Top World News

Oct 7, 2026 - World

Inquest under way into why President Lula’s success in curbing Amazon deforestation has not led to success at polls More fire, more ash, more crime, more death. And a globally important ecosystem driven ever more rapidly towards a point of no return. That is the prospect for the Amazon rainforest for at least the next four years if Flávio Bolsonaro holds on to the lead he established this week in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election.This appears to be of far more concern to the outside world than to voters in Latin America’s biggest, richest and most biodiverse nation. Continue reading...

Oct 7, 2026 - World

The Trump administration's seemingly flippant response to a new plague discovered in Russia left two political analysts stupefied Wednesday. Last week, the World Health Organization reported the discovery of a pneumonic plague in Russia after a 28-year-old lab worker died. Russian authorities have denied the cause of the lab worker's death, although the case has raised a specter of concern about another COVID-19-like plague spreading across the globe. In turn, Trump officials have been quick to dismiss concerns about the plague. For instance, Trump claimed that pneumonia has "gotten stronger" over the years and the administration "will help them." Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration is "watching and monitoring it closely."The answers from the administration officials stupefied former Obama administration staffers Tommy Vietor and Ben Rhodes, who discussed it on a new episode of their podcast, "Pod Save the World.""As we learned in COVID, transparency is your only friend when you're dealing with these types of things," Rhodes said. "And if you have these discrepancies between local authorities and the Kremlin, it makes you wonder what in the world you can trust, and that's concerning.""This is just highlighting, once again, that when you have a breakdown in geopolitical trust ... you just feel like this stuff happens and you hope it doesn't get worse because it doesn't seem like Trump, or Rubio, or the World Health Organization are going to share information to keep this thing in a box," Rhodes added. Vietor took issue with the way Trump communicates with the American public about it. "Trump is a g------- idiot," Vietor said.

Oct 7, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump attempted Wednesday to distance himself from two political consultants who were recently exposed by The New York Times for their ties to a Russian-aligned government.Citing four sources familiar with the matter who requested anonymity, the Times reported Tuesday that James Blair and Chris LaCivita, whom the outlet described as two of Trump’s “top political advisers,” were in the Balkans over the “past few days” helping a “Russian-aligned government.” The two were in Republika Srpska — a partially self-governing political entity in Bosnia — just ahead of its elections, and were paid “hundreds of thousands of dollars each” to provide “election advice.” The revelation, the Times noted, was just the “latest example of Trump advisers profiting from far-right politicians abroad who have sought favor from the U.S. president while bucking the international community.”In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump disputed the Times’ characterization of his relationship with Blair and LaCivita, and vowed to “terminate” them should he feel their services constituted a conflict of interest.“Chris LaCivita and James Blair are outside consultants. They do not work for me, other than as outside consultants. They most likely have numerous clients, but for that, you would have to ask them,” Trump wrote. “They are allowed to do work for others, just like all consultants in Washington, D.C. I do not have any idea who else they work for but will, on reflection, ask them and, if there’s a conflict, I will terminate them, immediately! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Oct 7, 2026 - World

A towering gold statue of a naked President Donald Trump has gone on display inside a European Parliament building.The 8.5-foot sculpture, titled "Orange Plague" and also known as "King of Injustice," shows a nude Trump holding a set of justice scales and a long golf club topped with a golf ball made to look like the Earth, and he sits on the shoulders of a smaller, clothed man who holds him up, reported The Telegraph.The plinth reads: "I am sitting on the back of a man. He is sinking under my burden. I will do anything to help him. Except stepping down from his back."The statue stands at one of the busiest crossings between two of the parliament's buildings in Strasbourg, France, and is set to remain there until Thursday.Danish artist Jens Galschiot, who made the piece and covered it in 23-carat gold leaf, said it was inspired by "The Emperor's New Clothes," the fairy tale about a vain ruler whose subjects are too afraid to tell him he is naked."Trump represents one of the greatest threats to the rules-based world order, democratic values and our common effort to solving the climate crisis," Galschiot said. "We must address this issue and stand together against such destructive influence."Per Clausen, a left-wing Danish member of the European Parliament, invited the artist to show the statue. He shrugged off any worry about how Trump might react."If someone is so thin-skinned that they cannot tolerate this sculpture being exhibited in the European Parliament, then they have no place on the world stage," Clausen said.The statue has already appeared at last year's COP30 climate summit in Brazil and at this year's Munich Security Conference. Visitors are getting free miniature versions, and Galschiot has posted files online so people can 3D-print their own.The White House has not responded.It's a far cry from the golden tributes Trump prefers. In April, a 15-foot clothed statue called "Don Colossus," showing him with his fist raised, was unveiled at his Miami golf course, and he plans to put two giant golden statues of himself in his presidential library.

Oct 6, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump's boast that allies agreed to a "massive" fuel release falls apart on close inspection, according to an economist.Justin Wolfers, an economist at the University of Michigan, argued in an article for his Platypus Economics newsletter on Tuesday that the 100 million barrels of oil and fuel the Group of Seven pledged last week are largely what's left over from an emergency release promised in March.Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday that Europe had agreed to release a "massive amount" of diesel right away, casting it as a concession won in exchange for dropping his threat to ban U.S. diesel exports.But Wolfers wrote that "almost nothing new has happened," with the G7 agreeing to do what it had already promised.Wolfers noted that International Energy Agency members agreed in March to tap their emergency reserves for roughly 400 million barrels after the U.S. attack on Iran made shipping through the Strait of Hormuz dangerous. By his reading, about 100 million barrels of that pledge remain undelivered, and the G7's new communique simply commits the G7 to finishing the job within four months."This is an agreement to agree that they agree about the earlier agreement," Wolfers wrote.He also flagged that the Energy Department offered oil companies up to 40 million barrels from the U.S. reserve on September 29 as part of America's share of the March pledge, raising the possibility that a big chunk of what Trump credited to Europe is American oil already owed. Wolfers said there's no way to know for sure because neither the G7 nor the IEA has disclosed which countries owe what.Taken at face value, Wolfers argued, the release is still tiny next to the shortfall. The package works out to about 0.8 million barrels a day, while traffic through the strait was down about 12 million barrels a day from prewar levels as of August."The daily gap is 15 times larger than the fix," Wolfers noted.The communique promises a "front-loaded substantial diesel release" within 20 days but offers no figures, no country breakdown and no way to enforce it. Wolfers pointed out that the window closes October 22, less than two weeks before the midterms.Traders weren't buying Trump's brag either, Wolfers noted. Diesel futures dropped after Trump's post but climbed back to about $4.55 a gallon wholesale within hours once the actual communique came out, according to Wolfers."It isn't new, it isn't large, and it isn't enforceable," he wrote. "It's the appearance of doing something without the thing actually getting done."