Top World News
Trump's 'unforgivable' secret plot left Americans as 'sitting ducks': analysis
President Donald Trump's plane-swap plan "to save his own skin" exposed a darker reality behind how he treats the American public and press corps, an analyst reported on Tuesday.After it was revealed that Trump used a food truck to avoid a potential Iran terror threat, "might seem like an amusing caper," it was actually a "cowardly plot hatched by Trump, Pete Hegseth, Dan Caine and Trump’s security staff," reported David Gardner for The Swamp, The Daily Beast's Substack."For a start, the president has been caught in a bare-faced lie to the American public," Gardner wrote. "For some reason, he cannot understand that the media is the proxy of the people. To mislead the press is to mislead the country."But that wasn't the only revelation behind what happened."Worse—way worse—was Trump’s acceptance that the White House press corps, his own White House and military officials and the flight crew were expendable as long as he was safe from what must have been a credible Iranian terror threat," Gardner wrote.This bombshell had a different outcome, and "left Americans as sitting ducks.""We already knew he dodged going to Vietnam because of spurious bone spurs. But that was just Trump," Gardner wrote."This was unforgivable," Gardner added.
Human rights groups sue Trump administration over ‘crippling’ ICC sanctions
Lawsuit challenges executive order targeting international criminal court for investigating Israeli crimes in PalestineFour prominent US human rights organizations have accused the Trump administration of using its “crippling” sanctions regime against the international criminal court (ICC) to undermine global efforts to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity.In a lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday, the groups – the American Friends Service Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch and the Open Society Institute – argued that the administration’s targeting of the ICC, as well as of groups and individuals affiliated with it or assisting its work, amounts to a “blatantly illegal attack on international justice”, the groups said. Continue reading...
Canadian airline cancels flight after child refuses to wear seatbelt
Flight from Victoria to Toronto forced to return to terminal after repeated attempts to secure child in seat failedA Canadian airline cancelled a flight from Victoria to Toronto after a child refused to wear a seatbelt.The child was standing in their chair as the 6 August Porter Airlines flight taxied towards the runway, the airline said. Repeated attempts by an accompanying parent and crew to secure the child in their seat failed, so the crew elected to return to the terminal and have the two passengers disembark as “the aircraft could not take off in this unsafe condition”, it added. Continue reading...
Syrian court sentences Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia for war crimes
Verdict relates to atrocities committed during the country’s 14-year civil war in which about 500,000 people diedA Syrian court has sentenced the country’s former president Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher to death in absentia for crimes against humanity and war crimes during the 14-year civil war, in which about half a million people died.The two men fled to Moscow after being ousted by a lightning rebel offensive in December 2024 which toppled the dictatorial regime in just 11 days. Continue reading...
Scores dead in Colombia after powerful earthquake strikes west of country
Quake of 7.4 magnitude collapses and severely damages buildings in several major cities, including Cali and PereiraMore than 100 people died after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia, collapsing and severely damaging scores of buildings in major cities including Cali and Pereira.The US and Colombian geological surveys reported that a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck at 7.34am local time on Monday, with its epicentre in the western department of Chocó. It was felt in neighbouring Venezuela, still reeling from a deadly double earthquake on 24 June. Continue reading...
The return of the caspian tiger: how a species feared extinct has come back to Kazakhstan
The wild capture and release of a female big cat into a nature reserve is the first step towards reintroducing a population that hasn’t been seen for 70 yearsOn 31 July, “Umit” – which means hope in Kazakh – was released into a nature reserve on the edge of Lake Balkhash after more than a decade of careful planning to return the caspian tiger to the region. With this release, Kazakhstan became the first country to restore its tiger range after they had been thought extinct, with the last reliable sighting in the country recorded more than 70 years ago.Umit – a wild-caught female tiger transported from the Russian far east – will be joined by more big cats in the coming years, with plans to establish a self-sustaining population of about 50. A wild-caught male flown from Russia is still being monitored by authorities and will be released when he is judged fit to survive alone. Two wild tiger cubs are also being reared on the reserve in special enclosures, with as little human contact as possible, and are likely to be released into the marshlands next year, to feast on boar, deer and kulans, a type of wild donkey. Continue reading...
Top Trump general quietly hunting for 'off-ramp' as president's war plan falters: report
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine has started to tell multiple top Trump advisers privately that he is "looking for an off-ramp" from the Iran war, CNN reported on Friday.Three sources have said that the existing military options could end up backfiring and the conflict has reached a crossroads where air power alone "is unlikely to achieve President Donald Trump’s stated objectives."Caine has expressed this to several key Cabinet members. Two sources revealed he has spoken directly about those concerns with CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance."I think it is just his way of protecting the military," one source told CNN. Trump has repeatedly been reluctant to send ground troops into Iran, and has favored airstrikes instead, which he believes can pressure Tehran into a deal on his terms. But Caine and other cabinet officials privately doubt that strategy will work, according to multiple sources familiar with recent discussions, and have been quietly exploring alternative options that still fall within the president's stated red lines, according to CNN.
Unusual Trump mind game revealed by GOP senator
A Republican lawmaker argued Friday that President Donald Trump was using an unconventional move — and playing mind games — with Iran's leader.Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) told TMZ that when Trump refers to the ayatollah as "the gay ayatollah" it's on purpose."The president wants to put as much pressure on them as he can, so he's trying to keep them off balance," Hoeven said. "So he's doing a lot of things to keep the regime, which is an irrational, oppressive regime [that] oppresses their own people."Trolling Iran has become part of Trump's perceived strategy, and how he wants to pressure its regime, Hoeven explained. "I think he's messing with them in a way to keep them off balance and create division over there," he added. Iran has reportedly taken similar measures against Trump. Reports indicate Tehran has recruited senior psychologists to tailor messages for what they described as Trump's "impaired mental state," specifically targeting the president.Sen. John Hoeven says President Trump is trying to throw Iran's ayatollah off balance by making comments about his sexuality.????: @hicharliecotton pic.twitter.com/RpQ2cVCURq— TMZ (@TMZ) August 7, 2026
Trump boys' 'shady' Russia deal ties unmasked in explosive new report
A murdered journalist, an organized crime racket, and an alleged scheme to siphon off tens of millions of dollars: These all appear in a new report about a Trump Tower rising in the Caucasus.The Daily Beast on Friday revealed the dark and tangled history behind a 70-story skyscraper President Donald Trump's sons are building with a company co-owned by an oligarch. "The president’s sons are trumpeting a new Trump Tower — but not the Moscow oligarch behind one of the companies they named in the deal," wrote the Beast reporter Will Neal. "[That oligarch] has shady ties to Russia."The development in question is Trump Tower Tbilisi, of which Eric Trump, 42, shared an AI rendering in May with the gushing comment that it "marks our first project in the region."A joint investigation by The Daily Beast, PunchUp and The Newsground reported one of the groups named on the project, Biograpi Living, is co-owned by Paata Gamgoneishvili — the oligarch in question. Biograpi Living now insists it has nothing to do with the deal, despite being featured prominently in the Trumps' own announcement.The White House denied the report had anything to do with Trump“This has nothing to do with the president,” spokeswoman Anna Kelly told the Beast, "whose investment holdings are held in fully discretionary accounts managed by independent third-party financial institutions."That didn't stop the Beast from digging into Gamgoneishvili's past. Among the startling narratives revealed in the report is the brutal rape and murder of Bulgarian television journalist Viktoria Marinova."Investigative outlet Bivol tied Gamgoneishvili and Isaev in 2019 to the network behind an alleged scheme that siphoned tens of millions of dollars out of the Bulgarian arm of Russian oil giant Lukoil," the Beast reported. "The year before, a TV journalist who had hosted Bivol’s reporters for a segment about the wider scandal was found murdered. Authorities said her killing was not connected to her work—a conclusion Bivol’s editor disputed."The Beast also tied Gamgoneishvili, a Moscow trader during the Soviet Union's collapse, to Boris Yeltsin, the former President of Russia. "Gamgoneishvili backed the then-president through a union of Afghan war veterans and was handed a state medal for it," the Beast reported. "Yeltsin rewarded the veterans movement with lucrative import perks, and parts of it later curdled into an organized crime racket. Gamgoneishvili ran his own trading business under the union’s wing and rode the same wave to a shopping mall fortune."Two of his Moscow malls alone sold to an Austrian fund for around $230 million in 2006."
Trump's 'desperate attempt' to escape 'blaring warnings' flagged by economist
An economist sounded the alarm on the Trump administration's "desperate attempt" to avoid "blaring warnings" from financial markets.In a Thursday opinion column published by The New York Times, economist Eswar Prasad explained why President Donald Trump and the U.S. Treasury were interested in buying billions of dollars' worth of Japanese yen and intervening in the country's currency policy."But they are tied together by one big problem: unsustainably high levels of government debt," Prasad wrote. "Currency market intervention is a desperate attempt by Tokyo and Washington to evade the blaring warnings from financial markets."Prasad noted, "It's rare for the United States to intervene in another country's currency policy," and "it usually happens because there is a crisis."However, the Trump administration has been propping up the currencies in allied countries to reward friends and push its agenda. "It seems risky and expensive to buy another country's currency or even offer to temporarily swap dollars for that currency, especially one whose value is falling," Prasad wrote. "The administration has U.S. economic interests in mind but is also keen to propagate its policies and reward its allies."Prasad pointed out that the Trump administration "propped up the Argentine peso" in October and discussed similarly intervening in the United Arab Emirates. "None of those countries had reached the level of emergency usually required," he wrote. "None of these actions were born of benevolence."According to Prasad, the Trump Treasury is also interested in buying yen to stop it from falling because a weak yen means pricier imports and higher debt costs for Japan, but it also erases Trump's tariffs. However, the U.S. can't outrun its debt, and "with no sign of any discipline on fiscal matters, it will probably result in Washington digging itself into an even deeper debt hole," Prasad wrote.
Elizabeth Warren's sizzling fact-check stokes MAGA burrito war fire
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has entered the MAGA burrito war with a sharp message for the Trump administration on Thursday.In an interview on Capitol Hill with TMZ, Warren blamed the administration and called on officials to make immediate moves and drive down food prices by ending the Iran war.TMZ DC co-managing editor Jacob Wasserman asked Warren if she would pay $20 for a burrito, mentioning the online debate that started among conservatives, including Vice President JD Vance, over the cost of the popular meal.Warren laughed, then gave her thoughts, weighing in on why burrito prices have risen."We can bring down these prices by stopping the war in Iran so that we're not driving up the cost of all of our groceries," she said. "We can also roll back the illegal tariffs that are driving up the cost of avocados; we can break up our meat cartel that's driving up the cost of meat. There's a lot that the Trump administration could do to lower prices, but instead what they're doing is raising prices. And you know what? It shows up in your burrito." She argued the cost of food could go down with these immediate changes."Stop the war, end the illegal tariffs, and we've got a better chance of being able to feed ourselves without going broke," Warren added.Would you pay $20 for a burrito? ????Sen. Elizabeth Warren shares solutions with TMZ DC's @jacob_wass to bring down skyrocketing food prices. pic.twitter.com/JsekMHXk7i— TMZ (@TMZ) August 6, 2026
Trump signs executive order aimed at 'birth tourism' amid Supreme Court tensions
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at targeting "birth tourism," CNN reported.Trump's move comes after the Supreme Court rejected his other birthright citizenship case in June, ruling that birthright citizenship in the United States is constitutional and blocking his previous executive order."We're cracking down very big ... big crackdowns," Trump said during a press conference at the Oval Office, with Trump immigration policy architect and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller standing beside him."This will give us the right to do it in a much more forceful manner. They've taken birthright citizenship, and they're making a joke out of it," Trump said.Trump complained that the U.S. is "the only country of size, just about the only country period that does birthright citizenship. I thought we were going to win it at the Supreme Court, unfortunately we had a bad decision, a very unfair decision, our country suffers because of it." Trump on Birthright tourism: So we're cracking down very big, very big, big crackdowns pic.twitter.com/PYwCvtG0ng— Acyn (@Acyn) August 6, 2026
