Top World News
Sep 26, 2026
US strikes on Ecuadorian fishing boats raise humanitarian concerns but Trump admin not wavering
Attorney says fishers ‘losing their livelihoods’, but Marco Rubio maintains US still willing to ‘blow up ships if need be’While the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, was being decorated in Quito by Ecuador’s president for “helping to promote peace in the region”, 10 Ecuadorian fishers whose boat had been blown up by US forces were adrift in the eastern Pacific.On 8 September, a day before Rubio arrived, a US patrol vessel intercepted the fishing boat Don Rufo in international waters near Ecuador. Continue reading...
Sep 26, 2026
Trump's 'biggest oil deal' doomed to collapse as investigation exposes legal flaws
President Donald Trump's touted "biggest oil deal in world history" with Venezuela faces legal and logistical problems likely to sink it.The Guardian reported Saturday that nearly every major claim the Trump administration has made about the arrangement falls apart under scrutiny, from how long it lasts to the Pentagon's role in it. Venezuelan law caps oil development agreements at 25 years, not the 100 Trump has boasted about, and Venezuela's own government has put the term at 25."This is all just propaganda," Venezuelan legal expert Jose Ignacio Hernandez told The Guardian. "It cannot be implemented as announced by the administration."Trump announced in August that the Pentagon would take roughly a third of North American Blue Energy Partners, the second-largest private oil company in Venezuela. The move followed the January raid in which U.S. forces captured Nicolas Maduro and replaced him with Delcy Rodriguez.Experts say Congress never gave the Office of Strategic Capital, the Pentagon arm initially tied to the investment, the power to buy stakes in companies. A Pentagon spokesperson told Reuters in August that the office "does not take equity stakes in private companies." In a written briefing to the armed services committees, the Pentagon said it actually holds warrants, which are rights to buy shares later, rather than the shares themselves.The stake will reportedly be held by a separate Pentagon office whose mission is shoring up the defense industrial base and has nothing to do with oil.Phil Gunson of the International Crisis Group said major oil firms and investors are privately keeping their distance."It's the opacity of the agreement that has serious investors concerned," he said.The Guardian's investigation also found that Venezuelan crude won't help refill the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve any time soon, despite Trump's promises.At the center of the deal sits the company's owner, Alejandro Betancourt Lopez, who has been pulled into several international corruption inquiries but has never been charged with a crime. His lawyer denied that Betancourt ever sought or encouraged bribes. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the U.S. had no investigation into him.Former U.S. diplomat John Feeley offered a blunt comparison."The deal is like the big beautiful wall that Mexico will pay for," he said. The Guardian noted Trump's comments at the United Nations earlier this week remained defiant."It was a war, but it's perhaps the biggest deal ever made," he said. "To the victor belong the spoils."
Sep 26, 2026
'Umm….nope': Fox's Laura Ingraham skewered for 'epic' flip-flop on China
Fox News host Laura Ingraham has criticized the Chinese Communist Party for years. On Friday night, she told viewers that the White House state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping was "historic and epic," and critics online didn't let the change go.Ingraham, who attended the dinner, brought up her past criticism of Beijing on her show, "The Ingraham Angle.""All of you already know how I feel about the CCP, its trade practices, human rights abuses. Not to speak of the cover-up at the Wuhan lab," she said. "Imagine my surprise that I was invited. It was historic and epic."In another segment, which ran under the chyron "TRUMP DEALING WITH XI FROM STRENGTH," she argued that President Donald Trump has the upper hand."China needs us way more than we need China," Ingraham said. "Our economy is booming."Acyn Torabi, who posts political video clips on X, shared both segments. The replies came quickly.Tennis great Martina Navratilova, an outspoken Trump critic, quote-posted the economy clip with a short response: "Umm….nope."John Harwood, a former White House correspondent for CNN and CNBC, answered the dinner clip by throwing Ingraham's word back at her: "this is epic."An X user posting as "Radio Justice" compared her upbeat economic talk to what a loyalist might have told Hitler late in World War II."Yes, Mein Fuhrer, we are winning the war on the Russian Front," the user wrote.Jill E. Friedman, a writer and sculptor, replied with a GIF of Will Ferrell laughing as Ron Burgundy."No they don't," she also wrote.Ingraham's evening at the dinner also drew attention because of who wasn't there. Reporters from CNN and MS Now were reportedly kept out of the event. A federal judge had ordered the administration earlier that week to restore the press credentials it pulled from those outlets and Politico.
Sep 26, 2026
Lula bans fixed-odds sports betting a week before Brazilian elections
President’s ‘hard, drastic and necessary measure’, likely to attract widespread public support, polls suggestThe Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has signed an order banning fixed-odds sports betting just over a week before the first round of the presidential election, in a move he said was designed to tackle the pervasive problem of families falling into debt.The decision ends the operation, offering, intermediation and advertising of betting. Continue reading...
Sep 26, 2026
Heavy rain and flooding in Bangkok disrupts traffic and prompts evacuations
Incessant rain has hammered several areas of Thailand’s capital, disrupting traffic and forcing hundreds to evacuate
Sep 26, 2026
Don Jr.'s ex turned MAGA ambassador shills for client of lobbyist she drags around: WSJ
Donald Trump Jr.'s ex-fiancée has used her ambassadorship to promote one foreign firm while keeping its paid lobbyist at her side.Kimberly Guilfoyle, whom President Donald Trump named ambassador to Greece, has repeatedly pressed Balkan governments to work with Aktor Group, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Aktor is a Greek construction company that only recently moved into the natural gas business.Christos Marafatsos, who lobbies for the firm, has joined Guilfoyle at so many meetings that some foreign officials took him for her chief of staff. Federal lobbying records show Aktor paid Marafatsos $160,000 through June to build ties with the White House and the State and Energy departments. Several people who met with the pair, including government officials, told The Journal he never disclosed his work for the company.This spring, Guilfoyle arrived in Bulgaria on a private jet provided by Aktor's CEO and urged officials there to do business with the company."There is no doubt that this is kind of an official position of the U.S. government," a person familiar with the talks told The Journal.Robin Brooks, who oversaw the Balkans on the National Security Council under former President Joe Biden, called an ambassador promoting a foreign company "absolutely problematic." Bringing a registered lobbyist into meetings with foreign officials, she said, "calls into question whether the meeting is advancing American interests or advancing some sort of private interest."Guilfoyle's lawyer, Jesse Binnall, said she has "worked with companies across the energy sector" and that her official meetings are arranged through embassy channels rather than through Marafatsos. Lawyers for Aktor said the company's involvement began before it had any contact with the ambassador."I am proud to champion commercial initiatives that advance U.S. interests and create lasting economic opportunity in Greece and Southeastern Europe," Marafatsos said in a statement.Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Guilfoyle an "incredibly effective advocate for the President's agenda."
Sep 25, 2026
Massive Ivanka Trump problem triggers existential threat to GOP: 'Rage is building'
The Republican Party has a huge Ivanka Trump problem — and it could end in class warfare, a leading Democratic Socialist warned.“The anger and rage is building,” India Walton told Raw Story. “As we begin to raise our class consciousness and realize that racialized capitalism and the institutions that uphold it are the real enemy, and not one another, that will be the day that you'll see people in the streets.”Walton, an ex-mayoral candidate who now serves as a senior strategist for the progressive group RootsAction, made this prediction as President Donald Trump’s eldest daughter takes soft but determined steps back into the spotlight with a series of Instagram posts promoting her business ventures and documenting her family’s luxurious lifestyle.Ivanka’s decision to share recent images of her family jet-setting to Iceland and dining with royalty has unwittingly documented an America divided by wealth as they triggered a stark rebuke from citizens who struggle to put food on their tables and gas in their cars.Earlier this month, Ivanka posted a video of her daughter horseback riding on an idyllic beach and was met with condemnation — even from conservative commentators.“Americans: We can’t afford gas, food or tuition,” conservative podcaster Melissa Witte wrote on X. “Trump Family: here’s a video of Kai’s luxury dorm, Ivanka riding a horse and we’re also gonna rename both New Mexico and Lake Ontario ‘America.’”And Ivanka's family photos from Donald Trump Jr.'s Bahamas wedding now serve as a platform to discuss the recent ProPublica report that found the celebration was funded in part by a Russian oligarch."Elites trying so hard to be normal," Texan Derek Geisler replied on Instagram. "And I used to be a big Trump fan."When Ivanka shared an image of “The Beginning of Infinity” by David Deutsch — a book that explores the impact Western civilization has had on human progress — she was immediately criticized by one Instagram user as "Ivanka Columbus.""I'm sure she's looking to discover new lands to claim as her own," Charles Knight wrote. "Locals be on the lookout."Locals in Albania — where Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner plan to transform one of the nation’s most important ecological sites into a $1.4 billion resort — are doing more than keeping watch. They’re taking to the streets.What began as a one-issue outcry has developed into an organized movement as thousands of Albanians demand their government resign over concerns of corruption in the hands of oligarchs.Ivanka Trump sparked this “Flamingo Revolution” when she bragged, again on her social media, about how she dived off a friend’s boat, swam to what she claimed was the barely known Sazan Island, took a barefoot hike to its peak and decided to “realize its potential.”“It’s not even a business for me, despite the scale of it,” Ivanka told interviewer David Senra in May. “For me, it feels more like a challenge than anything else… a lot of reflection on how I want to live.”On Thursday, Walton argued to Raw Story that the number of Americans who want to live like Ivanka Trump is dwindling fast as the president's MAGA base sours on his philosophies, and sees progress occur outside his realm.“There's still a certain subset of our population who believes that one day, you know, if they work hard enough, they will be the Ivankas and the Donald Trumps of the world,” Walton said. “We are beginning to find out that those things are just untrue.”In Trump's "Golden Age," Americans have simplified their desires to safe food, vaccines for their kids, "a gallon of gas and a dozen eggs," Walton argued.If these frustrated Americans have yet to unite in protest, argued Walton, it's only because they're afraid.“With the militarization of our local police departments, with the deputization of ICE agents who have no qualifications in law enforcement, and who are wearing masks and go unidentified and are just like sweeping up people off the street,” said Walton, “there is a very real and reasonable fear that people are feeling about rising up.”But Americans, Walton believes, cannot ignore the success that her fellow Democratic Socialists have achieved — and pointed to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as proof.“Everyone, all over the country, is watching the success of New York City, one of the wealthiest cities in the world, watching it be able to tackle an affordability agenda,” she said. “People are really starting to question why, and what are people going to do about it?”And as Ivanka Trump continues to highlight the divide between the very rich and those struggling to get by, she only showcases the MAGA movement’s fatal flaw, Walton concluded.“This empire is not going to last forever — it can't possibly,” Walton said. “There's 99 percent of us who are fed up… we are moving away from identity and rediscovering that class is what unites us all.”
Sep 24, 2026
Trump's war running out of steam as Republicans' 'willful ignorance is starting to fade'
Republicans in competitive races are increasingly breaking with President Donald Trump over the Iran war as soaring fuel prices squeeze voters.In a Thursday piece for The Bulwark, Joe Perticone argued that GOP lawmakers had spent months seemingly determined to ignore the spike in gas prices since the conflict began. "Their willful ignorance is starting to fade," he wrote.Perticone reported that a growing number of Republicans running in battleground House and Senate contests are distancing themselves from the president on the war, pointing to pain at the pump as a chief reason. Gasoline averaged $4.48 a gallon nationally as of Thursday, while diesel has topped $6.50 and hit $7 or $8 in some states.With fighting ongoing and the Strait of Hormuz still contested, the White House has leaned on what Perticone described as weak domestic fixes, including Trump-backed discount gas stations he dismissed as a public relations effort. Diesel, he argued, poses the far bigger economic and political problem.Politico reported Wednesday that the Trump administration is weighing a 90-day ban on U.S. diesel exports to prop up domestic supply through the end of the year. Perticone spoke with senators who were cool to the idea."Of the Republican senators who understood what such a proposal would mean, none I spoke with regarded it as viable," Perticone wrote.Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) warned the plan would hurt U.S. refiners."I think it would end up driving up costs," Cruz said. "It would have massive harm to the refining industry. We refine more diesel than we consume, and it would end up forcing refiners to reduce production. So it would backfire badly."Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) called the proposal "a gimmick" while Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) sounded unenthusiastic."The kind of analysis they should be making is, 'Is it a net benefit?'" Hoeven told reporters. "And that should determine what you do."
Sep 24, 2026
China is embarrassing Trump's Pentagon with 'devastating' move amid summit: analyst
The Trump administration is facing a "devastating" threat from China after a package containing F-35 fighter jet parts was diverted to Hong Kong.On Thursday, former Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh explained during an appearance on CNN that the Trump administration should be concerned about China's ability to reproduce and reverse-engineer the F-35 after the faux pas."This is incredibly damaging and embarrassing for the United States," Singh said. "This is our most sophisticated aircraft platform that our military uses, and the proprietary information and some of the parts that were rerouted can be devastating, not only to reverse-engineer, but these are the fighters that can evade detection."She said, "An investigation would certainly need to play out" to understand just how devastating the mistake can be and what kind of threat is in place. However, she stressed that the F-35 is "very sophisticated," especially when it comes to avoiding detection."You'll remember when [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin came to Alaska, the red slating that you saw on the fighter jets, that was to protect components of the F-35 from photographs," Singh explained. "So the fact that this has now fallen into the wrong hands, I would hope that the president is pushing President Xi on how to get these back."Singh was referring to the fact that Chinese leader Xi Jinping is in Washington, D.C., and visiting President Donald Trump in the White House. She said it was an opportunity to bring the matter up, "but it's almost a little too late at this point because I would assume Chinese intelligence has at least taken photographs of this."CNN anchor Jake Tapper was flabbergasted to learn that the F-35 parts arrived in Hong Kong via UPS, the popular package courier, despite their importance to national security."UPS?" Tapper asked. "It's not a Christmas sweater."
Sep 24, 2026
Seething Kristen Holmes fact-checks Trump in real time: 'Fundamentally not true'
A Truth Social post by President Donald Trump taking aim at the media was quickly and angrily fact-checked by CNN White House correspondent Kristen Holmes.On Thursday, Trump shot off an irate post about how CNN and MS NOW didn't cover his White House welcome ceremony for Chinese leader Xi Jinping."CNN and MSDNC's Ratings have dropped considerably," Trump wrote, using his name for MS NOW, a jab at the network's progressive lean. "The primary reason is NO CREDIBILITY! They only write badly about a man who won the Election IN A GIANT LANDSLIDE."He continued, "CNN and MSDNC, to show you how fake they are, today refused to cover one of the Biggest and Most Beautiful Events to take place in many years, the arrival at the White House of the Highly Respected President of China, Xi Jinping...the event was magnificent — Actually made for Television."Holmes reacted to the post minutes after it came out."He is clearly very angry that there has been no coverage of his meeting," Holmes said, but she noted that claims in the post are "fundamentally not true." CNN would have covered the event, Holmes stressed, but its reporters were still not allowed into the White House when it took place.A judge temporarily blocked Trump's media ban earlier in the day and ordered the White House to restore access to CNN, MS NOW and Politico. However, the Trump administration initially tried to continue restricting their access, and the event with Xi took place before the White House finally relented. It seemed like no one told Trump about the series of events, Holmes said."Either somebody in President Trump's administration or the press office is lying to President Trump, or he does not have a fundamental understanding of what is happening today, or he himself is not telling the truth in this post," Holmes said, nearly yelling out of frustration. "And I do want to be very clear to the president of the United States that we would have covered this event had you not banned CNN and MS NOW and Politico."
Sep 24, 2026
Outrage as Trump flaunts 'autopen' portrait in front of world leader: 'Appalling'
President Donald Trump sparked outrage by joking about the "autopen" on a portrait to get a laugh out of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.On Thursday, the White House X account posted a video of Trump giving Xi a tour of the Presidential Walk of Fame, a West Colonnade display of gold-framed portraits of past presidents that Trump installed last September. Former President Joe Biden's portrait is notably swapped out with an autopen, reflecting Trump and his allies' claim that Biden's aides used the signature device on pardons and orders because he was mentally unfit. Biden denies the claim."Trump, Trump," the president said, pointing at the portraits on both sides of the autopen. "This is the autopen...It's Biden," Trump then explained to Xi with a pat on the arm.While people following Trump and Xi on the tour laughed at the joke, online reactions were harsher. Many were outraged that Trump would take a dig at a previous president for the sake of getting a laugh out of a foreign leader."As an American, I find this so embarrassing," former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul reacted. "He calls it the people's house, but he does not treat it as the people's house. Whatever your policy disagreements were with President Biden, 81 million Americans voted for him. To treat him with such disrespect is appalling. To force a foreign guest to participate in your ridicule of Biden is even worse.""I hate this," lamented Philip Klein, the editor of National Review Online, a conservative opinion outlet. "Xi is a commie b— who runs a key US adversary. Biden, warts and all, was a U.S. president.""He's a grotesque human being," blasted former GOP congressman Joe Walsh. "Taking a despicable cheap shot at an American president to make a communist dictator laugh.""How embarrassing for us," bemoaned Gregg Nunziata, a former GOP Senate Judiciary Committee counsel.As an American, I find this so embarrassing.He calls it the people's house, but he does not treat it as the people's house. Whatever your policy disagreements were with President Biden, 81 million Americans voted for him.To treat him with such disrespect is appalling. To… https://t.co/PTwtEpYn6M— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) September 24, 2026
Sep 24, 2026
'Order!' UN roiled by another mass walkout as right-wing Trump ally triggers storm-off
Diplomats from dozens of countries walked out of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approached the podium, emptying rows of the chamber in protest before he could say a word.Cheers and chants in support of Palestine broke out Thursday afternoon as dozens of diplomats stormed out. The protest led to a gaveling and a call for "order in the hall!"Netanyahu answered the exodus from the stage with a firm retort."If there are any other moral cowards who have not left this hall, please do so now," he said to a visibly thinned-out room. The walkout comes amid protests against Israel's brutality in Gaza, where the war has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, and against Netanyahu personally. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him last year over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity tied to the siege of Gaza, a warrant he rejects.Netanyahu arrived in New York at odds with the city's leaders. He spent the run-up to the trip attacking Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who previously warned he would seek to enforce the ICC warrant if Netanyahu set foot in the city. In a video before the speech, Netanyahu declared, "Shame on you, Mr. Mamdani!" and accused him of "supporting the Hamas terrorist monsters" and inciting violence against Jewish New Yorkers.That claim landed flat even on Fox News, where correspondent Trey Yingst flatly rebutted it, noting that Netanyahu's video said Mamdani "strongly supported Hamas, which... isn't true."The mass exit was not the first of the week's UN drama. A day earlier, President Donald Trump used his own General Assembly address to threaten to "annihilate" Iran, remarks one New York Times reporter characterized as a threat to commit a war crime.Netanyahu after the UNGA emptied out ahead of his speech: "If there any other moral cowards who have not left the hall, please do so now." pic.twitter.com/5I3ceI0bSM— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 24, 2026 ????Dozens of delegates from member states walk out of the UN general assembly in protest of Netanyahu's speech pic.twitter.com/afxM14UN8u— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) September 24, 2026
Sep 29, 2026
Trump Denies Offering To Sell Arms To Xi Jinping
Sep 29, 2026
"Hoax": Trump Denies Report On Iran Sanctions Relief
