relationship between the two leaders, Trump maintained that Canada must "see eye-to-eye" with the United States on trade and national security priorities. Trump concluded his post by confirming the penalty: "Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now."

Reported similarly:
FOX Business [10/25/2025 5:36 PM, Sophia Compton, 10085K]

The Hill [10/25/2025 5:43 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12595K] reports President Trump on Saturday said the lack of progress toward peace between Russia and Ukraine amid their more than three-year war is "very disappointing." The president has attempted to chart a course for peace since the start of his second administration after making a pledge to end the war in a day on the campaign trail. Trump had previously planned to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the coming weeks, but called it off, saying he didn’t want it to be a "waste of time." "I’m not going to be wasting my time. I’ve always had a very great relationship with Vladimir Putin but this has been very disappointing. I thought this would have gotten done before peace in the Middle East," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on the way to Malaysia on Saturday. "We have Azerbaijan, Armenia — that was very tough. In fact, Putin told me on the phone he said, ‘Boy, that was amazing’ because everybody tried to get that done and they couldn’t. I got it done," he added.

CNN [10/26/2025 4:30 AM, Laura Sharman, Victoria Butenko and Daria Tarasova-Markina, 18595K] reports Russia launched more than 100 drones on Ukraine overnight, striking high-rise buildings as residents slept, in its second deadly attack on Kyiv within 24 hours. A 19-year-old girl and her mother, 46, were among three people killed in air strikes on the Ukrainian capital where a further 29 people were wounded, including seven children, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko confirmed. "The youngest is four years old," Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. The latest wave of violence came as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky Zelensky issued a fresh appeal for more Patriot missile defense systems, part of a broader efforts to bolster Ukraine’s defenses against Russia’s sustained aerial assault. On Saturday night, a fire erupted at a nine-story residential building in the capital’s Desnianskyi region, where 13 people were rescued from the upper floors. Additionally, a Russian drone struck a 16-story high-rise, shattering windows from the first to the ninth floor, emergency crew said. Another drone struck a high-rise building in the Obolonskyi district but firefighters said the site was not set ablaze. "Every Russian strike is an attempt to inflict as much damage as possible on ordinary life," Zelensky said on Sunday. "This week, they’ve been striking residential buildings, our people, our children… these are the main targets for the Russians," he added, noting that the Kremlin has unleashed nearly 1,200 drones, more than 1,360 guided aerial bombs and over 50 missiles on his nation in the past week. More than a hundred rescuers and police officers in Kyiv responded overnight into Sunday, checking the stability of the burned out high-rises as well as clearing debris and dismantling damaged structures, Klymenko, the interior minister, said. Elsewhere in the city, crews continue painstakingly clearing debris from the previous night’s attack. Air raid alerts were in place in Kyiv and surrounding districts for around an hour and a half before the air force called them off shortly after midnight on Sunday. The magnitude of the attack and the extent of its damage was not immediately known. Klitschko did not confirm whether the buildings were directly hit or struck by falling debris from destroyed weapons.

FOX News [10/25/2025 5:19 PM, Brie Stimson, 40621K] Video: HERE reports President Donald Trump on Saturday said he won’t waste time meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin again unless a deal on the war in Ukraine is likely. "I’m going to have to know that we’re going to make a deal," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after taking off from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, when asked about arranging a meeting with Putin. "I’m not going to be wasting my time. I’ve always had a great relationship with Vladimir Putin, but this has been very disappointing." He said he thought the war in Ukraine would have been resolved "long before" the peace deal between Israel and Hamas. "We have Azerbaijan and Armenia. That was very tough," Trump added, referring to the peace summit he hosted at the White House between the two countries. "In fact, Putin told me on the phone, he said, ‘Boy, that was amazing,’ because everybody tried to get that done, and they couldn’t. I got it done. You had others. If you look at India and Pakistan, I could say almost any one of the deals that I’ve already done, I thought would have been more difficult than Russia, than Ukraine, but it didn’t work out that way. "There’s a lot of hatred between the two, between [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and Putin, there’s tremendous hatred." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
New York Post [10/25/2025 4:30 PM, Chris Harris, 42219K]
NewsMax [10/26/2025 6:48 AM, Staff, 4109K]

Wall Street Journal [10/25/2025 11:00 PM, Vera Bergengruen, 646K] reports on the edge of a small city in southern Israel, a cavernous warehouse is being remade into the headquarters of President Trump’s Gaza peace plan. Two hundred U.S. troops working with Israel’s military and other partners have scrambled over the past week to build out a new Civil-Military Coordination Center. It will monitor the fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and coordinate the flow of aid and security assistance to Gaza, which lies roughly 20 miles away. Like the plan itself—which freed the remaining live hostages in Gaza nearly two weeks ago and is now moving on to the more difficult task of creating alternatives to Hamas to administer and secure the enclave—the center is a work in progress. Dozens of whiteboards partition the vast cement hall, flanked by large displays inscribed with the 20 points of Trump’s Gaza peace plan. The floor of the hall, which is covered with new artificial turf, bustles with soldiers and civilian staff weaving through black panels as a loudspeaker reminds them to not smoke inside. A makeshift command center projects maps and updates from social media and news reports onto the walls. They also display a message in green letters: “A new and beautiful day is rising. And now the rebuilding begins. —President Donald J. Trump.”

FOX News [10/25/2025 3:11 PM, Rachel Wolf, 40621K] Video: HERE reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met with the families of Itay Chen and Omer Neutra, two U.S. citizens whose bodies have been held hostage in Gaza since they were killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. "We will not forget the lives of the hostages who died in the captivity of Hamas. Today I met with the families of American citizens Itay Chen and Omer Neutra. We will not rest until their — and all — remains are returned," Rubio wrote in a post on X. He included a photo of himself and Huckabee sitting with the families. Huckabee also posted about the meeting and said that Rubio’s visit to Israel was "very productive in moving forward" the U.S.-brokered Gaza peace plan. However, he added that "[before the] plan can work, ALL hostages must be released!" Ruby Chen, Itay’s father, told Fox News Digital it was the fifth time he met with Rubio since he became secretary of state. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [10/25/2025 7:10 PM, Alexandra Koch Fox, 40621K] reports President Donald Trump on Saturday said Hamas needs to start returning the bodies of deceased hostages held captive by the terror group during the war in Gaza "quickly, or the other countries involved in this GREAT PEACE will take action.". While all the living hostages have been returned from Gaza, the remains of 13 deceased hostages have not been handed over by Hamas. "Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. "Perhaps it has to do with their disarming, but when I said, ‘Both sides would be treated fairly,’ that only applies if they comply with their obligations. Let’s see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely.". Hours before Trump’s post, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met with the families of Itay Chen and Omer Neutra, two U.S. citizens who were killed in the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. Their bodies are among those still being held by Hamas. "We will not forget the lives of the hostages who died in the captivity of Hamas," Rubio wrote in an X post. "We will not rest until their—and all—remains are returned.". Authorities believed Chen, a 19-year-old dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, but was later declared dead by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Neutra, 21, an American-Israeli from New York, was killed in battle on Oct. 7, 2023. Huckabee noted Rubio’s visit to Israel was "very productive in moving forward" the U.S.-brokered Gaza peace plan, adding the plan cannot work until all hostages, living and deceased, are released. While traveling to Asia Saturday, Trump met with Qatari leaders aboard Air Force One while refueling at Al-Udeid Air Base. Qatar has played a significant role in efforts to negotiate peace and ceasefires in Gaza. After a meeting with Qatar Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Trump said "The Emir is one of the great rulers of the world … and the Prime Minister has been my friend.". Referencing the peace deal, the president said, "What we’ve done is incredible — peace in the Middle East.".

New York Post [10/25/2025 4:55 PM, Gabrielle Fahmy, 42219K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed Saturday to return the bodies of all dead Israeli hostages, as a team from Egypt entered the Gaza Strip to sift through the rubble to help locate their remains. Rubio was in Jerusalem to meet with families of dual US-Israeli citizens Itay Chen, 19, and Omer Neutra, 21 — slain hostages whose bodies are still located somewhere inside the Palestinian enclave. "We will not rest until their — and all — remains are returned," Rubio wrote on X. "We will not forget the lives of the hostages who died in the captivity of Hamas." Since President Trump’s cease-fire deal was struck on Sept. 29, the remains of 15 out of 28 dead captives have been returned to Israel, along with all 20 living hostages. Chen and Neutra were both IDF soldiers killed by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, whose bodies were then taken hostage by the terror group. Hamas has been slowly releasing victims’ bodies as it sifts through what is left of the war-torn Gaza Strip. "Thirteen hostages need to come home," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum wrote on X Saturday, welcoming Rubio’s remarks. "Thirteen families need closure." "Please don’t stop — until the last hostage is released.".

AP [10/26/2025 8:51 PM, Lindsay Whitehurst and Courtney Bonnell, 2416K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that Israel, the U.S. and the other mediators of the Gaza ceasefire deal are sharing information to disrupt any threats and that allowed them to identify a possible impending attack last weekend. The State Department said a week ago that it had "credible reports" Hamas could violate the ceasefire with an attack on Palestinian civilians in Gaza. "We put out a message through State Department, sent it to our mediators as well, about an impending attack, and it didn’t happen," he told reporters en route from Israel to Qatar, where he met up with President Donald Trump for a multistop tour in Asia. "So that’s the goal here, is ultimately to identify a threat before it happens.". Rubio said multiple countries are interested in joining an international stabilization force that aims to deploy to Gaza but that they need more details about the mission and rules of engagement. The U.S. could call for a U.N. resolution supporting the force so more nations can take part, he said, adding that the U.S. has been talking with Qatar, Egypt and Turkey and noting interest from Indonesia and Azerbaijan. "Many of the countries who want to be a part of it can’t do it without that," he said of an international mandate. He also noted that next week the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, is expected to be the latest in a parade of U.S. officials to travel to Israel. Vice President JD Vance joined special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner earlier in the week in Israel in an effort to shore up the fragile ceasefire deal. Rubio arrived just as Vance was departing, meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and touring a U.S.-led coordination center monitoring the ceasefire. Rubio touched on several other key foreign policy priorities in his remarks to reporters. Here’s a look: A day after the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Colombian President Gustavo Petro, his family and a member of his government over accusations of involvement in the global drug trade, Rubio said it was not about targeting the country itself, which is one of the closest American allies in the region. "This is not a U.S. vs. Colombia thing," he said. "This is us reacting to the actions of what’s turned into a hostile foreign leader.".

Washington Examiner [10/25/2025 6:47 PM, Zach LaChance, 1394K] reports President Donald Trump hinted at a new deadline for Hamas to return the rest of the bodies of dead hostages to Israel, or else face "action" from countries involved with the Gaza peace deal. "Hamas is going to have to start returning the bodies of the deceased hostages, including two Americans, quickly, or the other Countries involved in this GREAT PEACE will take action. Some of the bodies are hard to reach, but others they can return now and, for some reason, they are not. Perhaps it has to do with their disarming, but when I said, ‘Both sides would be treated fairly,’ that only applies if they comply with their obligations. Let’s see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely," Trump said in a statement on Saturday. As part of the Trump-brokered peace deal, Hamas was supposed to release all living hostages and the remains of the dead ones that they have held since its Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. They have largely reneged on the latter obligation, only returning 15 of the 28 remains. The threat from Trump is the latest from both the president and his administration, as it looks to keep the ceasefire intact after it was violated by Hamas last weekend.

Reuters [10/26/2025 6:07 AM, David Lawder, 36480K] reports U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday he has reached a "very substantial framework" with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng that will avoid 100% U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods and achieve a deferral of China’s rare earths export controls. Bessent said during the taping of an interview with NBC’s "Meet the Press" program that the framework reached in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia will allow President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss further trade cooperation next week. The agenda would include more balanced U.S.-China trade, Chinese purchases of American soybeans and other agricultural products, and getting the U.S. fentanyl crisis under control. Asked if he anticipated that the U.S. would proceed with Trump’s threat of 100% tariffs on Chinese goods, Bessent said: "No, I’m not, and I’m also anticipating that we will get some kind of a deferral on the rare earth export controls that the Chinese had discussed." Bessent added that final terms would be decided by the two leaders.

NBC News [10/26/2025 6:39 AM, Freddie Clayton, 34509K] reports President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to reach a deal to avert 100% tariffs on China and likely to meet in person soon, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said following talks with Beijing’s top trade negotiator. Bessent told NBC News’ "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker in an interview Sunday that China was ready to make a deal "after two days of negotiations.". A "framework" is ready for a meeting between Trump and Xi intended to avoid the harsher tariffs threatened by Trump starting Nov. 1 should Beijing move forward with plans to put restrictions on rare earth minerals, he said. "I’m also anticipating that we will get some kind of a deferral on the rare earth export controls that the Chinese had discussed," Bessent said. "President Trump gave me a great deal of negotiating leverage with the threat of the 100% tariffs, and I believe we’ve reached a very substantial framework that will avoid that and allow us to discuss many other things with the Chinese," he added.

Breitbart [10/25/2025 11:22 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports US President Donald Trump arrived in Malaysia on Sunday on the first leg of an Asian tour that will include high-stakes trade talks with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. A second day of US-China trade talks concluded in the Malaysian capital on Sunday, ahead of Trump’s meeting with Xi in South Korea later this week, in a bid to seal a deal to end the bruising trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that his meetings with China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng had been “constructive, far-reaching, in-depth”, and “set the stage for the leaders’ meeting in a very positive framework”. For Trump, however, first among his order of business in Kuala Lumpur — on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit — was co-signing a ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia. Trump called the truce he helped broker — after the deadliest clashes between the neighbours in decades — a “monumental step”, adding that alongside it he had struck “a major trade deal with Cambodia and a very important critical minerals agreement with Thailand”. Ahead of his arrival, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he hoped for a “comprehensive deal” with Xi to avoid further 100 percent tariffs that are due to come into effect on November 1. As he left Washington, Trump added to speculation that he could also meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the first time since 2019 while on the Korean peninsula, saying he was “open to it”. The US president will also visit Japan, on his first trip to Asia since returning to the White House in January in a blaze of tariffs and international dealmaking. It is Trump’s first visit as president to Kuala Lumpur, where his flight was escorted on its final approach by two Malaysian F-18 jets. After Malaysia, Trump is expected in Tokyo on Monday, where the following day he will meet Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. The US leader said he had heard “great things about her” and hailed the fact that she was an acolyte of assassinated former premier Shinzo Abe, with whom he had close ties. Takaichi said she told Trump in a phone call on Saturday that “strengthening the Japan-US alliance is my administration’s top priority on the diplomatic and security front”. Japan has escaped the worst of the tariffs Trump slapped on countries around the world to end what he calls unfair trade balances that are “ripping off the United States”. The highlight of the trip is expected to be South Korea, where Trump will meet Xi for the first time since his return to office. Trump is due to land in the southern port city of Busan on Wednesday ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, and will meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [10/25/2025 10:43 PM, Zach LaChance, 1394K]

New York Post [10/26/2025 2:49 AM, Steven Nelson, 42219K] reports President Trump blasted the United Nations for not being more involved in ending wars as he signed peace and trade deals Sunday with the leaders of Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia — with the three nations pledging to boost US economic ties in exchange for lower tariffs. Trump, 79, said a peace accord formalizing the truce that he brokered in July may save "millions of lives" in the two Southeast Asian nations, which were represented by their prime ministers at the ceremony in the Malaysian capital. "Millions of people are alive today because of this peace treaty," Trump declared. "The United Nations should be doing this, but they don’t do it. They don’t do it. They turned off my teleprompter. When I made a speech, I had to make a speech without a teleprompter. They’re good at that. The escalator wasn’t working too well. It came to a complete halt," he added. "But, I mean, the United Nations has such great potential. I wish they could do it. They didn’t get involved with us at all. We just did the deal and reported the deal, and everybody was sort of amazed that we got it done so quickly and so nicely.". The peace deal, specifying a military pullback from a disputed border region and an exchange of prisoners of war, ended five days of fighting in July that claimed at least 66 lives. "I shouldn’t say it’s a hobby, because it’s so much more serious than a hobby, but it’s something that I’m good at, and it’s something I love to do," said Trump, who added that he’s now interested in resolving clashes between Pakistan and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. "I heard that Pakistan and Afghanistan have started up. But I’ll get that solved very quickly," he said. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, previously jailed on what he says were politically motivated charges of corruption and sodomy, played host at the event and made a lighthearted reference to Trump facing four criminal cases before winning last year’s election. "We share lots of things in common. I was in prison, but you almost got there," Ibrahim joked to laughter. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, meanwhile, hailed Trump’s involvement with the peace deal and said, "reflecting the gratitude of the Cambodian people, I have nominated President Donald J. Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. He saved lives.". Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul also offered his "sincere appreciation" to Trump.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [10/26/2025 5:41 AM, Joel B. Pollak, 2416K]

AP [10/25/2025 4:42 AM, Chris Megerian, David Rising and Eileen Ng, 8017K] reports Thailand and Cambodia signed an expanded ceasefire agreement on Sunday during a ceremony attended by U.S. President Donald Trump, whose threats of economic pressure prodded the two nations to halt skirmishes along their disputed border earlier this year. Thailand will release Cambodian prisoners and Cambodia will begin withdrawing heavy artillery as part of the first phase of the deal. Regional observers will monitor the situation to ensure fighting doesn’t restart. "We did something that a lot of people said couldn’t be done," Trump said. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet called it a "historic day," and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the agreement creates "the building blocks for a lasting peace.". The ceremony was Trump’s first event after arriving at the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, hosted in Kuala Lumpur. The trip, which will continue with visits to Japan and South Korea and a potential meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, is an opportunity for Trump to burnish his reputation as an international dealmaker at a time when his tariffs have scrambled the international economy and he’s feuding with Democrats over a government shutdown back home. Trump touched down in the Malaysian capital shortly before 0200 GMT, where he performed his trademark campaign trail dance with local performers and waved an American flag in one hand and a Malaysian flag in the other. The president signed economic agreements with Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia, some of them aimed at increasing trade involving critical minerals. The U.S. wants to rely less on China, which has limited exports of key components in technology manufacturing. "It’s very important that we cooperate as willing partners with each other to ensure that we can have smooth supply chains, secure supply chains, for the quality of life, for our people and security," said U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Trump also seemed eager to calm trade tensions with China, repeatedly expressing confidence about sitting down with Xi in South Korea at the end of his trip. "They want to make a deal and we want to make a deal," he said. Trump reiterated his plan to visit China in the future and suggested that Xi could come to Washington or Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Florida. The president attended this summit only once during his first term, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seemed unfamiliar with ASEAN during his confirmation hearing in January. But this year’s event was a chance for Trump to reengage with a collection of nations that have a combined $3.8 trillion economy and 680 million people. "The United States is with you 100%, and we intend to be a strong partner and friend for many generations to come," Trump said. He described his counterparts as "spectacular leaders" and said, "everything you touch turns to gold.".

Washington Post [10/26/2025 4:26 AM, Cat Zakrzewski, Natalie Allison, and Rebecca Tan, 24149K] reports President Donald Trump signed an agreement Sunday to resolve a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, starting his swing through Asia with a ceremony designed to bolster his campaign to be regarded as a global peacemaker. Trump sat at a long table with the Southeast Asian leaders as they signed the Kuala Lumpur Accord, which formalized a ceasefire Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim helped broker in July. The dispute is among eight conflicts that Trump has taken credit for resolving during his second term as he makes a bid for a Nobel Peace Prize, even as his role in solving some of the conflicts remains contested. Trump reminisced about the day he spent working on the ceasefire agreement during a golf trip to his course in Turnberry, Scotland, in late July. After heavy fire killed civilians and displaced tens of thousands along the border, Trump told the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand that he would suspend trade discussions unless they stopped the fighting. Trump said the peace deal was “much more important than playing a round of golf.” “You cost me very good entertainment,” Trump said as he turned to the leaders seated next to him onstage at the ASEAN Summit, the gathering of the group’s 11 Southeast Asian nations held this year in Malaysia. “I could have had a lot of fun, but this is much more fun for me than … almost anything, because you’re saving people and saving countries.”

CNN [10/25/2025 9:01 PM, Betsy Klein, 606K] reports US President Donald Trump will lean on the power of in-person diplomacy on the first Asia trip of his second term as he meets with old rivals, new friends and, potentially, adversaries, while looking to cut deals that could have sweeping economic and national security implications. But Trump’s love of tariffs — just like his unpredictable approach to relationships abroad — has generated uncertainty among once-solid US allies in the region, setting up a major test of whether the "Art of the Deal" author can deliver. Trump arrived in Malaysia late Saturday (Sunday morning local time) for a six-day, three-country tour after having reimagined the role of the US in the world — a role he’s trying to defend against the rising influence of China, in particular, around the globe. The "America First" president touts what he says are Trump-brokered ends to eight wars, including a fragile ceasefire for the Israel-Hamas conflict, and uses his tariff policy as leverage. And he’s said that the conflict whose resolution has been most elusive — Russia’s war in Ukraine — will be on the agenda during the highest-stakes meeting of the trip, with Xi Jinping, the leader of China, with which the US is embroiled in a simmering trade war. In Kuala Lumpur, Trump will sign a peace agreement between Cambodia and Thailand, the president said Saturday. The Southeast Asian neighbors agreed to a ceasefire in July to end escalating violence on their disputed border, after Trump warned their respective leaders he would not make trade deals with them if the deadly conflict continued. "I am on my way to Malaysia, where I will sign the great Peace Deal, which I proudly brokered between Cambodia and Thailand," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. Trump will later join key leaders at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, who will seek to deepen partnerships with the US. He will meet with Japan’s new, conservative prime minister in Tokyo. Trade and security are on the agenda as he meets with the South Korean president. But all eyes are on the expected meeting with Xi in South Korea, which has already been colored by questions of whether it will even happen. The prospect of a potential meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un — with whom he shared an infamous 2019 handshake in the Korean Peninsula’s demilitarized zone — also looms over the trip. Trump’s engagements with his counterparts will be closely watched for any progress toward repairing economic ties, expanding trade and making good on investment promises — and whether he can tap into the influence of regional leaders to help expand security cooperation. "All of these leaders and countries (are) going to have been subject to US reciprocal tariffs, pressure to spend more on defense — a bit of bullying by the United States," said Victor Cha, president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department and Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS. "But in spite of this, the reception, I think, will be positive. Everybody still wants to cut a deal with the US president," Cha noted, pointing to those nations’ desires for tariff relief.

FOX News [10/26/2025 3:59 AM, Landon Mion, 40621K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday reaffirmed long-standing U.S. support for Taiwan, stressing that the island will not be abandoned during trade talks with China. Speaking to reporters while traveling between Israel and Qatar en route to join President Donald Trump in Asia, Rubio said Taiwan should not be concerned about the trade negotiations. "I don’t think you’re going to see some trade deal where, if what people are worried about is we’re going to get some trade deal, or we’re going to get favorable treatment on trade in exchange for walking away from Taiwan," Rubio said. "No one is contemplating that.". Chinese President Xi Jinping has renewed an effort to push the U.S. into changing its one-China policy that recognizes Taiwan as part of China while still maintaining relations with the island. Beijing has asked the Trump administration to officially adopt language saying that it "opposes" independence for Taiwan, a change that would represent a key diplomatic win for China, as Washington’s current position is that it "does not support" independence. Taiwan is a significant issue in China’s relationship with the U.S., with a strained relationship over other issues such as trade, technology transfers and human rights. The U.S. is Taiwan’s biggest military backer, but Trump has floated the idea that the island should have to pay for security. Trump declined to answer when asked about U.S. policy toward Taiwan while heading for Asia on Air Force One. "I don’t want to talk about that now. I don’t want to create any complexity. The trip is already complex enough," Trump told reporters. The U.S. president is scheduled to meet Xi next week while attending a regional summit in South Korea, the first meeting between the two leaders since Trump returned to the White House in January. Trump’s trip to Asia will include stops in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [10/25/2025 9:29 PM, Choe Sang-Hun, 153395K] reports the last time President Trump met with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, it took only about 36 hours to arrange a hurried but made-for-TV encounter between the two men on the border between North and South Korea. More than six years after those talks, Mr. Trump is headed back to South Korea this week, and speculation has flared over whether he and Mr. Kim will meet again. Mr. Trump is scheduled to arrive in the South on Wednesday for bilateral summits with its president, Lee Jae Myung, and the Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific economic summit in the city of Gyeongju. Mr. Trump, who met Mr. Kim three times in 2018 and 2019, has repeatedly said that he would like to see Mr. Kim again, boasting of their “great relationship.” As he boarded Air Force One on Friday, he said again that he would like to meet Mr. Kim. “I would,” he told reporters. “If you want to put out the word, I’m open to it.” In 2019, Mr. Trump was visiting Japan when he tweeted: “If Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!” The two met the next day in Panmunjom, a truce village that lies inside the DMZ, or Demilitarized Zone, that separates the two Koreas. A senior White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said there were no current plans for the two leaders to meet.

Reuters [10/25/2025 10:04 PM, Kevin Buckland, 36480K] reports Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, told U.S. President Donald Trump that strengthening their countries’ alliance is her government’s "top priority", in their first phone call on Saturday. Takaichi also told Trump that Japan is "an indispensable partner" in terms of the U.S.’s strategies towards China and the Indo-Pacific, according to comments posted on the Japanese premier’s official website. "I conveyed to him that strengthening the Japan–U.S. Alliance is the top priority for my administration’s foreign and security policy," she said, according to the post. "We confirmed our shared commitment to further elevating the Alliance to new heights.". Takaichi spoke to Trump from Malaysia, where she is attending a regional forum, which began on Sunday. Trump spoke from Air Force One while on his way to Malaysia.

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