5 Big News Stories Overnight - Monday, April 27, 2026

Trouble in the Middle East

Al Jazeera reports:

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is back in Islamabad after a quick visit to Oman amid a flurry of diplomatic activity including calls with his Saudi, French, and Turkish counterparts.

Israel has carried out more deadly attacks on southern Lebanon after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered “forceful” strikes, accusing Hezbollah of sabotaging peace efforts.

Global military spending hits record $2.9 trillion in 2025 amid growing insecurity

France 24 reports:

Global military spending reached nearly $2.9 trillion in 2025, marking an 11th consecutive year of growth, researchers said Monday, as insecurity and rearmament fuelled defence budgets. 

The three top spenders -- the United States, China and Russia -- spent a combined total of $1.48 trillion, just over half of global expenditure.

Spending rose by 2.9 percent compared with 2024, despite a reduction by the US, the world's biggest spender, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Researcher Lorenzo Scarazzato told AFP the decrease from the US was more than offset by increases in Europe and Asia, as the world marked "another year of wars and increased tensions". 

PHOTO: IDF

UK-US: King’s US visit ‘adjusted’ after gunman stormed Trump dinner

The Telegraph reports:

The King and Queen’s state visit to the US will go ahead with slight adjustments following an apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

The visit will go ahead as planned, with some small adjustments to their programme following advice from security services.

Buckingham Palace, the White House and No 10 spent Sunday discussing whether the programme would need to be changed, with input from security services and royal protection.

The King and Queen act on official advice, but are understood to have wanted to continue with the itinerary as far as possible. Mr Trump called the King “brave” for going ahead with the visit.

Los Angeles: ‘Michael’ Rocks Box Office With Record-Setting $97 Million Debut

Variety reports: 

There’s a new box office king.

“Michael,” a biopic from Lionsgate about the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, arrived in theaters as an instant sensation with $97 million domestically and $217 million globally in its first weekend of release. These ticket sales rank as the best start of all time for a biopic, smashing the record set by 2015’s “Straight Outta Compton” ($60 million). And they tower above 2018’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which opened to $51 million before obliterating expectations with $910 million worldwide by the end of its run. “Michael” also notched the second-biggest debut of the year behind April’s sequel “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” ($131 million).

Washington: Trump Pushes the Ballroom

Trump posted Sunday:

What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE. This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House. It cannot be built fast enough! While beautiful, it has every highest level security feature there is plus, there are no rooms sitting on top for unsecured people to pour in, and is inside the gates of the most secure building in the World, The White House. The ridiculous Ballroom lawsuit, brought by a woman walking her dog, who has absolutely No Standing to bring such a suit, must be dropped, immediately. Nothing should be allowed to interfere with its construction, which is on budget and substantially ahead of schedule!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP