Top World News

Apr 26, 2026 - World

Police say incident in Dunmurry in which no one was hurt shows ‘murderous intent still exists’ in paramilitaries“Murderous intent and capability” still exists within paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, officers have said after a car exploded outside a police station on the outskirts of Belfast.Detectives said they believed the New IRA was involved and are treating it as attempted murder. Continue reading...

Apr 26, 2026 - World

Trade union criticises airline’s plan to halve passenger numbers to the city as ‘purely profit-oriented’ Ryanair is to shut its Berlin operating base and cut its winter schedule to the German capital in half, blaming soaring aviation taxes in the country.The Irish budget carrier said its relocation of seven aircraft to other centres would reduce its Berlin passenger numbers from 4.5 million to 2.2 million a year, with flights in and out of the city served from October by planes based at other airports. Continue reading...

Apr 26, 2026 - World

A contrast between President Donald Trump's war with Iran and a previous conflict has been flagged by a war scholar.Trump's military conflict with Iran has emerged as one of the most consequential failures of his second term. The war, launched without congressional authorization, has devastated regional stability and undermined American credibility with traditional allies.Domestically, the conflict has fractured the MAGA movement, with prominent figures like Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly opposing the war as a betrayal of "America First" principles.Historian Hai Nguyen believes there are parallels between how Iran has reacted to US strikes and how Vietnam responded to a boots-on-the-ground deployment in the 1960s. Salon columnist Andrew O'Hehir wrote, "From the beginning of this conflict, the Iranians identified the fundamental weakness of U.S. strategy, which was based on a litany of false assumptions, starting with the premise that total victory could be achieved with air power (something that has never happened in the history of warfare) and that killing Iran’s senior leaders would cause the regime to surrender or collapse. "Trump and Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio and whoever else somehow persuaded themselves — or allowed Netanyahu to persuade them — to ignore the obvious Heffalump trap that was right in front of them, that being yet another protracted, expensive and massively unpopular foreign war likely to crater or destroy a presidency."Hai Nguyen, a Vietnam War scholar at the Harvard Kennedy School, told [Foreign Policy columnist Michael] Hirsh that he saw history literally repeating itself. Like the Viet Cong of 50-odd years ago, the Iranians have perceived the American superpower’s Achilles heel: 'They understand that the U.S. could drop thousands of tons of bombs, but it does not possess the patience to withstand a prolonged war.' "In refusing to negotiate despite the risk of further devastation and the immense hardship inflicted on its own people, the Iranian regime is observing a time-honored principle attributed to Napoleon: Never interrupt your opponent when he’s making a mistake."

Apr 26, 2026 - World

Prime minister has shed trusted staffers but can still turn to many genuine friends in and out of governmentGiven that the signs of an embattled premiership are all around – defensive-sounding interviews insisting he will be in post at the next election; a rush of stories about supposed cabinet plotting – now, more than ever, Keir Starmer needs real allies. And here, at least, there is something to feel positive about.If you talk to most Labour MPs, Starmer most likely will not lead Labour into the next election. He may even not remain in No 10 much beyond a set of Scottish, Welsh and local English elections on 7 May, which are expected to be disastrous for his party. Continue reading...

Apr 26, 2026 - World

Exclusive: Investigation into campaigning materials for local polls in May challenges tactical voting claims Election leaflets are providing “grotesque” information about how to vote tactically in the May elections, using national polling data, “dodgy” bar charts and doorstep surveys to support claims about parties’ chances of winning.Leaflets distributed by local politicians across England are claiming that only their party can win, or that another party “can’t win here”, when there is no good evidence to show this is true, a Full Fact investigation for the Guardian has revealed. Continue reading...