Top World News

Apr 2, 2026 - World

Donald Trump has tainted his own second term in the Oval Office with one move this year, a Nobel Prize winner has warned. Paul Krugman believes the longer-term effects of the war with Iran will not just undermine the president's decision-making in future, but that his attitude toward NATO members and allied nations has destroyed what little legacy the president could cling to. Speaking in a video uploaded to his Substack, the award-winning economist noted the problem with the Iran war is not just the war itself, but the ongoing economic impact and erosion of relations with the United States' allies. "So this is going to be really bad," Krugman said. "But anyway, it was radically disappointing even to people who are, you know, the markets and a lot of people in the world were actually hoping that the United States would give up. "I mean, it’ll be terrible. We really don’t want a medievalist theocracy empowered. But since this is heading nowhere except for, again, massive war crimes, better to end it. But we’re not getting that."We have Trump lecturing the world and saying, why are you cowards? Why don’t you come in and help us in this ill-conceived, disastrous war that we started without checking with you? "But the reality is that the world is looking and saying, my God, what is wrong with America? They may still have a lot of bombs — although not as many as we started with — but it’s not a country anybody can trust for anything. And that, even more than the price of oil, is going to be the legacy of this war."Krugman went on to suggest that Trump had made the situation with Iran worse than before the strikes were approved. He wrote, "One of the moments that really struck me in the speech was him declaring that the whole world was extremely impressed by what happened. He said, 'The whole world is watching and they can't believe the power, strength, and brilliance. They just can't believe what they're seeing. The world can't believe what it's seeing.'"What it’s seeing is that the world’s greatest military power took on a fourth-rate power. Again, as I said the other day, Iran’s military budget is a rounding error in our military budget. And we lost. For all practical purposes, we’ve left ourselves in a much weaker position and Iran in a stronger position than it was before."

Apr 2, 2026 - World

Pro-MAGA Real America's Voice host Gina Loudon revealed that she was underwhelmed by President Donald Trump's Wednesday night address to the nation about the war in Iran.During a Thursday morning segment, Loudon reflected on the speech with co-hosts David Brody and Terrence Bates."He basically said that everything is on track and that completion of military objectives," Bates noted. "Soon, kind of in parentheses, two to three weeks is the number he floated.""But I don't know," he remarked. "I still have questions, Dr. Gina. Did you get all the questions last night that you wanted answered?""Well, since, as David Brody pointed out this morning, I believe in our production call, he never said the word ground troops at all," Loudon replied. "Didn't address. No comment. So that meant that a lot of America went, oh, okay, well, we're not going to, we're not going to insert any ground troops. That's great. But is that what that meant? I don't know the answer to that.""And I was my whole time, this whole time, like, I literally was like, that's it?" she complained. "I don't know about anybody else. That's what I was thinking. I was like, that's what, wait, huh? I didn't understand."For his part, Brody called on the "forever war crowd" to calm down."And I get it. Don't get me wrong," he said. "I understand the concerns. But we're talking 32 days as opposed to 19 years in Vietnam. So let's just settle it down here and let's see where we go."Loudon fired back: "Yeah, well, some of us are, you know, thinking historically, and we're a little older and wiser, and we just want to have we want to have — we want to be the accountability partner for the president that we love."

Apr 2, 2026 - World

Donald Trump has no idea how to end the war with Iran, according to a defense and security expert urging the world to take note.Christopher Bucktin says the president has delivered a speech that highlighted the United States' failures in Iran, and that backing out is effectively the only option Trump's administration has. Whether that moment comes, The Mirror's US editor argues, is yet to be seen. He wrote, "If you were waiting for clarity last night, you got confusion. If you were waiting for honesty, you got lies. And if you were waiting for leadership, you got something closer to a greatest-hits compilation of his favourite talking points - none of them remotely resembling the truth."The most extraordinary part? He didn’t have to do this. Trump had an opportunity just hours earlier to end the Iran war or at least to claim he had. He could have stepped up, declared victory, and walked away."Given his talent for rewriting reality, plenty would have believed him. The killing could have paused. Markets might have steadied. Even his own fracturing MAGA base might have rallied behind the illusion of success. Instead, he chose the opposite."What Trump does next will worry the world, Bucktin believes, as the president must now figure out a way of leaving the Iran war behind. But the president's speech noted both conclusive success and an ongoing war, with Bucktin arguing this blur does not sit well with the public or the world. Bucktin wrote, "Iran has not folded. It has adapted, and in doing so, it has outplayed a man who thought force alone would be enough. By tightening its grip on the Strait, it has strengthened its position while Trump weakens his."At one moment, he says the job is done. Next, he threatens escalation. One moment, no regime change. The next, hints the regime may not survive. It is incoherent."The truth is brutally simple. Trump started a war he did not understand, against an opponent he underestimated, with no serious plan for what came next. He had a chance to step back and pretend it was over. Instead, he stepped forward and showed the world he hasn’t got a clue how to end it."

Apr 2, 2026 - World

Quake with epicentre west-north-west of Ternate island shakes cities and prompts regional tsunami warningOne person has been killed after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s Ternate island, damaging buildings and triggering small tsunami waves.The quake, which had a depth of 35km, occurred on Thursday at 6.48am local time, according to the United States Geological Survey. Its epicentre was 127km (79 miles) west-north-west of Ternate, an island in Indonesia’s North Maluku province. Continue reading...

Mar 31, 2026 - World

Foreign ministers Ishaq Dar and Wang Yi met in Beijing as Pakistan pushes for peacemaker roleMiddle East crisis – live updatesPakistan and China have released a joint five-part proposal for peace in the Middle East, after Pakistan’s foreign minister flew to Beijing on Tuesday to seek Chinese support for the country’s faltering efforts to negotiate an end to end the war.The one-day meeting between Ishaq Dar and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, came as Pakistan continues to push for the role of peacemaker between the United States and Iran, even as the war shows little sign of relenting. Continue reading...