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May 25, 2026 - World

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton warned on Monday that Iran can sense how "desperate" President Donald Trump is to secure a deal that its leaders are "playing him."Bolton told CNN anchor Pamela Brown that as negotiations drag on, Tehran has sensed Trump's weaknesses — and that the president might not fully understand Iran's level of "fanaticism of what's left of the regime and the people who are in power." Bolton argued that Trump's worldview throughout his life has been that he can negotiate with anyone, and that's not the case with this military conflict and adversary."He thinks everybody wants to make a deal on just about anything," Bolton said. "That's not what these people are into. And they can see that Trump is so palpably desperate to have a deal that he can declare to be a victory and it lowers prices of gasoline —and they're playing him on that. They're stretching him out. They're buying time. All of that works in their advantage."Former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton says Iran is playing Trump because he’s desperate to make a deal: He thinks everybody wants to make a deal on just about anything. That's not what these people are into. And they can see that Trump is so palpably desperate to… pic.twitter.com/7k53nc6Zqf— Acyn (@Acyn) May 25, 2026

May 25, 2026 - World

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros ⁠Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned Monday that the swiftly spreading Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda “will get worse before it gets better,” as a deadly delay in detecting infections has responders to the epidemic “playing catch-up.”“The outbreak is spreading rapidly,” Tedros said during a virtual ministerial meeting on the matter. “So far, 101 cases have been confirmed in DRC, with 10 confirmed deaths. But we know the epidemic in DRC is much larger. There are now more than 900 suspected cases and 220 suspected deaths.”“Countries bordering DRC are at especially high risk and should take immediate action,” he asserted. “In Uganda, there are five confirmed cases and one death.”Tedros pointed out that “there are several aspects of this outbreak that make it especially challenging.”“First, the delay in detecting the outbreak means that we are now playing catch-up with a very fast-moving epidemic,” he said. “We are urgently scaling up operations, but at the moment, the epidemic is outpacing us.”“Second, as you know, the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu are highly insecure, with intensified fighting in recent months, causing more than 100,000 people to be newly displaced,” the WHO chief continued. “There is also significant distrust of outside authorities among the local population. In the past week, there have been two security incidents at health facilities.”“WHO is fully committed to working under the leadership of the governments of DRC and Uganda, side by side with Africa [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and all other partners,” Tedros added. “We will not rest until we bring this outbreak under control.”Ebola—which typically kills between 25% and 90% of infected people, depending upon the strain of the virus and quality of available medical care—causes widespread and often catastrophic damage to the body’s blood vessels, immune system, and organs.Critics say US President Donald Trump’s ideologically driven decision to withdraw the US from the WHO, his administration’s dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and reduced funding for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s global public health efforts have adversely affected the response to the current Ebola epidemic, compared with 2014 and 2019 outbreaks.After US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that the WHO was “a little late” in identifying new Ebola infections, Tedros retorted that “we don’t replace the country’s work, we only support them,” and suggested that Rubio’s comments could be rooted in “a lack of understanding” of the agency and countries’ responsibilities.While Rubio said that “our number-one objective on Ebola, before anything else... has to be, we can’t have it affect the United States,” public health experts warn that Trump administration actions could make it more likely that the virus will make its way to the country.There is currently no confirmed CDC director, Food and Drug Administration commissioner, or surgeon general.Taking aim at Trump’s evisceration of key public health agencies and programs, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said last week: “Ebola does not wait for bureaucratic reorganizations. It spreads when surveillance systems are weakened, health workers are laid off, clinics lack protective equipment, and communities lose the trusted partners who help detect and contain outbreaks before they become public health emergencies.”“This is the perfect storm President Trump created,” she continued. “He recklessly dismantled USAID, withheld and slashed other United States assistance to the region, fired critical staff, and created global health chaos. This is not efficiency. It is dangerous neglect.”“The United States spent years building the relationships, supply chains, laboratories, and community health networks that help stop deadly diseases at their source,” DeLauro added. “The Trump administration tore into that capacity and now wants to pretend the consequences were unforeseeable.”

May 25, 2026 - World

Vice President JD Vance has been put in a tough position and has been considering whether he wants to run for president in 2028 or give up on the move, according to a new report from The Daily Mail published on Monday.With National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard announcing her exit from the Trump administration last week, Vance could be in a more vulnerable position as his "most senior non-interventionist ally is gone." Vance, like Gabbard, had expressed skepticism and concerns about the Iran war behind closed doors, according to insiders."JD Vance, now the lone dove in Donald Trump's cabinet after Tulsi Gabbard's resignation, has been left more isolated than ever and is even considering abandoning a run for the presidency in 2028," sources told The Mail."But the whispers racing through the West Wing find common ground: Iran," The Mail reported.Vance has not confirmed or denied whether he plans to run for president in 2028. And insiders have reported that he opposed the military strikes in Iran, trying to privately urge Trump to limit attacks."Vance's isolation comes at a moment when Marco Rubio's stock inside the West Wing has never been higher, with the Secretary of State helping to plan an invasion of Cuba, while the Vice President flails in peace negotiations with Iran," according to The Mail."The Vice President's dovish brand of foreign policy has set him on a collision course with Trump, the sources say, the rift deepening as Trump embraces his wartime-leader image," The Mail reported.The president has often compared Vance to Secretary of State Marco Rubio — whom both have called personal and professional friends. He has even asked people who they would support to succeed him as commander-in-chief during private and public events."Rubio has more mojo than Vance. The President listens to him. Vance is out of step and has been for a long time," a White House insider told The Mail. "The source cautioned that Rubio's dominance may prove fleeting. By championing an unpopular war effort, the Secretary of State risks burning through political capital in real time and alienating both Trump's base and the wider American public," The Mail added.

May 25, 2026 - World

Senior lawyers call on prime minister to request Indian prosecutors drop charges that would breach double jeopardy ruleFour senior lawyers, including the former attorney general Dominic Grieve, have written to Keir Starmer urging him to request that Indian prosecutors drop charges against the British national Jagtar Singh Johal on the basis that continued prosecution would be in manifest breach of the double jeopardy rule which prevents someone being tried twice for the same offence.Johal has been held in an Indian jail for eight years, and in March last year was acquitted of the terrorist charges laid against him in a court in Punjab. The court found the prosecutors had “miserably failed” to present any reliable evidence, despite having had seven years to do so. Continue reading...

May 25, 2026 - World

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) delivered a scathing assessment of Donald Trump's Iran ceasefire Sunday, welcoming the end of the war while warning that the deal represents a humiliating capitulation to Tehran that leaves the United States weaker than when the conflict began."If this deal with Iran is real, I will welcome it because every day this insane war goes on, America gets weaker," Murphy wrote in a detailed thread on X. "But make no mistake: these are Iran's terms. Our nation emerges humiliated."Murphy laid out his case methodically. The deal, as he understands it, gives Iran billions of dollars to return to essentially the same position it was in before the war started — while reports suggest it may also codify Iran's right to control the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway that has remained at the centerpiece of the violent conflict."What a disaster this whole thing was," Murphy wrote.On the nuclear question — the issue Trump cited most prominently as justification for the war — Murphy was equally dismissive. The one reported concession from Iran, a promise to ship out enriched uranium, was already part of Barack Obama's 2015 nuclear deal. And by dropping sanctions now, Murphy argued, the United States has surrendered the leverage it would need to extract further concessions in future negotiations.Meanwhile, Murphy noted, Trump has failed to achieve a single one of his stated goals. Iran's ballistic missile and drone program remains intact. Its navy retains the ability to close the Strait. The hardline regime is still in power."They took our best shot and beat us," Murphy wrote. "Iran emerges more powerful."The Connecticut senator was careful to separate his opposition to the war from opposition to ending it. Thousands of innocent people have been killed, he noted, and the American economy has been badly damaged by the conflict. But he argued that silence about the incompetence that produced the war would be its own kind of failure."That doesn't mean we should be silent on how incompetent Trump is and how insane this war was from the start," Murphy wrote.