Top World News

Sep 10, 2026 - World

The United States is facing an imminent “strategic disaster” as Yemen’s Houthis inch closer to capturing a major oil trade “chokepoint,” The Guardian reported Thursday, a development that could soon open a “second front” in President Donald Trump’s deeply unpopular war against Iran.Multiple news outlets reported Thursday that the Houthis had captured the Yemeni town of Mocha, which sits on the coast of the Red Sea in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which, like the Strait of Hormuz, is a major chokepoint for global shipping. According to Euronews, the two straits account for roughly a “quarter of daily petroleum and crude shipments, and nearly one-third of the world's maritime trade.”The Houthis are also working toward seizing complete control of Yemen’s west coast on the Red Sea, having previously vowed to block all Saudi Arabia shipments out of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.“Seizure of the coast would be a strategic disaster for Saudi Arabia and the US, taking Iran and its proxies closer to full control of two chokepoints for western shipping on opposite sides of the Arabian peninsula,” The Guardian’s report reads.“Observers have said a reduction in hostilities — the most intense since the UN-sponsored ceasefire of April 2022 put an end to major military exchanges — now seems unlikely in what is seen as an attempt by the Houthis to open a second front in the Iran-US war, alongside the battle for control of Hormuz.”The new threat to global trade comes as diesel prices in the United States soared to an all-time average high of $5.85 a gallon, breaking the previous record set in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Average costs for regular gasoline have spiked as well, reaching $4.15 a gallon last week.As noted by The Guardian, Saudi Arabia had also become increasingly “reliant” on traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait following disruptions to trade through the Strait of Hormuz.

Sep 10, 2026 - World

The new ‘true-scale’ map shrinks Europe and North America while enlarging Africa – and depicts the disputed Kuril islands as ruled by MoscowJapan has asked for the revision of a new world map adopted by the UN because it said it made the disputed Kuril islands appear to belong to Russia.The UN general assembly voted on Friday to adopt the new map, which makes the African continent larger while also shrinking North America and Europe, drawing condemnation from the US. Continue reading...

Sep 10, 2026 - World

Following six years of talks, Pitt Rivers Museum will return body parts collected by British colonial administrators to north-east IndiaAnthropologists and community leaders from Nagaland, a remote state in north-eastern India bordering Myanmar, have expressed joy and relief that human remains belonging to their ancestors that had been on display in a British museum for nearly a century are finally being returned.On Monday, the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford announced that 39 pieces of human remains – including parts of skulls, a finger and a piece of skin with hair – belonging to the Naga tribes, will be returned to Nagaland after six years of negotiation between the community and the museum. Continue reading...

Sep 10, 2026 - World

Dow Jones convicted of one count of deterring Selina Cheng from role at Hong Kong Journalist Association but cleared of second chargeA Hong Kong court has convicted the publisher of the Wall Street Journal of deterring a reporter from taking up a trade union role, in a case that raised concerns about press freedom in the city.The newspaper dismissed Selina Cheng just weeks after she was appointed chair of the Hong Kong Journalist Association (HKJA) in 2024. She was told at the time her termination was officially due to restructuring. Continue reading...

Sep 10, 2026 - World

White House advisers have privately warned President Donald Trump that the Iran conflict could last through the end of his term.According to a Wednesday article by The Wall Street Journal, the message cuts sharply against the swift victory Trump has promised the public. Citing unnamed U.S. officials, The Journal reported that Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and others have told the president in the Oval Office and Situation Room that Tehran may keep resisting the American pressure campaign well past Inauguration Day in January 2029.Trump has offered a far rosier timeline. He told reporters this week that the war would end "immediately" after November's midterm elections "because they can't hold out any longer," The Journal noted.The conflict is in its seventh month and has killed 18 service members, The Journal added. Rather than escalate major combat, Trump has leaned on a naval blockade and sanctions meant to force Tehran to abandon its nuclear program, a strategy the Trump administration has dubbed "Operation Economic Outcast."When asked about the war's trajectory, White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales defended the approach and played down any fixed timeline. "Only President Trump knows what he will do and when," she said, per The Journal.Vance likewise declined to set an end date. It would be "irresponsible" to write out a strategy and timeline for an adversary that keeps targeting commercial ships, he told reporters.Analysts told The Journal that a drawn-out siege looks increasingly likely and increasingly costly. Suzanne Maloney of the Brookings Institution said the blockade is "unlikely to produce a decisive outcome in the near or even medium term."Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group framed the standoff as a grinding stalemate that punishes both sides without breaking either."Everyone pays," he said. "But neither leadership is yet paying enough to accept the other side's terms."Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has already pushed some Middle East troop deployments into 2027, signaling Washington is bracing for a longer fight, The Journal reported.