Top World News

Apr 3, 2026 - World

U.S. officials reportedly confirmed that one of two pilots who were downed in Iran has been rescued.Officials told CBS News that an F-15E fighter jet went down in Iran on Friday. U.S. forces later rescued a crew member, the officials said.Search-and-rescue operations were continuing for the second crew member.

Apr 3, 2026 - World

An ocean conservation ship operated by anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson collided Tuesday with a commercial krill trawler off Antarctica in what the fishing vessel’s owner described as a “deliberate attack,” but activists called “a David-and-Goliath battle against an industrial giant.”The Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF) said on Facebook that, as part of its Operation Krill Wars campaign, the Bandero is currently targeting “two of the largest Norwegian trawlers operating in Antarctic waters, the Antarctic Endurance and the Antarctic Sea,”—both of which are owned by Aker QRILL Company of Lysaker, Norway.“Earlier today, both trawlers released lines into the water to move the Bandero, a dangerous maneuver that could have disabled our ship,” the foundation alleged. “In response, the Bandero delivered a gentle but deliberate nudge to the stern of the Antarctic Sea, accompanied by a message: Stop despoiling the ecological integrity of the Southern Ocean.”Aker QRILL is owned by New York City-based American Industrial Partners and Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Røkke, and calls itself “the world’s leading krill company.”Company CEO Webjørn Barstad responded to the incident by claiming in an interview with Reuters that “our crew were put at risk in some of the most remote waters on Earth, and only luck avoided potential environmental damage.”“If the steel plates... had ruptured, it could have caused a spill,” Barstad added. “It was probably just luck that it didn’t cause more damage.”CPWF scoffed at the company’s claims of danger, saying on Facebook that “I understand your need to play the victim while you scoop life from the sea.”As the Operation Krill Wars campaign explains:Krill is the keystone species of the ecosystem in Antarctica. The majority of Antarctic species are reliant on krill as their primary food source or krilI is the the food source of their prey. From the great whales down to the penguins, seals, and seabirds, all rely on an abundance of krill to survive.Currently the quota set by the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources is 620,000 tons which is said to represent 1% of the total biomass of krill. However the fishing of krill is in concentrated areas, meaning that the likelihood of ecological collapse in those areas is far more likely.After the near extinction of several large whale species in the 19th and 20th centuries, conservation efforts in the later half of the 20th century and 21st century have seen whale populations recovering. Though not back to their pre-commercial whaling numbers, this increase in whale populations obviously requires a greater amount of krill for food. Yet what we are seeing is a greater extraction of krill by human commercial enterprises.“If the ocean dies, we die,” Paul Watson said in a statement. “Krill are the blood of the sea. Without them, the whales, penguins, fish, and birds will starve, and the ocean will fall silent.”Watson is best known as the co-founder of Greenpeace and, later, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. He has dedicated his life to defending marine wildlife—especially mammals like whales—from harm. A controversial figure, Watson was arrested and jailed in Greenland in 2024 on an international warrant issued by Japan over his anti-whaling activism. However, he was freed after Denmark—which controls Greenland’s foreign affairs—refused Japan’s extradition request.CPWF said that the issue of ocean exploitation must be “confronted legally and brought to global attention.”“We are here in the Southern Ocean to oppose a crime against nature and humanity—aggressively, but nonviolently,” the group said Wednesday. “We welcome the opportunity to defend our actions in court and expose the true cost of krill fishing to the world.”The Bob Brown Foundation, an Australian green group, defended CPWF in a statement Wednesday calling “for the complete end to krill fishing in Antarctica.”“The krill fishing industry is fully aware of the damage they cause, such as killing whales in their nets, yet they do all they can to greenwash krill products,” said Bob Brown Foundation Antarctic and marine campaigner Alistair Allan. “We applaud the brave actions of the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, who are ensuring that the plunder of krill does not go unchallenged.”“Krill is violently sucked out of Antarctica’s fragile wilderness all for products we don’t need, such as fish farm feed, pet food, and supposed health products,” Allan added. “It’s time for the world to boycott all products with krill in them.”

Apr 3, 2026 - World

Havana makes a Holy Week ‘humanitarian’ gesture as Russian tanker is allowed to reach oil-starved islandSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxCuban authorities have begun to free prisoners after announcing they would pardon 2,010 inmates, the second release in less than a month as the country faces heightened US pressure.More than 20 inmates emerged from La Lima penitentiary in east Havana on Friday, holding their release papers, crying and hugging relatives who had been waiting for them all morning. Continue reading...

Apr 3, 2026 - World

MAGA influencer Steve Bannon suggested downed pilots were the price of fighting a war with Iran.After reports said that the U.S. military was searching for the pilots of a crashed F-15 on Friday, Bannon noted that CENTCOM had flown around 12,000 sorties during the war."First off, that's an extraordinary amount just in the time we've been there," he explained. "These things are going to happen. You're going to get some people shot down. That's just the reality."Author Brandon Weichert told Bannon that he hoped the downed jet was a "wake-up call" for the White House."But I'm still watching these troops flowing into the region," he noted. "So to me, this looks like we're plussing up. Doesn't look like we're de-escalating.""Unfortunately, again, it looks like Trump is still tempted to, to climb that escalation ladder," Weichert added. "And I can't stress enough how significant of a problem this will be for the United States if we get bogged down in a ground war."

Apr 3, 2026 - World

Donald Trump ignored a war games scenario that predicted the Strait of Hormuz would be closed following strikes on Iran, an analyst has claimed. David Rothkopf, speaking to The New Republic's Greg Sargent, says the president was made aware of a scenario in which the United States would likely suffer the impact of the Strait of Hormuz's closure. Trump's administration struck Iran in early March, with the stated objective being regime change, though analysts questioned whether the administration had a comprehensive long-term strategy beyond the initial military operation.A war games plan seen by Trump should have been enough to convince him not to strike Iran, Rothkopf says, but action was taken against the Middle Eastern country. Rothkopf said, "That’s why the National Security Council was created. Well, we effectively don’t have an NSC now because he doesn’t listen to advice. And so you have this ignoramus who ignores the fact that when war games like about this were conducted, we lost."Okay, there was a big famous war game that was conducted a number of years ago about the U.S. attacking Iran—we lost because they leveraged the Strait of Hormuz. And he ignores that. He didn’t consult the allies. He thought they would just go along with him. "And frankly, he thought it would be over in a minute because he didn’t sort of think through 92 million people, 50 years of history, deeply ingrained institutions in that country. He thinks he’s Superman. And of course, that’s fine when you jump off the building. It’s just a problem when you hit the ground."Rothkopf went on to suggest some of Trump's alleged targets in Iran would, should they be struck, constitute a war crime. "They went in, they bombed a bridge," he wrote. "We can debate whether that’s a war crime because it’s civilian infrastructure. He threatened now to go in and bomb their electrical systems. That is a war crime. That is punishing civilians. "Obviously, this is going to harden resistance. It’s going to have an effect on how the Iranians handle, for example, the Strait of Hormuz."