Top World News

Sep 18, 2026 - World

At least one person dead as stormy weather causes severe flooding in Barcelona and Valencia Intense and slow-moving thunderstorms broke out on Wednesday afternoon across parts of eastern Spain, bringing some severe flooding and killing at least one person.Storms first struck over the Castilla-La Mancha region during the afternoon before passing over Spain’s east coast, becoming very slow-moving and continuing overnight. Torrential rainfall, strong winds and large hail were reported in Valencia and Barcelona, causing widespread flooding in both cities. Weather stations west of Barcelona recorded some of the highest totals with more than 100mm (4in) of rain falling in the space of a few hours, and locally 70mm in just 30 minutes in the early hours of Thursday morning. Cars and roads were submerged, and flights were cancelled across the region. Continue reading...

Sep 18, 2026 - World

More than 180 writers sign letter renewing calls for information on 12 authors detained incommunicado since 2001 crackdown on free speech by Isaias AfwerkiMore than 180 writers have signed a letter to Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki calling for proof of life for 12 writers arrested in 2001.Nobel laureates Olga Tokarczuk and JM Coetzee join prominent writers including Colm Tóibín, Elif Shafak, Isabel Allende, Ben Okri, Yann Martel, Kamila Shamsie and Tsitsi Dangarembga in signing the letter organised by PEN International and dated 18 September, marking 25 years since a government crackdown on the independent press. “Within days, Eritrea’s free press and the nation’s independent voices were systematically crushed,” opens the letter. Continue reading...

Sep 18, 2026 - World

Increase from 1% to 1.25% follows US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank tightening monetary policyBusiness live – latest updatesJapan’s central bank has increased interest rates to a fresh 31-year high as it attempts to combat global inflation linked to the war in Iran.The Bank of Japan (BoJ) voted to raise its target interest rate from 1% to 1.25%, the highest level since 1995. Continue reading...

Sep 18, 2026 - World

Seoul resolves recent speculation over sending military to strait of Hormuz, saying ‘there won’t be deployment that would involve or enter war’South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, has said he will ⁠not deploy the military to the ⁠Middle East in a way ​that could draw the country into conflict, resisting calls from Donald Trump to support his war in Iran.“There won’t be deployment that would involve or enter war. I can tell you that very clearly,” Lee said at a ⁠news conference on Friday. “We won’t deploy military assets in any form to that end.” Continue reading...

Sep 17, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump could hold a landmark sit-down with Venezuela's interim leader Delcy Rodriguez within days, according to people familiar with the planning — an encounter insiders say comes loaded with political hazards on both sides of the border.The meeting would likely happen on the margins of Trump's upcoming trip to New York for the UN General Assembly, where talks with Gulf leaders on the Iran war are already on his calendar. Tuesday has emerged as a possible date for adding Rodriguez to the schedule, Axios reported.One Trump adviser framed the relationship as central to the administration's foreign policy wins, saying, "Iran is tough, but Venezuela is without a doubt the president's top success, and Delcy is a key to that." A senior administration official was more cautious, noting nothing is locked in yet, and the final call rests entirely with the president.A Manhattan meeting would unfold not far from the detention facility holding Nicolas Maduro, Rodriguez's old political partner turned prisoner, who's been sitting there since American forces snatched him from Caracas in a January raid Trump personally signed off on and now faces narco-terrorism charges. Rodriguez stepped into the power vacuum left behind and has since built a working relationship with Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, most notably through a sweeping oil agreement between the two governments that's drawn its own share of scrutiny.Not everyone is happy about that partnership. Venezuelan exiles concentrated in South Florida — a politically vocal bloc — have grown increasingly angry watching Washington cozy up to someone they view as cut from the same socialist cloth as Maduro, both having climbed to power under the late Hugo Chavez. Neither Trump nor Rubio has demanded Venezuela actually hold elections, a notable silence given how relentlessly they once painted Maduro as a dictator who stole his own vote.Backers of exiled opposition figure Maria Corina Machado, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, share some of that frustration too, still stung by administration pushback when she tried heading home after June's earthquakes.Venezuelan public opinion polling shows both Rodriguez and Trump struggling with weak approval, while Machado sits on top, even as her own support has started slipping. Some people close to Trump privately fret that being seen shaking his hand could brand Rodriguez a U.S. puppet in the eyes of her own citizens. The administration official waved off that worry entirely."The fact is POTUS loves Delcy because she's delivering and she's leading," the official said.Back home, though, political operatives in Florida say voters heading into the midterms are far more consumed by pain at the pump from the Iran conflict and the administration's crackdown on immigration than by anything happening with Venezuelan democracy — suggesting whatever backlash follows a Rodriguez meeting may stay confined largely to the exile community rather than spilling into the broader campaign.