BRICS faces a crisis of coherence as internal contradictions increasingly undermine its utility as a multilateral platform. The bloc spans economies with fundamentally divergent interests: India and China maintain an active border dispute and competing regional ambitions, while Russia's war in Ukraine has exposed a fault line between members who have condemned, abstained, or tacitly supported Moscow's position. Brazil and South Africa each bring their own foreign policy priorities that rarely align neatly with the bloc's loudest voices. India's potential leadership role is complicated precisely by these tensions. As the bloc's largest democracy and one of its fastest-growing economies, New Delhi carries rhetorical weight, but converting that into agenda-setting power requires consensus that BRICS structurally resists producing. The group has expanded membership without clarifying purpose, adding seats without resolving whether it is an anti-Western coalition, a development finance forum, or a trade-reorientation vehicle. What to watch: whether India uses its diplomatic positioning to define a functional BRICS agenda or whether the bloc continues drifting as a symbolic counterweight with no actionable mandate.
Venezuela's earthquake death toll has reached 1,430 with the US Geological Survey warning fatalities could top 10,000, placing it among Latin America's deadliest in a century. US military planes are landing in Caracas, Washington is mobilising $150 million in aid, and rescue teams from 17 countries are on the ground.
Iranian armed forces attacked a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, briefly halting traffic through the waterway. The strike threatens a fragile US-Iran arrangement and could push shipping insurance costs and oil prices higher.
The US has struck Iran, with President Trump citing an Iranian attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz as justification. The action raises immediate risks for global oil flows through one of the world's most critical shipping chokepoints.
The US struck ten Iranian targets on the second consecutive day of military action, putting a fragile ceasefire under serious pressure. The escalation raises immediate risks for Gulf shipping, global oil supply, and regional stability.
