International relations, geopolitics, wars, major global shifts
Belgium eliminated Senegal from the 2026 FIFA World Cup after overturning a two-goal deficit, with Romelu Lukaku and Youri Tielemans scoring before Tielemans converted a penalty in the 120th-plus-fifth-minute to complete the comeback. The Red Devils advance to the round of 16.
President Donald Trump has announced a ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran. The deal could ease Gulf tensions, reduce oil price risk premiums, and shift the geopolitical landscape across the Middle East.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced Pakistan will host the US-Iran peace agreement signing ceremony in Geneva on June 19, 2026. The deal calls for an immediate and permanent end to military action, including in Lebanon, after over three months of conflict.
Twin earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck Venezuela on Thursday, killing at least 32 people and injuring more than 700, with interim president Delcy Rodriguez warning the hardest-hit region of La Guaira had not yet reported.
The US Supreme Court has scaled back cancer lawsuits against Bayer's Roundup weedkiller, limiting state-level failure-to-warn claims that more than 100,000 plaintiffs had filed. The ruling reduces Bayer's legal exposure significantly and narrows the main legal theory driving mass Roundup litigation.
Egypt beat Australia 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Dallas to reach the World Cup Round of 16 for the first time. Emam Ashour's header gave Egypt the lead before a Mohamed Hany own goal leveled the match, with the Pharaohs holding firm in the shootout.
Pakistan's Indus Waters Commissioner warned at an Islamabad seminar that India's suspension of treaty obligations threatens water security for 240 million people.
The US conducted a second straight night of strikes against Iran after an Iranian drone hit a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. The back-to-back military operation raises the risk of disruption to a waterway carrying roughly 20 percent of global oil supply.
Iran has attacked Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation for US strikes, drawing two key Gulf US allies into the conflict. The escalation puts a reported US-Iran deal under serious strain and raises energy supply risk in a major oil-producing region.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have warned that oil tankers crossing the Strait of Hormuz without authorisation risk being stopped, even as one tanker proceeded through the waterway. The threat could push up war-risk insurance premiums and crude prices, with major importers like India directly exposed.
Iran and the US traded fresh strikes over the Strait of Hormuz, with Tehran hitting US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait and Washington striking Iranian sites near Sirik. The exchanges threaten to collapse a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire signed June 18, with global oil markets exposed to renewed Hormuz disruption.
Iran's IRGC struck US military facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain on Sunday for a third straight day, while Trump threatened Iran would "no longer exist" if the US resumes full war.
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.
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
Two earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 struck near Caracas on June 25, 2026, killing at least 164 people with thousands more feared dead. The US Geological Survey estimates the toll could exceed 10,000, prompting a large-scale international rescue response from dozens of countries.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said American action has ended Iran's ability to close the Strait of Hormuz, citing 72 ships carrying 19 million barrels of oil through the waterway in the past 24 hours. The claim, if accepted by markets, could reduce the longstanding geopolitical risk premium in global oil prices.
US forces struck Iranian missile, drone, and radar sites after Washington accused Tehran of attacking a commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran's Revolutionary Guards retaliated against US positions in the Gulf.