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Apr 30, 2026 - World

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has delivered a devastating assessment of Donald Trump's Iran war: the president is steering the United States toward humiliating defeat, and the only way out requires acknowledging a loss his fragile ego will never permit.According to Krugman, there is no viable path to reopening the Strait of Hormuz without accepting terms dictated by Iran — a reality that will leave the U.S. economy held hostage to Trump's reckless military adventurism."Realistically, the only way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is for both sides to stand down — for Iran to lift its de facto embargo on shipping through the Strait, while the U.S. lifts its blockade on Iranian shipping," Krugman wrote."Such a mutual stand-down wouldn't require negotiating a formal deal, nor would it require that either regime trust the other. All it needs is for both sides to stop doing what they are doing."Instead of accepting this straightforward resolution, Krugman identified three obstacles blocking peace: "Trump's ego, his ignorance, and the Iranians' unfortunately justified belief that any agreement they reach with America would be effectively worthless."The economist described how Trump's psychological inability to accept defeat is driving policy. "Trump's ego is so fragile that he can never admit losing. He cannot bear to face up to the reality that he, more or less single-handedly, led America to the greatest strategic defeat in its history. So he desperately wants to extract concessions from Iran that would lend him a fig leaf and allow him to claim victory," he explained.According to Krugman, Trump's inner circle is amplifying the delusion and "those delusions are reinforced by the people that Trump has surrounded himself with – people who tell him how well the war is going in order to flatter his ego. Consequently, Trump is clearly the worst informed president in modern history about the actual state of America at war."Iran understands America's weakness. Iranian leaders recognize that the Hormuz standoff is inflicting damage on both the U.S. and global economies. The country's leaders also know Trump faces what appears to be a major electoral defeat in November, driven by American anger over the war, its economic devastation and the president's relentless lying.The outcome is predetermined — unless Trump crosses into war crimes territory, Krugman added."How will this end? Unless Trump is willing to commit massive war crimes — and the U.S. military goes along — it will end with the non-deal that was already on the table weeks ago: America ends its blockade while Iran opens the Strait. Iran will emerge poorer but strategically stronger," he wrote. "And America will have suffered its worst strategic defeat in history as a result of a completely gratuitous misadventure to please Trump's ego."Krugman's concluding question cuts to the heart of the crisis. "The question now is: how much destruction will the world, and America, have to bear before Trump is willing to accept reality?"

Apr 30, 2026 - World

The pilot of a commercial flight said Wednesday his plane may have been hit by a drone thousands of feet (hundreds of meters) in the air as he came in...

Apr 30, 2026 - World

UK was close behind, exporting 675,000 tonnes, with much of the waste sent to Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia Germany was the world’s largest exporter of plastic waste in 2025 and sent more than 810,000 tonnes abroad, according to analysis of trade data carried out for the Guardian.The UK followed close behind, according to the analysis by Watershed Investigations and the Basel Action Network. It exported more than 675,000 tonnes, its highest level in eight years and enough to fill about 127,000 shipping containers. Continue reading...

Apr 30, 2026 - World

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, declined to definitively say that a gunman at the White House Correspondents' Dinner shot a Secret Service agent.During a Thursday interview on Fox News, anchor Dana Perino revealed that the network's sources were told that the gunman, Cole Allen, shot an agent when he discharged his shotgun at the Washington D.C. Hilton on Saturday."Do you know if Cole Allen fired it or if it discharged accidentally?" Pirro asked."I don't think there's any question but that Cole Allen was intending to fire that Mossberg," Pirro replied. "And what we do know is that he fired off that 12-gauge shotgun one time. The cartridge was still in the weapon. He fired that gun in the direction of the Secret Service officer."The U.S. attorney noted that one of the Secret Service officers fired his weapon five times."We know it based on the fact that we found five areas consistent with being hit by a 9mm," she said. "So the Secret Service agent did not shoot himself. And you've got Cole Allen going there, shooting off one round. And I don't think there's any question of what happened here.""We're waiting for the official ballistics test, but at the same time, we filed papers in court this morning for the detention hearing today, indicating that this defendant was calculated, he was premeditated, he had every intention of killing the president and anyone who got in his way."

Apr 30, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump took another slap at Germany's leader over his criticism earlier this week of the U.S. war against Iran.German Chancellor Friedrich Merz faulted the 79-year-old president for launching the war without an apparent exit strategy, saying the U.S. has been "humiliated" by Iranian leadership, and Trump lobbed another social media attack after threatening to reduce American troops stationed in Germany."The Chancellor of Germany should spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine (Where he has been totally ineffective!)," Trump posted on Truth Social, "and fixing his broken Country, especially Immigration and Energy, and less time on interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iran Nuclear threat, thereby making the World, including Germany, a safer place! President DJT."Trump has frequently railed against NATO allies for refusing to assist in the Iran war he authorized at the end of February, and he responded to Merz's criticism by threatening to draw down the military forces that have been stationed in Germany since the start of the Cold War.“The United States is studying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany, with a determination to be made over the next short period of time,” Trump said in a social media post.