World

U.S. Says It Conducted Second Strike on Suspected Venezuelan Drug Boat in International Waters President Donald Trump announced on social media that U.S. forces carried out a strike on a vessel linked to a Venezuelan drug cartel, saying three people were killed and that the operation took place in international waters. The president described it as a “SECOND Kinetic Strike” ordered by him against “positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of…

Poland’s plea for a no‑fly zone exposes NATO’s cold calculus When 19 drones crossed into Polish airspace last week — some shot down by Polish and Dutch jets, debris raining on villages and a home in Wyryki‑Wola left scarred by shrapnel — Warsaw treated the incident as more than a security breach. It was a prod: an urgent reminder that the Russia‑Ukraine war is spilling beyond Ukraine’s borders and onto NATO’s doorstep. Poland’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, told Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine that NATO and the…

Luxembourg regulator on the hot seat as finance, diplomacy and activism collide Regulatory shuffle sparks protests In a story that folds finance into foreign policy, Luxembourg’s financial watchdog is set to face questioning by lawmakers after approving paperwork that allows Israel to sell bonds into the European market. The decision follows a move at the start of September when Israel shifted the authorisation for its bond prospectuses from the Central Bank of Ireland to Luxembourg’s regulator. The move has been…

A UN finding that reverberates beyond headlines: what it means to call Gaza a site of genocide When an independent United Nations commission concluded this week that Israel has “committed and continues to commit genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza, it did more than add a grim line to a long list of UN reports. The finding reopened questions about the limits of international law, the responsibilities of powerful states that arm and finance warring parties, and whether the world’s institutions can halt mass suffering when…

Lady Gaga’s night, and the VMAs’ widening map of pop Long Island’s UBS Arena felt, at moments, like the center of the music world on Tuesday night — a patchwork of sequins, fandoms and cross-genre collaborations that underscored how global pop now arrives in many languages and forms. Lady Gaga walked off with Artist of the Year and three other trophies, but the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards were less a coronation than a catalog of pop’s kaleidoscopic present: K‑pop and Latin giants rubbing shoulders with veteran icons, young…

Across continents, an earthquake's echoes: Afghan villages flattened, diaspora left to grieve One week after a late‑night earthquake tore through the steep valleys of eastern Afghanistan, survivors still sift through mud and stone, looking for the impossible — the bodies of loved ones, the foundations of a life. In Ireland, a man named Raoof Safi repeated the same ritual of pale modern grief: scrolling through videos, answering phone calls, counting names. The quake, measured at about magnitude 6.0 and striking around…

EU’s €2.95bn fine on Google exposes a new fault line: regulators vs. politicians The European Commission’s decision to fine Alphabet’s Google €2.95 billion over alleged anti‑competitive behaviour in its ad‑tech business has landed in the middle of a transatlantic tug-of-war — and now risks spilling into trade politics. The penalty, the fourth major sanction handed to the search giant by Brussels over the past decade, prompted an unusually blunt response from the United States: former President Donald Trump wrote on Truth…

Trump says European leaders will visit US as Kyiv reels from what Ukraine calls the largest air strike of the war WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump told reporters he expects individual European leaders to travel to the United States “on Monday or Tuesday” to discuss resolving the Russia-Ukraine war — a claim that came as Ukrainian officials described a massive drone-and-missile barrage across large parts of the country and pleaded for a robust U.S. response. “Certain European leaders are coming over to our country on…

Surfer killed in rare shark attack at Sydney's Long Reef; beaches closed What happened A man has died after what police and rescuers described as a suspected shark attack at Long Reef Beach on Sydney’s northern coastline, prompting immediate beach closures and a visible, urgent response from emergency services. New South Wales police said the man was pulled from the Pacific Ocean and brought ashore but died at the scene. Two sections of a surfboard recovered near the victim have been taken for forensic examination as…

Israeli strike flattens 14‑storey Mushtaha Tower in Gaza City as residents flee Explosion levels a high‑rise used to shelter displaced families A massive explosion reduced the 14‑storey Mushtaha Tower to rubble on Friday, sending an enormous plume of smoke over Gaza City and deepening daytime terror for thousands who have already been uprooted by months of war. Video shared on social media and by local news outlets showed the residential block in the Al‑Rimal neighbourhood collapsing after a blast at its base. Gaza’s…