Top World News
JD Vance not traveling to Switzerland for Iran talks: report
Vice President JD Vance will have to stay home instead of traveling to Switzerland to finalize the memorandum of understanding the Trump administration struck with the Iranian regime last weekend, according to a White House spokesperson.On Sunday, Trump announced his administration had struck a deal with the regime that would immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz and provide a pathway to ending the conflict. The final agreement was initially scheduled to be signed on Friday in Switzerland. CNN journalist Kristen Holmes reported on Thursday that a White House spokesperson told her, "The Vice President is not departing tonight." The spokesperson added that "as the Vice President said at his press conference, the plans for the upcoming technical talks have not been finalized," referring to the deal to end the Iran war."The U.S. delegation has been prepared to depart at the first available opportunity," the White House spokesperson told Holmes. "But the logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable."
Trump tipped his hand and revealed the new 'big lie' he's trying to sell: analyst
President Donald Trump has already revealed the next big lie that he plans to sell to Americans, a foreign policy analyst said.Robert Kagan, a contributing writer for The Atlantic and a foreign policy analyst, said during an appearance on CNN that Trump will try to frame his deal to end the Iran war as "regime change" and "unconditional surrender."He added that Trump will deny that the money going to Iran is "reparations" for the war."He's all about the big lie," Kagan said. "And this is going to be his big lie. I just don't think that even he, who is one of the great con artists of all time, can sell the American people on this being anything other than an American surrender."Kagan also pointed out, "The one thing we're confident is happening is that Iran is going to get billions of dollars, tens of billions, and probably hundreds of billions of dollars in return for nothing," and described it as "an easy tell" that gives away Trump's lie."Now, that's called reparations, and if you look at history, reparations are paid by the loser to the winner," Kagan explained. "In World War I, Germany paid reparations to Britain and France. If Germany had won the war, Britain and France would have paid the reparations, so that's how you know what happened in this war."In other words, "Trump essentially paid the Iranians to give him a fig leaf that would allow him to come home and tell the Americans that everything is fine," Kagan summed up.
CDC to tap $107m in emergency funding for Ebola response in DRC and Uganda
Number of people infected now tops 1,000 though health officials say the global risk remains lowSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will tap $107m in emergency funding for Ebola outbreak response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, officials said on Thursday.The continued Ebola outbreak in the DRC comes as Canada, Mexico and the US jointly host the Fifa World Cup, attracting visitors from around the world. The officials said the outbreak, now the third largest on record, required “strong immediate support”, but that the global risk remained low. Continue reading...
Barbados prime minister announces manifesto for slavery reparations
Updated document, which emphasises harm done to African women, is being considered by other Caribbean countriesBarbados’s prime minister, Mia Mottley, has announced a new manifesto from Caribbean leaders asserting the “moral, ethical and legal case” for reparations over damage caused by hundreds of years of enslavement.Mottley was speaking at a “historic” conference in Ghana to advance the push for reparatory justice after the United Nations adopted a landmark resolution declaring the trafficking of enslaved Africans as the gravest crime against humanity. Continue reading...
South African men sentenced in ‘world’s largest’ rhino horn trafficking case
‘Mastermind’ Dawie Groenewald given fine of 2m rand or four-year jail term almost 16 years after arrestTwo traffickers of rhino horns have been sentenced by a South African court in what police said was the world’s largest such case, partly bringing to an end an almost two-decade legal saga.Dawie Groenewald and Tielman Erasmus had faced more than 1,700 charges ranging from illegally hunting and dehorning rhinos to racketeering and money laundering. Continue reading...
Key cabinet member now in a dangerous spot after Trump's international humiliation: MS NOW
While Donald Trump is being excoriated by Republicans over his Iran deal, which one GOP lawmaker called “… a tremendous foreign policy blunder,” MS NOW’s Bill Rohde stated on Thursday morning that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth can expect that his role in advising the president to launch the war has put his job at risk.Discussing the blowback Trump is facing over the war that, for the moment, has ended in a stalemate, Rohde claimed that Hegseth is already a prime target instead since he is already on the outs with a substantial number of Republican lawmakers.“At some point. President Trump is the person most responsible for this strategic defeat and failure,” Rohde told the "Morning Joe” co-hosts. “But I would argue the person second most responsible, who is in the most dangerous position politically, is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. He repeatedly lied to the American public in his press conferences about the progress of the war, and he also refused to give basic information to members of Congress. There's a lot of ill will among senators and House members towards Pete Hegseth.”Quoting Hegseth asserting “The aftermath of this is going to be in our interest,” Rohde asked, “Did he warn the president about the Strait of Hormuz before this war? Was he honest with the American public? And to the 50,000 Americans who risked their lives in the 13 soldiers who died? You know, his performance is just something that has to be looked at.”Co-host Willie Geist added, “We haven't seen the defense secretary in public much since those podium-banging news briefings that he would give every week, where he would lecture the media about how to cover the war, what was actually happening, and from all the reporting that he would show the president of the United States an iPad with things blowing up to show that they were doing well. It turns out this is a much, much more complicated problem than can be solved by blowing things up.” - YouTube youtu.be
Trump officials admitted to Congress their new Iran plan is financing terrorists: report
President Donald Trump's administration admitted to Congress that Iran was still directly involved in financing terrorist activity, at exactly the same time the president was planning to give them money, Punchbowl News reported on Wednesday.According to the report, the State Department "told Congress that Iran’s oil exports are a primary revenue source for the regime’s funding of terrorist activities — just hours after the United States and Iran electronically signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to lift oil sanctions."This 515-page report, which detailed U.S. efforts against international drug trafficking, indicated that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “controls significant portions of the domestic economy.” The report continued that “Iran’s oil and petroleum exports are a primary source of revenue for its armed forces, terrorist partners and proxies. The majority of Iran’s oil transactions are conducted by illicit networks.”All of this follows reporting that a key obstacle to Trump's Iran deal is the difficulty of delisting IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), which is in theory required for the full-scale sanctions relief the administration is promising.Legislation passed by Congress in 2022 about the Ukraine war contained a provision requiring that any U.S. intelligence that Iranian drones were attacking Americans would prohibit the IRGC from being delisted as an FTO for four years. Per Punchbowl's Andrew Desiderio, "Last April, the State Dept formally told Congress that the IRGC had indeed attacked Americans with drones."The memorandum with Iran "also sets up a $300 billion 'reconstruction fund' that many Republicans believe will inevitably be used for terror financing," noted the report, as well as allowing "the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran to direct where much of that funding goes."
Kash Patel's girlfriend raises eyebrows with international MAGA tour: report
FBI Director Kash Patel's country singer girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, has a new "government gig" planned in Belgium this summer, according to reports on Wednesday.Wilkins will perform the national anthem in Brussels for a "Freedom 250" party featuring a military flyover, thousands of VIP guests, troops and fireworks, reported The Swamp, one of The Daily Beast's Substacks. "The event will be held at Cinquantenaire Park, a sprawling 30-hectare urban park known for its Triumphal Arch, sweeping gardens, and grand museums," according to The Swamp. Not everyone was thrilled about the party. "The Swamp has learned that some locals are already annoyed that a large part of their city is set to be sealed off ahead of the MAGA-fest."Bill White, the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium and Wilkins's friend, has planned the event.Patel and Wilkins started dating in 2023. It's unclear if Patel, who has been criticized for using his FBI jet to attend the Olympics in Italy and taking secret snorkeling trips in Hawaii, will be there."Which raises two obvious questions: Is Wilkins getting paid— and will Keystone Kash be making the trip?" The Swamp wrote.
Trump stuns analysts with abrupt U-turn over key Iran war issue: 'Just complete surrender'
The internet was shocked on Wednesday after President Donald Trump appeared to reverse his stance on Iran having nuclear weapons — a key point he argued for launching the war.The president was boarding Air Force One and heading to Paris when he spoke about Iran's nuclear program. Trump had spent the last several days at the G7 Summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, with world leaders and discussed the agreement."I'm saying that if other countries have them, it's a little unfair for them not to have some," Trump said.Media and political experts were stunned by the comment and reacted to the remark."Remember, one of their stated aims for the war was to destroy Iran’s ballistic missiles," Mehdi Hasan, founder and CEO of news outlet Zeteo, wrote on X."That's what Iran has been saying for years," journalist Ray Locker wrote on X."Not the first time he’s said this still," Laurence Norman, reporter for The Wall Street Journal, wrote on X. "Quite a day," Adil Haque, Rutgers Law professor and executive editor of Just Security, wrote on X."And if Israel has nukes?....." Political analyst and writer Yousef Munayyer wrote on X."Quite natural for Trump. He loves seere [SIC] dictatorships & the more autocratic the better in Trump's eyes," economist and author Anders Åslund wrote on X."Just complete surrender on every front," Clara Jeffery, editor-in-chief of Mother Jones, Center for Investigative Reporting and Reveal, wrote on Bluesky."Again, need to say it - if Biden, Obama or any other Democratic President publicly endorsed Iran having ballistic missiles after launching an ill advised war to essentially eliminate Iran's missile launching capabilities - Congress (even a Dem led one) would launch impeachment proceedings next day," Murshed Zaheed, founder and CEO of Pacifica Strategies, wrote on Bluesky.Just complete surrender on every front.[image or embed]— Clara Jeffery (@clarajeffery.bsky.social) June 17, 2026 at 12:40 PM
Trump souring on key ally might be Vance's ticket to 2028 and could reshape MAGA: analyst
President Donald Trump's shifting relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be a boon for Vice President JD Vance's 2028 presidential ambitions, an analyst reported on Wednesday.Jonathan V. Last, editor of The Bulwark, explained that a split between America and Israel could redefine the MAGA coalition. Although Vance is in a tough position with pro-war Republicans furious over the surrender and blaming the vice president — instead of Trump — he could also win over America First isolationists who have been skeptical of the relationship with Israel."Playing the part of Trump’s surrender monkey queers Vance with both wings of MAGA," Last wrote. But there could be more to it for the vice president, who was skeptical of the war to begin with."The best thing that could happen for Vance would be Trump souring on Israel," Last wrote."Israel will be one of the big cleavages in the post-Trump GOP," Last wrote. "The rising, young segment of the base is . . . skeptical of America’s relationship with Israel. But the establishment wing of MAGA remains pro-Israel. So long as Trump was wedded to Israel and Bibi Netanyahu, Vance was going to have to tread lightly. He’d have to signal enough of his Israel skepticism to keep the Tucker-wing of MAGA guessing while staying publicly aligned with Trump."If that changes, and Trump does turn on Israel, it could reveal a different future MAGA."Netanyahu has tried to undermine the deal. He is likely to fail because Trump needs to end the war, period. Which leaves Netanyahu with a choice," Last wrote.The Israeli prime minister could examine two potential options: pretend Trump's deal is a good one and try to convince the Israeli public it is, or condemn the deal and break away from Trump.Trump has criticized Netanyahu, calling him "crazy," and as the president's popularity has dropped in Israel, it could reveal that Israelis have soured on Trump — and Republicans might not have realized this as fast as Israelis have, Last explained."Vance has neither of those advantages and on top of that, he’s a bad politician," Last wrote. "He’s good at managing up, not pandering down. My guess is that Vance has taken stock of the situation and realized that he may be over a barrel now, but there is a path for him. If he leans into Iran, takes ownership of Trump’s surrender, then he can take advantage of any Trump-Israel schism and exit this war in a reasonably strong position with the Republican base."
'Ummm…': Trump's 'erratic' speech sparks concerns he's 'exceedingly unwell'
The internet fired off stunned reactions on Wednesday as President Donald Trump gave a meandering speech after the G7 Summit in France.Trump spoke about the Iran agreement from Évian-les-Bains and talked for more than 40 minutes on a stage with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick standing behind him.Political and media experts commented on the president's demeanor and claims."This is one of the most erratic press conferences I think I've ever seen from Trump. He sounds like he's got a rotten cold," Mikey Smith, deputy political editor for The Mirror, wrote on X."Even with the bronze plaster on his face, the president looks exceedingly unwell," former CIA case officer and political commentator, wrote on X."Ummm………….," political commentary account Spiro’s Ghost wrote on X."A few missiles never hurt anybody," Ron Filipkowski, MeidasTouch editor and attorney, wrote on X."This is the dumbest speech in the history of speeches. My 7th grade speech for class secretary was better," Georgetown University professor Anthony M. Hopper wrote on X."Sounds like Trump's personal 'Strait of Hormuz' just opened," former Metro editor at the Chicago Tribune Mark Jacob wrote on Bluesky."Heads up to the moms whose SNAP benefits just got cut," editor Amanda Katz, former Washington Post writer, posted on Bluesky.This is one of the most erratic press conferences I think I've ever seen from Trump. He sounds like he's got a rotten cold. https://t.co/CWF2i1FlB6— Mikey Smith (@mikeysmith) June 17, 2026
‘Period tax’ on sanitary products to be abolished, says Pakistan minister
Campaigners welcome announcement cutting levies on menstrual health items, but say their work to end period poverty is ‘far from over’Pakistan plans to abolish “period tax”, in a victory for young campaigners who had taken the government to court over the charges.Finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced that sanitary towels and related items were “daily necessities that are indispensable for women’s health, dignity and full participation in social activities”, and said he intended to remove the sales tax. Continue reading...
