Top World News
Sudan paramilitary drone strikes cause mass power cuts in eastern states
Oct 26, 2026 - World 
Rapid Support Forces strike five power stations in three states controlled by Sudanese armySudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have launched a coordinated drone attack against five power stations, causing mass power outages across the country’s east, a government official said.The drones hit two power stations each in the states of Al-Jazira and Gedaref and one in White Nile state, “resulting in power outages across large parts of these three states”, the official said on condition of anonymity. Continue reading...
‘Zero-energy companionship’: bizarre hobby takes seed among China’s stressed young adults
Oct 26, 2026 - World 
Faced with a stagnant jobs market, many are spurning children or pets in favour of ‘raising bricks’Young adults in China looking for a cheaper, low-maintenance alternative to having children or pets have found an answer: raising bricks.Bricks may not be as cuddly as cats or as life-affirming as human offspring, but they also cost next to nothing. “No cats, no dating, I started raising a brick,” wrote one brick parent on social media. Continue reading...
Australian judge rejects prisoner’s human rights challenge to Vegemite ban
Oct 26, 2026 - World 
A prisoner has lost his challenge to an Australian state’s ban on inmates eating Vegemite after he argued in court that withholding the polarizing yeast-based spread breached his human right to “enjoy his culture as an Australian.”
UK poised to miss reduced aid spending target of 0.3% of national income
Oct 26, 2026 - World 
Calculations from the Center for Global Development say spending next year is likely to be £410m less than anticipatedThe UK is on course to miss its target of spending 0.3% of national income on international aid by an estimated £400m by the end of next year.Calculations from the Center for Global Development (CGD) found the UK was on course for a large shortfall in promised official development assistance at the end of 2027. Continue reading...
'What a joke': Shock after Trump stokes 'deliberate chaos' at UN with endorsement
Oct 26, 2026 - World 
President Donald Trump seems to be trying to stoke what one analyst described as "deliberate chaos" at the United Nations. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the Trump administration is advocating for former Hungarian dictator Viktor Orbán, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for the U.N. Secretary-General position. That would give Orbán power to settle conflicts between body members and would require him to be the public-facing head of the organization. Orbán did not officially state that he is running for the Secretary-General position, as he has reservations about a nationalist politician serving in such a role, according to the report. Current Secretary-General António Guterres' term ends on Dec. 31. The Journal's conservative editorial board was none too pleased about the report. "Maybe the best to say about the Orbán idea is that it would lift the veil by giving the U.N. a leader as low as Turtle Bay has already sunk," the editors wrote. The report also outraged several political analysts online. Jim Stewartson, a politics writer, described the move to support Orbán's hypothetical candidacy as "deliberate chaos.""It feels like we’re watching the end of a bad frat party where a bunch of chuds run out of beer so they just start breaking stuff and throwing furniture in the pool or whatever. It’s just deliberate chaos," Stewartson posted on X. Mike Nellis, a Democratic political strategist, was flabbergasted by the idea. "Holy s---, they're nuts," Nellis posted on X. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on authoritarianism, was not entertained by the report either. "What a joke," she posted on X.
