Top World News

The perfect storm of problems for Donald Trump has come to a head, with an analyst saying the president's shortcomings are a source of serious concern. Paul Waldman believes that, had the administration charted success on other issues, namely the cost-of-living crisis, then there would be a slightly more positive outlook on the war with Iran. But because Trump and his team failed to consolidate their efforts on the economy, rhetoric around the strikes on Iran has shifted negatively, and fast. Speaking to Greg Sargent of The New Republic, Waldman claimed there is little to no chance that Trump will sway the public into backing the Iran war. He said, "If he was showing himself to be competent in other areas—if the economy was going great and all kinds of other things were working out really well—I think that there would be a lot of Americans who would give him the benefit of the doubt, who might say, I’m not too sure about this, but he seems to know what he’s doing, so for now I won’t object."But when so many other things are going so poorly, and immediately you see all these ill effects—especially gas prices, which are unavoidable, you see them on every corner—at that point, nobody is ready to give them the benefit of the doubt.The people who are die-hard Trump supporters are with him. "But the rest of the public is basically saying, I need a really good attempt at persuasion, I really need a really good argument to know why this is something that I should be supportive of. "And he certainly hasn’t given them that, and they don’t have any reason to give him the benefit of the doubt. It’s hard to see that the support he has now for this war—about 40 percent—is going to get any higher. If anything, it’s probably going to go down as time goes on."Podcast host Sargent suggested the low polling numbers had even cost Trump some of his dedicated MAGA voters. He said, "It’s really kind of down at 38, 37 in some polls, and that’s sort of his floor number, that hard, molten core of MAGA—that 37, 38 percent. And that’s what he’s got right now. And this is just getting started."

Rebel group blames government for attack on residential area of M23-controlled city of GomaThree people including a French UN aid worker have been killed in a drone attack in Goma, a spokesperson for the M23 rebel group has said.The attack took place at about 4am on Wednesday in the upmarket residential neighbourhood of Himbi in the city, which has been under M23 occupation since January 2025. Continue reading...

Experts documented murder, torture and disappearances under Nayib Bukele’s policy targeting gangsThe draconian mass incarceration policy of El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, may have led to crimes against humanity, according to a new study by legal experts.By locking up 1.4% of the population without due process, Bukele turned El Salvador from one of Latin America’s most violent countries into one of its least violent – but at the cost of human rights and the rule of law. Continue reading...

Iran is reportedly exporting more oil through a key waterway in the Middle East, the Strait of Hormuz, than it did before the U.S. strikes began.On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran was "conducting business as usual" in the waterway, which gives the embattled country a financial lifeline from Chinese buyers."Over the past six days, tankers have loaded a daily average of 2.1 million barrels of Iranian oil, higher than the 2 million barrels a day Iran exported in February, according to Kpler," the Journal said.And although President Donald Trump has promised safe passage to the world's oil traffic, the U.S. has yet to escort a single vessel through the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters found."The U.S. Navy has refused near-daily requests from the shipping industry for military escorts through the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war on Iran, saying the risk of attacks is too high for now, according to sources familiar with the matter," the outlet reported on Wednesday afternoon."When the time comes, the U.S. Navy and its partners will escort tankers through the strait, if needed. I hope it's not going to be needed, but if it's needed, we'll escort them right through," Trump vowed earlier this week.However, officials said that not a single vessel had been escorted yet."There are not enough naval vessels to do that and the risks remain high even with an escort. One or two vessels can be overwhelmed by a swarm (of fast boats or drones)," a source told Reuters.On Thursday, Trump claimed that the U.S. destroyed 10 of Iran's mine-laying vessels near the strait.

A stumbling answer by Donald Trump’s lead international negotiator on Tuesday was the subject of both amusement and disbelief on MS NOW, with the entire panel wondering if the Trump hire, a commercial real estate investor, is way over his head.During an appearance on CNBC, Steve Witkoff, who is the lead White House diplomat in negotiations dealing with both the war in Ukraine and the US war on Iran, was asked about alarming reports that Russia is giving assistance to Iran on targeting US servicemembers.Witkoff replied, “I can tell you that yesterday, on the call with [President Trump], the Russians said they have not been sharing,” paused and added, “That’s what they said. So, we can take them at their word, but they did say that.”He then curiously continued, “So, I, you know, that's a better question for the intel people, but let's hope that they're not sharing.”After playing the clip on “Morning Joe,” an amused Joe Scarborough immediately pounced, looked at the camera and lectured, “You know, diplomats, you got to work with both sides. But I will just say, if Steve is watching, Steve, they lie. This is what Russians do. They think it's the smart move to always lie, lie. That's the very nature of it. They are disruptors. They count on American suckers to think that they're going to win them over by force of personality. It never happens.”“Steve Witkoff just said, I have to take Vladimir Putin at his word. I have to take the KGB agent at his word. And remember, Steve Witkoff is the lead negotiator in the Russia-Ukraine talks, among many other places,” he added.Co-host Willie Geist offered, "Just remember, as we think about why, perhaps we're not giving as much aid as we should be to Ukraine in the eyes of many people. The guy leading the negotiations says you have to take Russia at their word.” - YouTube youtu.be

Germany and Austria say they will release parts of their oil reserves following an International Energy Agency request for members to release a record 400 million barrels to help calm energy price spikes due to the Iran war

Voters will be heading to the polls to vote for a president in the Republic of Congo on Sunday but the outcome seems to be a foregone conclusion as the country's longtime leader Dennis Sassou N'Guesso faces little opposition in the political arena

Romania’s top defense body approves US request to increase its use of airbases to aid Middle East campaign