The founder of Christian human rights organization ChinaAid is warning about the health of imprisoned Chinese pastor Wang Yi, who may have advanced liver cancer as his family remains barred from visiting him and accessing medical information.

Rev. Dr. Bob Fu, ChinaAid’s founder and president, told Fox News that reports about Wang’s condition are “very worrying,” citing information from multiple sources inside China.

Wang, founding pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, has been imprisoned since December 2018. He is serving a nine-year sentence after being convicted of inciting subversion of state power and illegal business operations.

Fu said he believes reports that Wang has advanced liver cancer are credible, but acknowledged that ChinaAid has been unable to independently confirm the diagnosis.

Fu said ChinaAid was “not able to really independently verify” the reports because access to Wang is restricted and he has not received an independent medical examination.

ChinaAid first raised public concerns about Wang’s health on Sept. 28, urging Chinese authorities to allow his family to see him and release details about his medical treatment.

During the interview, Fu said authorities had reportedly provided medical information by telephone, claiming that Wang underwent an examination on Oct. 1.

According to Fu, prison officials said the examination showed Wang was in good health. His family, however, has not been allowed a new in-person visit to assess his condition for themselves.

Fu said Wang’s wife and other relatives have sent repeated letters requesting access, but “no meeting had been granted at all” since the latest health concerns emerged.

Wang’s church has also said it remains uncertain about his medical condition.

In an Oct. 3 open letter, Early Rain Covenant Church acknowledged the reports but said it could not determine whether Wang was ill. The church urged prison authorities to allow regular family visits, correspondence and telephone calls, while also disclosing any medical care he may require.

The church said Wang’s family has been allowed fewer than five visits during his nearly eight years in prison.

Fu also described visitation as severely restricted, saying meetings are brief and closely monitored by authorities. He alleged that visits have been abruptly ended when relatives raise questions about Wang’s health or discuss his religious beliefs.

“Two years, not a single letter for his wife,” Fu said, describing the limits placed on Wang’s communication.

“That’s not acceptable. That’s even a violation of its own law.”

Wang was arrested on Dec. 9, 2018, during a crackdown on Early Rain Covenant Church, an independent Protestant congregation operating outside China’s state-controlled religious system.

A Chinese court sentenced him to nine years in prison in December 2019. The U.S. State Department condemned the conviction, saying the prosecution was linked to Wang’s peaceful advocacy for religious freedom and calling for his release.

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom currently identifies Wang as a religious prisoner of conscience and has documented allegations of medical neglect.

Fu also raised concerns about the treatment of Wang’s wife Jiang Rong, who was detained during the initial crackdown.

He said Jiang had previously been subjected to residential surveillance at a police-arranged location, rather than being allowed to remain in her own home, and described the lasting emotional consequences of her treatment.

Fu said he believes the severity of the reports warrants immediate action, particularly given the limited access to Wang.

He called on the Chinese authorities to permit Wang’s wife, son and elderly parents to meet with him privately, allow an independent medical examination in the presence of legal counsel, and release his medical records, including information concerning medications administered during his imprisonment.

Fu also expressed concern about reports of mistreatment of other prisoners of conscience, including allegations of forced medication and serious physical and psychological harm. Those allegations were discussed as part of his broader concerns about the treatment of detainees in China, rather than as established evidence of what has happened to Wang.

The ChinaAid president urged the Trump administration to raise Wang’s case directly with Chinese officials during upcoming diplomatic engagements.

“I really want to see the Trump administration to continue to speak up forcefully,” Fu told Fox News, calling for the names of individual prisoners of conscience to be included in high-level discussions.

He pointed to the July release of Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, who was reunited with his family after President Donald Trump raised his case with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a May visit to Beijing.

Fu believes that example demonstrates the potential importance of direct diplomatic intervention, although the circumstances of Jin’s release do not establish that such pressure would produce the same result in Wang’s case.

Trump and Xi are expected to attend upcoming international summits, including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leader’s meeting in Shenzhen, China, in November and the G-20 summit in Miami in December.

Fu urged U.S. leaders not to allow trade and security negotiations to overshadow concerns about religious freedom, human rights and the treatment of prisoners.

“I think it’s time to hold them accountable,” Fu said.

In a statement to Fox News, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Chang said the embassy had no information to provide regarding Wang’s specific case.

The spokesperson defended China’s religious policies, saying the government protects freedom of religious belief under Chinese law and does not interfere in religious groups’ internal affairs.

Liu added that China prohibits illegal activities carried out under the guise of religion and opposes foreign interference in its domestic affairs.

The embassy did not directly address questions about Wang’s reported medical condition, family visitation or the possibility of an independent medical examination.

The U.S. State Department did not respond to News Media’s request for comment by publication time.

Russian travellers are facing unprecedented airport chaos as waves of Ukrainian drone attacks disrupt airspace around Moscow.

Anger and frustration are mounting as passengers endure delays lasting hours — and, in some cases, days — amid the continuing war ordered by Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin leader and his military commanders have also been accused of spreading “lies” after claiming to have “liberated” frontline settlements that Ukraine says remain under its control.

Video footage shows exhausted passengers sleeping on airport floors in Moscow. The capital’s four main airports have experienced more than 1,000 hours of closures this month.

Check-in staff have reportedly been brought to tears as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky begins to fulfil his threat to shut down airspace around the Russian capital.

Sheremetyevo Airport recorded more than 100 disruptions early today, while Vnukovo Airport reported 150 delayed or cancelled flights.

Ukraine sent dozens of drones into the Moscow region, triggering widespread disruption to flights and forcing airport authorities to suspend operations.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said: “Seventy-five drones heading towards Moscow have been destroyed.

“Emergency services specialists are working at the crash sites.”

One passenger responded sarcastically: “We have to endure it. Before the [war], the situation was much worse.”

Another passenger posted: “**** Putin.”

A 34-year-old woman said: “My holiday is completely ruined. The blame for this lies in the Kremlin.”

The disruption came as Donald Trump took another step that critics said would benefit, rather than weaken, Putin’s war effort.

Trump signed an executive order temporarily blocking “hellish sanctions” approved by Congress against Russia over the conflict.

The move followed concerns that 500 per cent tariffs on Russian energy resources could undermine his plans to increase the supply of Putin’s diesel to global markets.

Trump hopes lower fuel prices will help ahead of the US midterm elections on November 3.

Kirill Dmitriev, envoy for Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Monday described Mr Trump’s decision to waive the US sanctions and tariffs targeting Russia’s energy revenues as a ‘historic moment’.

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Mr Dmitriev said: ‘The Trump administration’s suspension of the Graham Act is an important and truly historic moment.’

He added that the sanctions would have caused ‘serious damage first and foremost to the US economy and global markets’.

The move by Mr Trump followed the reported partial blocking of Starlink’s internet service to the Ukrainian armed forces and threats to halt intelligence sharing with Kyiv, steps criticised by Mr Zelensky.

There is speculation their relationship is now at ‘breaking point’.

Mr Putin and his top war commander General Valery Gerasimov sought to persuade Mr Trump that he is on the point of major war breakthroughs – yet they were accused of ‘lies’.

General Gerasimov claimed the ‘liberation’ of key frontline hubs Dobropillia, Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka and Serhiivka, as well as the destruction of a 2,000-strong Ukrainian force encircled in the Kharkiv region.

They fictitiously claimed the entire Luhansk region was in Russian hands – as they have falsely claimed before.

Mr Putin – wearing his commander-in-chief’s military uniform – said: ‘Overall, I note a positive trend in the actions of the force groupings….

‘The pace of advancement has quickened, as evidenced by the results achieved in carrying out combat missions…..’

He boasted of the ‘capture of the city of Dobropillia’ when it is partially controlled by Ukraine, and said: ‘The liberation of Donetsk People’s Republic remains, without a doubt, one of our primary objectives.’

Even Russian pro-war channels accused Moscow of making an AI video of a soldier waving a Russian flag in blitzed Dobropillia.

He has so far missed 14 separate deadlines for taking control of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, and has recently lost territory here.

General Gerasimov told Putin Russian forces were already three miles from Zaporizhzhia.

Military Informant channel indicated the claim was nonsense and said: ‘There is simply no point in picking all this apart.’

Meanwhile, Ukraine staged a devastating 1,615-mile strike at Russia’s largest facility for producing oil and gas condensate mixtures in Siberian city Surgut – Mr Putin’s oil capital.

Smoke rose from the Chernomyrdin Surgut Condensate Stabilisation Plant owned by Gazprom in remote Khanty-Mansi region.

Russian forces inflicted more agony on Ukraine overnight as Mr Putin seeks to switch off electricity, water and heating for winter.

A power plant was hit in Zhytomyr, a metals plant in Kryvyi Rih, Mr Zelensky’s birthplace, and a steelworks in Zaporizhzhia.

Russia dropped FAB-250 aerial bombs on Sloviansk, hitting a residential building where one was killed and ten wounded, with searches underway amid the rubble.

The president of a University of California, Santa Barbara, sorority is speaking out for the first time about a discrimination scandal that shook the campus’s Greek community and prompted a revolt among its members.

Alana Nielsen, president of Alpha Phi, told the California Post that the controversy revealed a troubling power imbalance between local sorority members and the national representatives responsible for overseeing recruitment.

Now, angry members are working to reclaim control of the process.

“Honestly, I felt sick to my stomach,” Nielsen said, recalling the moment she realized something was seriously wrong. “I couldn’t imagine letting the day end without giving our members an opportunity to speak.”

The controversy erupted in late September after an outside recruitment adviser was accused of discriminating against women of color during Alpha Phi’s annual rush process.

About 1,200 prospective members took part at the outset, but the pool reportedly fell to roughly 250 after the first round on Sept. 26.

When active members returned, they noticed that many of the women they had hoped to advance—including candidates from diverse backgrounds—had disappeared from the recruitment pool.

Nielsen said the pattern emerged gradually over the course of the day.

“It was more of a gradual realization throughout the day,” she told The Post. “As members started talking to one another and comparing their experiences, it became increasingly difficult to ignore how many women we had wanted to return were missing from the candidate pool.”

The apparent removal of so many candidates was especially troubling because members had been told their evaluations would help decide which prospective recruits moved forward.

Instead, Nielsen said, sisters began to wonder whether their feedback had been ignored altogether.

“We had been taught to trust the people overseeing recruitment,” she explained. “These were older, more experienced representatives who had been doing this for years, and we had never been in a position where we felt we needed to question the process.”

At the same time, current women of color in the sorority were allegedly being sidelined from recruitment duties.

Sky Achola, a Black sorority member, previously told the Santa Barbara News-Press that nearly every woman of color in her sorority family group had been removed from recruitment rounds.

According to Nielsen, members were told there were not enough sisters available to take part in every round.

That explanation soon faced scrutiny, however, as some groups of women were repeatedly assigned to recruitment rounds while others were routinely excluded.

“Members could see that certain groups of women were consistently being scheduled to recruit, while many women of color were being assigned significantly fewer rounds or none at all,” Nielsen said.

As frustration mounted, Nielsen called for a chapter-wide meeting, even though an outside representative had allegedly suggested ending the day on a “happy note” with music and dancing.

The sorority president rejected that approach.

“It felt wrong to send everyone home without acknowledging what was happening,” she said.

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What followed was an emotional uprising inside the chapter house, with sisters crying, shouting and demanding answers.

Recruitment director Emerson Novosel previously described the extraordinary scene to the Daily Nexus as feeling “like a revolution happening right now.”

Nielsen said she refused to silence the women.

“Once one woman stood up, it empowered others to do the same,” she explained. “That was incredibly powerful to witness.”

The unidentified volunteer adviser, a UCSB Alpha Phi alumna who had previously assisted with recruitment, subsequently left her position.

Nielsen declined to publicly identify her, stressing that the controversy exposed deeper issues within the sorority’s recruitment system. 

“For me, the larger issue isn’t just about one individual,” she said. “It’s also about the structure that allowed outside representatives to exercise so much influence over our recruitment process.”

The president said the chapter still has unanswered questions about who made decisions and how candidates were selected.

Alpha Phi International’s Health, Wellness, and Accountability department has since met with members, but Nielsen said emotional support alone isn’t enough.

“Our members aren’t only looking for emotional support,” she said. “We also want to understand how these decisions were made, what factors influenced them, and what accountability will look like moving forward.”

The chapter is now collecting written accounts from sisters and establishing a committee to overhaul its recruitment system.

Nielsen wants future outside advisers relegated to clearly defined support roles, with local members retaining control over decisions.

“We want clear procedures for how scores are used, transparency around how return decisions are made, fair and clearly explained opportunities for active members to participate in recruiting,” she said.

UCSB condemned discrimination in a statement to The Post.

“Discrimination is not tolerated at the university. Reports of discrimination are investigated by the university’s Office of Discrimination and Harassment Prevention and referred to Student Conduct as appropriate,” a university spokesperson said.

The university did not confirm whether a formal investigation into these specific allegations is underway.

Despite the ugly fallout, Nielsen insists the sisters aren’t backing down.

“Moving forward doesn’t mean moving on without accountability,” she said. “It means using this experience to build something better, with our members’ voices at the center of it.”

The California Post reached out to Alpha Phi International for comment.

Pope Leo XIV is set to leave Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Saturday after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous nodule from his right lung, the Holy See announced.

“Following the doctors’ assessment this morning, Pope Leo XIV will be discharged today from Gemelli Hospital, where he was hospitalized for surgery on his right lung,” the Vatican said in a statement.

The pope is expected to depart in the early afternoon and return to the Vatican. On Sunday, he will lead the Angelus prayer from a window of the papal apartment, according to the announcement.

Blood tests and a chest X-ray performed Saturday indicated that Pope Leo was healthy enough to leave the hospital and continue his recovery at the Vatican, according to Vatican News.

Before his discharge, the pope will celebrate Mass in a room on the hospital’s 10th floor, the Holy See press office said.

Pope Leo underwent thoracic surgery Tuesday to remove the lung nodule. Doctors later identified the growth as lung adenocarcinoma, a type of lung cancer.

The procedure was successful and produced no complications. “The Pope was in the operating room approximately three hours, while the operation itself lasted about 90 minutes,” the Holy See press office said.

Vatican News reported that Pope Leo woke normally after the operation and, following a short period of observation, was taken back to his room on the hospital’s 10th floor.

During his recovery, Pope Leo also spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, appealing for a ceasefire in the Ukrainian city of Oleshky.

The Holy Father voiced “deep concern about the grave humanitarian situation” in Oleshky, located in the Kherson region, and urged a halt in fighting to enable food and medical supplies to reach residents and permit civilians to leave voluntarily and safely, the Vatican said.

The pope also reiterated the Holy See’s efforts to encourage dialogue and support peace, according to the statement.

Russia has controlled the southern Ukrainian city since May and has blocked humanitarian food deliveries, according to earlier News Media reporting. Oleshky is also without electricity, gas and running water, while its hospital is operating only in a limited capacity.

News Media has reached out to the Holy See for additional comment.

Katie Zacharia’s tenure as White House press secretary lasted just five days, as new details emerge about the abrupt end of her first week in the role.

Zacharia was thrust into the national spotlight Tuesday morning when she entered the White House briefing room. Her debut was marked by halting delivery, heavily scripted answers and a refusal to take more than three questions.

By Friday, she had been removed from the prestigious position. Earlier that day, Zacharia was speaking with a reporter from the Wall Street Journal in her newly assigned West Wing office.

Jason Miller, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, interrupted the conversation and tapped Zacharia on the shoulder. “JD wanted to chat with us real quick,” he reportedly told her.

Zacharia excused herself and left for the meeting, but never returned to the interview, according to the Wall Street Journal. Minutes later, Trump answered questions from reporters on the White House helipad before leaving for Joint Base Andrews.

Asked to assess Zacharia’s performance, Trump said: “Well, Katie’s been treated very badly by the media.”

The president also described a conversation with Zacharia earlier that day, saying he had urged her to think carefully about whether she wanted to remain in the job.

“I said, ‘Is this for you, Katie? Because honestly, you don’t need this,’” Trump told reporters.

When asked whether he still had confidence in her, Trump replied: “I don’t know. We’ll see. I’m gonna let her make that decision.”

Trump said he had warned her, “You should reconsider because you don’t wanna go through this,” while accusing the media of treating her “nastily” since her first briefing.

Before reports of her removal surfaced, Zacharia told the Wall Street Journal that there were “no staffing changes that are happening.”

She said she was working to keep the White House communications team “cohesive” and highlighted what she described as a close relationship with the president.

Even as she projected confidence, Zacharia acknowledged that the pace had taken a toll. She said she was surviving on “no sleep and high adrenaline and probably too much caffeine and no food.”

Her brief tenure as press secretary unfolded with remarkable speed. The roughly 14-minute briefing was widely ridiculed online, while hosts on Fox News also questioned her performance.

Zacharia had been an unexpected choice for the post. Her background included six weeks at the Department of Homeland Security, appearances on conservative media, a position at Trump Media and a legal career that had faced scrutiny.

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She had only 24 hours to prepare for her first White House press briefing. In her interview with the Wall Street Journal, she said, “The truth is that I have a hard time saying ‘no’ because I want to be a team player,” while stressing that she was not accusing the White House of forcing her to appear before reporters so quickly.

A former Trump official described Zacharia as an ‘overwhelmed substitute teacher,’ the Wall Street Journal reported. 

Members of the White House communications team told the outlet that she arrived late to a meeting on Friday and stood in the back of the room. 

When invited to address her team, she said she was excited to work at the White House and eager to get to know everyone. 

However, Zacharia’s allies told the Daily Mail that she knew it was over when she met with Trump on Friday. 

White House communications director Steven Cheung later made her departure official, writing that she will be ‘transitioning into a new role that will be announced at a later date.’

The Daily Mail also revealed that Susie Wiles pushed to oust Zacharia after Trump bypassed her during the hiring process.

On Friday night, Zacharia praised Trump in her final act as press secretary, writing in a statement: ‘President Trump is a kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and the most hardworking man.

‘I wish more Americans appreciated him. No one will ever make America great the way he has and continues to. It was an honor to work for him.’

Despite her short tenure, Zacharia still found controversy during her week in office. After calling herself a lawyer, it was quickly uncovered that she never passed the bar exam. 

When asked by a reporter on Tuesday where she passed the exam, Zacharia replied: ‘When I moved to China.’

She later clarified that she had not heard the question and tried to smooth things over in two interviews with Sean Hannity on Fox News and again on Fox & Friends.

Her appearances failed to save her role. A senior administration official previously told the Daily Mail, ‘If she can’t handle Fox being a little tough, she’s not going to be able to handle CNN.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for comment on the Wall Street Journal’s reporting.  

Winston Lee, one of seven Cornell University fraternity members accused by a fellow student of gang rape, is the grandson of Lee Hong-koo, a former South Korean prime minister and ambassador to the United States.

In a lawsuit, a Cornell student identified as “Jane Doe” accused the former Chi Phi member of snorting ketamine off her and forcing her to perform oral sex during the alleged assault.

Cornell suspended Lee for two years.

His grandfather, Lee Hong-koo, served as South Korea’s prime minister from 1994 to 1995 and as the country’s ambassador to the US from 1998 to 2000, during Bill Clinton’s presidency.

The two prominent figures crossed paths repeatedly. At a 2000 ceremony at the Korean War Memorial in Washington marking the conflict’s 50th anniversary, they posed for photographs together.

Their relationship appeared to continue after Clinton left office. In 2005, while the former president was in Seoul promoting his autobiography, Lee invited him to a hotel for bibimbap, a Korean dish Clinton was reportedly a “huge fan” of.

Lee Hong-koo died in May, and Winston acted as chief mourner at the high-profile funeral in Seoul. He oversaw key rites, welcomed guests and accepted condolences on behalf of the family, which traces its lineage to Korea’s former royal family.

Photographs from the funeral prominently show Winston wearing white gloves and holding a portrait of his grandfather.

Lee Hong-koo’s only son, Winston’s father, is Barton Lee, a Yale-educated investment banker who serves as managing director and head of Asia at EIG in Hong Kong.

The family is considered one of the most prominent in South Korea’s expatriate community in Hong Kong. Sources said it has faced intense scrutiny and shame since Jane Doe filed a lawsuit alleging that seven men, including Winston, gang raped her at Cornell.

Winston’s mother, Ji Young Hwang, is president of the Korean Women’s Association of Hong Kong, a nonprofit officially recognized by the South Korean government. Its stated mission includes “supporting women’s integration and personal growth.”

The association removed its Instagram page after the allegations emerged, drawing further criticism.

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“Shutting down their Instagram account feels like a move to protect one of their own rather than stand by their mission,” Hong Kong-based Instagram account Cantonese Lesson Daily wrote.

“It is especially troubling given that the person involved is the president of the organization. The behavior her son is accused of is fundamentally antithetical to the core principles of any group dedicated to supporting, protecting, and empowering women.”

Winston attended the United World College of the Atlantic, an elite boarding school in Wales with annual tuition of $150,000. He later hired the prominent law firm that represented Sean “Diddy” Combs and Harvey Weinstein in their sex-related cases.

According to Doe’s lawsuit, the alleged assault lasted for hours. After Jonathan Newell posted a “free p—y” message in the “Chi Phi Actives” Snapchat group, Winston replied, “CHI PHIII.” He then went upstairs, where he and Matthew Ingalls allegedly took Doe to another room for the night’s final threesome, which ended at about 5:45 a.m.

Cornell’s directory shows that Lee remains enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences this semester.

All of the men named in Doe’s allegations have denied wrongdoing, and none has been criminally charged.

In interviews with Cornell investigators, Winston said his sexual contact with Doe was consensual.

The day after the alleged incident, Doe texted Newell: “I don’t think we should feel any shame. . . . Our body our choice.”

Doe’s lawyer attributed the message to “part of the processing that she was going through” from denial to acceptance.

Winston Lee is one of two accused men, along with Gillio Lopes, who has called on the judge to remove New York Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor in the case after James called Jane Doe a “survivor” on social media and said, “What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable.”

“It is the height of unfairness that an uncharged person like Mr. Lee, presumed to be innocent, should be investigated by anyone — much less the AG — who has already publicly endorsed the purported victim and concluded the accused are guilty,” his attorney, Teny Geragos, wrote in her Oct. 9 filing to have James removed.