Top World News

Mar 20, 2026 - World

As other Asian economies race to conserve energy, China has huge reserves of oil and gas as well as alternative energy sources like wind and solarMiddle East crisis – live updatesXi Jinping has been preparing for a crisis like this for years. China must secure its energy supply “in its own hands”, its president was reported to have said during a visit to one of its vast oilfields in 2021.The US-Israel war on Iran plunged the Middle East into a deep conflict, with the strait of Hormuz – one of the most important waterways in global trade – all but closed and key energy facilities across the region under attack. Continue reading...

Mar 20, 2026 - World

US president was meeting with Japanese PM when he said: ‘Who knows better about surprise than Japan?’Middle East crisis – live updatesSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxIt would be funny if it wasn’t so Trumpy.Hosting the Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, in the Oval Office on Thursday, Donald Trump could not resist mocking Japan about its 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor during the second world war. Continue reading...

Mar 20, 2026 - World

Mother and child held in notorious Rio Grande Valley detention centre despite presenting visa, family saysA Canadian mother and her seven-year-old daughter, who has autism, have been detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Texas since Saturday, family members have said.Relatives of Tania Warner and her daughter Ayla Lucas say they were detained unlawfully. They are uncertain about what problem ICE found with their immigration paperwork. Continue reading...

Mar 19, 2026 - World

MS NOW host Nicolle Wallace had a frank reaction on Thursday after President Donald Trump made a jaw-dropping comment that shocked people inside the Oval Office during a White House meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.Wallace was visibly stunned after discussing Trump's attempted joke that clearly left the room uncomfortable when a reporter asked why Trump hadn't warned his allies that the U.S.-Israeli military strikes were coming. "One thing, you don't want to signal too much when we go in," Trump said. "We went in very hard and we didn't tell anyone about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor?"Wallace watched the video playback and commented on Trump, asking her panel to share their thoughts. "I struggle every minute of every day with platforming him, one, I should do it all day because it shows what a profound idiot he is," Wallace said. "But but two, we were on other sides. This is a question about why didn't you read in your allies? And he says, we didn't know what our adversary was going to do. I mean, David Frum, what do you even, how's your brain doing?"Frum, a Canadian-American commentator and former speechwriter, described why Trump's words shocked the Japanese leader and dignitaries visiting America. "So first, there's probably no society on earth where good manners count for more than Japan, a country that has been — and we're talking about 80 years since the end of World War II, that has been a staunch and loyal ally of the United States for 80 years, where the warmth of person to person ties," Frum said. "But the one big cultural difference has always been the emphasis on decorum and decency and respect in Japanese culture, whereas American culture can be a little more boisterous. For the president of the United States to insult them, and you can watch it, sort of figuring out 'No one is amused by what I just said. Maybe if I say it again, it'll get more amusing the second time. And what if I say right, right, right. And give them a little jab in the ribs? Maybe it'll be funny then.'"Frum described why it was so surprising — and why it left them silent. "And it's just horrifying. One more thing that needs to be pointed out in this analogy that he's drawing between the United States and Japan, who's doing the sneak attack?" Frum added. "Oh, yeah. He's comparing the United States to the Japanese sneak attack. He wanted to do a Pearl Harbor on Greenland. Now he wants to do a Pearl Harbor on Iran. He is comparing himself to the people whom Americans normally condemn, and then elbowing the Japanese that they don't think the whole thing is terribly amusing."

Mar 19, 2026 - World

Foreign minister issues warning after Israeli attack on South Pars gasfield and as Qatar reels from retaliatory strike‘Doomsday scenario’: a visual guide to the oil and gas site attacks in the Middle EastMiddle East crisis – live updatesIran said on Thursday it would show “zero restraint” if its energy infrastructure was targeted again as Qatar revealed that almost a fifth of its liquefied natural gas export capacity had been knocked out in an Iranian strike that is likely to have a years-long impact.The warning, delivered by the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, followed Israel’s attack on Iran’s massive South Pars gasfield – which it shares with Qatar – which triggered Iranian retaliatory strikes on Qatar’s Ras Laffan gas complex and other Gulf neighbours, sending stock markets tumbling globally and triggering sharp increases in gas prices. Continue reading...