Top World News

Several missing Australians have been found since Tuesday morning, bringing the total citizens unaccounted for to 38Australians missing in the Nepal floods: what we know so farA total of five Australians missing after devastating floods ravaged the Nepal-Tibet border last week have been found.Of the five Australians confirmed safe, one was found in Nepal, one in Tibet, and three outside the crisis-hit area. The total number still missing is 38. Continue reading...

President Donald Trump admitted that he's not trying to bring Iran to the bargaining table in a Truth Social post.On Tuesday night, Trump let the admission slip during an attack on "ABC Fake News." In the post, he wrote, "I'm not trying to force Iran to the bargaining table," and "I couldn't care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement." He also signed off with, "When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?"

Inviting a top Russian official onto American soil has drawn fierce criticism and left Western allies fuming, according to The Wall Street Journal.In a Tuesday editorial, The Journal's editorial board slammed the Trump administration's decision to bring Russia's finance minister to this week's G-20 gathering in North Carolina, calling the move "especially unfortunate.""The German finance minister was justifiably angry to see Russia welcomed to such a forum for the first time since the Ukraine invasion in February 2022," the board wrote. The Journal warned that Russian leader Vladimir Putin "will pocket the international legitimacy from the visit and continue his terror bombing of civilians in Kyiv."The Journal's criticism landed the same day Germany blamed Moscow for a drone attack at Leipzig airport last month. The Journal noted that the airport serves as a supply route for Ukraine. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt cast the incident as part of a wider campaign and said his country does not consider itself "at war" but has become "the daily target of hybrid warfare," according to The Journal.Putin's "hybrid" playbook, which includes cyberattacks and dragging anchors across undersea cables, is a way to deny responsibility while forcing the West to absorb the cost of escalation, according to The Journal. The aim is to splinter NATO without firing a shot, The Journal warned."Mr. Putin is behaving like he thinks he can get away with flagrant provocations," The Journal wrote. "Europe for too long hasn't wanted to risk speaking plainly about the threat, which makes Germany's blunt comments this week all the more welcome."Russia is pegged as the main culprit for 144 drone incidents across 13 countries in less than two years, according to an International Institute for Strategic Studies count cited by The Journal.The Journal suggested that Trump's "time would be better spent trying to move the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's Russian sanctions bill through the House, where its fate this week is uncertain."

Two news anchors reacted with alarm to the global bond selloff and mocked the Trump administration's failed response.On Tuesday, CNN anchor Erin Burnett and Richard Quest, the host of Quest Means Business, explained what's happening in the global bond market and why it spells trouble for major economies.Burnett described how "turmoil" like the war in Iran has led to "meaningful economic impacts, and people experience them every single day." Referring to a global bond selloff, Burnett explained, "something happened today in the market that was sort of a five-alarm fire when it comes to where things are going.""It's very concerning because it's the markets telling governments, not just in the United States but also in Europe and in Japan, that their fiscal path is unsustainable," Quest said.Quest explained that investors known as "bond vigilantes" are behind the global selloff, adding that they only "come out of the woodwork when they see government debt or even corporate debt" that they think is unsustainable."They basically ratchet the price down and the yield up," Quest explained. "That's not fine for a company, but that's only a company. In this case, we're talking about the U.S. government debt."Quest noted that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tried to quell the turbulent bond markets a couple of weeks ago, but that "seems to have failed because rates are back where they were. The market is basically saying they don't believe what this administration is planning to do."Burnett flagged that as "a hugely significant thing to say" because the Treasury Secretary, along with the Federal Reserve chairman, are people who "the markets have taken very seriously."She also played a clip of Bessent saying, "The U.S. bond market has been the best-performing market since the president came in," which was met with laughter by Quest."He was trying to move the price rather than the fundamentals," Quest said, explaining Bessent's failure. "The best analogy that I can give you for that quote from Bessent is that famous line, 'the cleanest dirty white shirt in the laundry,' and that's what the U.S. is."

MAGA pundits were cornered by panelists on CNN's "NewsNight" with host Abby Phillip on Monday over the president's latest batch of empty threats toward Iran. Over the weekend, President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated video of him attacking Kharg Island, a strategic island in the Persian Gulf that the Iranian regime has used to attack merchant ships in the area. Trump has previously threatened to strike the island and posted the threat on the same day U.S. forces hit Larak Island in the Strait. May Mailman, legal director for Independent Women's Law Center and a former Trump administration staffer, argued that Trump's comments were meaningless because they were written on Truth Social. "When are we going to stop being like, so triggered by Truth Social and an AI video?" she asked. Her comment caused an uproar on the panel. "How dare we take the President of the United States seriously?" Isaiah Martin, a Democratic content creator, responded rhetorically. Leigh McGowan, host of the "Politics Girl" podcast, argued that Trump's video was another in a long series of "unhinged" behavior that should worry Americans. "It's so absurd," McGowan said. "He does crazy things that are completely unhinged; says he's going to annihilate the entire civilization. Then does this bombing thing, and we're supposed to be like, 'Oh, he's just joking. He's just coming in there for a little joke.' It's a terrible way to lead anyone."Noah Rothman, a senior writer at the National Review, argued that he is also tired of Trump's empty threats, and said they are no longer credible in either the U.S. or in Iran. "What is credible is the lawn mowing strategy that we've begun to see articulated in the press, and the Iranians should be very afraid of our degree to degrade their capability to project power," Rothman said. Martin was taken aback by the argument, and pointed out that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had recently claimed "all objectives" of Trump's war had been achieved. "So, they lied?" Martin said. Rothman stammered and conceded that some of the Trump administration's claims about the war have been untruthful.

Outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) dropped the hammer on several of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein's alleged co-conspirators in a scorched-earth rant on Monday night. Massie took to the House floor and read the names of several alleged Epstein co-conspirators. The names included Jes Staley, Leon Black, Les Wexner, David Copperfield, Lapo Elkann, Tom Pritzker, Glenn Dubin, Frédéric Fekkai, Eduardo Teodorani-Fabbri, Jean-Luc Brunel, Daniel Siad, Ramsey Elkholy, Prince Andrew, and Lesley Groff. Everyone Massie mentioned who has spoken publicly about their relationship with Epstein has denied any wrongdoing. Massie said he hoped the move would "shame the Department of Justice into releasing the names of more co-conspirators."This is the second time that Massie has exposed the names of some of Epstein's alleged co-conspirators. In February, Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) exposed three names: Leon Black, Jes Staley, and Les Wexner.It happened at a time when the Trump administration is trying to outrun the Epstein files saga, which has consumed much of the second Trump presidency. The Trump DOJ has claimed it won't release any more files, despite acknowledging that it holds more than 3 million unreleased records. On the House floor tonight, I read the names of several Epstein coconspirators who should be investigated and prosecuted.I also began collecting 218 signatures for the discharge petition to force a vote on Epstein Files Transparency Act II. pic.twitter.com/fgpebvxNpP— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) August 31, 2026

A series of unprecedented Pentagon leaks stunned onlookers Monday, appearing designed to pull the United States out of a war rather than push it deeper in, breaking with decades of precedent.On Sunday, The Washington Post published a bombshell report that revealed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had been warned by several U.S. military leaders that a prolonged large-scale operation against Iran was “unsustainable,” despite Hegseth’s claims to the contrary. The Post’s report was based on a recent classified assessment and inside sources, suggesting Pentagon officials had leaked the information to the outlet.As argued by conservative commentator Saagar Enjeti, the leaks illustrated how poorly the deeply unpopular U.S. war against Iran had gone during its first six months.“Never in my lifetime have I seen the Pentagon brass desperately leak to keep the US OUT of a war. It is always the opposite to box a President in,” Enjeti wrote Monday in a social media post on X. “Just shows how bad things are.”Andrew Fox, a retired British Army major and military analyst, was equally stunned by the nature of the leaks.“An astonishing leak, and not officially denied, to my knowledge,” Fox wrote Monday in a social media post on X. “A leak like this is unprecedented. Perhaps some US officers do remember the ‘and domestic’ part of their oath.”Others, like foreign policy scholar Arta Moeini, were more taken aback by which forces appeared to be pushing for the United States to continue its war against Iran.“Even the US military wants to pull back from the Middle East. Ironically it's the civilian leadership that keeps us permanently engaged in a region peripheral to our interests,” Moeini wrote Monday in a social media post on X.Never in my lifetime have I seen the Pentagon brass desperately leak to keep the US OUT of a war. It is always the opposite to box a President inJust shows how bad things are https://t.co/gJCxBjBZcU— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) August 31, 2026

A conservative columnist for the Washington Post is not happy with his employer's publishing a weekend bombshell report that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing stiff opposition from Pentagon generals as the Iran war drags on.According to the exclusive from the Post’s Alex Horton and Tara Copp, a handful of U.S. military leaders have warned Hegseth that “prolonging large-scale operations against Iran is unsustainable” and puts the military at risk should another threat emerge elsewhere — “including the U.S. homeland.”“Leaders of the U.S. European Command, the U.S. Pacific Command and the U.S. Southern Command, along with the Navy’s top admiral, responded with what is characterized in the SDOB as a ‘non-concur,’ those familiar with the assessment said — meaning they disagree with the secretary’s order to extend their forces but will execute it nevertheless,” the report continued.Marc Thiessen, who joined the Post as a columnist after a stint as a spokesperson for Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) and serving as a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, announced he wants a criminal investigation of Horton and Copps sources -- leaving open whether they should be prosecuted also.On X, he linked to the WaPo announcement of the “exclusive " story and accused, “Whoever leaked this is a traitor and ought to be prosecuted.”That falls in line with Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, who is angling to be the new Army Secretary despite a history of domestic abuse allegations, who issued a statement saying, “publishing highly classified assessments from the Secretary’s orders book is a crime” and “a betrayal of the force.”The Post picked a side and went with the reporters, issuing a statement that reads, in part: “The assertion that such a publication is a crime is both incorrect and irresponsible.”