Escalating tit-for-tat strikes have pushed the United States and Iran further into conflict as the US carried out its latest round of raids on Monday, while Iran targeted US assets across the Gulf. Even amid continuing mediation efforts, a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia’s ports declared by Yemen’s Houthi militants has stoked fresh risks to global energy supply chains. The US Central Command said late on Monday that its 10th consecutive night of strikes aimed to “further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping” in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported explosions hit Sirik,…
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Israel’s defence minister said Sunday that his country would respond powerfully to any attack by Iran, after Israeli and Jordanian forces intercepted an Iranian missile launched towards the Jordanian city of Aqaba. “If Iran fires missiles at Israel, we will attack them with full force,” Israel Katz said during a visit to a rescue service facility. “If the United States changes its policy, which is also something that could happen, we are prepared for both defensive and offensive” action against Tehran, he added. Aqaba lies just across the border from the Israeli city of Eilat. Israel kills Hamas military chief…
Kenyan politicians are hiring armed thugs for as little as $4 per day, as poverty and ruthless political competition threaten to unleash uncontrollable violence ahead of elections next year. So-called “goons” are increasingly being hired, dozens or even hundreds at a time, to break up the rallies of political opponents and protesters and attack civil rights groups — with police often turning a blind eye. A recent study by Nairobi-based research firm Odipo Dev revealed a goons rate card, ranging from 500 shillings ($4) to work for a local councillor to as much as 1,000 shillings for members of parliament.…
World oil prices surged Monday as a fresh flare-up between the United States and Iran rattled investors, while a selloff in chipmakers sent South Korea’s stock market plunging. Oil prices shot up more than nine percent as President Donald Trump announced the reimposition of a US naval blockade on Iranian ports while threatening the US would charge a 20 percent rate on all cargo shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for petroleum shipments. Iran’s military warned on Monday that it would not allow the United States to “interfere” in the management of the Strait of Hormuz, while…
A huge fire tore through a bar in Bangkok late on Sunday, killing at least 27 people and leaving 22 critically injured. The blaze started near the stage of the bar in the popular Chatuchak district, then spread rapidly, cutting power and engulfing the room with smoke, eyewitnesses say. Footage posted online show panicked customers screaming as they fled – some with their clothes on fire – through the flame-enveloped front door of Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao. Firefighters, who arrived at the scene just after midnight, quickly extinguished the fire. They found the bodies of most of the victims…
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday the ceasefire with Iran was “over” after the two sides traded fire, but added that negotiators could keep talking to Tehran. Trump blasted Iran as “scum” and “cuckoo” after Washington launched strikes on the Islamic Republic overnight and Iran’s Guards said they had targeted US bases in the Gulf. Oil prices jumped five percent after Trump’s remarks. “I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them any more, they’re scum,” Trump said at a NATO summit in the Turkish capital Ankara when asked if the truce with Iran was now finished. “They’re…
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged Ethiopian authorities to release journalist Salsawit Baynesagn, detained without charge by officials since early June, according to her family. The Horn of Africa country of some 130 million people has one of the world’s worst records for press freedom — ranked 148 out of 180 by Reporters Without Borders. Restrictions were briefly eased when the current prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, rose to power in 2018 but that soon gave way to a renewed crackdown. “Salsawit Baynesagn’s detention without charge or without being brought before a court within 48 hours is a serious violation…
The World Cup kicks off on Thursday with FIFA hoping that the enduring appeal of soccer’s greatest showpiece can rise above the anger at soaring ticket prices, an uneasy political climate in the United States and the shadow of conflict in the Middle East. A record 48 teams and millions of fans are set to descend on the United States, Canada and Mexico for the first-ever World Cup co-hosted by three nations, the largest and most logistically complex edition of the tournament ever staged. The action gets under way at Mexico City’s iconic Estadio Azteca on Thursday, with co-host Mexico…
A key governing body of the International Criminal Court on Monday suspended chief prosecutor Karim Khan as he faces sexual abuse allegations against a member of his office. The 21-member bureau of the Assembly of State Parties (ASP) decided to refer Khan’s case to the wider ASP that represents every member country of the ICC. The bureau decided “by qualified majority… to suspend the Prosecutor from duty with immediate effect pending the final decision of the Assembly of States Parties as the competent decision-maker,” the body said in a statement. “The bureau emphasises that this suspension is not an indication…
US Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday praised Pope Leo XIV’s manifesto warning of the risks of artificial intelligence, calling it “profound” and a necessary act of moral leadership in a disruptive AI age. Vance has close ties to the tech industry, having worked as a venture capitalist before entering politics, and counts Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk among his most prominent backers. In an encyclical called “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), the first US pope, who has clashed with the White House over the Iran war and its use of religion to justify conflict, set out on Monday a…
