Top World News

Sep 2, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump’s decision to sign an executive order renaming Lake Ontario as “Lake America” has been a spectacular flop with voters — and one very high-profile political podcaster, according to a new analysis.Two “Morning Joe” co-hosts Wednesday morning discussed Joe Rogan's dismissal of the move as a mere 14 percent of Americans voters report support for the decision. The segment begins with a clip of a smirking Rogan. “It’s to distract you from the fact we are in a war we can’t win with Iran — it doesn’t make any sense,” Rogan said. “Who cares if it’s Lake Ontario? It’s a good name. We’ve had that name forever."Co-host Jonathan Lemire and Willie Geist were quick to pile on.Geist reported that a recent Ipsos/Reuters poll found 63 percent of respondents opposed Lake Ontario’s renaming, a mere 14 percent supported the decision and 21 percent said they weren’t sure how they feel about it."Perhaps because it was so, so deeply stupid,” Geist said with a laugh. "Jonathan Lemire, this again, the case of President Trump diving headfirst into an issue that apparently has no audience.”"I don't say this a lot, but Joe Rogan? Exactly right," Lemire said. "It's meant to be a distraction; it's a culture war. And, you know, it's to get us to talk about something else. But there is a serious underbelly here, which is the fact that this trade war with Canada, as we just discussed, is going to have real political implications and not good ones for Republicans. And frankly, Willie, it also shows Trump's just running out of ideas. We already did the Gulf of America. Now it's Lake of America.” - YouTube youtu.be

Sep 2, 2026 - World

A member of President Donald Trump's first administration delivered Wednesday a stark warning to his former boss over what he describes as the White House's "convoluted" plan to deal with a sinister partner.Elliott Abrams, Trump's former special representative to Venezuela, in a Washington Post editorial shredded the president's deal to claim 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil as an "unconstitutional" gambit — and warned he was relying on a dangerous partner to push it through."Because major U.S. oil companies have been unwilling to pony up large amounts of cash to invest in Venezuela, Trump has allied the government with the most shadowy and repellent Venezuelan businessman he could find," wrote Abrams. "When I served in the first Trump administration as special representative for Venezuela, we knew exactly what [Alejandro] Betancourt stood for and kept him far away from the U.S. government."Before delving into his many problems with Betancourt, Abrams details many problems he has with Trump's oil plan; namely that the agreement is unconstitutional under Venezuelan law that states the deposits belong to the people, who haven't agreed to it, and U.S. law likely doesn't allow the Pentagon to enter into the oil trade. But Betancourt is "worse" than these major legal problems, Abrams writes. Betancourt, who denies wrongdoing, is under a Swiss arrest warrant for alleged money laundering involving Venezuela’s state oil company and made a fortune under the "corrupt" Hugo Chávez, writes Abrams.That reportedly hasn't stopped senior U.S. officials from lobbying to resolve the Switzerland case or inviting Betancourt to Washington for meetings with the administration. The resultant deal, argues Abrams, is one that will do nothing to ease the pain American drivers feel at the gas pump."Hundreds of billions of dollars in investments will be announced — some by grifters looking for special advantages, some by oil companies looking for favor with Trump and some by the president himself," wrote Abrams. "The tragedy is that the United States is now the partner to an unelected despot...this oil deal will prove to be the great sellout — of Venezuela’s natural resources and its people’s right to self-government."

Sep 2, 2026 - World

Bangladeshi complainants allege Rampal power station’s pollution and climate risks threaten the Sunderbans, a world heritage siteBarclays Bank is facing a formal complaint over its financial links to a coal-fired power station near the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest and home to millions of people in Bangladesh and India.Three complainants from the region have submitted a case to the UK government’s Office for Responsible Business Conduct, alleging that the British bank breached international guidelines by underwriting companies involved in the emission-heavy Maitree super thermal power project, also known as the Rampal power plant. Continue reading...

Sep 2, 2026 - World

Referendum result means fewer seats in parliament and new rules on candidates, ahead of December electionsGuinea-Bissau voters have approved a new constitution, which critics say will undermine democracy, that significantly expands presidential powers ahead of elections due in December.According to provisional results, 70% of voters approved sweeping changes in the tiny west African state’s first constitutional amendment since revisions that ended the one-party socialist state more than three decades ago. Continue reading...

Sep 2, 2026 - World

Study reveals that pesticide poisoning kills 11,000 people each year, with India accounting for nearly 60% of fatalitiesAlmost half of the world’s farmers are poisoned by pesticides every single year, a study has found.Using publicly available data from 2006-2023, the study, which was commissioned by Pesticide Action Network, found there to be an estimated 402-433m cases of unintentional acute pesticide poisoning of farmers and farm workers every year. Continue reading...