Top World News
Schools are closed and public transport has stopped as rare cyclone approaches Australian coast
Schools are closed, public transport has stopped and desperate residents are getting around shortages of sandbags by buying sacks of potting mix as a region of eastern Australia is lashed by wind and rain from a rare approaching tropical cyclone
Clutched by the global faithful and draped on candles and statues, rosaries abound for Pope Francis
As Pope Francis remains hospitalized in Rome, thousands of faithful from around the world have been gathering by St. Peter’s and by the hospital to pray the rosary for him
Vance hints at possible 'invasions of Mexico' at eyebrow-raising border press conference
Vice President J.D. Vance seemed to shock reporters by hinting that the U.S. could conduct "invasions of Mexico."At a border press conference Wednesday, NewsNation correspondent Ali Bradley asked the vice president if U.S. forces had the "green light" to strike inside Mexico since some cartels had recently been designated foreign terrorist organizations."I mean, right now, obviously, they've struck in the Houthis in Yemen," the reporter noted. "So why not, when we've seen cross-border violence, go after them in Mexico?""So, look, I'm not going to make any announcements about any invasions of Mexico here today," Vance replied. "The president has a megaphone, and, of course, he'll speak to these issues as he feels necessary.""Of course, the president is going to make the determination about how we deploy those forces," he added. "But our hope here, our hope is that Mexico takes this job seriously. We don't want to have negative relationships with the Mexican government."A Univision correspondent seemed taken aback by Vance's remarks.ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight"So, you just mentioned something about 'invasion' of Mexico," the reporter observed. "Is there any talk or any thoughts about actually U.S. military forces going into Mexico?""No," Vance quickly insisted. "Next question."Watch the video below from Fox News.
'Taking it in the shorts': CNN anchor spars with lawmaker over 'minimizing' tariff effects
CNN anchor Brianna Keilar took issue Wednesday with Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) for touting tax cuts and "minimizing" the financial effects tariffs will have on average Americans."Would voters appreciate a tax cut more if they weren't taking it in the shorts on tariffs?" Keilar asked.Malliotakis began, "Look, I think people want to save money and keep more money in their pocket regardless of how it happens. I think that's the Republican principle, is to let people keep more of their hard-earned tax dollars. And we want to try to bring down prices. If we don't want to see the tariffs that are going to impact the price of goods, but as I said, when they did it in China, it didn't necessarily affect those prices —"Keilar interrupted, "With all due respect, you're hearing the projections — no one's expecting that this is not going to affect the bottom line. You already heard Trump last night asking farmers to bear with him. I mean, it's just very clear what we're hearing from economists. It's broadly expected this is going to increase prices."ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fightMalliotakis reiterated that tariffs on China did not raise prices, and that she looked forward to working with Trump on reducing taxes for working families and senior citizens."But I do just have to be clear, congresswoman, because what you're talking about, the tariffs this go around, I mean, it's so much bigger than what happened before. So, you can't compare, apples to a watermelon, right?Keilar added, "You are trying to minimize the effect of the tariffs.""I'm not minimizing the effect of the tariffs," Malliotakis countered."You're raising the idea that it won't actually impact people," Keilar maintained.'I'm raising the idea that they may actually not go into effect," Malliotakis said. "That perhaps President Trump is focused on a policy objective that he will achieve that will prevent — if these tariffs go into effect, they're going to be for a very short period of time to get a desired outcome. That's what I'm trying to say. Keilar concluded, "He had to hand out $27 billion in taxpayer funds to farmers with his last tariffs. So, it's not without cost — I just want to be clear."Watch the clip below via CNN.
Jack Daniel’s maker says Canada pulling US alcohol off shelves ‘worse than tariff’
CEO Lawson Whiting calls Canada’s move ‘disproportionate response’ to levies imposed by Trump administrationThe Jack Daniel’s maker Brown-Forman’s CEO Lawson Whiting said on Wednesday Canadian provinces taking US liquor off store shelves was “worse than a tariff” and a “disproportionate response” to levies imposed by the Trump administration.Several Canadian provinces have taken US liquor off store shelves as part of retaliatory measures against Donald Trump’s tariffs. Continue reading...
Iranian singer Mehdi Yarrahi given 74 lashes over protest song
Lashes were part of agreement to end criminal case against Yarrahi over song against Iran’s strict dress code for womenMehdi Yarrahi, a well-known Iranian protest singer who spoke out against the country’s strict dress code for women, has been given 74 lashes as part of an agreement to end a criminal case against him.Yarrahi was initially convicted in January 2024 of acting unlawfully by releasing a protest song in September 2023 entitled Your Headscarf (Roo Sarito) on the first anniversary of the “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising. Continue reading...
UK, France and Germany say Gaza aid freeze could breach international law
Ministers issue joint statement after Israel cuts off supplies in effort to push Hamas to accept change in ceasefire dealBritain has joined Germany and France to warn that Israel could be in breach of international law by halting the entry of aid into Gaza, which is facing a “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis.The foreign secretary, David Lammy, signed a joint statement with his French and German counterparts to urge Israel and Hamas to engage constructively to get ceasefire talks back on track. Continue reading...
'He barely talked about it': Experts shocked that Trump brushed off major election issue
CNN pundits were shocked to discover how little of President Donald Trump's address to Congress included the issues most important to the American people: inflation and the economy. Inside Politics' Dana Bash produced a bubble graph to illustrate the amount of time Trump spoke on the major issues. The result showed he spoke the longest — 9 minutes 49 seconds — about "immigrants and crime," and the very least — just 35 seconds — on the economy. "Those small bubbles up on the top, those green bubbles? That's the economy and inflation! Those are the reason that Donald Trump was brought back to the dance," Bash exclaimed. "And he barely talked about them." Political Director David Chalian said he was looking to see "what percentage of the speech would be focused solely on prices and the economy, and what people are feeling, given that that was issue number one." ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight "I do think, clearly, he's going to have to spend more time on that, or he is going to — the risk, the political risk you're talking about — that is going to be realized in some way, if not for Donald Trump — who, I think we see somebody that is unburdened by the fact that he doesn't have to run for re-election — certainly for his party," Chalian said. "I just want to know, Dana, though — the tariffs that we're talking about now it is, like, multiples of what he did in the first terms. So, this is a dramatic increase in this, which means its impact on the economy, if these experts are right, could also be dramatically done ten-fold." Trump's lack of attention on the economy during his speech is even more confounding when considering a Marist University/NPR poll released on the eve of his address. It found that "57% of Americans believe grocery prices will increase over the next six months, while only 17% believe they will decrease. In the same poll, 54% of Americans said the country is moving in the wrong direction, and more Americans, by a 46%-42% margin, believe Trump's direction on the economy is for the worse than for the better." Watch the clip below via CNN or click the link.
Refugees in Kenya’s Kakuma camp clash with police after food supplies cut
Teargas fired during protest at reduced rations after US aid freeze wipes out half of World Food Programme budgetThousands of refugees clashed with police in a Kenyan refugee camp this week after receiving news that their food allocations would be cut because of funding problems.The UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, confirmed that four refugees and a local government official had been injured when police intervened to stop the protesters at the Kakuma refugee camp on Monday. Continue reading...
EU ambassador to China urges Beijing to stop building coal-fired power plants
Jorge Toledo’s comments come after approvals for coal power projects increased in second half of 2024The EU’s ambassador to China has urged Beijing to stop building coal-fired power plants, saying that its rapid approval of new projects was increasingly at odds with its green ambitions.Speaking at an EU-hosted event in Beijing, Jorge Toledo said the war in Ukraine had underlined the need for energy security, but that the EU had managed to navigate the issue without reverting to fossil fuels. Continue reading...
Trump adviser's CNN interview goes off the rails as he insists on discussing drugs instead
With the trade war simmering between the U.S. and its closest neighbors, CNN anchors Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown wanted to get the inside scoop from guest Peter Navarro on the Trump administration's next moves. Navarro is currently the administration's senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, and seemed to be the perfect official to ask about the tariffs that will end up hurting American consumers. But Navarro didn't want to talk about trade and manufacturing; he wanted to talk about drugs. Brown began, "Of course we're all waiting to see what's going to happen with these tariffs. What's going to happen with the call today between Trump and Trudeau? What can we expect to happen from that call? Do you expect a deal to be struck?" "Well, as the boss says, 'Let's see what happens.' It's really not my place to get ahead of the president on this," Navarro said before heading down the rabbit hole while Brown and Blitzer looked on. ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight "What I've done a really deep dive on, and I think your viewers would really benefit from understanding, as the secretary of commerce said today, it's a drug war. And here's the issue. Fentanyl. It's been called a 'slow-moving weapon of mass destruction.' And I think it's the most insidious material that's ever been invented because it's very low cost, it's highly addictive, and extremely potent." Navarro went on to explain how fentanyl is laced into other illicit drugs to "up the high." Brown interjected, "Right, but I want to just follow up with you on this —" "But let me just say the other part which is the buried lede," Navarro continued. "Ambien, Xanax, all these painkillers, Vicodin. These all now are being spiked with fentanyl. The DEA, the Drug Enforcement agency, got 80 million pills — Brown tried again, "OK, but I have to jump in here because I want to —" The two then began talking over each other with Brown finally managing to say, "Justin Trudeau, for his part, said, 'This isn't about fentanyl. That's a false pretext. Less than 1% of fentanyl crossing the border comes from Canada.' He said there was a 97% drop, according to the CBP...from December to January, because of what Canada has done to try to crack down on fentanyl." "Do you want to know what I say to him?" Navarro asked. "I say to him that 12 pounds of fentanyl coming across the borders, which is what they got, is enough to kill 3 million Americans. I would say to Mr. Trudeau that he has allowed Mexican drug cartels to embed themselves across Canada, bring up their little pill presses, and manufacture these fake prescription drugs, which then find their way. So, I think, Mr. Trudeau, it would be really useful if he just toned stuff down." Watch the clip below via CNN or click the link.
Democrat takes shot at Trump after President mentions her name during big speech
Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams hit back at Donald Trump's accusation that the two-time nominee for governor was a paragon of wasteful government spending. During Tuesday night's address to Congress, Trump "rattled off a list of questionable projects that received federal funding," including, "$1.9 billion to recently created decarbonization of homes committee headed up — and we know she's involved —just at the last moment, the money was passed over by a woman named Stacey Abrams. Have you ever heard of her?" Republican lawmakers in the House chamber booed and jeered at the mention of her name. CNN's John Berman asked Wednesday what her response was to Trump. ALSO READ: 'Absolutely unconscionable': Ex-Republican demands Trump removed from office after fight "That he is trying to distract Americans from his failure to deliver on any of his promises, and instead of doing his work, he's going after those of us who are actually doing the work of the American people," Abrams responded. "I am very proud of the work that i've done to protect voting rights, to lower the cost of energy for real people in the state of Georgia, and working with organizations that want to do it around the country, because Donald Trump is failing in his promises and focusing on petty retribution instead of fulfilling his promises to the American people." Berman then asked what Abrams' "connection" was to the organization that got the federal funding Trump mentioned. "I led a project in southwest Georgia that has lowered the cost of energy for struggling families, and I'm extraordinarily proud of that work. And because of that work, because of the work of five major organizations around this country who have done more than 250 years of service combined, the Biden administration authorized a grant."Abrams continued, and took a dig at Trump."I did not work for the entity that received the grant, ultimately — I worked for one of the partner organizations, but I was very much a part of pushing and showing America that we have the ability to lower prices, that the money is there, the will is there, the capacity is there. But what is not there is Donald Trump and his lackeys' willingness to actually let American people get the benefit of these services." Watch the clip below via CNN or click the link.
