Top World News

Oct 22, 2026 - World

41-year-old set on ‘dream to be able to race in Africa’Rwanda to host despite criticism of human rights recordLewis Hamilton has said he hopes to remain racing in Formula One until he can take part in the African Grand Prix which is set to take place in Rwanda in the 2030s. The seven-time world champion believes it is right that F1 is to hold a race there despite criticism of the country’s human rights record.Last week F1 confirmed Rwanda was to host the African Grand Prix having concluded a 10-year agreement for the meeting on a purpose-built circuit, with the first race set for the early 2030s. It is lined up to be held on a circuit in Bugesera, 25 miles south of the capital, Kigali, which has yet to be constructed and marks a return to the African continent for the first time since it last held a race at Kyalami, South Africa in 1993. Continue reading...

Oct 22, 2026 - World

Secret accounts, alleged payments to shadowy figures, and spies watching his phone are among the bombshell claims about Jared Kushner in a new book excerpt published Thursday by Vanity Fair. First, journalist Matthew Cole alleged Gulf rulers supplied roughly $2 billion to accounts for Trump’s son-in-law, including $750 million in a charity account Kushner allegedly helped manage.Second, another $1 billion allegedly reached Israel’s central bank for his personal benefit, with Benjamin Netanyahu requiring advance notice of transactions.Third, Cole also recounts a source’s allegation that Kushner transferred money to “a warlord, a mercenary and a one-time hit man," according to the excerpt.The fourth claim revolves around a promise of influence. “Jared promised MBZ that he’d push their agenda with Trump if they participated in a fund,” another source said, referring to UAE ruler Mohamed bin Zayed.Fifth, Russian spies allegedly penetrated Kushner’s phone first. Dutch intelligence subsequently gained access and monitored his screen, the excerpt said, according to Vanity Fair.Sixth, Gulf leaders initially discussed a separate $10 billion fund to support Trump’s priorities, including his border wall and reelection. Finally, Cole writes that four senior Trump officials, including two national security advisers, knew of no presidential authorization for Kushner’s foreign-account access, Cole writes.According to Vanity Fair, Kushner’s counsel denied the alleged accounts and legal violations, saying his arrangements with foreign officials had Trump’s approval.

Oct 22, 2026 - World

Observers were shocked Thursday after a new book excerpt detailed how foreign spies spent months peering into the phone of President Donald Trump's son-in-law.In an excerpt published by Vanity Fair from his upcoming book "Princes and Thieves," investigative reporter Matthew Cole lays out how Dutch military intelligence flipped a Russian GRU hacker in 2017 and used him to reach a Russian server holding screenshots from Jared Kushner's iPhone. By early 2018, according to Cole, the Dutch had cracked the device themselves and could watch Kushner's screen in real time.What they saw, Cole reports, was Kushner logging into a UAE bank account stocked with hundreds of millions of dollars routed through a bank in Azerbaijan. Cole's reporting alleges that the Saudi and Emirati royals ultimately put at least $2 billion into accounts tied to Kushner, including roughly $750 million at First Abu Dhabi Bank, where Kushner was allegedly a signatory on an account owned by an Emirati charity, and about $1 billion in Israel's Central Bank.A former Mueller prosecutor told Cole that Kushner may have run afoul of federal bribery and foreign agents laws if he promised anything in return. Kushner's lawyer denied any wrongdoing and insisted "there are no accounts and never were."Reaction online was swift."Every word of this is f------ insane," investigative journalist Scott Stedman fumed on X. "Kushner cannot be in charge of negotiations."Stedman followed up by arguing that, if the reporting holds, Cole "may have uncovered the biggest case of foreign bribery (MBZ and MBS of Kushner) in U.S. history."Drop Site News co-founder Ryan Grim marveled at the backstory. "Aside from the shocking substance of this story, what's amazing is how it was unearthed by Cole," he wrote.Former Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman summed up the chain of events, noting that Dutch cyberspies reverse-engineered a Russian hack to gain "unprecedented access to his world." He called it a "bananas story."National security journalist Zach Dorfman hailed it as "astounding reporting," while reporter Erin Banco kept it short. "This is wild," she posted.

Oct 22, 2026 - World

Jared Kushner allegedly accessed a secret Gulf-funded bank account while Dutch spies watched his phone, and moved money to a warlord, a mercenary and a one-time hit man, according to an explosive new book.In an excerpt published Thursday by Vanity Fair, investigative journalist Matthew Cole wrote that Dutch military intelligence found screenshots of Kushner’s iPhone on a Russian military intelligence server, then exploited a flaw in the phone to watch his screen themselves starting in early 2018.They saw Kushner, then a senior adviser to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump, log into a UAE bank account that had received hundreds of millions of dollars routed through Azerbaijan, according to “Princes and Thieves.” A source told Cole that Kushner appeared to transfer significant sums from the account to other individuals, including the warlord, mercenary and former hit man.Cole alleges the rulers of Saudi Arabia and the UAE put at least $2 billion into at least two accounts for Kushner during Trump’s first term.“Jared promised MBZ that he’d push their agenda with Trump if they participated in a fund,” one source told Cole, referring to UAE ruler Mohamed bin Zayed.Kushner’s ties to Gulf money have drawn scrutiny before. After leaving the White House, his private equity firm, Affinity Partners, received a $2 billion investment from a Saudi sovereign wealth fund led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a deal that has drawn scrutiny from ethics watchdogs.The book cites mostly unnamed sources. Kushner’s lawyer told Cole that Kushner broke no laws and had no connection to any UAE account, adding that there “are no accounts and never were.”Kushner himself blasted the book on X.“The allegations made by this author are completely insane, categorically false, and never happened,” he wrote.

Oct 22, 2026 - World

The deaths of two CIA agents in April after a drug lab operation in northern Mexico have led to treason charges against a former Chihuahua state attorney general