Top World News

Aug 25, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump floated the idea of changing the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” on Tuesday amid his ongoing trade feud with Canada, a pitch that was met with collective sighs by critics who spoke to their exhaustion with the chaotic Trump administration.In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump claimed that his administration was “giving serious consideration” to the name change as he did not “expect to [be] doing much business with Ontario any longer.” The idea is similar to his executive order issued in early 2025 to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” a move that received intense scrutiny at the time.Regarding Trump’s latest name-change idea — one that came amid Trump imposing 50% tariffs on some Canadian goods, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowing to match said tariffs “dollar for dollar” — critics were quick to condemn it.The Bulwark's Sam Stein quipped on X, "He's out of ideas."Stephen Hayes, editor and CEO at The Dispatch, mocked, "It's still astonishing - ten years into the Trump era - that our president so often behaves like a 10 year-old. And that so much of our national policymaking is based on the juvenile emoting of an adult who functions like a preteen."“We are living in the stupidest f------ times,” wrote Jason Willan, a prominent fantasy sports analyst, in a social media post on X.Roland Ley, a former contributor for Euromaidan Press, called Trump the “greatest idiot” he had witnessed in his “lifetime.”“Just as internationally 'Gulf of America' isn't recognised, this won't be either,” Ley wrote in a social media post on X. “Not even passed by the US Senate anyway.”In response to Trump’s announcement, Canadian horse-racing photographer Julie Wright quipped, “Lunatic says what,” and prominent online influencer Mario Nawfal argued that Trump’s trade war was “getting silly” in a post on X to his more than 3.8 million followers.“It would require a lot more than a President’s bad mood to change the name of a gulf or great lake!” Nawfal wrote. “Maybe a vote or something a bit more thought out.”

Aug 25, 2026 - World

Ethnic clashes in southern Sudan have killed 27 people, including four children, a local medical group said

Aug 25, 2026 - World

The United Nations says armed men have killed at least 47 people and kidnapped over 50 others near Haiti’s capital

Aug 25, 2026 - World

Gao Zhen sentenced to three years in prison after already spending two years in detentionGao Zhen, a prominent Chinese artist known for provocative sculptures of the former leader Mao Zedong, has been sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of slandering China’s “heroes and martyrs”. The sentencing came two years after he was detained while visiting the country with his family, according to his wife and human rights groups.The case has attracted international condemnation, largely because the artworks at the centre of the case were created more than 10 years before China created the law under which Gao was charged. Continue reading...

Aug 25, 2026 - World

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) wants to break the back of foreign actors who use US influencers as fronts, and she is willing to go around House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to get it done.In an interview with Politico Playbook, Luna, who has been a thorn in Johnson's side, claims she has seen contracts "in the millions" that could rock MAGAworld if they were exposed.The Florida Republican is rolling out the Foreign Propaganda Registration Act, an amendment to the Foreign Agents Registration Act that would require influencers to disclose when they're being paid by a foreign government to push political messaging, according to the proposal first shared with Playbook."Being an influencer right now is kind of like the wild west," Luna told Playbook. "There's a lot of things laws haven't caught up to."Luna received briefings on foreign influence efforts, spoke with multiple government agencies about the issue and heard about payments occurring "on the back end" from people inside the influencer world.When asked whether she was aware of specific influencers receiving foreign money, Luna said: "I have a number of those people. I'm not going to put anyone on blast. That's not my job."The practice reaches deep into the influencer ecosystem. "Some of your biggest profile names… a large portion of them, in some way, shape, or form, have been approached at one point to push a certain position that's probably tied to a foreign country," Luna said.Luna is confident Johnson will support the measure. If not, she has a familiar recourse: she previously used a discharge petition to try to bypass House leadership and force action on a congressional stock-trading ban, and a person familiar with her thinking said she could turn to the tactic again. According to the report, "The fight ballooned in recent months inside MAGA, where the sprawling influencer ecosystem that fueled Trump’s political rise faces growing accusations within its own ranks that foreign governments and other well-funded interests are trying to manipulate it. Allegations have been leveled against influencers targeting JD Vance, Tucker Carlson and recently that Laura Loomer’s trip to Ukraine was funded by the country — which she vehemently denied."