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Aug 28, 2026 - World

Critics call move to gain long-term access to country’s massive energy reserves ‘predatory’ and ‘unconstitutional’Reports that the US is preparing to claim a big stake in Venezuela’s massive energy reserves have sparked an outcry, with critics describing the move as “predatory” and a “rapacious” land grab.Several media outlets this week reported that the Trump administration – which abducted Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, in January and has steered the South American country ever since – hopes to secure long-term access to its oil and gasfields. Continue reading...

Aug 28, 2026 - World

Federation says it fears death toll of nearly 600 will continue to rise as rescuers reach cut-off areasNepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updatesVisual guide: how the deadly flooding unfoldedTell us: have you been affected by the flash floods?The Red Cross has said at least 93,000 people may have been affected by Wednesday’s flash floods on the Nepal-Tibet border, which have killed nearly 600 people, left another 1,900 missing, and triggered a huge rescue operation that is being hampered by fears of new flooding.The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the world’s largest humanitarian network, said it feared the death toll would continue to rise as some of the hardest-hit areas remained inaccessible after roads and bridges were destroyed by the torrents. Continue reading...

Aug 28, 2026 - World

Police hunt two suspects after historic 200-carat piece is snatched from Austrian museum during opening hoursAustrian police are hunting two men alleged to have stolen a 200-carat platinum necklace encrusted with 673 diamonds that was on loan to a museum in Vienna and once belonged to Egyptian royalty.Authorities in the capital released pictures of the suspects captured by security cameras during the heist at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), amid a rash of spectacular smash-and-grab thefts from European cultural institutions. Continue reading...

Aug 28, 2026 - World

The Trump administration has sparked a full-blown “financial crisis” within the U.S. Navy after pillaging coffers earmarked for service member payrolls, The Guardian reported after speaking with U.S. Navy officials and reviewing new documents.Dollars earmarked for U.S. Navy payrolls were being moved, according to The Guardian, to cover costs associated with President Donald Trump’s deeply unpopular war against Iran, a conflict that has drained the United States’ supply of munitions stockpiles. A Pentagon memo reviewed by the outlet warns of “shortfalls in payroll” accounts for U.S. service members due to Pentagon “raiding.”“The piggy bank is broken,” said Harlan Ullman, a retired U.S. Navy officer and military academic, speaking with The Guardian. Another U.S. Navy official who spoke with The Guardian on the condition of anonymity revealed the “imaginative” workarounds being employed to circumvent payroll shortfalls.“The money for payroll was robbed to pay for overseas contingencies and is being backfilled by money that hasn’t been spent,” the U.S. Navy official said. “They are backfilling payroll so we get enough money in our paycheck.”While a U.S. Navy spokesperson dismissed reports that U.S. Navy payrolls were at risk of falling short, the “cash shortage” within the branch was “no secret,” The Guardian reported.“They’re just not speaking publicly about it,” said Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C.“And I suspect that is a deliberate decision of the civilian leaders in the Pentagon, starting at secretary, that this is for political reasons, that they don’t want to look like they’re damaging future military readiness over a war that is becoming increasingly a political liability.”One former military officer who now works for a U.S. Navy contracting company and was “briefed on the shortfalls” was far more bleak in his assessment.“They’re f-----,” the former officer said, speaking with The Guardian on the condition of anonymity. “They shot all their weapons; they trashed all their ships; they ran out of their money.”

Aug 28, 2026 - World

Book was removed for review earlier this month following complaint but reinstated after petition and State Library letter to Waverley councilFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA Sydney library has returned to its borrowing shelves a book critical of Israel called How to Sell a Genocide following a public campaign and an intervention from the State Library of New South Wales.Waverley library removed the book “for review” earlier this month after the Jewish news outlet JWire reported it had approached the council. Continue reading...