Top World News
Sep 10, 2026
Acting Navy secretary casually drops ‘stunning admission’ on US bases amid war: report
U.S. Navy Acting Secretary Hung Cao was said to have made a “stunning admission” regarding the deeply unpopular U.S. war against Iran in an interview that was previewed Thursday.Journalist Ryan Morgan of the conservative outlet The Epoch Times revealed Thursday that he had interviewed Cao, and previewed some of Cao’s remarks in a social media post on X.“In an exclusive interview, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao told me that Iranian forces ‘blew the hell out of Bahrain,’” Morgan wrote.“While open-source analyses have long indicated that the U.S. Fifth Fleet Headquarters at Naval Support Activity Bahrain sustained extensive damage in the early days of the Iran conflict, Cao's comment represents a direct and high-level acknowledgment of the matter.”Past reporting has confirmed that the U.S. Navy base in Bahrain — a relatively small island country near Qatar and Saudi Arabia that sits in the Persian Gulf — was “repeatedly targeted” with Iranian strikes in the early days of the conflict. U.S. military officials, however, have claimed that no Americans were killed and that the damage did not “significantly impact operations,” according to The Wall Street Journal.Cao’s admission, however, appears to suggest the strikes may have been more damaging than the U.S. military had previously admitted, Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin suggested.“This is a pretty stunning admission by the Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, whose nomination is hung up in Congress, about how Iranian forces ‘blew the hell out of (US Navy’s 5th Fleet base in) Bahrain,’” Griffin wrote in a social media post on X. “Haven’t heard a senior US official admit this on the record until now.”As previously noted by the Journal, the damage to the U.S. base in Bahrain was so significant that some “structures that were attacked may not be rebuilt.”“Pentagon officials have frustrated lawmakers by declining to discuss the cost of the U.S. damage with Congress,” the Journal previously reported. “In response to a request for comment, the Pentagon pointed to remarks made by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Capitol Hill. Pressed for an estimate at a May congressional hearing, Hegseth replied: ‘What is the cost of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon?’”This is a pretty stunning admission by the Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, whose nomination is hung up in Congress, about how Iranian forces “blew the hell out of (US Navy’s 5th Fleet base in) Bahrain.” Haven’t heard a senior US official admit this on the record until now. See… https://t.co/NMaxkhVOrh— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) September 10, 2026
Sep 10, 2026
Secret son revelation ignites bitter succession dispute in Ugandan kingdom
Family of late King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV reject committee’s choice of cousin and TV presenter as new monarchA traditional Ugandan kingdom has become engulfed in a bitter succession dispute after the family of a king who recently died rejected the selection of a television news anchor as his successor.King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, who became the world’s youngest reigning monarch when he took the throne in the kingdom of Tooro in 1995 at the age of three, died on 27 August in the US, where he was receiving cancer treatment. Continue reading...
Sep 10, 2026
‘Very bad for Trump’: Mass panic as Iran war spirals with ‘catastrophic’ new threat
President Donald Trump's deeply unpopular war against Iran took a drastic turn Thursday, one that could send energy prices skyrocketing and sparked immediate alarm from analysts and critics alike.According to multiple news outlets, Yemen’s Houthis captured the Yemeni town of Mocha near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Wednesday, and are inching closer toward controlling the entirety of Yemen’s west coast along the Red Sea, a critical shipping waterway. With traffic through the Strait of Hormuz reaching its lowest levels since May earlier this week, analysts fear record-high U.S. energy prices could soon climb even further.“This is very bad for Trump's war with Iran because the Iran-backed Houthi rebels can now more easily threaten ships in the Red Sea and potentially choke off more Saudi oil exports,” noted Tommy Vietor, a prominent podcast host and former Obama administration official. “It could also restart the catastrophic Saudi-Houthi war. Bad bad bad.”Joe Kent, a former senior intelligence official in the Trump administration who resigned over the U.S. war against Iran in March, called the development “very significant,” and further warned that the Trump administration’s “policies and interventions abroad” would ultimately “get more people killed” as Trump’s “senseless war” sparks mass “radicalization” the world over.The Bulwark’s Catherine Rampell sarcastically quipped that the new development would be “great for gas prices,” and Faraz Chaudhry, a Pakistani opinion writer, warned that the development would see crude oil prices — which sit at around $101 a barrel as of Thursday — “go up to $150.”Polish terrorism researcher Paweł Wójcik called the Houthis’ latest move an outright “disaster,” and Hasan Piker, the prominent progressive streamer and political activist, hammered Trump for what he characterized as the president’s handling of the conflict.“[The Houthis are] moving to establish primacy over the bab al mandeb strait as the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] expands its targets to us naval assets in the strait of hormuz. they’re lobbing more [medium-range ballistic missiles] at jordan every time a tanker is struck,” Piker wrote in a social media post on X to his more than 1.7 million followers.“Meanwhile trump is so desperate he’s lying [about] bribing americans w 5k stimmies. we have to learn the right lesson from this bloody nose. we must end american militarism, treat other nations w respect and engage in diplomacy.”The Houthis’ rapid advance is just the beginning of the blowback effects we are now going to face as a result of our counterproductive policies in the Middle East & because of this senseless war in Iran.The Houthi’s ability to capture key terrain and strategic ports along the… https://t.co/icr4JiUCBZ— Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) September 10, 2026
Sep 10, 2026
Bush throws 'shade' at Trump amid dueling Dallas events — and worsening war
Former President George W. Bush appeared to take a jab by praising the general who is pushing President Donald Trump to end his war in Iran, five miles from the crucial Republican midterm convention he did not attend.Bush made the remark Wednesday during an onstage appearance at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, where former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice interviewed him for the center's "Engage" series.About five miles away, the Republican Party was opening its first-ever midterm convention at the American Airlines Center, a two-day event billed as a celebration of Trump's America First agenda, Axios reported. Trump and Vice President JD Vance were the only confirmed speakers, and Bush was not expected to be among them.In his opening remarks, Bush thanked the center's staff before turning to Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was in the audience."Thank God you are where you are, and we appreciate it," Bush said.The war with Iran was nearly six months old, and Trump's top general had spent weeks telling other administration officials privately that the United States needed a way out of a conflict the president chose to enter, CNN reported in August.Caine made clear to other senior Trump advisers that the military options for escalating the war could backfire, and that bombing alone was unlikely to achieve the president's stated goals, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN."Caine is looking for an off ramp," one of the sources said bluntly.He raised the same concerns with CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vance, and coordinated with them before meetings with the president so they could lay out the limits of the options on the table, two of the sources told CNN."I think it is just his way of protecting the military," one of the sources said of those conversations.Caine had made a version of the argument in public, telling lawmakers at a hearing that "airpower has its limits," according to CNN.Senior military commanders believe American munitions stockpiles are "dangerously low," and Caine raised the shortage with Trump in at least two meetings where escalation was discussed, CNN reported.Before the war began, Trump had invoked Caine by name in a post claiming his top military adviser believed the conflict "will be something easily won," according to CNN.In the same White House meeting where he raised the stockpile problem, Caine told Trump that the military could "absolutely wreck" Iran if the president decided to go ahead, one source told CNN."He's definitely pulling punches," a source familiar with Caine's interactions with Trump told CNN, comparing those White House conversations with what the general says privately to military leaders."He is out of his depth on this one," another source familiar with Caine's handling of the war told CNN.Caine's spokesman, Joseph Holstead, declined to discuss the chairman's private conversations with the president or other senior officials and rejected what he called anonymous, agenda-driven descriptions of them, CNN reported."General Caine is an incredible asset to President Trump's national security team, and the overwhelming success of Operations Epic Fury, Midnight Hammer, and Absolute Resolve speaks for itself," a White House official told CNN.Privately, Caine has told people he wants to restore trust in his post and in the military more broadly "even as Trump has politicized both," according to CNN.Bush did not mention Trump, the war, or Caine's role in it. Video of the moment circulated Thursday morning after the account Headquarters posted it on X. The account wrote that Bush "appears to shade Trump by praising the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine," and paired the line with a clip of the exchange.Bush has criticized the direction of American politics before without naming Trump, Axios reported, most pointedly in a 2017 speech at his presidential center."Bigotry seems emboldened," Bush said in that address. "Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication."Bush did not name Trump in that speech either, and he has generally said little publicly about him.He declined to endorse a candidate in the 2024 election, Axios reported. Trump, for his part, once said it would have been "wonderful" if then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had moved to impeach Bush over the Iraq war.The absence from this week's convention underscores the split between the Trump-era Republican Party and the Bush-era version of it, Axios reported. A person familiar with the convention planning, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Bush was not expected to appear.Republican National Committee spokesman Zach Kraft said Trump and Vance were the only speakers confirmed at that point and declined to say whether Bush had been invited, Axios reported. Bush's office did not respond to the outlet's question about an invitation.Bush had already made other plans for the week. KERA reported that he had previously scheduled events marking the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.Dallas has been Bush's home base since the early 1990s. His presidential library sits on the Southern Methodist University campus, and a stretch of highway in the city is named for him, Axios reported.The convention hall sits a 4.9-mile drive from the center, about 17 minutes in traffic.Rice, who conducted Wednesday's interview, is the person Bush has said he wrote in for president in 2020, according to Axios.
Sep 10, 2026
US facing imminent ‘disaster’ as ‘serious’ development unfolds in Iran war: report
The United States is facing an imminent “strategic disaster” as Yemen’s Houthis inch closer to capturing a major oil trade “chokepoint,” The Guardian reported Thursday, a development that could soon open a “second front” in President Donald Trump’s deeply unpopular war against Iran.Multiple news outlets reported Thursday that the Houthis had captured the Yemeni town of Mocha, which sits on the coast of the Red Sea in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which, like the Strait of Hormuz, is a major chokepoint for global shipping. According to Euronews, the two straits account for roughly a “quarter of daily petroleum and crude shipments, and nearly one-third of the world's maritime trade.”The Houthis are also working toward seizing complete control of Yemen’s west coast on the Red Sea, having previously vowed to block all Saudi Arabia shipments out of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.“Seizure of the coast would be a strategic disaster for Saudi Arabia and the US, taking Iran and its proxies closer to full control of two chokepoints for western shipping on opposite sides of the Arabian peninsula,” The Guardian’s report reads.“Observers have said a reduction in hostilities — the most intense since the UN-sponsored ceasefire of April 2022 put an end to major military exchanges — now seems unlikely in what is seen as an attempt by the Houthis to open a second front in the Iran-US war, alongside the battle for control of Hormuz.”The new threat to global trade comes as diesel prices in the United States soared to an all-time average high of $5.85 a gallon, breaking the previous record set in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Average costs for regular gasoline have spiked as well, reaching $4.15 a gallon last week.As noted by The Guardian, Saudi Arabia had also become increasingly “reliant” on traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait following disruptions to trade through the Strait of Hormuz.
Sep 10, 2026
‘Our forefathers are coming back’: Naga people celebrate after Oxford museum agrees to return remains
Following six years of talks, Pitt Rivers Museum will return body parts collected by British colonial administrators to north-east IndiaAnthropologists and community leaders from Nagaland, a remote state in north-eastern India bordering Myanmar, have expressed joy and relief that human remains belonging to their ancestors that had been on display in a British museum for nearly a century are finally being returned.On Monday, the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford announced that 39 pieces of human remains – including parts of skulls, a finger and a piece of skin with hair – belonging to the Naga tribes, will be returned to Nagaland after six years of negotiation between the community and the museum. Continue reading...
Sep 9, 2026
Trump's DOJ ghosts five European nations hunting Jeffrey Epstein's global network
A year after the first batch of Jeffrey Epstein investigative files was released, law enforcement agencies in at least five countries say the Justice Department still has not responded to their formal requests for help.Officials in Poland, Norway, Latvia, the United Kingdom and Germany told the Washington Post that requests for mutual legal assistance — the formal process that allows foreign investigators to obtain evidence, information and testimony from the U.S. — have gone unanswered.No charges have resulted from the files' release in the United States, but the documents exposed Epstein's relationships with influential figures worldwide, including President Donald Trump, and the revelations have prompted international investigations of the late sex offender's networks.The Justice Department disputed any suggestion it is stonewalling. "The Department of Justice has not refused to assist any jurisdiction investigating potential criminal conduct related to Jeffrey Epstein," a DOJ spokesperson told the Telegraph last month, adding that the department "remains committed to cooperating with all jurisdictions pursuing potential crimes."However, officials from those five European nations say their requests to the Trump administration have been met with silence.Poland's National Prosecutor's Office said the Justice Department has not responded to an April request.In Norway, state prosecutor Marianne Bender said her office remains in communication with DOJ officials but "they have not at this time approved the request." Latvia's state police said they have sent "several requests" and "no responses have yet been received." Britain's formal request followed informal talks that DOJ had already failed to advance, according to the Times of London, and German federal police say they remain in contact with the FBI without resolution.The stakes are highest in Norway, where three prominent figures — former diplomats Terje Rød-Larsen and Mona Juul, and former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland — face corruption charges connected to their relationships with Epstein. All deny wrongdoing. Rød-Larsen's attorney said Norwegian prosecutors have specifically sought additional records from DOJ and investigative steps involving the International Peace Institute in New York, where his client previously served as president. Bender called the lack of a U.S. response "very unfortunate for the Norwegian investigation."The Justice Department's Office of International Affairs, which processes such requests, has faced documented operational problems for years.A 2021 inspector general report found it plagued by high staff turnover, outdated technology and oversized caseloads, and a former DOJ attorney who worked in the office said such requests are "inherently complex," particularly when they involve voluminous records or contested redactions.Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers continue pressing DOJ for more transparency domestically, saying Epstein-related documents remain missing or unnecessarily redacted, even after Congress voted overwhelmingly last November to compel their release.
Sep 9, 2026
Trump's envoys treat war zones like real estate deals — and it's backfiring: analyst
President Donald Trump's two lead envoys for the world's toughest conflicts — Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff — are consistently misreading the wars they're sent to end by treating them like real estate negotiations, with consequences a foreign affairs expert says have already proven costly.Financial Times columnist Edward Luce argued Wednesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has largely stayed out of the Russia-Ukraine, Iran and Gaza negotiations shows he "can sense a losing bet." Trump instead favors Kushner and Witkoff, both billionaires with real estate backgrounds, whom Luce says pitch adversaries on postwar investment booms rather than addressing what those adversaries actually want."The core Kushner-Witkoff tactic is to seduce their interlocutors with the lure of postwar bonanzas," Luce writes. "Why should Ukrainians and Russians keep killing each other when they could be partnering with the U.S. to dig up critical minerals and build AI data centers?"That approach, Luce writes, fundamentally misreads the parties involved. Vladimir Putin's goal is territorial reabsorption of Ukraine, not economic partnership, while Volodymyr Zelenskyy's priority is national survival, the columnist argued. Luce pointed to the envoys' recent shuttle diplomacy, in which they visited Moscow before Kyiv and then presented Zelenskyy with tougher terms than he had already rejected, as evidence the pair's proposals have effectively echoed Kremlin positions.Luce also cited last November's 28-point peace plan, which reportedly proposed the U.S. mediate NATO-Russia disputes despite America's own NATO membership, as proof that subject-matter experts are largely absent from these negotiations.Luce's most serious claim ties the envoys' approach to the U.S. strike on Iran. Citing the Geneva nuclear talks in February, Luce argued that Witkoff and Kushner dismissed an Iranian offer they might have taken if only American nuclear experts had been present. That miscalculation contributed to Trump's decision to launch a military strike days later, Luce argued."If Trump could get today what Iran was offering earlier this year — diluting most of its fissile material under supervision — he would leap at it," Luce writes. "Which is another way of saying that Kushner and Witkoff are not giving him much value for money."On Gaza, the columnist noted that Kushner has described the territory as potentially "very valuable" real estate and suggested displacing its population in phases during reconstruction, framing a humanitarian crisis in developer's terms.Luce closed by raising conflict-of-interest concerns despite both men serving without pay, pointing to Kushner's Albania luxury villa project, which sparked protests adopting the flamingo as a symbol of resistance, and a scrapped Trump Tower deal in Serbia."'Albania is not for sale,' says the normally pro-American Albanian street," Luce concludes. "If Trump’s envoys would listen, other parts of the world are trying to tell them the same thing."
Sep 9, 2026
'Netanyahu's luck may have run out': Blunt warning served to Trump ally
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is viewed as a global "pariah," according to CNN's Harry Enten, and prediction markets show his odds of remaining prime minister after the next election sliding sharply.The United Kingdom, France and Canada have announced plans to sanction illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, underscoring rising friction between Israel and some of its closest Western allies, and Enten told "CNN News Central" that Netanyahu's net confidence rating worldwide sits 56 points underwater.That's worse than Donald Trump's, whose net rating is 53 points underwater despite being broadly unpopular internationally. By comparison, Vladimir Putin's rating is 22 points better than Netanyahu's, and Xi Jinping's is 37 points better. "He manages to even be three points less popular than Donald Trump, who, of course, is despised worldwide," Enten said.Israel's net favorability rating worldwide is 42 points underwater — 17 points worse than Russia's, 22 points worse than the United States', and 30 points worse than China's. "Among sort of the countries that are often in the news, Israel is by far the least popular one that's out there," Enten said.That unpopularity is no longer confined to one side of the political spectrum, Enten added, pointing to the U.K. as an example. Israel's net favorability there is 70 points underwater among left-leaning voters, 45 points underwater in the center, and still 20 points underwater on the right. "It's just across the board that Israel has a real image problem here in the U.K. and really in the world as well," he said.On Netanyahu's political survival, Enten cited prediction markets showing his odds of remaining prime minister after the next election have fallen from 41 percent in May to just 26 percent now."Everyone's a political survivor until their luck runs out," Enten said, "and Bibi Netanyahu's luck may, in fact, have run out."
Sep 9, 2026
'Do I look stupid to you?' Morning Joe erupts amid on-air screaming match
MS NOW's Joe Scarborough lost his temper on Wednesday — screaming over one of his guests to declare he wasn't "stupid." Scarborough was responding to new reporting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had advance warning of the brutal October 7 attacks, and failed to intervene."He was responsible for the funding of Hamas for years, billions of dollars," said Scarborough. "Three weeks before Qatar asked, should we continue funding Hamas? And the answer they get back from Netanyahu's government ... yes, yes, keep funding them. At the same time, he's getting a warning, an explicit warning, Israel is about to be attacked from Hamas. Now he is lying through his teeth in the campaign saying, oh, if they only woke me up. They did wake him up."Scarborough argued Netanyahu "did nothing" to help while "Jews were getting raped and killed, beaten alive while children were being tortured, while parents were being shot in front of children, and children were being shot in front of their parents."Scarborough turned to panelist Donny Deutsch. "You care deeply about Israel," he said. "Have you been able to figure out in all of your reading and all of your talking about this ... why Netanyahu funded Hamas, an organization that said, our goal is to exterminate Jews," even after "he'd gotten the warning from the UAE that, hey, a major attack is coming?""I can't explain Bibi," admitted Deutsch. "But I just don't want us to forget as we get close to three years, October 7th, that Hamas, to your point, slaughtered, raped, mutilated 1200.""So back to my question," said Scarborough, his voice rising to a shout as Deutsch tried to talk over him. "My question, Donny. It's not like Netanyahu didn't know.""Do I look stupid to you? Do I look stupid?" he yelled. "Look at me. Look at me in my eyes, Donny ... that I'm going to be distracted by you saying what you said a million times." - YouTube www.youtube.com
Sep 9, 2026
Family of British man found dead in Grenada ask local police to work with UK investigators
Andrew Frederick’s body was found in property he was staying at in Grenada in JanuaryThe family of a British father who was found dead in the Caribbean in January is urging authorities in Grenada to work with UK police to uncover the truth about his death.Andrew Frederick’s body was found in the property he was staying at in Grenada on 4 January. An autopsy, performed in the same week by a privately hired pathologist, concluded that the 47-year-old’s death was a homicide. Continue reading...
Sep 9, 2026
‘It’s hell’: father of slain Australian surfers tells Mexico homicide trial about identifying sons’ bodies
Three men are on trial over the death of brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their friend, US citizen Jack Carter Rhoad, in EnsenadaThe father of two Australian surfers killed in Mexico two years ago testified in court on Tuesday that his life had been turned into hell, as the high-profile trial continued into its second day.Three men are charged in the killing of Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, aged 30 and 33, respectively, and their 30-year-old American friend Jack Carter Rhoad, who were on a surfing trip to Mexico’s Pacific coast in April 2024. Continue reading...
