Top World News
Tupac Shakur murder trial: ‘You better treat me as a hostile witness,’ Suge Knight associate testifies – latest updates
Aug 18, 2026 - World 
‘Me or anybody else bringing up the dead is wrong,’ James McDonald tells Las Vegas courtroomWhat we know about Tupac Shakur’s death and what to expect from murder trialDistrict Court Judge Carli Kierney relayed a few questions directly from the jury to medical examiner Dr. Lisa Gavin.“Where there any wounds to the head that you or Dr. Jordan observed or noted?” Continue reading...
Australia politics live: Hastie says fight for his seat against One Nation is already ‘dirty and nasty’; NDIS reforms to pass parliament today
Aug 18, 2026 - World 
Bill passed Senate on Wednesday evening and is due back in lower house today. Follow today’s news liveFollow our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast‘Collapsing confidence’ in housing market, Wilson saysTim Wilson has jumped on that reporting around rent increases and says there has been a collapse in confidence since the budget which is hurting renters.We’ve had, since the budget, collapsing confidence, a lack of will to invest in housing that is going to be available for rentals.We’re seeing a complete disaster in the housing market, and we know that’s only going to do one thing while the government continues to overshoot its migration target, and that is an increase in rents on Australians struggling to save a first home deposit.There is an awful lot that goes into determining rents in Australia, and the thing that Treasury modelled in the context of the budget, what is the isolated effect of what the government actually changed about the housing market. And if I just step back for a second, we’ve got a broken housing system in our country, and it’s the renters of Australia who are bearing the brunt of really 40 years of government’s not doing enough about this problem.I think that Clare sadly needs to start taking a bit of responsibility for her housing policy. But also, Clare, stop gaslighting Australians, stop gaslighting the mum and dads who are currently watching this show and feeling the impact of your toxic housing taxes … She can sit on your show and defend her policies, but the evidence on the ground, the evidence from the experts, is that Labor’s toxic housing taxes are smashing the market. Continue reading...
Jon Ossoff blasts ‘draft-dodging, crook president’ in latest war of words with Trump – live
Aug 18, 2026 - World 
The Democratic senator, who is running for re-election in Georgia, says Trump ‘has plunged our nation recklessly into a war he knows not how to end or to win’Sign up for the US Breaking News emailPresident Donald Trump posted an image of a map of the strait of Hormuz on his social media platform Truth Social, with a circle around the strait and the words “New US Territory” as the title on Tuesday morning.This follows comments made on Friday at a speech at a police academy on Long Island, New York, where Trump said “After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated, pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz strait a territory of the United States. … Essentially, that’s what it is. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to.” Continue reading...
Trump playing 'dangerous game of chicken' after envoys halt negotiations: CNN
Aug 18, 2026 - World 
President Donald Trump told his administration's envoys to stop talks with Iran on Tuesday, CNN reported.CNN anchor Jake Tapper reported that Trump officials have told allies that they have shifted their strategy from "hammer Iran ASAP" to "strangle them over time," according to sources.Lawmakers have shared their concerns amid reports of dwindling weapon supplies and low morale among troops as the military operations have continued for nearly six months. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, reacted to the administration's reported change in an interview with Tapper."I think it's another indication that he has reached a strategic dead-end," Blumenthal said. "He has involved this nation in a seemingly endless, costly war. Just as the [USS] Abraham Lincoln is on an endless, seemingly indefinite deployment with no exit. The idea that he would 'strangle Iran' seems pretty magical thinking."He called out Trump for lack of strategy and cost of the war — from gas, groceries and worldwide economic backlash."He's playing a dangerous game of chicken," Blumenthal added.
Florida carries out its 13th execution this year in US’s busiest death chamber
Aug 18, 2026 - World 
US supreme court declined to halt execution of William Frances Silvia, and state has two executions next monthA Florida man convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and wounding his mother-in-law was executed on Tuesday, continuing the state’s aggressive use of the death penalty in the final term of the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.William Frances Silvia, 61, was pronounced dead at 6.11pm after receiving a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. Continue reading...
