Top World News

Apr 17, 2026 - World

Despite soaring Middle Eastern risk, factors including the tyranny of distance make U.S. and Venezuelan oil unattractive buys for the Asian industrial economies that supply the bulk of the world's manufactured products.

Apr 17, 2026 - World

Accumulations of up to 3cm deep reported as severe thunderstorms also bring heavy downpours to central ItalySevere thunderstorms have affected the Mediterranean this week. On Monday, a surface low-pressure system in the Mediterranean in conjunction with an upper air cut-off low, led to thunderstorms over north Africa. Their intensity was aided by the hot precursor conditions.Algeria and Tunisia were notably affected by the thunderstorms, with some hail accumulation layers as a result. When so much hail forms, it starts to lay down sheets of hail, covering the ground like snow. Hail accumulations of up to 3cm were reported in Oum Ladjoul and Hammam Sokhna in Algeria, and there were hailstones of up to 3cm in diameter in Makthar, Tunisia. Thunderstorms continued in the region through the following day, with further hail accumulations, notably in Ouled Bousmir, Tunisia, where there was a layer about 2cm deep. Continue reading...

Apr 17, 2026 - World

A fragile calm settled over parts of Lebanon on Friday as a 10-day ceasefire brokered by the United States took hold between Israel and Hezbollah, prompting thousands of displaced families to begin the journey home -- even as uncertainty, destruction and Israeli warnings against going back to parts of southern Lebanon clouded their return.

Apr 17, 2026 - World

The leaders of France and the U.K. gathered dozens of countries -- but not the United States -- on Friday to push forward plans to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil route choked off by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Apr 17, 2026 - World

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has no plans to resign over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as U.K. ambassador to Washington, despite Mandelson failing security checks