Illicit gold mining is surging across the globe. Across the operations in Ghana, Indonesia, French Guiana, there’s a connecting thread: Chinese syndicates.

New investigation in @washingtonpost.com: wapo.st/41GgjHP

Some bilateral work on war legacies, such as the search for the missing remains of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese soldiers, had only begun in recent years. The U.S. retreat will significantly hobble progress, say Vietnamese groups.

The Vietnam War ended 50 years ago today. It took decades for the two countries to normalize relations, then decades more for the U.S. to begin redressing what it left behind. These efforts at reconciliation are being eroded under Trump.

A 🧵on our @washingtonpost.com story today:

The tangible effects of Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts are on display right now in Myanmar, say USAID officials. America’s disaster relief capabilities, the biggest and best in the world, are immobilized while the death toll in Myanmar’s earthquake climbs up and up.

@washingtonpost.com

Employers say workers are not being forced to stay in Israel. But labor rights groups say this is disingenuous. Thai workers can earn up to 10x more in Israel. They don't get paid each day that they don't work. So most days, even with rockets falling, they do.

Videos shared by Thai workers show them laboring under dire conditions: Plucking fruit with air raid sirens blaring; ducking under trucks as missiles streaked overhead. Nowhere near shelters or any other protection from exploding shrapnel.

"We have tried everything, everything possible to stop this,” said Thailand’s ambassador to Israel.

Israeli authorities gave Thai leaders assurances that workers would not be sent to the front lines. But workers have been. Truckloads of them waved into closed military zones.

At least six migrant workers — five Thai, one Indian — have been killed in cross-border attacks this year, including four who died from rocket fire in October after receiving explicit IDF permission to work in the evacuated town of Metula.