Top World News
Lebanese displaced by war fill Beirut's streets, upending city life
Beirut is bursting under a massive wave of displaced people as Israel’s attacks and evacuation orders drive families out of southern and eastern Lebanon and the southern suburbs
Stephen Lewis, Canadian politician and social activist, dies aged 88
Lewis’s son Avi Lewis was elected leader of progressive New Democratic party a day before his father’s deathStephen Lewis, the Canadian diplomat, politician and human rights advocate, who spent decades tirelessly working to focus global attention on the HIV/Aids epidemic, has died of cancer.Lewis, who served as the Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, as well as the head of Ontario’s New Democratic party (NDP), was 88. Continue reading...
Former White House insider predicts Trump's next Iran move: 'Less bad outcome'
President Donald Trump has signaled he is likely to retreat from the ongoing Iran war, a former White House insider said on Tuesday. Bill Kristol, conservative analyst and editor-at-large for The Bulwark, shared what he thinks Trump and his administration will do next as the war now reaches the fifth week. "Where he’s heading is toward the exits," Kristol wrote. Kristol also suggested that Trump could be backing off on his demand to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, citing White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's vague comment with reporters on Monday that the administration was "working toward" establishing operations again in the crucial waterway. He also referenced a Wall Street Journal report early Tuesday that indicated the end could be near. "President Trump told aides he’s willing to end the U.S. military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed. . . . He decided that the U.S. should achieve its main goals of hobbling Iran’s navy and its missile stocks and wind down current hostilities while pressuring Tehran diplomatically to resume the free flow of trade," The Journal reported. "If that fails, Washington would press allies in Europe and the Gulf to take the lead on reopening the strait, the officials said."It's unclear what Trump will do next, but the signs have pointed to withdrawing, Kristol wrote."And if that wasn’t enough of a tell, Trump seemed to all but confirm the reporting this morning when he posted that other countries were going to have to figure out how to get oil through the strait themselves. '[T]he U.S.A won’t be there to help you anymore,' he added," Kristol explained. "All in all, it seems more likely than not that Trump plans on walking away rather than escalating," Kristol added. "I think this would be a less bad outcome of this reckless and feckless 'excursion' than introducing ground troops. But it will still be a bad outcome for the United States and the world. And I’m afraid it won’t be the last bad outcome we’ll experience from having an unbelievably irresponsible individual as our president."
Trump seen as 'thrashing around for ideas' to escape Iran quagmire during latest interview
According to Financial Times columnist Ed Luce, Donald Trump spent an inordinate amount of time during their Monday interview grasping for clues on how to bring his war on Iran to a close.Calling into MS NOW’s “Morning Joe,” Luce elaborated on more details from his chat with the embattled president who reportedly jumped from topic to topic. Speaking with the hosts, Luce recalled, “He was toggling between what I call the ‘armageddon TACO [Trump Always Chickens Out] shuffle’ in that he was, you know, talking about taking Iran’s oil and how easy it would be to seize Kharg island, referring to the Venezuela model of regime change by taking out the head and doing business, including oil business, with the remains of it. Then shifting to saying that, that he was having great talks with the Iranian regime.”Asked about Trump’s oil problems with the Strait of Hormuz closed and no easy answers to getting it open for tankers again, Luce claimed Trump told him, “It was slightly in tension with what he was saying about, well, now they’re letting 20 tankers through, I believe these are Pakistan-flagged tankers. ‘But the Iranians have given me an even bigger gift and even bigger present, 20 tankers.’““And of course, you know that that in a way, it’s a little bit awkward because that in a way demonstrates Iran’s ability to control who goes in and who goes out,” Luce observed before commenting, “I sensed a little bit of sort of thrashing around for ideas because, you know, other than this stress on the indirect talks and these 20 ships that have been permitted to go through the strait, it didn’t sound like he had a whole lot of ideas as to how to get out of this situation.” - YouTube youtu.be
Pete Hegseth pressed to reassure 'Americans who love their president' as war drags on
After giving a rah-rah speech about the US war on Iran, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was put on the spot by a reporter from the Daily Caller to reassure his MAGA base with rumors of a possible land invasion hanging in the air.Toward the end of his Pentagon press conference, Hegseth was asked by conservative journalist Reagan Reese about the chokehold on oil at the Strait of Hormuz before being pressed with, “Without asking you to comment on things that you can't talk about, what is your message to Americans who love the president and strongly believe in him, but are very worried about this notion of boots on the ground?”After knocking aside questions about the Strait of Hormuz, a slightly baffled Hegseth stated, “I don't understand why the base, which they have already, they understand, wouldn't have faith in his ability to execute on this?”“Look at his track record of pursuing peace through strength, America First outcomes,” he insisted. “And what he's simply saying is exactly true, and I've said from this podium too, we're not going to foreclose any option. You can't fight and win a war if you tell your adversary what you are willing to do or what you are not willing to do –– to include boots on the ground.”"So if we needed to, we could execute those options on behalf of the president of the United States and this department,” he added. “Or maybe we don't have to use them at all. Maybe negotiations work, or maybe there's a different approach. But the point is to be unpredictable in that; certainly not let anybody know what you're willing to do or not do.” - YouTube youtu.be
Trump vows to hold grudge against ally over perceived snub: 'The US will remember!'
President Donald Trump erupted at France on Tuesday morning over what he perceived to be a major snub, and vowed that the United States would “remember” its actions going forward.Trump claimed that France refused to allow U.S. military cargo planes en route to Israel to use French airspace, a claim that as of Tuesday morning has yet to be reported on by major news outlets. Nevertheless, Trump condemned France for their purported actions, and attacked the European nation for its refusal to join the United States in its war against Iran.“The Country of France wouldn’t let planes headed to Israel, loaded up with military supplies, fly over French territory,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “France has been VERY UNHELPFUL with respect to the ‘Butcher of Iran,’ who has been successfully eliminated! The U.S.A. will REMEMBER!!!”France has walked a “fine line” in regards to the U.S. war against Iran, with French President Emmanuel Macron calling the U.S. attacks on Iran “completely unjustified,” while at the same time, providing aid to the United Arab Emirates – a U.S. ally – in the conflict.
'Shell-shocked' CEOs are done staying quiet as Trump torches their bottom lines: report
Donald Trump's Iran war is testing the limits of corporate America's tolerance — and the only thing keeping CEOs from publicly attacking the president is fear of retribution, according to Fortune's Diane Brady reporting from CERAWeek in Houston.But that restraint may be ending. As the economic damage mounts, business leaders are signaling they may finally be willing to risk Trump's wrath and speak out against policies they view as catastrophic for their bottom lines.The stakes are becoming impossible to ignore. Economists warn recession odds are now high. Oil prices have surged more than 50 percent. The war is costing U.S. taxpayers approximately $1 billion a day while destroying 10,000 jobs from the economic shockwave alone.Energy sector CEOs are particularly alarmed. At CERAWeek, leaders from Dow and Chevron warned of dire consequences if the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked to shipping. The blockade has forced Asia to scramble for alternative energy sources, while Russia gains little thanks to its own war with Ukraine.Signs of CEO defection are mounting. Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg told Brady that "democracy is so fragile." Citadel's Ken Griffin revealed that he and his CEO peers find the Trump administration's favoritism "extremely distasteful."More than 60 corporate leaders — including CEOs from 3M, Best Buy, Cargill, General Mills, Land O'Lakes, Target, Xcel Energy, and UnitedHealth Group — have already signed a letter of protest against the administration's ICE enforcement actions in Minnesota.One CEO admitted to Brady that they are "shell-shocked" by administration policies but feel constrained by fiduciary duty to avoid putting their companies in Trump's crosshairs by speaking publicly.That calculus could shift dramatically. If the war begins to seriously impact stock prices and corporate profits, business leaders may conclude that the financial damage outweighs the political danger of breaking ranks with the president.
'Lust for violence': Nobel winner 'horrified' as Pentagon drags US into endless quagmire
Economist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon over their lack of direction and obsession with violence amid the Iran war. In his Substack post, Krugman tore into Hegseth's beliefs of applying further damage to Iran as the war now enters its 30th day and talks swirl of a ground war, which President Donald Trump has not yet ruled out. Krugman was doubtful that 10,000 troops could secure the Persian Gulf or prompt oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz again. "A month into the war, and now they’re talking about pointless ground action and/or war crimes," Krugman wrote. He pointed to Hegseth's troubling focus on lethality. "In this case, our Secretary of Defense, which is his legal title, although he calls himself the Secretary of War, continually argues that if only we get even more violent, if only we do even more damage, that this will somehow translate into success in Iran," Krugman wrote. "He clearly relishes the thought of violence himself. He’s now holding prayer breakfasts, and in his prayer breakfast, he called upon the Lord to support us in 'overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.'""I think this is deeply un-American, but anyway, aside from the evilness — I don’t think there’s any other way to put it — of the world view, how is this supposed to work?" Krugman asked. "If you look at the plans or ideas that are being bruited for using ground forces now, and that’s clearly very much sort the next step here, for using ground forces against Iran, well, yeah, you can seize Kharg Island, although hanging onto it could be very expensive, but then what?"It's unclear at this point whether negotiations were actually underway — and what the administration's objectives were. "Other presidents have been accused of negotiating with themselves," Krugman wrote. "Trump is negotiating with his imaginary friends. There’s no reason at all to believe that these talks are actually happening. But he then pivots midway through the post, to saying, and if we don’t get this, then we’re going to start bombing civilian power plants and water supplies."Trump's thought process could lead to further harm, the economist argued. "So give us what we want or we’ll commit a massive, massive war crime, which I hope is not going to happen," Krugman wrote. "But even if it did, why would you think this would open up the Strait of Hormuz? So it’s this lust for violence with no actual coherent story about how that violence is going to produce results. It’s horrifying.""I really don’t know how this ends, except that it does feel as if this is a quagmire largely in the minds of top Trump officials, Trump himself and Hegseth, who having this utterly unshakable belief that hurting people will produce great results, respond to each failure of violence to produce results by getting even more destructive with no end game in sight," Krugman added. Pete Hegseth Believes in the Lethality Fairy by Paul Krugman"Overwhelming violence of action" as the solution to all problemsRead on Substack
Major Trump goal 'hitting a wall' as fellow strongman's regime 'exploding': ex-GOP insider
President Donald Trump's ideal authoritarian blueprint has appeared to lose traction while he and other autocrats have started losing their grip on power, former Republican strategist Rick Wilson warned on Monday. In Wilson's Substack, he described how Trump has long admired autocrats Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose political future has come into question just ahead of the upcoming election in the eastern European country. Orbán, a longtime antagonist to the European Union, was viewed as a model by Trump and his political operatives. But now, he has started facing opposition in his country in a push by young voters in Hungary, according to The Associated Press. This signals what could be ahead for Trump and his MAGA coalition, Wilson explained. "I am not, as you are all quite aware by now, a ray of sunshine, but I take this morning’s essay to remind you that three of the world’s worst, most abusive, most poisonously anti-democratic leaders are dead or dying, both physically and politically," Wilson wrote. Steve Bannon, Trump's former White House chief strategist, has long viewed Orbán as a key inspiration for Trump's ascension to power and the MAGA movement. "For years, the Bannonite 'national-conservative' set looked at Viktor Orbán’s Hungary as the North Star," Wilson wrote. "It was their laboratory for illiberal democracy, a place where you could maintain the aesthetic of a republic while gutting its soul. They flocked to Budapest to sip Tokaji and marvel at how easy it was to capture a state by simply rewriting the rules of the game until only one player could ever win.""America’s techno-authoritarians, political authoritarians, and white nationalist authoritarians (yes, the Venn diagram overlaps meaningfully) loved Orban with the heat usually reserved for melting Grindr servers at CPAC," Wilson wrote. "Well, the laboratory is exploding."Global autocracy has shown signs of death, Wilson detailed. "Instead, it’s a cautionary tale: you can’t feed a nation on a diet of pure grievance and absolutely lurid George Soros conspiracy fantasies forever," Wilson wrote. "Eventually, the people realize they can’t eat 'sovereignty,' and the Dear Leader becomes older, fatter, and more obviously greedy, just another corrupt bureaucrat in a good suit."And it's just a matter of time. "The Bannonite dream is hitting a wall of Hungarian reality, and the crash is going to be spectacular, but don’t underestimate how many lessons MAGA’s elite leadership class took from Orban," Wilson added.
News outlets falsely report Somaliland called for extradition of Ilhan Omar
Reports, based on X post from unofficial account, follow JD Vance’s accusations and threats of finding ‘legal remedies’Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxSeveral news outlets have falsely reported that Somaliland’s government called for the extradition of Ilhan Omar, basing their stories on a post from an X account that does not represent the state despite its claims to the contrary.Fox News, the New York Post, Sinclair Broadcast Group’s the National News Desk and the Independent ran stories on the US representative. The reports centred on a post by @RepOfSomaliland in reaction to claims by JD Vance that Omar had committed immigration fraud, which echoed prior allegations against the Somali-born Minnesota Democrat that she has vehemently denied. Continue reading...
Interpol arrest warrant requested in Congo-Brazzaville for Jean-Guy Blaise Mayolas
Football federation president on the run with wife and sonConviction in absentia of wide-ranging corruption chargesAuthorities in Congo-Brazzaville have applied to Interpol for an international arrest warrant against Jean-Guy Blaise Mayolas, the president of the country’s football federation, Fecofoot, after he was convicted of embezzling $1.1m in Fifa funds.Mayolas is on the run with his wife and son after they were all sentenced to life imprisonment this month for embezzling funds provided by world football’s governing body as part of its Covid-19 relief plan in February 2021. As the Guardian revealed last year, that included almost $500,000 earmarked for the Congo women’s team. Continue reading...
Weather tracker: Thunderstorms drench UAE and Saudi Arabia
Abnormally strong jet stream triggers deluge in Middle East, while north Africa braces for 60-80mph gustsAn unusual weather pattern unleashed severe thunderstorms across parts of the Middle East last week, battering countries including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The Arabian peninsula – typically dominated by arid desert climates – received up to 150mm of rain in just a few days.The deluge was caused by an abnormally strong jet stream, which helped a deep area of low pressure to develop north of Saudi Arabia. This, in turn, drew moist tropical air from the Indian Ocean and triggered intense storms. Continue reading...
