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Apr 5, 2026 - World

Pope Leo XIV celebrated his first Easter Mass as pontiff with a call Sunday to lay down arms and seek peace to global conflicts through dialogue, but he departed from a tradition of listing the world's woes by name in the Urbi et Orbi blessing from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica.

Apr 5, 2026 - World

Trump gives further details on rescue and threatens to bomb infrastructure if strait of Hormuz is not reopenedMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe second crew member of a downed F-15E fighter jet has been rescued from an Iranian mountain by US commandos overnight, ending a two-day search after the warplane crashed in south-west Iran.The crew member, a colonel and weapons systems officer, had been wounded but was successfully rescued from a mountain hideout by US special forces, Donald Trump first announced in a social media post soon after midnight. Continue reading...

Apr 5, 2026 - World

Exclusive: Animal welfare charities ‘bitterly disappointed’ UK government plans to backtrack on manifesto promisesThis article contains an image of a duck being force-fed that some readers may find upsettingThe UK government is to break a manifesto commitment to ban foie gras imports, and has declined to stop fur imports, after the EU made these red lines in its discussions for a trade deal.Animal welfare charities say they are “bitterly disappointed” that ministers are failing to use powers granted by Brexit to restrict the import of these “cruel” items. Continue reading...

Apr 5, 2026 - World

Donald Trump has made a rare statement that lines up with reality, according to a political commentator who says the president has "lost his mojo". Jonathan Cohn, writing in The Bulwark, suggested Trump had "lost his mojo" during a recent speech where the usually flippant Commander-in-Chief called out cold, hard facts. Whether he did so intentionally remains unclear, but Cohn believes that Trump's usually braggadocious, reality-bending manner was nowhere to be found when he addressed his plans for the future of Iran. Trump surprised political analysts earlier this week when he made a speech at the Easter luncheon at the White House on Wednesday. He said, "We’re fighting wars, we can’t take care of daycare. You’ve got to let a state take care of daycare, and they should pay for it, too. They should pay—they’ll have to raise their taxes, but they should pay for it. And we could lower our taxes a little bit to them, to make up for—but we—it’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things. "They can do it on a state basis. You can’t do it on a federal [basis]. We have to take care of one thing: military protection. We have to guard the country."Cohn believes this talk from the president is a rare sighting from Trump, who is aware of the economic crisis his government is facing. "Typically, Republican leaders try very hard to deny they are starving social programs to fund the military, leaving Democrats to make the case on their own," Cohn wrote. "Yet here was Trump coming right out and saying it. "And while the president frequently blurts out statements that have no bearing on reality, in this case his description of how he’d like to rearrange federal spending priorities was pretty much on the nose."In fact, just two days after he made those remarks, his administration released its budget for fiscal year 2027. It envisions $1.5 trillion [in spending] for defense, then proposes to offset that cost with a 10 percent reduction in domestic spending. "Among the casualties would be a program that helps low-income Americans pay for heating and cooling—yes, right at a time when electricity prices are on the rise."

Apr 5, 2026 - World

Ministry clarifies clause affecting those up to age 45 that is part of legislation that came into effect in JanuaryA little-noticed clause in sweeping changes to Germany’s military service policy has caused uproar after it emerged that the law requires men aged up to 45 to get permission from the armed forces before any significant stay abroad, even in peacetime.The legislation, which went into effect on 1 January, aims to bolster the military and demands all 18-year-old men fill out a questionnaire to gauge their suitability to serve in the armed forces, but stops short of conscription. Continue reading...