Korean city kept migrant workers’ passports to ‘stop them from leaving’

Inquirer.net - Sep 22, 2026

For more than four months, officials in the southwestern Korean city of Jeongeup held the passport of a seasonal worker from the Philippines. The worker was among 60 foreign nationals whose passports were retained by the city government to prevent them from leaving their assigned workplaces, according to an SBS report Tuesday. Jeongeup, located in

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Wall Street nears record as oil prices, bond yields ease
Sep 22, 2026
Wall Street nears record as oil prices, bond yields ease

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are climbing with markets worldwide on Monday after oil prices and yields in the bond market gave back some of their jumps from last week. The S&P 500 rose 1 percent and pulled within 0.9 percent of its all-time high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 193 points, or 0.4 percent, as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.6 percent higher. They got help from the price for a barrel of Brent oil falling 3.4 percent to $100.29. While that’s still much higher than its roughly $72 price from earlier this summer, it’s down from the nearly $110 it touched last week. Oil prices are swinging up and down as some crude from the Middle East is able to sail through the Strait of Hormuz , though nowhere nearly as much as the industry and customers would like because of the war with Iran. Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson said another leg higher in prices for oil, gasoline and other refined products is the main risk he sees in the near term that could keep the U.S. stock market from rising to his forecasted target for the year’s end

US networks halt Trump coverage over White House ban
Sep 22, 2026
US networks halt Trump coverage over White House ban

WASHINGTON — Major American television networks on Monday suspended their involvement in a rotation of broadcasters covering President Donald Trump, as three leading news outlets went to court over being banned from the White House. Broadcasters CNN and MS NOW, along with news outlet Politico, filed suit after Trump last week ordered them to be barred from the presidential complex. "This ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles," the organizations said in a court filing. Shortly afterward, the five major U.S. broadcasters said they were halting "pool" coverage of the White House in solidarity with CNN. CNN had been scheduled to serve Monday as the White House TV pool, a rotating assignment in which a broadcaster films on behalf of all television outlets for the day. "The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting," ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC said

AMD joins $1 trillion club as chipmakers rally on AI-driven demand
Sep 22, 2026
AMD joins $1 trillion club as chipmakers rally on AI-driven demand

Advanced Micro Devices soared past $1 trillion in market capitalization for the first time on Monday, joining a small group of chipmakers to reach the milestone, as investors bet on its expanding role in AI computing. AMD shares were last up 9.6 percent at $613.31, scaling a record high. The milestone caps a stellar rally for the Santa Clara, California-based company, regarded as the closest rival to AI bellwether Nvidia for graphics processing units. It becomes only the fourth US chipmaker to top a $1 trillion valuation, after Nvidia, Broadcom and Micron. Nvidia crossed the mark in 2023 and is now the world's most valuable company, worth more than $5 trillion. "Money is moving back into the AI trade," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC in New York. Enthusiasm for chipmakers cooled in recent months as markets scrutinized AI spending by hyperscalers. Higher oil prices linked to the US-Iran conflict and expectations of higher-for-longer interest rates added to the pressure. But now investors believe AI is the only area that can work in a Federal Reserve-induced economic s

Google opens pre-orders for $899 Googlebook laptops built around Gemini AI
Sep 22, 2026
Google opens pre-orders for $899 Googlebook laptops built around Gemini AI

Alphabet's Google on Monday opened pre-orders for Googlebook, its new premium laptop category for Android users built around the company's Gemini AI tools. Starting at $899, initial models from Acer, Asus, Dell , HP and Lenovo will run on Intel or Qualcomm processors with up to 14 hours of battery life, the company said. The launch comes as Apple moves deeper into lower-priced laptops with its $699 MacBook Neo, adding competition in a market where Chromebook makers have long targeted students and budget-conscious consumers on affordability and simplicity. Googlebook extends that formula into premium laptops with more powerful hardware, AI features and tighter Android integration — Google's latest push for a flagship ChromeOS showcase after the Pixelbook in 2017 and Pixelbook Go in 2019. The lineup includes Gemini tools that can help users draft and organize text, ask questions about content on their screens and resume tasks from an Android phone. It is built on the Android technology stack paired with desktop foundations from ChromeOS, aiming to make switching between phones and compute

CNN, MS NOW, Politico sue over denied White House access, citing First Amendment
Sep 22, 2026
CNN, MS NOW, Politico sue over denied White House access, citing First Amendment

NEW YORK — CNN, MS NOW and Politico on Monday sued President Donald Trump’s administration after they were barred from covering the White House over the weekend, saying the selective ban was “a blatant violation” of the First Amendment. The administration’s announcement of the bans Friday and the White House’s subsequent actions over the weekend represented a clear escalation of Trump’s long-running efforts — in the courts and through administrative action — to restrict news coverage he finds objectionable or, in his words, “fake news.” They were also the latest test of First Amendment protections in the United States, where the government is constitutionally forbidden from restricting the press. The Constitution, the banned news outlets said in their lawsuit, “does not allow a president or any other government official to deprive the press of their First Amendment rights and liberty and property interests with no notice or process based solely on his dislike of the content of their reporting.” The three outlets filed the joint lawsuit two days after their repo

US lawmakers urge Trump to maintain ban on Chinese automakers
Sep 22, 2026
US lawmakers urge Trump to maintain ban on Chinese automakers

WASHINGTON — More than two dozen Democratic lawmakers on Friday urged President Donald Trump to keep in place a ban on Chinese automakers out of the U.S. market, ahead of his meeting with China's President Xi Jinping this week. "We urge you to maintain strong protections against Chinese automobiles and connected vehicle technologies and ensure that China does not gain access to our market through direct imports, local production, and other avenues of circumvention," said the 27 lawmakers led by Representative Debbie Dingell. Earlier this month, Trump told Fox News he would accept Chinese car companies building cars in the United States.

Global diesel prices hit record highs, further rises possible
Sep 22, 2026
Global diesel prices hit record highs, further rises possible

LONDON — Diesel prices have rallied in Europe and the United States to record highs as wars in Iran and Ukraine sharply cut exports from some of the biggest producers such as Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with little options to prevent further gains. Diesel futures in Europe closed at an all-time high last week having more than double their level at the beginning of 2026, after supply disruptions spread to the Red Sea, where Saudi Arabia loads most of its diesel. The wars in the Middle East and Ukraine have damaged oil refineries in the region, and refineries elsewhere are working hard to make fuels. In the United States for example, refineries operated at the highest level in eight years in late August, according to the International Energy Agency. "A key issue is that many refineries around the world are already stretched to capacity," the International Energy Agency said in a newsletter on Monday. "This leaves few available options to prevent a further tightening of supplies and higher prices in the coming months." Middle East diesel exports halved from March to

Presley Gerber, son of Cindy Crawford and model, dies at 27
Sep 22, 2026
Presley Gerber, son of Cindy Crawford and model, dies at 27

LOS ANGELES — Presley Gerber, the son of supermodel Cindy Crawford and businessperson Rande Gerber, died Sunday at age 27, a family representative said. Gerber died at a rehabilitation facility, according to online records of the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. The medical examiner did not provide a cause of death Sunday. An autopsy was performed, but more testing is required before investigators can give a cause, according to the medical examiner’s website. The death was confirmed by Allie Jenkins, a representative for Crawford and Rande Gerber, who were married in 1998. “The family is asking for privacy during this very difficult and painful time,” Jenkins said in an email Sunday night. Gerber was a model in his own right Gerber was a model and the older brother of model and actor Kaia Gerber. He had been open about his struggles with mental health and substance abuse, documenting his journey on Instagram. He even started a “Mental Health Mondays” series on the platform to raise awareness and share wellness tips. Across multiple episodes, he related his own experiences

Paramount settles with US states to clear Warner Bros. mega-merger
Sep 22, 2026
Paramount settles with US states to clear Warner Bros. mega-merger

LOS ANGELES — Paramount has reached a settlement with a group of U.S. states that clears the way for its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, officials announced Monday, creating a Hollywood empire spanning television, news and cinema. Paramount, which is run by David Ellison, whose ultra-wealthy family has ties to U.S. President Donald Trump, won a bidding war against Netflix in February for control of a stable of assets that includes Warner Bros. Pictures, CNN and the HBO Max streaming service. The Trump administration approved the deal, one of the largest media mergers in years, in June without demanding a change to its business, before 12 U.S. states sued to block the transaction. Financing for the deal reportedly includes about $24 billion in equity from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. David Ellison's father, billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison, also provided funding and a guarantee. Opponents in the movie industry said the combined company would slash jobs in a Hollywood already under pressure and reduce the number of films produced every year

US, Denmark, Greenland to sign US security deal for Greenland
Sep 22, 2026
US, Denmark, Greenland to sign US security deal for Greenland

COPENHAGEN — The United States, Denmark and Greenland will on Tuesday sign the announced U.S. security deal for Greenland on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Denmark's government said. U.S. President Donald Trump said last Friday that the arrangement will give America "permanent control" over security for Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory in the Arctic that he has long coveted. The office of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that she, Trump and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen would sign the deal at 1430 GMT in the UN building in New York. Frederiksen said Monday that the agreement, which has not been published, "recognises" the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark, as well as the right of the Greenlandic people to self-determination. "It is a good agreement from a Danish point of view," she told Danish radio DR from New York. "And when it benefits the Nordic countries and security in the Arctic region, it also benefits NATO and Europe." Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has repeate

Trump approval falls to career low of 32% as high costs bite, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
Sep 22, 2026
Trump approval falls to career low of 32% as high costs bite, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's approval rating fell to 32 percent — the lowest of his political career — as his fellow Republicans soured on his handling of the cost of living amid the unpopular Iran war, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found. The four-day poll, which closed on Sunday, showed 73 percent of Republicans approved of Trump's job performance, down from 82 percent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll a week earlier. His overall approval stood at 35 percent that week. Trump returned to the White House in January 2025 on promises to tame inflation and end foreign wars. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in the hours after he was first sworn in, he enjoyed a 47 percent approval rate. Just 17 percent of respondents in the new poll approved of his handling of the cost of living — the top issue Americans say will determine how they vote in the November 3 midterm elections, when Trump's Republicans are defending narrow congressional majorities. Dissatisfaction among Republicans on the subject has been growing since Trump launched the war on Iran in February that has pushed gasoline and die

Shadow of Xi summit hangs over Trump's high-stakes talks with Japan's Takaichi
Sep 22, 2026
Shadow of Xi summit hangs over Trump's high-stakes talks with Japan's Takaichi

When Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi meets U.S. President Donald Trump in New York on Tuesday, the leader casting the longest shadow over the meeting will not even be in the building. Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington on Thursday — two days after Takaichi meets the U.S. leader on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. It will be Xi’s first state visit to the U.S. in over 10 years. Faced with an unpredictable American president eager for tangible results ahead of what could be a tough November midterm election, Japan is working to ensure its vital interests are not traded away at the Xi-Trump summit. The Takaichi-Trump talks will unfold amid frosty ties between Tokyo and Beijing. Takaichi’s remarks last November that an attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan infuriated Beijing and sparked months of diplomatic freeze. Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washin

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