Top World News

Sep 7, 2026 - World

Torrential rain causes widespread damage; while north-west South Africa hit by thunderstorms and central-southern US faces oppressive heatTyphoon Saudel brought days of torrential rain to Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong provinces in south-east China last week. The city of Putian, in Fujian province, recorded 416.5mm of rain in a 24-hour period between Thursday and Friday, with surrounding villages recording more than 500mm in the same period. In Fujian, authorities estimate that almost 600,000 people were evacuated from high-risk, flood-prone areas. A further 128,000 people in 53 counties were also affected across Jiangxi, with emergency evacuations affecting 9,000 people.Flooding, landslips and infrastructure damage were reported widely in the region. More than 2,500 teachers and students were trapped in a school compound in the Zhejiang city of Wenzhou on Wednesday after extreme rainfall caused flash floods in low-lying areas. At least 1,260 people reportedly had to be rescued in Putian after a river embankment collapsed on Thursday, flattening 100 homes. On Saturday, a landslip in a village of Suichuan county, in Jiangxi province, killed three people and nine others remaining missing. Continue reading...

Sep 7, 2026 - World

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz reached its “lowest” level since May, Reuters reported on Sunday, just days after President Donald Trump insisted that the critical shipping waterway was “open” and under the full “control” of the United States.According to shipping data reviewed by Reuters, an average of 10 commodity ships per day transited the strait over the past 10 days, a sharp drop from just a week prior. Six vessels transited the strait on Sunday, and only two on Saturday, “mostly using the Iranian route,” according to Reuters.And yet, on Aug. 27, Trump declared that “the Strait of Hormuz is open,” and that “we have control.” A day before that, Trump again declared that “the Strait is open,” and that the United States was guiding “a lot of ships through the strait now,” adding that it was “a very functioning strait” with “a lot of oil pouring out.”Trump has insisted that the Strait of Hormuz has been open since at least Aug. 10, when he claimed that the United States controlled the strait “100%.”The cratering of traffic through the strait comes as average diesel prices reach their all-time high in the United States, eclipsing $5.85 per gallon for the first time in history last Friday, breaking the previous record set in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline has also reached record highs, eclipsing $4 every day in August for the first time in history, according to the American Automobile Association.“On Sunday, one very large crude carrier and three bulk carriers laden with metals, grains or oilseeds entered the strait, Kpler data showed,” Reuters’ report reads.“A tanker carrying refined products loaded from a Saudi port attempted to exit but was turned back, data from LSEG showed. There has been no VLCC exiting the strait since Wednesday, according to Kpler data.”

Sep 7, 2026 - World

Foreign policy expert Trita Parsi issued a dire warning Sunday that “all signs” were pointing to a “major escalation” in the U.S. war against Iran, one that “may very well” occur next month.“All signs point to a major escalation between the US, Iran and Israel. And it may very well be initiated by Tehran itself a week or two before the midterm elections,” Parsi wrote Sunday in a statement published on social media. “Iran’s pattern of behavior suggests preparation for that war, including how they are clearing the path for even more effective strikes against Israel.”The U.S. war against Iran has seen few direct exchanges of fire since July, a trend that was broken last week after Iran responded to a wave of U.S. strikes by attacking U.S. allies Jordan and Bahrain. On Saturday, the United States struck three Iranian oil tankers, an attack that Iran’s parliament speaker vowed Sunday to answer with a "more intense and more painful response,” CBS News reported.And yet, Iran’s response to U.S. attacks, as previously noted by Parsi, has been comparatively reserved, suggesting Tehran may be waiting for a more “optimal moment to strike back.” That moment, Parsi previously theorized, could be “two or three weeks before the congressional elections, maximizing the political damage to Trump.”Should a “major escalation” in war occur, Parsi also warned that it was likely Israel would play a larger direct role in the conflict.“While the US kept Israel out of the second round of war because Washington feared Israel would escalate beyond what the US believed was manageable, Trump may, in this third round, see himself far more aligned with Israel’s desire for a far larger war,” Parsi wrote.I just completed our eighth Q&A with subscribers, and I fear I left folks quite worried and depressed.But I was being honest: All signs point to a major escalation between the US, Iran and Israel. And it may very well be initiated by Tehran itself a week or two before the…— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) September 6, 2026

Sep 6, 2026 - World

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Sunday denied that the Trump administration was stealing Venezuela’s oil just one hour after boasting that the country is being “forced to work” with the United States.During a Sunday morning interview on ABC News, Wright was asked why he trusted interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez, given that she was previously the vice president of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was abducted by the American military earlier this year and brought to the US to face narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, and weapons charges.“We have a lot of leverage over Venezuela,” Wright explained. “We control the sale of oil outside of their country. So right now, they are forced to work in partnership with us, and they are working in partnership with us.”Shortly after, during an interview on Fox News, Wright grew indignant at the suggestion that the US was forcing Venezuela to give up its oil through threats of military force and other coercive measures.“This is a home run!” Wright said of the Trump administration’s arrangements with the Venezuelan government. “These senators saying we’re stealing their oil at gunpoint, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the more oil that’s produced in Venezuela, including with the deal with the US government, the more royalties and tax revenues go to the Venezuelan government and the Venezuelan people.”Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was supportive of the US abducting Maduro, last week criticized the Trump administration for cutting a deal with what she said was still a corrupt and oppressive government in Caracas.“The wealth of our land does not belong to an illegitimate regime,” Machado said in a video posted on social media, “it belongs to the Venezuelan people.”In an analysis published last week, economist Paul Krugman accused the Trump administration of concocting a “plot to steal Venezuela’s oil,” which he described as equal parts “vile and deeply stupid.”The deal is vile, Krugman said, because it validates "everything the Latin American left has ever said about US imperialism” in the region.And it is simultaneously stupid, he argued, because the investments required to improve Venezuela’s oil infrastructure will be so great that its benefits are unlikely to materialize in the near future, if at all.“Venezuelan oil currently sells for around $70 a barrel on world markets,” Krugman wrote. “But as I said, getting that oil out will require huge investments in infrastructure. Nor does Venezuela oil come gushing out when you drill a well: As one expert put it, ‘it comes out of the ground with the consistency of cold peanut butter.’”

Sep 6, 2026 - World

A fawning member of President Donald Trump's cabinet on Sunday praised a higher power for his boss's character.Energy Secretary Chris Wright appeared on CNN Sunday morning amid an ongoing war in Iran that has reportedly cost thousands of lives and delivered a severe blow to the global economy with the subsequent and record-breaking spike in gas prices."Thank God for President Donald Trump's courage to take this on," Wright said. Wright argued Trump had acted bravely when he launched an attack on Iran in February without the consent of Congress.Political analyst David Pakman has called this an "optional war," waged in one of the world's largest oil-producing regions, noting it was not prompted by an invasion or attack on the U.S. But Wright argued Trump had protected Americans from the potential threat of an Iran armed with a nuclear weapon."He did not want to kick the can down the road," said Wright. "This is Iran without nuclear weapons — imagine Iran with nuclear weapons." This comment was met with criticism on social media who argued Americans had paid a high price to combat a hypothetical threat. "Iran did not attack us," wrote retired journalist Jack Polakoff. "Oil prices shot up after #Trump launched his unprovoked war. 18 US service members died because of him. It's costing taxpayers billions. We gain nothing."