There have been penalties for those who looked the other way when Epstein was convicted of child sex offences and decided to maintain relationships with the financier — but not for the British ambassador to Washington, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES

IF IT feels like peace has become ever more elusive in our troubled world, that instinct is sadly borne out by the statistics. According to the institutions that research this, there are as many as 110 active armed conflicts in the world right now.
While we are familiar with the most high-profile ones — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s attack on Gaza, Lebanon and now Syria — some of the worst violence is happening in Africa.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, six million are already dead. South Sudan is in turmoil. But these conflicts rarely make the headlines and there seem to be few meaningful diplomatic efforts underway to secure an end to the violence. Racism and colonialism, two of the perpetual impediments to peace, are alive and well.

Waves of protesters are refusing to comply with the latest crackdowns on dissent, but the penalties are higher in Starmer’s Labour Britain than in Trump’s autocratic United States, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

Funds are being raised to bring the bombed al-Shifa hospital back from the ashes, reports Linda Pentz Gunter

From Labour’s panic over the Corbyn-Sultana formation to Democratic Party grandees distancing themselves from Zohran Mamdani, centrist cliques on both sides of the Atlantic are quick to throw the same old insult, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

Trump’s cruel Bill will deprive millions of essential medical support while escalating deportations and rewarding the super-rich, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER