Top World News
Mexico appoints Roberto Velasco as new foreign minister at critical moment for US ties
Mexico's president has appointed Roberto Velasco as the new foreign minister during a critical time for Mexico-U.S. relations
AI machine sorts clothes faster than humans to boost textile recycling in China
A company in eastern China is using an artificial intelligence-powered machine to sort clothes and boost recycling
New Zealand signs defence pact with Cook Islands after quarrel over China deal
Agreement comes after Wellington halted millions in aid to its former colony after Cook Islands formed strategic partnership with Beijing New Zealand and the Cook Islands have signed a defence and security declaration, ending a year-long diplomatic row that erupted after the Cook Islands struck strategic agreements with China.The Cook Islands was a dependent New Zealand colony from 1901-65 but has since operated as a self-governing nation in “free association” with New Zealand. Its roughly 17,000 citizens hold New Zealand citizenship. There are obligations between the two nations to regularly consult on matters of defence and security. Continue reading...
Trump gives NATO stark ultimatum during Iran address
President Donald Trump gave NATO allies a stark ultimatum during his national address on Wednesday night. The speech was the first address Trump has given since the war in Iran started about five weeks ago. Trump addressed the progress of the war and claimed the U.S. is "nearing completion" of its objectives. He also told NATO allies that they have two choices to make when it comes to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that Iran has effectively shut down in retaliation for the continued bombing strikes. European countries account for roughly 4% of the oil imports and 10% of liquified natural gas imports that pass through the Strait of Hormuz, according to data from the International Energy Agency. "The United States does not import any oil through the Hormuz Strait, and we won't be taking any in the future," Trump said. "We don't need it. We have completely decimated Iran, both militarily and economically, and every other way.""The countries that do receive oil through the Strait must take care of that passage; they must cherish it," he continued. "They must grab it and cherish it. They can do it easily. We will be helpful, but they should take the lead in defending the oil that they so desperately depend on.""So, to those countries who refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran - we had to do it ourselves - I have a suggestion: number one, buy oil from the United States. We have plenty. We have so much. And number two, build up some delayed courage ... and take it, protect it, and use it for yourselves."
Steve Bannon expects Trump will tell America 'Hormuz situation' is everyone else's problem
MAGA influencer and former chief White House strategist Steve Bannon anticipated what President Donald Trump will announce during his address to the nation on Wednesday night. Trump was slated to speak to the American public at 9 p.m. ET about important updates related to the war in Iran, which has reached its fifth week since the United States and Israel began launching military strikes, according to Politico. Bannon expected that Trump would make the case that the U.S. has been victorious, describe the military achievements and what comes next before American troops leave the region. One of the largest issues Trump has faced amid the military conflict has been the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman where approximately one-third of the world's seaborne oil passes, making it one of the most strategically important maritime chokepoints globally. Bannon also said Trump would blame NATO allies for reopening shipping traffic in the region.According to Bannon, the president would talk about "dumping on the NATO allies – it’s their issue."“Two, three weeks, definable objectives. ‘I came, I saw, I conquered’ — and we are hanging around a couple of weeks to conquer some more — maybe even then a ceasefire, while reiterating that the Hormuz situation is the Gulf Emirates’ and the Europeans’ to solve, and declare victory,” Bannon said.
'Is that a serious response?' GOP analyst gets heated as poll shows 'bad news' for Trump
Conservative analyst Scott Jennings got heated during a panel discussion on CNN's "The Arena" on Tuesday after new polling found the American public largely does not approve of President Donald Trump's war in Iran. A new poll from CNN revealed that two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the war, and 63% said they believe the conflict will develop into a prolonged war. Another 70% of respondents said they oppose sending ground troops to Iran, and another 71% of respondents said they want Congress to reject the Pentagon's $200 billion funding request for the war. CNN anchor Abby Phillip, filling in for Kasie Hunt, called the poll "a lot of bad news for President Trump in terms of how the American people view this war."It shows that the president tonight is speaking maybe a little too late," Phillip said.Jennings said the poll is "somewhat irrelevant now" because the U.S. is already engaged in the conflict with Iran. Lulu Garcia-Navarro, a journalist at The New York Times, responded by spelling out "L-O-L," an acronym for "laugh out loud," after Jennings spoke. "Is that a serious response to a serious answer?" Jennings snapped. "President Trump chose to do this, and now he's changing what the metrics of success are," Garcia-Navarro said. "This is a disaster for the region, and it has been a disaster for the American people because they have had to pay for this war.""L-M-A-O. That's my response to that," Jennings shot back, using a vulgar acronym with similar meaning.
Nobel Prize-winning economist pinpoints major flaw in Trump's 'nervous' Iran war ploy
Donald Trump's plan for the war with Iran could cause even further trouble for taxpayers across the country, according to a Nobel Prize winner. Paul Krugman has warned that the president's current task in Iran is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Crude oil prices reached a staggering $100 a barrel earlier this week, and the veteran economist does not see the price improving any time soon. Even though the United States' own oil exporters profited from the Strait of Hormuz closure, Krugman claims there is no way this will help the average citizen. Writing in his Substack, he explained, "Now, America produces a lot of oil, and the domestic oil industry will be earning large windfall profits even as U.S. consumers suffer. But so what? "We don’t have any mechanism in place to capture and redistribute those windfall gains, so ordinary U.S. families will bear the full brunt of the global oil shock even though America is a net oil exporter.""The Fed could, in principle, try to look through the effects of the Strait crisis on business costs as well as direct effects on consumer prices. But given how nervous everyone is about the risk of 70s-type stagflation, it probably won’t."Krugman went on to suggest the reaction of the Federal Reserve could be a cause for concern. "There’s an additional, technical but important reason to be even more worried about soaring prices for diesel, jet fuel and industrial materials than about gasoline prices," he wrote. "It involves how the Federal Reserve is likely to react."The Fed normally bases its decisions about whether to reduce or increase interest rates on 'core' inflation — inflation excluding food and energy prices. The reason it does this is that food and energy prices are highly volatile and are usually a poor indicator of what inflation will be over the next few years.""So the Fed tries to 'look through' inflation fluctuations driven mainly by the prices of groceries and gasoline. For example, it didn’t raise rates in 2011, when there was a temporary uptick in inflation driven entirely by oil prices."
Trump insiders confirm he's improvising Iran war: 'Making the plan up as they go along'
President Donald Trump's off-the-cuff statements about the Iran war have sowed confusion among foreign leaders and financial markets, and within his own administration.Some of the 79-year-old president's aides and allies confirmed to Axios that Trump has been improvising his plan for the war, saying he likes to keep his options open and spitball ideas for the joint U.S.-Israeli military operation with various audiences, and they said he has vacillated between a major escalation and a swift resolution."Nobody knows in the end what he's really thinking," said one senior adviser."They had a plan for the first week and since then, they are making the plan up as they go along," added a former U.S. official.Some administration officials and outside allies argue the ambiguity is intentional. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who recently spoke with Trump, told Axios: "That's the plan — for you to not have a clue." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed this sentiment, stating the objective is to remain "unpredictable." An unnamed official characterized the strategy as "12-dimensional" chess, claiming Trump deliberately contradicts himself to obscure his intentions.Current signals suggest Trump may be preparing to withdraw and declare victory within two to three weeks. He has repeatedly discussed U.S. success and potential exit scenarios. However, his private conversations increasingly focus on hawkish advisers like Graham and conservative commentator Mark Levin rather than those cautioning against escalation.The contradictions are apparent in simultaneous actions: Trump discusses exit strategies while simultaneously massing additional forces in the region, including potential invasion capabilities. Officials speculate that if an April 6 deadline passes without a negotiated settlement, Trump may authorize heavy bombing of Iranian infrastructure and nuclear facilities before withdrawing.Regional allies like Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates worry about leaving Iran weakened but unbowed."The Saudis sound like Mark Levin," one Trump adviser said. "They want the U.S. to finish the job by wiping Iran off the globe now. We don't want to."Additional complications include unresolved challenges regarding the Strait of Hormuz and potential ongoing "mowing the grass" operations — periodic strikes conducted after major combat concludes."The president said early on we might have to come back," another administration official said, "and we might have to. If we have to mow the lawn again, the grass won't be nearly as tall next time."Trump is scheduled to address the nation on Iran Wednesday evening, potentially offering the clarity his own advisers and international partners desperately seek.
'It was a test': Trump moves against NATO as members 'weren't there for us'
Donald Trump has suggested he has no interest in continuing with NATO and may even pull the United States out of the intergovernmental organization. The president has done much to anger the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's members this year, strongly implying he would take Greenland by force if necessary. His administration's strikes on Iran last month marked another contentious point for the president and his relationship with NATO, as he called on member nations to back the war. Speaking to The Telegraph, Trump said, “Oh yes, I would say [it’s] beyond reconsideration. I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way."Trump went on to use the war in Ukraine as an example of where he felt the US had been let down by NATO members and other governments. Trump added, "Beyond not being there, it was actually hard to believe. And I didn’t do a big sale. I just said, ‘Hey’, you know, I didn’t insist too much. I just think it should be automatic."We’ve been there automatically, including Ukraine. Ukraine wasn’t our problem. It was a test, and we were there for them, and we would always have been there for them. They weren’t there for us."The president's comments on NATO follow on from Secretary of State Marco Rubio denouncing the intergovernmental organization. In an interview with Hashem Ahelbarra of Al Jazeera, the Donald Trump appointee criticized the NATO alliance for not backing the US war on Iran, and then stated, “I think it was very disappointing. You have this – and again, look, the President and our country will have to reexamine all of this after this operation is over.""But one of the reasons why NATO is beneficial to the United States is it gives us basing rights for contingencies. It allows us to station troops and aircraft and weapons in parts of the world that we wouldn’t normally have bases, and that includes in much of Europe.”
'Uh oh': Speculation swirls over rare simultaneous addresses from world leaders
Three world leaders have or will be addressing the nation on Wednesday regarding the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, news of which sparked an immediate online frenzy of speculation and fear.“Uh oh,” wrote progressive influencer Hasan Piker Wednesday in a social media post on X to their more than 1.6 million followers.“Uhhhhh guys. What's going on?” wrote another in response to the news, X user “Elections Joe,” a political commentator with more than 20,000 followers.Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in a “rare national address,” urged Australians early Wednesday morning to switch to public transport and to prepare for difficult times as a result of the ongoing Iran conflict, which has sent oil prices soaring. United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivered a similar address Wednesday, warning Britons of an impending “crisis.”And the White House revealed on Tuesday that President Donald Trump would be addressing the nation Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET to provide “an important update” on his administration’s war against Iran.“This seems coordinated,” wrote academic and author Sunny Singh in a social media post on X, reacting to the news of three world leaders issuing major addresses on the same day.“This reminds me of March, 2020,” wrote Aidan Simardone, a Canadian immigration lawyer, in a social media post on X, referencing the brief time period leading up to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.And X user “Rational Aussie,” a popular political commentator who’s amassed more than 33,000 followers, speculated that the multi-national address could be an effort to “get ahead of incredibly bad news that will follow shortly.”uh oh https://t.co/P3eMQHikCu— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) April 1, 2026
Asia ramps up use of dirty fuels to cover energy shortfall triggered by Iran war
South Korea will delay the shutdown of coal-fired plants, while the Philippines also plans to boost the output of its coal-burning plantsGovernments across Asia are ramping up their use of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, as they try to cover huge energy shortfalls triggered by the US-Israel war on Iran.The move has triggered warnings from climate experts who point to coal’s devastating environmental impact, and say the energy crisis should be a wake up call for governments to invest in renewables, which can offer a more stable supply that is not exposed to price shocks. 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."
