Top World News

Mar 21, 2026 - World

Heavy rains have pummeled the Hawaiian island of Oahu and triggered the worst flooding the island has in 20 yearsSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxTowering flash floods and an imminent dam failure in the northern part of Oahu triggered mass rescues and evacuation warnings in Hawaii on Friday, as the state continued contending with a powerful storm this week.The waters came on quickly in the middle of the night, and videos on social media captured inundated streets and cars being swallowed by the muddy flood waters. Continue reading...

Mar 21, 2026 - World

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent says move will bring 140m barrels to market but insists Tehran will not benefitMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe Trump administration has waived sanctions on Iranian oil purchases at sea for 30 days to ease surging oil prices driven by the US-Israeli war on Iran.The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said the waiver would bring about 140m barrels of oil to global markets and help relieve pressure on energy supply. Continue reading...

Mar 21, 2026 - World

Mors Imperator caused a scandal in 1887 amid fears it mocked the German kaiser – more than 100 years later it is being displayed in a state museumWrapped in a cloak with ermine fur and wearing a jagged iron crown, a hulking skeleton rests one foot on a globe and knocks over a royal throne with a dramatic flick of its ivory wrist.Entitled Mors Imperator (“Death is the Ruler”), the German artist Hermione von Preuschen’s 1887 symbolical painting was meant to express the transience of fame and power. But authorities feared the picture could be seen as mocking the ageing German Emperor Wilhelm I, who then had recently turned 90, and refused to accept its submission to the Berlin Academy of the Arts’ annual exhibition that year. Continue reading...

Mar 21, 2026 - World

Regime will do whatever it takes to cling on to power – including sacrificing economies of other Gulf statesMiddle East crisis – live updatesBrinkmanship, the ability to take a country to the edge of war without plunging it into the abyss, was the cornerstone of cold war diplomacy. But in our different, more unstable times – in which the line between state and non-state actors has blurred, and weapons of war have diffused – the world this week finally tipped over the edge, and suddenly it is in freefall.The first six days of the Iran war cost the US $12.7bn (£9.5bn), but now the Pentagon is seeking as much as $200bn in military funding. Oil at $125 a barrel is no longer an Iranian, or Russian, fantasy. The crown jewel of Qatar, Ras Laffan – the world’s largest liquefied natural gas plant – may not reopen fully for five years, at a cost of $20bn a year. Other combustible oil depots in the Gulf, from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi, are exposed to Iran’s low-cost drones. Then add the human cost of 18,000 civilians injured and more than 3,000 killed in Iran alone. Continue reading...

Mar 21, 2026 - World

US president claims he ‘always says yes’ to Australia, Japan and South Korea, after saying he didn’t need help from trio of countries earlier this weekMiddle East crisis – live updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastDonald Trump says he is “very surprised” Australia has not sent warships to aid in opening the strait of Hormuz as the blockade of the key strategic route for global oil supply continues to affect fuel prices.“I was very surprised,” the US president said in Washington on Friday when asked what he took issue with regarding Japan, South Korea and Australia. Continue reading...