Top World News
Oct 25, 2026
Trump facing war trap 'in its purest form' as 'most dangerous' window nears: expert
A geopolitical expert warned Sunday that President Donald Trump is facing a trap in Iran, one that created one of the most dangerous windows in the war's timeline. Robert Pape, a political scientist who teaches at the University of Chicago, wrote in a new Substack essay that Iran's pathway to winning the war against the U.S. is by creating excruciating economic pressure on the Trump administration. Pape predicted that the Trump administration is likely to respond to such pressure with a limited ground operation in Iran after the midterms are over. This could cause a spiral of repeating escalations that drag the U.S. further into the war. "This is the Escalation Trap in its purest form," Pape wrote. Pape argued that the two months after the midterm elections in November will be the "most dangerous" part of the war. For starters, Pape noted that the lame-duck Congress will have little incentive to prevent Trump from acting on his worst impulses, especially if the Democrats trounce Republicans, as some polls have suggested. He also noted that Trump will have the fewest domestic constraints of his second term after the midterms, which could cause Trump to deal with the ongoing economic pressure in a concerning way. "Pressure on Hormuz and Gulf oil leaves Washington two choices: make the sweeping concessions an increasingly ambitious Iran demands, which carry a heavy price at home, or climb the next rung," Pape wrote. The stakes are even greater because of the looming elections in Israel, he added. There is a chance Netanyahu becomes a "caretaker" Prime Minister after the election, which could cause him to act erratically as well.
Oct 25, 2026
Trump admin plotting its 'most serious attempts to undermine international law': expert
President Donald Trump's administration is plotting one of the "most serious attempts to undermine international law" in modern history, according to one expert. Stephen Zunes, a politics professor at the University of San Francisco, detailed a resolution that the Trump administration plans to submit to the United Nations Security Council regarding Morocco's annexation of the Western Sahara territory. Zunes noted that the resolution includes some significant policy proposals that, taken together, amount to "a gift to Netanyahu, Putin, and any other leader seeking to expand territory by force." "This is one of the most serious attempts to undermine international law since the founding of the United Nations," Zunes posted on X. Morocco has been attempting to annex Western Sahara since the late 1970s. The country currently controls about 80% of the territory, although international bodies don't recognize Morocco's annexation. The Trump administration's proposal would remove longstanding requirements for U.N. peacekeeping forces to oversee a referendum about Morocco's annexation, which Zunes said would negate the "right of self-determination that has long been the basis of decolonization under international law."The resolution also falsely claims that there is a growing consensus about Morocco's annexation, when Zunes noted that only two far-right governments — Israel and Colombia — have recognized the move. Zunes described the argument as a "legal fiction.""There will certainly be objections from Pakistan, China, Russia, and perhaps some other countries which could result in changes in the language before it is put to a formal vote," Zunes added. "However, with Washington’s history of running roughshod over international legal precedent and the failure of even democratic nations to consistently stand up to Trump’s bullying (particularly on what are considered less-consequential issues), it is hard to predict." "Even if the full text isn’t accepted, the Trump administration may succeed in its primary goal: to make Morocco’s autonomy proposal, which falls way short of the international definition of autonomy and would rule out the option of independence, which is required for real decolonization, recognized by the United Nations as the only basis of future negotiations," he continued.
Oct 25, 2026
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi ‘sounds strong’ but is isolated, son says
Kim Aris tells the Guardian chance to speak with detained Nobel laureate was ‘public relations’ move from military leadersMyanmar’s former democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi appears to be in good physical and mental health but is living in near-complete isolation, her son has said after the first call with his 81-year-old mother in more than five years.“She still sounds certainly all there mentally, and physically she sounds strong,” Kim Aris said. “I don’t think she has anybody outside of the military or the police around her, so essentially she’s been held in solitary confinement from what I gather.” Continue reading...
Oct 24, 2026
Elon Musk admits closing Starlink ‘loophole’ in rant against ‘warmongers’: 'Burn in hell'
Elon Musk acknowledged that SpaceX changed how Ukraine's military can use Starlink and followed it with a stark warning about the war.In a lengthy post on X Saturday, the billionaire accused Ukrainian forces of violating Starlink's terms of service by using the satellite internet system "for offensive drone strikes to kill people" before announcing, "That loophole was closed last week."Musk then made clear how much rides on the service. "Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately," he wrote. "This is NOT a threat, it is simply a statement of fact."He argued Starlink "remains critical to the defense of Ukraine, as it is the only system that cannot be jammed or blown up, at least for now," and credited it with "preventing Russia from overrunning Ukraine in the early days of the war." "SpaceX has done more to defend Ukraine than any private company on Earth BY FAR," Musk wrote.Musk drew a distinction between Starlink, which he called "a civilian commercial service," and Starshield, "a different system" that he said is controlled by the U.S. government. "What they decide to do is up to them," he wrote.Then he turned on his critics. "I have nothing but UTTER CONTEMPT for the virtue-signaling evil warmongers who push for endless slaughter and offer no realistic solution to the conflict," Musk wrote. "May you burn in hell. End of story."The post, which racked up more than 1.5 million views, came in response to an account insisting Starlink is not a weapons system.Ukrainian activist Serhii Sternenko pushed back hard on Musk's version of events. "As someone who was inside the process at the Ministry of Defense, I can say with certainty that this is not true," he wrote, noting that "whitelists were introduced" in February.Others piled on. The account for MeidasTouch called it "a deranged post" in which Musk "openly acknowledges that SpaceX recently restricted Ukraine's ability to use Starlink." Shaun Pinner, a British veteran who fought for Ukraine and was held captive by Russian forces, replied simply, "What absolute crap."Singer Marco Foster, an executive producer at Really American who posts political clips on his popular X account, turned Musk's words around by suggesting the "warmongers" jab was "obviously referring to genocidal b— Vladimir Putin."
Oct 24, 2026
'Not an accident': Marco Rubio sends shockwaves with ominous 'coup' comment
Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly invited Cubans to work with the CIA on Friday, and the reaction across the political spectrum was immediate.“To those who seek to create positive change in Cuba - now is the time,” Rubio wrote on X. “The disappointment of failed promises, corruption, and the privileged lives of only a few; seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA.”A few hours later, the CIA’s official account posted the same message in Spanish. It included a video ending with the words “Contacte a la CIA” (“Contact the CIA”).Many people were stunned that the message was public at all.“Rubio is just putting this out on main,” wrote Ryan Grim, a reporter at Drop Site News and co-host of “Breaking Points.”Ben Rhodes, who was deputy national security adviser to President Barack Obama, wrote that “‘Please help us coup’ is a logical endpoint to Rubio’s worldview.”Some on the left said the post confirmed what they’d long argued about U.S. policy toward Latin America.“Good to see the State Dept lifting the mask of diplomacy and exposing itself as cover for malign CIA destabilization ops aimed at installing puppet governments,” wrote Max Blumenthal, editor of The Grayzone.Journalist Ben Norton, editor of Geopolitical Economy Report, called Rubio a “warmonger” who is “publicly asking Cubans to help the CIA organize a coup attempt.”“The US empire used to organize its many coups in secret,” Norton wrote. “Now it puts job postings for treasonous CIA coup-plotters on Twitter.”Australian writer Caitlin Johnstone predicted that anyone who later blames the CIA for unrest in Cuba will “STILL get called a crazy conspiracy theorist” after the agency said it “right out in the open.”Plenty of Trump allies loved it.“Cuba Libre!” wrote Monica Crowley, a longtime Trump ally and former administration official.“‘Create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA,’” wrote conservative national security commentator David Reaboi. “I want the t-shirt.”Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich responded with a pair of eyes emojis.Jacob Creech, a pro-Trump influencer who posts as “Clandestine,” tied the post to a recent comment from President Donald Trump about Cuba.“Yup, that comment from Trump about Cuba was not an accident,” Creech wrote. “We are going to be cleansing Cuba, which has been a Deep State/CIA hotspot for decades.”The State Department and the CIA didn’t specifically say what kind of “partnership” they were offering.
Oct 24, 2026
Whistleblower CEO quits over hidden Russian cash behind gas deal in Trump peace talks: NYT
A gas venture that came up in President Donald Trump's Ukraine peace talks had a hidden backer, according to its former boss.Polar LNG, a startup pitching a plan to export natural gas from Alaska's North Slope, received secret funding from Russian energy giant Novatek, The New York Times reported Friday. Joel Riddle, who ran the company until he resigned in September, told the Times he was misled into believing the money came from a firm in the United Arab Emirates.Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the project last month with Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, people familiar with the negotiations told the Times. White House officials see energy deals like it as a way to smooth relations with Moscow."It's not only unlawful, but it's not in the U.S. interest," Riddle told the Times. Novatek, which is under partial U.S. sanctions, was already set to supply the project's technology.Text messages reviewed by the Times show Novatek deputy chairman Denis Solovyov and chief executive Leonid Mikhelson discussed sending as much as $15 million to Polar LNG's Abu Dhabi parent company, Tech Wave, to keep the effort going. "The first 5 million were supposed to arrive by today," Solovyov wrote to Riddle in early September.In a statement to the Times, Novatek said it was moving to become a "minority shareholder" in the project. Polar LNG named Tim Talkington acting chief executive and called Riddle a "disgruntled former employee" who was fired for cause. Documents obtained by the Times show Riddle resigned six days before the company sent him a termination letter.Memos from law firm Baker Botts, attached to Riddle's resignation letter, said Treasury Department sanctions enforcers had flagged "potential Russia-related sanctions concerns." Recent sanctions legislation specifically targets Novatek, but Trump temporarily waived the law's Russia sanctions last week, saying the move was needed to keep peace talks alive.The push to bring Novatek equipment to Alaska also involved Gentry Beach, a college friend of Donald Trump Jr. who said in February he had negotiated with the Russian company. A spokesman for Trump Jr. said the two are no longer close, and Novatek said Beach played no role in its talks over a Polar LNG stake.There is no indication Witkoff or Kushner knew about Polar LNG's ties to Novatek, the Times reported. Still, Geoffrey Pyatt, a former State Department energy official under President Joe Biden, warned the idea "feeds the belief that Putin can get an out-of-jail-free card."Riddle said he and two other departing executives warned the Trump administration about the Russian financing and urged officials to investigate. The Energy Department did not respond to the Times."I felt like I did the right thing to notify authorities at the appropriate time," Riddle said.
Oct 23, 2026
Leaked emails expose far-right party's decade-long courtship of Trump: report
Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has courted Donald Trump and other leading MAGA figures for a decade, according to a trove of newly leaked emails reviewed by the Guardian.The leak, reported Friday, includes more than 420,000 emails and documents from the party, most dating to before 2019. The AfD has confirmed a cyberattack on an external provider in September but said only parts of a few inboxes, "mostly unused for years," were copied unlawfully.The Guardian reported that senior AfD officials agonized over the wording of an “obsequious” congratulatory telegram after Trump’s 2016 win, which included the wish that his “hopes as a person be fulfilled.” The party quickly moved to asking the White House for support on policy, the paper reported. A second message, sent Jan. 20, 2017, asked Trump to help remove the United Nations’ “enemy state” clauses. The AfD’s federal board adopted the request on a Jan. 16 call, according to a record in the leaked documents. When the party’s federal office circulated an English draft on Jan. 19, Georg Pazderski, then the party’s Berlin leader and a federal board member, objected to the tone and the request.“You don’t address the president as Mr Trump, he is Mr President. Otherwise a bit wordy and flowery. I stand by it: the enemy-state clause doesn’t belong in this letter at all. You don’t do that in a letter of congratulation. It looks like a begging letter,” Pazderski wrote, according to the Guardian.Other documents show a growing relationship between Alice Weidel, now the AfD’s leader, and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. The two met in Zurich in March 2018, though the files show "no follow-up," according to the Guardian.The AfD has surged since then. It won 12.6 percent of the vote when it entered the Bundestag in 2017 and came second with 20.8% in the February 2025 federal election, the Guardian noted. It now leads national polls at about 30 percent. On Sept. 6 it won 43.8 percent in Saxony-Anhalt, and Trump hailed the result on Truth Social. “Wow! The Populist Party in Germany just had a really big night,” he wrote, ending with “MGGA!!!”Germany’s domestic intelligence agency monitors the party as a suspected rightwing extremist organization, the Guardian reported.AfD politician Markus Frohnmaier said he could not verify the documents, which he said were obtained unlawfully, and described the contacts as ordinary political outreach, according to the Guardian. The paper said the US State Department has had friendly contacts with the party during Trump’s second term.
Oct 23, 2026
Melania Trump claims she just secured a 'ceasefire' between Russia and Ukraine
First lady Melania Trump claimed she secured a “ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, but it covers only one occupied town, and neither country immediately confirmed it.The White House made the claim in a statement Friday, saying the first lady “successfully secured a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, localized to the city of Oleshky.” Melania Trump shared the statement on X.The statement said the ceasefire would begin Oct. 29, allowing humanitarian aid into Oleshky and preparing to evacuate civilians through a safe passageway.About 2,000 residents remain trapped in the Russian-occupied town in Ukraine’s Kherson region without enough food or medicine, the Kyiv Independent reported.“It was abundantly clear that without my intervention, the possibility to bring humanitarian aid into the city and to evacuate the elderly would be impossible,” Melania Trump said in the statement.The statement described her role as “Exclusive Intermediary” and said she and an unnamed representative worked directly with “Russian and Ukrainian leadership” to set the terms.Pope Leo XIV had been pushing for a truce in Oleshky, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin on Oct. 16 and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Oct. 19 to seek a humanitarian ceasefire there, the Kyiv Independent reported.After the Oct. 16 call, the Kremlin said Putin “supported the Vatican’s intention” to help protect the town’s residents and organize supplies, America Magazine reported.Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said Russia had considered all of Kyiv’s earlier evacuation proposals.“We are now moving towards agreeing the final details on ensuring a ceasefire and evacuating everyone who wishes to leave, not just from Oleshky elsewhere, but directly to territory controlled by the Ukrainian government,” Lubinets said.“There are still some difficult issues, so to speak, but I hope that in the near future we will all see results from these negotiations,” he added.During a meeting with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg this week, Putin asked him to thank the first lady for leading mediation on Oleshky, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters, according to the Russian state news agency TASS, the Daily Beast reported.The Daily Beast said it remains unclear what role the first lady has played in addressing the Oleshky crisis.Her husband, President Donald Trump, repeatedly said as a candidate that he would end the war within 24 hours, and in a September 2024 debate he said he would settle it before he even took office.“Well, I was being a little bit sarcastic when I said that,” Donald Trump said in a March 2025 TV interview, 54 days into his second term, according to the AP.On Oct. 11, Donald Trump posted that the two countries had agreed to an energy ceasefire, but Zelenskyy said the next day that Russia was still striking Ukraine’s energy facilities.“In the Kremlin, both President Putin and officials at other levels have repeatedly stated we do not want a ceasefire,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that week.Putin agreed Wednesday to resume three-way talks with the United States and Ukraine after Nov. 10, at Witkoff’s request, CNN noted.Hours later, Russia launched a massive missile attack on Kyiv, CNN reported.
Oct 23, 2026
Mystery over source of Ebola infection in Nigeria fuels concern about spread of virus
Switzerland says patient is wife of Swiss diplomat and believed to have contracted virus while travelling in UgandaHealth officials across Africa are racing to determine how Nigeria’s first Ebola patient in more than a decade became infected, amid fears the outbreak could spread further after reaching a fourth African country.The Swiss foreign ministry said on Friday the patient in Nigeria, the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja, had not travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak was first detected in mid-May before spreading to Uganda, Kenya and now Nigeria. The woman was believed to have contracted Ebola while travelling with her husband in Uganda, the ministry added. Continue reading...
Oct 23, 2026
Trump's new Ukraine claim immediately goes up in smoke as foreign official calls him out
Following a wave of fierce backlash, President Donald Trump claimed Thursday that Ukraine’s access to SpaceX’s Starlink services had been fully restored — only to have that claim immediately undercut by a Ukrainian official, Axios’ Barak Ravid reported Friday.Last week, Ukraine’s ability to use Starlink services for combat drone missions was compromised after its access to the broadband internet service was restricted without warning. Some prominent Ukrainian figures suspected Trump was behind the move given the president’s growing frustrations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Subsequent reporting tied the newly imposed Starlink restrictions directly to the White House, and on Thursday, Trump neither confirmed nor denied the allegations that he had spoken to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk about restoring Ukraine’s access to Starlink.“I don't want to comment on it, you know, whether I called or whether somebody else called. Doesn't make any difference,” Trump told reporters. “The bottom line: He put it back.”And yet, despite Trump’s claim, a Ukrainian official disputed the president within a matter of hours.“A Ukrainian official tells me that Starlink and Starshield are still restricted in Ukraine despite Trump's claim that it is back up,” Ravid wrote in a post on X.????A Ukrainian official tells me that Starlink and Starshield are still restricted in Ukraine despite Trump's claim that it is back up— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) October 23, 2026
Oct 23, 2026
Trump's own team fears his next move will tank the global economy: report
Several senior Trump administration officials expressed fears that the president’s next move may very well send the U.S. and global economies “further cratering,” Zeteo reported Friday.According to multiple reports citing Trump administration officials, the president appears poised to renew attacks on Iran in a matter of days. Earlier this month, the Pentagon instructed U.S. Central Command to finish preparations for resuming major combat operations, and on Thursday, The Atlantic reported that President Donald Trump was “considering” authorizing “several days of strikes.”Speaking on the condition of anonymity, several senior Trump administration officials warned that such a move could prove disastrous on multiple fronts.“Several senior officials I spoke to are (to put it mildly) massively skeptical that revving Trump’s war machine back up will bring about the (supposedly) intended result of forcing the Iranian government to make significant concessions and end the war in Trump’s favor,” Zeteo’s Asawin Suebsaeng reported. “These officials also fear a further cratering of the U.S. and global economies, which have already suffered significantly during the oil crisis and other shockwaves caused by Trump’s war and Iran’s shuttering of the Strait of Hormuz. (This is to say nothing of the likelihood of a growing death toll in multiple nations, the danger to U.S. troops, and other inevitabilities if Trump keeps at it.)”Iranian officials have already made clear that a U.S. attack would be met with an immediate response, including the destruction of Middle East oil facilities, submarine communication cables and AI facilities and data centers in the region.“In the event of a war, cables, datacentres and artificial intelligence facilities could also be targeted. If the conflict breaks out again, we will have a broader plan,” said Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, according to Iranian state media.“There can be no arrangement in which Iran’s economic lifelines come under attack while the economic architecture enabling those attacks is considered untouched and immune.”
Oct 23, 2026
India slashes cost of cancer drugs after court rules mark-ups are ‘extortion’
Case filed in 2022 by patient unable to afford medicine leads to cap on drug prices for millions who face ruin if diagnosedThe Indian government has moved to reduce the price of cancer drugs after a retired bank clerk took her case to the supreme court.From next month, 137 cancer drugs in India will be cheaper as the government tries to tackle the tragedy of poorer patients either forgoing treatment, selling land or falling into debt to meet the high cost of some medicines, which are making large profits for hospitals and pharmacists. Continue reading...
Oct 28, 2026
UN Nuclear Watchdog Chief Urges Iran To Grant Access
