Top World News

May 2, 2026 - World

Rural dwellers reveal failings in backup plans, as campaigners call for deadline to be extended from 2027 to 2030“Every time there is a power failure I lose all means of communication with the outside world,” says Robert Dewar of life in a remote village in the Scottish Highlands since the landlines were transferred from the old copper cable network to broadband connections.Blackouts also knock out the village’s mobile phone signal. “Our most recent power cut lasted for 42 hours,” Dewar says. The interruption outlasted his five-hour emergency backup battery. “If I had had a heart attack there is damn all I could have done about it, except compose myself, say my prayers, and await the outcome.” Continue reading...

May 2, 2026 - World

The East West Rail project linking Oxford to Milton Keynes was finished in 2024. There’s just one hitch: no servicesThe rumbling noise in the night, still enough to waken the unhabituated, is what really goads some people living in Winslow, Buckinghamshire. Freight trains running through the new station since late 2024 prove this stretch of railway is operational. But the long-promised passenger services have yet to appear – and there is no sign of any arriving soon.Welcome to East West Rail, open or not. For well over a decade, ministers have talked up a new railway linking Oxford to Cambridge via Milton Keynes to accelerate the drive for housing, jobs and growth – an arc of tech industry hailed as the UK’s answer to Silicon Valley. Continue reading...

May 2, 2026 - World

US President Donald Trump on Friday said the United States faces a stark choice in its approach to Iran, either to pursue a negotiated settlement or escalate militarily.

May 2, 2026 - World

A small plane carrying pickleball players crashed among trees in Texas Hill Country, killing all five people aboard, authorities said Friday.

May 2, 2026 - World

Gurindji families mourn ‘a life so precious, gone far too soon’Warning: This article contains images of and references to Indigenous Australians who have diedKumanjayi Little Baby’s relatives have released a statement saying they felt “helpless” when they heard she was missing, and hope their community can unite in grief.“A life so precious, so full of innocence, gone far too soon,” the Gurindji families said of the five-year-old Warlpiri girl, who was found dead in Alice Springs on Thursday evening – five days after she had gone missing from her bed in the Old Timers town camp. Continue reading...