Britain has paused the planned handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after US President Donald Trump publicly condemned the agreement as a 'big mistake' and 'an act of great stupidity.' The legislation required to enact the deal will not appear in the UK government's upcoming parliamentary schedule, according to The Times. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office confirmed London is still seeking Washington's formal endorsement before proceeding. The original agreement would have transferred sovereignty of the archipelago to Mauritius while granting Britain a 99-year lease over Diego Garcia, the strategically critical joint US-British military base in the Indian Ocean. Washington's operational equities at Diego Garcia make its approval a hard prerequisite, effectively giving the US a veto over any transfer. The standoff sits within a broader deterioration between Starmer and Trump, compounding disputes over British air base access during US strikes and Trump's pointed criticism of the UK leader personally. Mauritius Attorney General Gavin Glover attributed the delay directly to that bilateral strain, while Foreign Minister Dhananjay Ramful vowed to pursue diplomatic and legal avenues to complete the transfer. Indigenous Chagossians, forcibly displaced from the islands by Britain in the late 1960s and 1970s, remain without resolution. Discussions between Mauritius and British officials are scheduled for later this month, but no revised timeline for the deal has been signaled.
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.
Venezuela's twin earthquakes, magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, have killed at least 164 people and injured 971, interim president Delcy Rodriguez confirmed Thursday. The quakes are the country's strongest since 1900, collapsing buildings across Caracas and prompting a state of emergency, with the death toll expected to rise as
