Top World News

Jun 5, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump has instructed Bill Pulte, the controversial new acting head of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), to execute sweeping personnel cuts across the nation's 18 federal intelligence agencies and units before a permanent successor is confirmed.In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump revealed his explicit mandate to Pulte, who lacks the necessary security clearances, to dramatically reduce the size of an agency he views as "unnecessary and/or too big.""I'd like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn't be there," Trump admitted to The Journal, specifically targeting career officials from the Biden and Obama administrations. When asked directly if he was ordering firings, Trump confirmed the instruction. "I want him to 'start the process,'" Trump said, adding that his eventual permanent nominee should continue the purge once confirmed.Trump bluntly framed Pulte's temporary status as an operational advantage rather than a limitation. "You're less shackled," Trump said of the acting designation. "It sort of gives you more power, you know, for a somewhat limited period of time."The president outlined a calculated strategy to complete major structural changes before his permanent appointee takes office, allowing the future ODNI to inherit a smaller, ideologically aligned agency rather than managing the cuts themselves."Frankly, it might be good for him to shake it up before people come," Trump explained. "Because, if he [Pulte] reduced the size, in conjunction with me…and in conjunction with possibly the person coming in…he can do a lot of the hard work and we wouldn't have to saddle somebody that goes in."The approach reflects Trump's broader effort to reshape the intelligence community according to his preferences, The Journal reported. Pulte, who has no prior intelligence experience and has been highly critical of the FBI and other agencies, is widely viewed as unlikely to survive Senate confirmation despite his acting appointment.Pulte and ODNI representatives declined to comment to The Journal on the directives.

Jun 5, 2026 - World

A Justice Department lawyer told a federal appeals court Friday that the Trump administration could demolish the Statue of Liberty before anyone could sue to stop him — and that would simply be the end of it.The stunning exchange came during oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit over President Donald Trump's controversial $400 million White House ballroom project, built on the site of the demolished East Wing.Judge Patricia Millett pressed the government's lawyer directly. "If the govt decides very quickly to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty, the people whose ancestors — that was the first thing they saw coming to this country, but the govt moved too fast — nothing can be done?" she asked, according to Politico's Kyle Cheney, who was in the courtroom.The DOJ lawyer's response: "I think that's right, yes."The administration has argued throughout the ballroom litigation that no one has legal standing to challenge the project once demolition is complete. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled in March that "no statute comes close to giving the President" the authority to build the ballroom without congressional approval. The appellate panel — Millett alongside Trump-appointee Neomi Rao and Biden-appointee Brad Garcia — is now weighing whether to reinstate his injunction.The ballroom fight is far from Trump's only unilateral remaking of American landmarks. Federal judges have also been asked to weigh in on his effort to paint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool "American flag" blue — the subject of a lawsuit accusing the administration of bypassing required congressional notice. A separate judge blocked Trump's move to rename the Kennedy Center in his honor. And the administration has drawn up plans for a 250-foot triumphal arch at Memorial Circle near Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac from the Lincoln Memorial.Trump has defended the ballroom as a national security necessity, posting AI-generated renderings of a "DronePort" on the roof and warning that Judge Leon would be held responsible for any attack on the president.The appellate panel has allowed construction to continue during the legal fight. Trump has said the ballroom is scheduled to open around September 2028.

Jun 5, 2026 - World

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade couldn't hide his disgust Thursday morning when his own network flashed an "Iran Deal Soon?" graphic on screen — audibly groaning and declaring the talks a "dead end" just seconds after reading the optimistic chyron off a teleprompter."Ugh!" Kilmeade blurted before pivoting sharply from the network's framing. "The problem is there are no talks. Hezbollah's backed out of it. I see that as a dead end."The @BadFoxGraphics account, which tracks Fox News graphics and on-air moments, captured the clip and said Kilmeade had thrown "cold water on producers' efforts to again predict an imminent Iran deal."President Donald Trump claimed back in 2020 he'd have a deal with Iran "within four weeks" of being re-elected. It never happened. After returning to office, he gave Iran 15 days to reach an agreement in February 2026 — then launched airstrikes on the country. By late May, he was declaring on Truth Social that a deal had "been largely negotiated" — only for officials to walk that back within 24 hours, NPR reported. A Situation Room meeting last weekend ended with no announcement.Now Trump is hinting the war could wrap up "as soon as this weekend" — a claim Kilmeade, reading from his own network's script, couldn't stomach.

Jun 5, 2026 - World

Draft treaty claims sexual and reproductive health and rights are an existential threat to the African familyAn African treaty that rejects longstanding international human rights obligations moved a step closer to becoming policy this week as governments across the continent met in Ghana.The draft African charter on family, sovereignty and values, seen by the Guardian, asserts that African values and culture are under attack from “foreign ideologies” and urges states to withdraw from any agreements that do not align with the principles of the charter, including the 2003 Maputo protocol, which promotes gender equality and protects the reproductive and health rights of women and girls. Continue reading...

Jun 4, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump has pitted two of his cabinet members against each other in the battle over who will succeed him and run for president in 2028, and so far, there is a clear loser in this fight, an analyst revealed on Thursday.Secretary of State Marco Rubio has appeared to win Trump over so far, as Vice President JD Vance has lost favor after failed negotiations with Iran, wrote Jonathan V. Last, editor at The Bulwark. And Last argued that it comes down to what Harry Potter character Albus Dumbledore says: “People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right.”"Point is that Rubio has been wrong about the Iran war from the jump. And that’s why Trump has begun elevating him above JD Vance in the Favorite Adopted Son sweepstakes," Last wrote."It’s clear that Trump is displeased with JD Vance," Last explained. "Early on, when Trump thought he was winning in Iran, there were leaks about Vance not being on board with the war. Daddy Trump sent Vance to negotiate with the Iranians when they clearly had all the cards, setting him up for failure—and at the same time took Rubio with him on vacation to fight night. There was a huge dump of leaks designed to show that Trump doesn’t think Vance has the juice."Rubio didn't play the same game as Vance. And Rubio has benefited."Vance’s mistake was trying to influence the party line, rather than adapting to whatever the Leader said the party line happened to be. Any of Stalin’s henchmen could have told him that was a mistake," Last wrote. "The worse Iran gets, the worse it will be for Vance," Last added. "Trump will become even more resentful—even if Vance never says, told you so. Trump will remember that Vance was the one who told him not to do it."