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Residents near Royal Air Force Fairford — a British air base used by the United States — were evacuated Sunday morning after a “major incident” involving explosives was declared by local law enforcement, ABC News reported.“The [counter terrorism] world tracking this story this morning very very closely,” wrote Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA intelligence officer, in a social media post on X.According to ABC News, several people were arrested Sunday “on suspicion of offenses under the explosives act” near the base, which has served as a “key hub for American operations against Iran.” According to The Guardian, a bomb squad was dispatched to the area, and residents of the nearby village of Whelford were evacuated.“I would like to thank all those emergency and specialist teams who have acted so swiftly regarding the incident in Gloucestershire,” said U.K. Secretary of State for Defense Wes Streeting in a statement. “We can be reassured that this is being dealt with, and it is exactly why our emergency response teams and Armed Forces are on standby 24/7.”A U.S. Air Force spokesperson declined to discuss specifics about the incident when contacted by The Guardian, but did tell the outlet that U.S. personnel at the air base “remain vigilant” and “take appropriate actions” when necessary to “ensure the safety and security of our U.S. service members, civilians, contractors and their families.”Iran has previously warned Britain against allowing U.S. bombers to use the air base, including the B-1 Lancer and B-52 Stratofortress, warning that doing so would make the base a “legitimate target.”“To the British monarchy, which has been the main culprit behind the misfortunes of the people of our region, with a dark record of the dismemberment of Islamic countries, widespread massacres in these nations, the imposition of dictatorial regimes and, worst of all, the organisation and direction of the operations to occupy Palestine and the creation of the Israeli catastrophe, and which has had the greatest involvement in the recent aggressions by the US and the Zionist regime against Iran, we warn it not to add further to its own indictment,” reads a July statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.The CT world tracking this story this morning very very closely….. https://t.co/zyc1xs9y0D— Marc Polymeropoulos (@Mpolymer) September 27, 2026

Two troops of chacma baboons are breaking into homes and shops but animal rights activists insist coexistence is the answerCape Town’s city council has said it will “imminently” round up two baboon troops coming into repeated conflict with residents. The animals will be sterilised and permanently moved to a newly constructed sanctuary. The plan has been fiercely criticised by animal rights activists, who say the monkeys should remain roaming freely, and that less destructive options have not been properly considered.Cape Town’s baboon problem has been brewing since the 2000s, after the city stopped culling troops in the late 1990s after pressure from the public. But in the past two years it has reached boiling point. A 2025 census found that the population had grown by a third since 2000, from 360 baboons to 493, now living in 12 managed troops. Continue reading...

Loved ones describe Jordan Yap, 30, as an experienced hiker who set out for a 10-day solo trek Peru before falling silentGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLoved ones of a missing Australian trekker who was last seen nearly two weeks ago on a remote South American hiking trail are urging local authorities to help with the search.A wide-scale sweep by a private rescue crew has so far failed to find any trace of 30-year-old Jordan Yap, who last made contact with friends and family on 14 September ahead of a planned 10-day solo trek along Peru’s Huayhuash mountain range, 400km north-east of Lima. Continue reading...

President Donald Trump heads into high-stakes meetings with world leaders carrying a risky habit, White House insiders told his biographer.In a Saturday episode of "Inside Trump's Head," Michael Wolff said that Trump refuses to read his briefing books before summits and told co-host Joanna Coles about the pattern while breaking down Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit."I've had this described to me by White House people of what happens when he goes into these meetings," Wolff said. Summits normally demand "really hard work," with briefing books and input from every corner of government that has "issues that they want on the table," Wolff explained."It's a difficult moment for any president because, I mean, you're the guy and you got to know what you're talking about," Wolff said. "If you don't know what you're talking about, you're giving away the store."The stakes, he stressed, go well beyond pageantry."It's a matter of security," Wolff said. "The world turns on these kinds of meetings. Not with Trump."Trump "refuses to look at the briefing books" and "refuses to have extensive conversations about the issues at hand," according to Wolff."Doesn't care, I suppose. Doesn't know what he's talking about," Wolff said. "He is always saying, 'I'm really good with this.' And then he goes into these meetings, and all it is is flattery."That flattery flows in both directions, with foreign counterparts "very clearly" understanding "what they can get by this," Wolff said."I'm trying to circumvent using the word buffoon," he added, "but I think that's what they see him as. They're like, 'Oh my God.'"Coles asked who would traditionally prepare the president, suggesting Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Wolff said the job requires "weeks of preparation," so aides boil it down instead."They give him two points. You got to do this and this," Wolff said. "And even that usually doesn't register with him."Wolff said the reality is difficult to convey to voters, and even to White House staff, who fall back on the idea that "he's been elected twice" and "must know what he's doing.""The president of the United States does not know what he's talking about in these situations," Wolff said.He warned that the consequences will soon come into view."Years from now, or not even years from now, I think we will start to see the effects of this," Wolff said.

The U.S. Army Reserve is looking into whether it can supply military police, medical teams and other support units to U.S. Southern Command within the next four months in an apparent buildup to military action in Cuba, according to a new report.An internal Army message reviewed by CBS News doesn't mention Cuba by name, and nothing in it shows that any units have received deployment orders, but several U.S. officials, speaking anonymously because they weren't authorized to comment, told the network the planning is focused on the island.The message, written last week, asks Army Reserve commands to report whether six types of units are available. It says they may be "needed in 90-120 days," which points to action as early as late December. Commands had until Sept. 25 to respond.The requested units include a combat sustainment support battalion and an engineer battalion. The list also includes an expeditionary sustainment command to run logistics across a theater of operations. It adds a medical brigade, a forward surgical team for trauma care near the front lines, and a military police brigade, a type of unit that typically handles security and detention.The Army Reserve did not respond to CBS News, and a Southern Command spokesperson declined to discuss "potential deployment timelines." The spokesperson said the command "continuously coordinates with the Joint Force to assess a range of potential requirements."The request adds to a series of signs pointing toward Cuba. U.S. military personnel told CBS that American forces surveyed the seafloor and sea approaches around the island earlier this year. U.S. air units were also placed on heightened readiness at the time, but those plans were not carried out.In July, CBS reported that Pentagon planners had considered options including an air assault by thousands of 101st Airborne Division soldiers. Officials stressed then that no decision had been made.The planning comes as the Trump administration increases pressure on Havana. This week it imposed new sanctions on Cuban military enterprises tied to the island's nickel industry. At the United Nations, President Donald Trump predicted Cuba's communist government "will fall" and said Secretary of State Marco Rubio was "deep into negotiations" with Havana. The Cuban delegation walked out during his speech.Trump has spoken openly about his ambitions for Cuba for months. In March, he said he expected to have "the honor of taking Cuba.""Whether I free it, take it — I think I could do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth," Trump said at the time. Later that month, he declared, "Cuba's going to be next."Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has promised to resist any U.S. attack.

Tens of thousands of police deployed and roads barricaded as PTI party demands release of jailed former PMLeaders from Imran Khan’s party have vowed to go ahead with a nationwide demonstration in Pakistan to demand the former prime minister’s release, even as the government deployed tens of thousands of police to Islamabad, barricaded highways and issued arrest warrants to try to stop the march.The state has taken extreme measures to prevent Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party from proceeding with the march. It was announced after mounting concerns of the treatment of Khan, who has been in jail since 2023 on corruption charges. Continue reading...

While US president hailed visit as ‘great’, almost nothing of substance was achieved on resolving thorny issuesKey takeaways from the Trump-Xi summit in WashingtonIf the Beijing meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in May was the “stalemate summit”, the second round of talks between the presidents of the US and China this week seemed to give up entirely on the idea of breakthroughs.Instead, it was described as a celebration of “diplotainment” rather than diplomacy, where pomp prevailed over progress and where one of the main outcomes was the news that two giant pandas would soon be sent from China to Atlanta zoo. Continue reading...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has confirmed his government prepared contingency plans for the possibility that President Trump could order a military invasion of Canada, a stunning admission that surfaced amid an escalating trade war between the two countries.Carney made the disclosure in a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times published Wednesday, according to the New York Post, describing the scenario as an "extreme tail risk," a phrase typically applied to rare, high-stakes events that most people would otherwise dismiss as too improbable to plan for."I think you have a responsibility in these roles to look at extreme tail risk," Carney said. "That's just risk management. That's not a base case, but it would be irresponsible not to" prepare.Carney declined to detail exactly what those preparations entailed, though he told The Times he'd worked to diversify Canada's supply chains, including for technology, to reduce the country's dependence on the United States. The Times described Carney, a former central banker, as someone inclined to methodically map out and plan for worst-case scenarios before they happen.The admission comes as relations between Washington and Ottawa have deteriorated sharply. Trade talks between the two countries collapsed earlier this summer, triggering a tit-for-tat tariff war that's pushed some U.S. duties on Canadian goods as high as 50 percent. Trump has also repeatedly floated the idea of annexing Canada as the "51st state," including sharing social media images depicting Canadian territory folded into the United States, though he explicitly ruled out using military force to accomplish it back in January 2025.Despite the tension, Carney insisted diplomatic channels between the two governments remain open.Separately, Carney has been working to deepen Canada's military ties with Europe, discussing expanded defense cooperation with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Strasbourg this week. Canada recently became the first non-European nation to join the EU's roughly $170 billion SAFE defense procurement program, part of a broader continental push to bolster military readiness.Trump has threatened to escalate trade sanctions against Europe if they make Canada an "associate" member of the European Union, another proposal under consideration.