Mitchel Stuffers
Assistant Editor at CIGH Exeter & PhD Candidate in History, University of Exeter

From Trump’s “small price to pay” threat against California to Charles III’s “acknowledgement” of slavery, here are this week’s top picks in imperial and global history.

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Trump suggests letting Iran ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego at campaign rally

Iris Kwok, Richard Winton, and Ana Ceballos
LA Times

President Trump, speaking at a campaign rally Monday, suggested Iran could “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego — a comment that was possibly in jest but brought a quick reaction from leaders in California. Trump said he wanted to “see a tremendous victory” in the November election, “‘cause it verifies all the things we did. And again, remember, with the war it’s just artificial, it’s a little bit high. “It’s a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe,” he continued.

“They can take out a city, let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay.” The crowd cheered. His comment was met with criticism from California leaders — including at least one Trump-endorsed Republican candidate from San Diego. Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X: “After sending the National Guard and Marines to occupy California, Donald Trump is now saying our foreign enemies should ‘take out’ Los Angeles and San Diego. … He is deranged and dangerous.” [Continue reading]

UN tells the world: Stop making Africa look small

Editorial Team
UN News – Global Perspective Human Stories

By 164 votes to one, Member States on Friday [4 September] endorsed a resolution promoting map projections that more accurately reflect the true size of continents – the culmination of an African-led campaign against the 16th-century Mercator projection, still the most widely used map in the world. The United States cast the sole vote against, dismissing the initiative as part of a “radical ideological project.”  Six countries – Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine – abstained.

The resolution does not ban the Mercator projection or impose a replacement. Instead, it encourages governments, schools, international organizations and technology companies to use the Equal Earth projection and other so-called equal-area maps when relative size matters, and to teach the limitations of any flat map in representing a spherical planet. Behind that seemingly technical debate lies a larger argument about history and power: whether a map designed for European sailors in the 16th century has, over generations, distorted not only geography but perceptions of a whole, vast and complex continent. [Continue reading]

Syria welcomes joining International Partnership against Chemical Weapons Impunity

T. S / R. K
Syrian Arab News Agency

Syrian Arab News Agency

Damascus, Oct. 6 (SANA) Syria welcomed Tuesday the International Partnership against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons’ acceptance of its request to join the partnership, which it formally submitted in August 2026. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates expressed its deep appreciation to France, as chair of the initiative, for its support in completing the accession procedures.

The Ministry also thanked all member states for their efforts over the past years to pursue those involved in the use of chemical weapons, expressing Syria’s hope to establish close and constructive cooperation with them. Syria looks forward to actively contributing to the Partnership’s work and cooperating with its members in support of national and international frameworks aimed at achieving justice, holding perpetrators of chemical attacks accountable, and maintaining regional and international peace and security, the Ministry said. [Continue reading]

Sam Altman to Decoded: ‘The world should accept some bad things happening’ for the benefits of AI

Christine Mui & Brendan Bordelon
Politico

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said there remains a fundamental difference in worldview between his company and rival Anthropic on artificial intelligence regulation, arguing in an exclusive interview with Decoded by POLITICO that the technology’s benefits justify accepting some risks — and that AI should remain broadly accessible to the public.

“I think there’s a lot of daylight,” Altman told Decoded co-author and POLITICO senior tech reporter Brendan Bordelon. Asked specifically where he diverges from Anthropic and its CEO Dario Amodei, Altman said, “we believe that the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency.” [Continue reading]

King Charles III to acknowledge ‘darkest days’ of Britain’s colonial rule during Caribbean tour

Agence France-Presse
Guardian

King Charles III will acknowledge the “darkest days” of colonial rule and slavery while touring Caribbean countries on a visit beginning this month, but will not formally apologise, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said on Friday. Charles, 77, who is still receiving treatment for cancer, will visit former colonies that are now independent from Britain and are members of the British Commonwealth. The king will first visit the Bahamas and Guyana alone, followed by a trip with Queen Camilla to Antigua and Barbuda, where Charles will give a speech at a meeting of Commonwealth heads of government, the palace said.

He remains head of state in the archipelago nations of the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda, a role that is largely ceremonial. The palace spokesperson told reporters the king’s visit, from 27 October to 4 November, would not “shy away from the ‘darkest days of our past’, as His Majesty has described them”. Charles used the phrase in a speech in Barbados when he attended the ceremony in which it became a republic in 2021, removing his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, as head of state. [Continue reading]