Top World News

Nov 7, 2026 - World

Secretary of State Marco Rubio laid down a stern warning to his top deputies behind closed doors, according to a new report.Rubio told senior State Department officials in a meeting last week that unethical conduct would get them fired no matter how well connected they were, Reuters reported Saturday, citing four people familiar with the matter. The meeting came after Kimberly Guilfoyle resigned as U.S. ambassador to Greece in mid-October, following news reports that raised concerns she had traded access to Trump administration officials for money, gifts and favors.Guilfoyle has denied those reports and said on social media that she would defend her reputation.According to the people who spoke to Reuters, the meeting included many of the department's roughly two dozen assistant secretaries. Rubio complained that too many officials were pushing their own policy agendas without coordinating, and he told them major decisions needed approval from him or Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.The State Department declined to comment on the meeting.Shortly afterward, policy chief Jeremy Lewin was pushed out of his post, three of the sources told Reuters, partly over concerns that he was working on issues beyond his portfolio. One source said department leadership had grown frustrated with his "freelancing." None of the sources tied his exit to ethical misconduct.Lewin, who came to government through Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, disputed that account in a statement to the outlet."The suggestion that I was fired is false," he said, adding that he left to take a private sector job and plan his wedding.Rubio's office now also has to sign off on all political travel after he grew frustrated with how often political staff were traveling overseas, one of the sources said.The crackdown arrives as Republicans regroup after Tuesday's midterm losses handed Democrats control of Congress. Democrats have vowed to investigate dealings between Trump aides and foreign officials once they take power in January. The Trump administration has denied allegations of self-dealing.Rubio has played down speculation about a 2028 presidential run but has not ruled one out, and Reuters noted his handling of the department could become a campaign issue if he jumps in.

Nov 7, 2026 - World

Trump’s military wants help finding Iran’s nuclear program via social media, and critics can’t help pointing out that the president said he “obliterated” it.U.S. Central Command posted on X Friday that the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program “is offering a reward of up to $20 million and possible relocation for information about Iran’s nuclear program.” The post said that includes “its facilities, equipment, and associated personnel, such as those in the scientific community, or the movement of any of the above.”The post had drawn nearly 5 million views as of early morning Saturday, along with a flood of mockery. Many critics brought up President Donald Trump’s claim that U.S. strikes in June 2025 had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear sites.The offer comes as the U.S. war with Iran drags into its ninth month. Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both acknowledged the war’s unpopularity was a leading reason Republicans lost both chambers of Congress on Tuesday.“WTF????” wrote broadcaster Piers Morgan. His post alone had drawn more than 2 million views.MeidasTouch co-founder Brett Meiselas asked CENTCOM directly: “Aren’t you embarrassed?”His brother, MeidasTouch founder Ben Meiselas, went further.“If an adversary hacked the CENTCOM account and started making posts it wouldn’t be as damaging or embarrassing as what CENTCOM has been doing,” he wrote.“The Mossad outsourced, Centcom crowdsourced, and comedy ensued,” wrote Max Blumenthal, editor of The Grayzone.Tehran-based academic Seyed Mohammad Marandi, a frequent defender of the Iranian government, called the post a sign of a “dying Zionist empire: weak, ignorant, and pathetic.”Other users kept returning to the same question: How can the administration need help finding a program the president says it already destroyed?“Wasn’t it totally wiped out forever a year and a half ago?” one user asked. Another wrote: “Paying $20 million for a nuclear site that Trump already destroyed.”Another user pointed out that the post went up on a Friday night: “Are they rly asking X on a Friday night for Iran’s nuclear information.”

Nov 6, 2026 - World

Russell Brand, the comedian and Hollywood star turned right-wing podcaster, faces an investigation into the alleged rape of a 16-year-old schoolgirl after his rape conviction, and police warn more women may come forward.Brand, 51, is under investigation over the alleged rapes of two more women, The Independent reported, after a London jury on Thursday convicted him of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others.One of the women says she was 16 when Brand sent a car to collect her from school for sexual encounters, according to the report.Police have questioned Brand as a suspect over both allegations and sent files to prosecutors, who decide whether to bring charges, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said.Brand has acknowledged having sex with a 16-year-old when he was 30, but he has insisted since 2023 that his relationships were consensual. A woman with a similar account first spoke out in 2023 in Channel 4’s Dispatches documentary “Russell Brand: In Plain Sight.” She said she was 16 and Brand was 30 when their three-month relationship began in 2006, and that he became controlling and abusive, Deadline reported.She also told The Times of London that Brand raped her, NBC News reported.“Russell engaged in the behaviours of a groomer, looking back, but I didn’t even know what that was then, or what that looked like,” she told the paper.In a video posted the day before the documentary aired, Brand denied the allegations and said his relationships at the time had always been consensual.In April, Brand addressed the 16-year-old allegation when conservative commentator Megyn Kelly pressed him on her show, Rolling Stone reported. He thanked Kelly for letting him address her anger, which he called “entirely legitimate,” Variety reported.“I did sleep with a 16-year-old when I was 30. When I was 30, I was a very different person,” Brand said.He said the age of consent in Britain is 16 and that consensual sex with “a strong power differential,” like the one fame gave him, “involves exploitation.”Kelly is now disputing the jury’s verdict.“Utterly charming guy, sweet, interesting, funny, and I had a very difficult time believing that he was capable of rape, as I do right now,” Kelly said on her show after the verdict, The Daily Beast reported. She called the conviction a “travesty” and said the woman Brand was convicted of raping “pursued him aggressively.”The new files follow two earlier rounds of charges: Brand was first charged in April 2025 over allegations from four women. Charges involving two more women were added that December, the Met said at the time.“When you achieve a conviction in something and it receives a level of publicity as well, it gives people the courage to come forward,” Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, who led the three-year investigation, told The Independent. “So in the Russell Brand case, I think it’s a possibility there are more victims out there,” he added.Prosecutors previously reviewed two other allegations against Brand but found they did not meet the evidence standard needed to bring charges, The Independent reported.The Met asked anyone who wants to speak to detectives or make a report to contact its investigation team.Brand, who denied all the charges, was cleared of two other rape counts and one count of attempted indecent assault, NPR reported. He will be sentenced Monday, and the judge has warned the sentence will likely be “significant.”

Nov 6, 2026 - World

Paul Mackenzie convicted over deaths of children and one adult after followers were ordered to starve themselves and their familiesThe leader of a Kenyan doomsday sect has been sentenced to 200 years in prison for the murders of 190 children and one adult in one of the world’s worst cult disasters in recent history.The sentence, comprising 100 years for murder by starvation and 100 years by direct homicide, came two weeks after the court in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa found the cult leader guilty of the crimes. Continue reading...

Nov 6, 2026 - World

Former liberation movement’s share of national vote almost 14 percentage points below 2021 resultThe African National Congress is on course to suffer a bruising defeat in South Africa’s local elections, with the once dominant party of Nelson Mandela falling to under a third of the vote nationally with more than 80% of ballots counted.Wednesday’s fragmented vote marks another stage in the decline of the ANC, which has led national governments since the end of white minority apartheid rule in 1994. High unemployment, crime, corruption and poor local service delivery have all contributed to voters turning away from the party. Continue reading...