Top World News

Sep 2, 2025 - World

President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he issued a military strike on a drug cartel, killing 11 people. Taking to Truth Social after, Trump explained it was a "kinetic strike," which is typically a bullet, bomb, drone, or missile, though there have been political "strikes" for regime change. Trump claimed that the cartel leaders he killed were "positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists." Trump's administration claimed previously that people were in the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs due to their tattoos, like an autism ribbon.Trump said that the terrorists were in the "SOUTHCOM area of responsibility." According to its website, SOUTHCOM covers "Central America, South America, and The Caribbean (except U.S. commonwealths, territories, and possessions)." Trump went on to say that he designated the group a "Foreign Terrorist Organization (sic)," which he claims is under the command of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.Trump said that the gang is "responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere."He went on to say that "the strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States. The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike. Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!"Trump then closed the post writing, "Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!!!!!!" which Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has mocked him for relentlessly.

Sep 2, 2025 - World

U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to "do something" after Russian President Vladimir Putin flouted his latest two-week deadline on the war in Ukraine.In an interview with conservative radio host and CNN contributor Scott Jennings, Trump said he was "very disappointed" in Putin."He and I always had a great relationship," the U.S. president told Jennings. "Very disappointed. Thousands of people are dying. They're not Americans that are dying, but they're Russians and they're Ukrainians, and there's thousands, and it's a war that makes no sense.""And it would have never started if I were president, and that's what bothers me even more, because the election was totally rigged," he continued. "We'll see what happens, but I'm very disappointed in President Putin.""I can say that, and we'll be doing something to help people live."In August, Trump extended an earlier deadline, giving Putin "a couple of weeks" before deciding what actions to take against the Kremlin. "We'll see what happens," he said. "I think in two weeks, we'll know which way I'm going, because I'm going to go one way or the other, and they'll learn which way."

Sep 1, 2025 - World

If Donald Trump doesn’t make an attempt to buck the Constitution and run for president once again in 2028, which he has hinted at, his middle son, Eric, has indicated he might like to take his turn in the Oval Office.According to a report from Newsweek’s Theo Burman, Eric made rumblings about jumping from the Trump family business into a run, likely against a handful of Republicans seeking the MAGA crown and what comes with it.The report notes that Eric Trump spoke with Nikkei Asia on Sunday during an overseas trip where he is promoting cryptocurrency, when talk turned to a Trump “dynasty.”According to Newsweek's Burman, Eric Trump stated, "I'm not ruling it out. I'm not saying no, but I'm also not saying yes."In July, Eric Trump boasted about his executive abilities in an interview with the Financial Times as he attacked DC lawmakers and stated he was “wholly unimpressed by half the politicians I see . . . I could do it very effectively.”At that time he added, “Would I want my kids to live the same experience over the last decade that I’ve lived? You know, if the answer was yes, I think the political path would be an easy one, meaning, I think I could do it. And by the way, I think other members of our family could do it too.”You can read more from the Newsweek report here. Newsweek report here.

Sep 1, 2025 - World

A massive rescue operation was underway in Afghanistan Monday, after a strong earthquake and multiple aftershocks flattened homes in a remote, mountainous region, killing more than 800 people, the Taliban authorities said. The earthquake struck just before midnight, shaking buildings from Kabul to neighbouring Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.More than 1.2 million people likely felt strong or very strong shaking, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Near the epicentre in the east of Afghanistan, around 800 people were killed and 2,500 injured in remote Kunar province alone, chief Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. Another 12 people were killed and 255 injured in neighbouring Nangarhar province, he added. "Numerous houses were destroyed," interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told AFP.The majority of Afghans live in low-rise, mud-brick homes that are vulnerable to collapse.Some of the most severely impacted villages in remote Kunar provinces "remain inaccessible due to road blockages", the UN migration agency warned in a statement to AFP.The Taliban authorities and the United Nations mobilised rescue efforts to hard-hit areas. The defence ministry said 40 flight sorties had so far been carried out. A member of the agricultural department in Kunar's Nurgal district said people had rushed to clear blocked roads to isolated villages, but that badly affected areas were remote and had limited telecoms networks. "There is a lot of fear and tension... Children and women were screaming. We had never experienced anything like this in our lives," Ijaz Ulhaq Yaad told AFP. He said that many living in quake-hit villages were among the more than four million Afghans who have returned to the country from Iran and Pakistan in recent years. "They wanted to build their homes here." The quake, which struck at a relatively shallow depth of eight kilometres, was 27 kilometres from the city of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, according to the USGS.Nangarhar and Kunar provinces border Pakistan, with the Torkham crossing the site of many waves of Afghan returnees deported or forced to leave, often with no work and nowhere to go. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres added his condolences to those shared by the Taliban government and several nations."I stand in full solidarity with the people of Afghanistan after the devastating earthquake that hit the country earlier today," he said.- Frequent quakes -After the initial quake, a series of at least five aftershocks followed throughout the night, with the strongest being one of magnitude 5.2 just after 4:00 am (2330 GMT Sunday).Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. Nangarhar province was also hit by flooding overnight Friday to Saturday, which killed five people and destroyed crops and property, provincial authorities said.In October 2023, western Herat province was devastated by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake, which killed more than 1,500 people and damaged or destroyed more than 63,000 homes.In June 2022, a 5.9-magnitude quake struck the impoverished eastern border province of Paktika, killing more than 1,000 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.Ravaged by four decades of war, Afghanistan is already contending with a series of humanitarian crises.Since the return of the Taliban, foreign aid to Afghanistan has been slashed, undermining the already impoverished nation's ability to respond to disasters.

Aug 31, 2025 - World

Governor Gavin Newsom is doing exactly what he had to do with his redistricting plan in California: attempting to stop Donald Trump rigging the 2026 midterms election in Republicans’ favor. When you have a president bent on maximizing his autocratic power and positioning his party to dominate federal elections and create virtual one-party rule, no response is too extreme.Newsom didn’t choose to create five Democratic-leaning House districts out of territory currently held by Republican lawmakers. He threatened it as a tactic to get Trump and his obeisant Texas governor and lawmakers to back off their gerrymandering scheme to rig the election. Since Texas went through with the redistricting, Newsom had the choice of allowing Trump’s attempt to steal the House to go unchallenged or to counterattack and re-level the playing field. That Trump would attempt to rig the 2026 midterms should shock no one. This is the guy who lied that the 2020 presidential election was stolen — who coerced governors, state legislatures, and election officials to change votes, who created fraudulent elector slates to cast fraudulent electoral votes, who tried to get Vice President Mike Pence to subvert the electoral certification process, and who incited a violent mob to attack the Capitol in an attempt to halt the presidential certification of Joe Biden.It is also no coincidence that three of Trump’s most admired political pals – Vladimir Putin, Victor Orbán, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — enjoy virtual one-party rule, their parties having long-established strangleholds on election results and governmental power. Thinly veiled autocracies today, the erstwhile democracies of Russia, Hungary, and Turkey have been crushed. This is exactly what Trump and his Project 2025 chums have in mind for the US. Trump is attempting to kneecap the Democratic Party’s chances in all future elections through gerrymandering and voter suppression. Measures such as eliminating mail-in voting, disallowing voting machines, reducing the number of polling places, eliminating election-day registration, and requiring proof of citizenship are all aimed at suppressing the vote of minorities who traditionally support Democrats.Trump’s successful ploy to add five Republican districts in Texas is part of a grander scheme to reshape America’s governance system and render the two-party democratic system defunct. In virtual one-party systems, the ruling party controls all branches of government, Trump’s obvious goal.In one-party rule autocracies, opposition parties and shows of public dissent are often suppressed through legal, political, or violent means. Power is centralized within the ruling party and its authoritarian leader, with no democratic system of checks and balances to restrain it. Constitutions are reinterpreted or rewritten to help the ruling party and its authoritarian leader remain in power indefinitely. This is the direction the US is headed. We have an overreaching, power-grasping president and a rubber-stamp Republican Congress that obediently does his bidding. Atop the judicial system is a pliant Supreme Court filled with Trump appointees. Federal judges who rule against Trump’s unconstitutional executive orders are maligned and served with lawsuits. Authoritarian bullying is rampant. Trump punishes universities and states that refuse to bend a knee to his demands. He calls out the national guard to militarize Democratic-controlled cities and launches sham investigations of Trump’s critics conducted by the servile heads of the DOJ and FBI. Trump signs executive orders that violate states’ and the federal legislature’s rights. These anti-democratic acts are just the beginning.Trump may steal the 2026 House election by other red states following Texas’s gerrymandering lead coupled with repressive voting laws that disenfranchise traditional Democratic voters. Republicans’ one-party rule would then be given two more years to entrench itself in the manner of Putin’s, Orban’s, and Erdogan’s parties. Democracy as we have known it would no longer exist.With his redistricting plan, Newsom is pushing back. Other Democratic states may follow suit. But Trump’s election scheme has created a chillingly dark day for American democracy. Thanks to Trump, the winning party in 2026 must out-manipulate the other, since winning fairly is no longer an option. Democrats must win the House by hook or by crook in 2026 to save America from becoming an autocratic, one-party rule country. Every anti-democratic act that Trump commits provides more striking evidence of the intent. Governor Newsom did not stand by and let Trump’s dirty election tricks go unchallenged. If other Democratic leaders and the vast majority of voters follow suit, Trump’s second attempt to destroy American democracy will be his last. Tom Tyner is a freelance editorialist, satirist, political analyst, blogger, author and retired English instructor