Top World News

Feb 18, 2026 - World

Trump’s disapproval rating indicates he’s less popular with Americans than some insects like ants. Will it mean anything in November? This was originally published in This Week in Trumpland; sign up to receive it in your inbox every WednesdayA couple of years ago, the polling company YouGov asked people about insects. The resulting survey found that butterflies are America’s favorite insect, with eight in 10 people having a “very or somewhat positive” reaction to them.Many journalists will tell you to never trust the polling, and they’ve been proven right many times over. Still, aren’t you curious how a random group of 1,148 adults feels about bugs? Continue reading...

Feb 18, 2026 - World

Epstein survivor Juliette Bryant said she was lured from South Africa to the United States with promises of modelling work before being trafficked and abused by Jeffrey Epstein.

Feb 18, 2026 - World

Pope Leo XIV rejected President Donald Trump's invitation to join his Board of Peace with a serious response, according to reports Wednesday. The Vatican issued a statement and declined the White House's January request, making it clear that the leader of the Roman Catholic Church does not want to be involved with Trump's Gaza project, The New Republic reported.The Vatican’s secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin said that the Pope expressed several concerns and "will not participate," The Independent reported.“For us, there are ... some critical issues that should be resolved,” Parolin told reporters. “One concern is that, at the international level, it should above all be the UN that manages these crisis situations. This is one of the points on which we have insisted.”The Pope has been critical of the president and his administration. He was among several world leaders invited to participate on the board and "supervise the ceasefire in Gaza and coordinate the strip’s reconstruction following the conflict between Hamas and Israel," according to The Independent. Trump has also said that the board would look to address global clashes, but some have viewed his move as an attempt to add an "alternative multilateral forum to the UN," which Trump has long complained about. The Pope has disagreed with Trump's move. In September, he made a subtle comment calling out the president, saying “someone who says ‘I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”And in November, the Pope, who is also the first American-born Vatican leader, went into further detail in his criticism. “I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have. If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts, there’s a system of justice,” the Pope said.“But when people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful to say the least—and there’s been some violence unfortunately—I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said,” he said. “I would just invite all people in the United States to listen to them.”As of now, only 19 countries have joined Trump's board, including Argentina, Hungary, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Both Israel and Russia — countries that are both accused of war crimes — have been offered invitations but only Israel has decided to join the board so far."The Vatican and the pope’s rejection will hurt the board’s credibility, but that isn’t likely to change Trump’s mind," according to The New Republic.

Feb 18, 2026 - World

The Grammy winner will star alongside Edward Norton and Javier Bardem in a film inspired by an early 20th century revolutionary, directed by rapper ResidenteFresh off his victorious Super Bowl half-time show, Bad Bunny will take on his first lead acting role. The rapper and sometime actor will star in Porto Rico, a love letter to his home of Puerto Rico directed by the veteran rapper René “Residente” Pérez Joglar.As announced by Deadline, the film boasts a starry cast including Viggo Mortensen, Javier Bardem and Edward Norton, as well as executive producer Alejandro G Iñárritu, director of Birdman and The Revenant. Continue reading...

Feb 18, 2026 - World

Exclusive: After investigators concluded an abuse incident occurred, women speak out for first time – ‘I was so scared to tell anybody’Two women incarcerated in a California prison are calling for the prosecution of a staff cook who they say sexually assaulted them.The women say Marcus Johnson, a former supervisory cook at the California Institution for Women (CIW), raped them in 2020 while they were working for him in kitchen jobs. The women, who were making under 40 cents an hour, said in federal civil complaints he threatened disciplinary action if they reported him. Continue reading...