The latest US-Iran confrontation is no longer just about Tehran and Washington. It is now putting Oman, one of the region’s key diplomatic intermediaries, directly in the middle of the crisis. President Donald Trump has threatened military action against Oman if it interferes with US efforts to reach an agreement over the Strait of Hormuz….
President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea, saying the drills are expensive and send an unnecessarily hostile message to North Korea. But the most interesting part of the decision may be what it means for South Korea itself. Rather than simply weakening Seoul, Trump’s move could…
West and Central Africa are facing two very different disease threats at the same time, and both are exposing the same weakness: the cost of responding late is becoming much higher than the cost of preparing early. Cholera is spreading across six countries in West and Central Africa, with seasonal rains, flooding, population displacement and…
Indonesia is facing a growing rescue and humanitarian crisis after a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Flores Island, with the death toll rising to at least 68 and more than 200 people injured. The bigger challenge now is not only finding survivors, but reaching communities that have been cut off by landslides, damaged roads and communication…
President Donald Trump has once again made Iran’s nuclear program the center of his policy, saying preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remains his “number one Goal”. His statement comes at a particularly important moment because the 60-day period created by a US-Iran memorandum has now expired without a broader agreement. That makes Trump’s…
Two Iranian-launched drones targeting the private office of Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and the home of a senior security official in Erbil may not have caused casualties, but the choice of targets makes the attack more significant than another drone incident. Kurdish counterterrorism authorities said the Hadid-110 explosive drones were launched from Iranian…
More than seven decades after the Korean War stopped, South Korea is once again asking North Korea to talk about peace. President Lee Jae Myung used his Liberation Day speech on Saturday to propose direct discussions with Pyongyang aimed at replacing the 1953 armistice with a formal peace regime. He also suggested that the talks…
Five years after the Taliban returned to power and the United States pulled its troops out of Afghanistan, Kabul is now asking Washington to come back. But this time, the Taliban does not want American soldiers. It wants something potentially more valuable: American money, diplomatic recognition and access to international markets. Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir…
The UK economy is showing signs of slowing, but calling the latest figures an outright economic slump would be misleading. Britain’s GDP grew by 0.4% in the second quarter of 2026, down from 0.6% in the first quarter. That is a slowdown, but it still means the economy expanded and the UK actually recorded the…
The reported Houthi ground offensive around Mokha and north towards Al-Khawkhah is significant for a reason that goes beyond Yemen’s civil war: control of this coastline could give the Houthis greater leverage over one of the world’s most important maritime corridors. Recent reporting confirms that Houthi attacks on Mokha have intensified, including repeated missile and…
