Top World News

May 22, 2026 - World

Zeng shared an image of two servers from the CCP's state banquet honouring President Trump, claiming photos of the same women "in uniform" were being widely circulated on Chinese social media.

May 22, 2026 - World

Farmers worldwide are under pressure. About a third of traded urea, a widely used nitrogen fertilizer, comes from the Gulf region.

May 22, 2026 - World

Labour MPs and PR experts praise his refreshingly forthright approach that is a marked contrast to Keir StarmerUK politics live – latest updatesAndy Burnham’s fingers must be aching. Between pitching to become the MP for Makerfield, continuing in his day job as the mayor of Greater Manchester and going for his regular runs, Keir Starmer’s would-be challenger has also found enough time to reply to dozens of posts on social media.Since it became clear that Burnham planned to stand as a candidate in the Makerfield byelection last Thursday, allies have delighted in his snarky retorts on X, pointing to posts that combine humour with a passive-aggressive thumbs-up emoji as proof he is a natural, and refreshingly forthright, communicator. Continue reading...

May 22, 2026 - World

Plus, John Travolta’s beret, Rachel Reeves reclaims basic civility and Judy Garland comes to east London Much discussion in my household this week about the possibility of hantavirus or Ebola becoming Covid-like in their spread. As darkening news from central Africa throws the withdrawal of US international aid into terrible relief, so we revisit memories of those early months of 2020 when reports of a strange virus in China slowly crept from final item on the news list to blaring emergency. Continue reading...

May 22, 2026 - World

Andy Burnham talks up his local credentials and says: ‘This is not business as usual, this is not more of the same’On transport, Burnham says “I like my buses” (they were taken back under public control in Greater Manchester in 2023) but he was woeful about the cost of rail journeys.£364 is the cost of an anytime return from Wigan North Western to London Euston. So how can people here connect with the capital and all of the opportunities it’s got, if they cannot afford those train fares? We need to use rail re-nationalisation to reduce those train fares and make them affordable to people again.Change to the economy, change to education, change to housing, change to transport, change to care, and yes, to make it all possible. Change to politics. Continue reading...