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Foreign minister Penny Wong visits Fiji this week to progress the security and economic agreementFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia looks close to signing a landmark security and economic agreement with Fiji as part of the Albanese government’s efforts to contain China’s growing influence across the Pacific.But pushback from Beijing has undermined a separate pact with Vanuatu’s government, resulting in a scaling back of a deal aimed at locking in Australia as the country’s primary security partner. Continue reading...

WHO says seven confirmed or suspected cases of hantavirus on MV Hondius, including three passengers who diedWhat is hantavirus, the infection thought to have killed three on cruise ship?A British crew member was in need of urgent medical care and a passenger from the UK remained in a critical but stable condition following a suspected outbreak of hantavirus on a luxury cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean.Three people have died and medics on Monday were scrambling to evacuate two others from the MV Hondius, which set off in March from southern Argentina carrying 149 people from 23 countries. The crisis emerged late on Sunday after the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was investigating a suspected outbreak. Continue reading...

President Donald Trump's niece sounded off against her uncle's war in Iran in a new Substack essay on Monday. Mary Trump, a psychologist and author, argued that Americans are just starting to pay the "cost of chaos" of her uncle's war. She noted that the economic fallout from the war is "staggering," as the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas predicts a 2.9% drop in global GDP because of the war. "Donald entered this conflict despite explicit warnings from experts that it would be a catastrophic mistake," Trump wrote. "The consequences were foreseeable to anyone paying attention. What is now being proposed as a way out of the war amounts to a reset to the status quo that existed before, except under far worse conditions. That is not strategy. That is failure.""And the economic consequences are already here," she added. "According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the United States economy was already shaky before the Iran war. Now it is in real trouble. Growth is slowing. Prices are rising across the board. The ripple effects are being felt across multiple continents, including here at home."She also noted that her uncle's hypocrisy over the war is now impossible to ignore. "During the 2024 campaign, Donald made the price of eggs a centerpiece of his messaging," she wrote. "He blamed rising grocery costs on his predecessor, despite the fact that those price increases were largely driven by a widespread outbreak of avian flu and the necessary culling of poultry. That did not stop him. He attacked daily. He simplified a complex issue into a political weapon. And he promised relief."

Result in key Indian state is set to have significant implications for the country’s political landscapeNarendra Modi’s party has won a resounding election victory in West Bengal, a state which had been a rare opposition stronghold, expanding his unrivalled consolidation of power across the country.It is the first time that the Indian prime minister’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has won assembly elections in West Bengal, a large and politically significant state in eastern India. Continue reading...

Two of the top GOP leaders issued a rare rebuke of President Donald Trump on Saturday after the president sent "the wrong signal" to his Russian counterpart, according to a new report. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) issued a joint statement in which they bashed Trump's decision to remove 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany, the Washington Examiner reported. Trump made the decision after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized Trump's negotiations with the Iranian regime. “The reality remains that even as allies move toward spending 5% of GDP on defense, translating that investment into the military capability needed to assume primary responsibility for conventional deterrence will take time,” the joint statement reads in part. “Prematurely reducing America’s forward presence in Europe before those capabilities are fully realized risks undermining deterrence and sending the wrong signal to Vladimir Putin.”Instead of withdrawing the troops entirely, the two Republicans urged Trump to send them eastward, closer to the border with Russia, and to "coordinate with Congress," according to the report.

President Donald Trump has been briefed by “several senior administration officials” that Iran is “keenly aware” of the leverage it holds over the president as the conflict drags on, Zeteo reported on Friday.Trump has claimed that his administration holds “all the cards” as peace talks between Washington and Tehran continue to stall, that Iran’s government was in a “state of collapse,” and that he was in no rush to reach a peace deal. However, according to two administration officials and two other inside sources, classified intelligence assessments that Trump has been briefed on suggest the opposite.“In recent weeks, US officials have privately discussed classified intelligence assessments suggesting that the government in Tehran isn’t close to breaking, even after two months of war and a sustained economic assault, two administration officials and two other sources briefed on the matter tell us,” according to Zeteo. “Administration officials, citing US intel, have also warned that senior Iranian officials are keenly aware that if the war drags on much longer, it could further damage Trump and the Republican Party’s chances at the polls in November.”One senior administration official, speaking with Zeteo on the condition of anonymity, compared the leverage Iran had over Trump with the leverage Iran had over former President Jimmy Carter, whose presidency was tanked in large part due to the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.The Iran hostage crisis coincided with the 1979 Iranian revolution, when Iranians overthrew U.S.-backed leader Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whose rule had been reinforced by a 1953 U.S.-backed coup following Iran’s move to nationalize its oil industry and challenge Western oil interests.Carter authorized a rescue operation that ultimately failed and resulted in the deaths of eight American service members and one Iranian civilian, an incident many historians have cited in his landslide loss against former President Ronald Reagan in 1980.“They know they can Carter him,” the senior administration official told Zeteo.Two other sources told Zeteo that “several senior administration officials” have tried to “nudge” Trump into “pulling the plug on the war,” the outlet reported.“This thing needs to end,” a White House official told Zeteo, who argued that Trump “needs to understand” that Iran “has its own cards” — chief among them being the 2026 midterm elections.

Fox News host Jesse Watters on Thursday revealed the "questionable quip" that got him pulled away from Queen Camilla during the recent state visit, according to a new report. Watters, who co-hosts "The Five," said during Thursday's broadcast that he chatted up the Queen about her visit to Washington, D.C., and made a joke that the royal staff found distasteful enough to pull him away from the Queen, HuffPost reported. Watters is known for making outlandish statements, but the "questionable quip" that he uttered in front of the Queen also seemed to embarrass him, according to the report. "So we're sitting down, and there's the Queen, and I go, 'How was the beehive?'" Watters recounted the conversation. "And she says, 'I'm glad nobody was stung.' And I said, 'You know what they say here in D.C., if the beestings won't get you, then the guns will." "You said that?" other co-hosts chimed in simultaneously. "And then this woman just starts pulling me away from the Queen," Watters continued, laughing. HILARIOUS: Jesse Watters reveals he dropped a “gun violence” joke on Queen Camilla during the White House Royal State Dinner — and got yanked away mid-conversation.“The King had no idea who I was… So we go down, and there’s the queen. And I said, ‘Well, how was the beehive?’… pic.twitter.com/S45QvNTlLm— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) April 30, 2026

Political analysts and observers were aghast on Thursday after a new report suggested President Donald Trump's family had engaged in a dubious deal. The Financial Times reported that Trump's sons, Don Jr. and Eric, had taken a stake in a Kazakh mining company that had recently been awarded a $1.6 billion loan from the U.S. government. The brothers reportedly bought into the company last August for an undisclosed amount. The report added that there is "no indication" that the Trumps knew the company was in talks with their father's administration, or that they influenced the decision to grant the loan. Even so, analysts and observers expressed their outrage on social media. "Not surprising. This family is beyond anything in the history of the U.S. Outright shameful," Martin Pelletier, portfolio manager at TriVest Wealth, posted on X. "Trump Cartel’s corruption is so vast and grotesque and shamelessly out in the open that it has an almost paralyzing effect on the senses, made worse by the fact that there’s no systemic pushback, no 'opposition party' or elite resistance or even the hint of accountability," Marm Ames, a radio host, posted on X. "A serious country would put these scoundrels in prison for life," podcaster Kyle Kulinski posted on X. "Just a coincidence," Martina Navratilova, a former professional tennis champion, posted on X.