World News

Two enemies who hate each other attack Mali together — and its army is running out of ground →

A Tuareg separatist group and an al-Qaeda affiliate, whose goals are opposite, struck Mali's army in five towns on the same morning. Plus a besieged Sudanese city under drone fire, Ukraine's strikes deep inside Russia, and a Peru election settled by 50,000 votes.

Europe counts its heatwave dead — at least 3,700 gone, and the toll is still rising →

France, Belgium and the Netherlands report thousands of excess deaths from June's record heat, most of them elderly people who died at home. Meanwhile a UN "red alert" over Sudan's el-Obeid, a fresh Chinese patrol off Taiwan, and Moldova's government collapses.

Iran buries Ayatollah Khamenei with a week of mourning — and behind the coffins, a quiet fight over who leads next →

Iran began mass funeral rites for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, killed in the first hours of its war with Israel. A week of choreographed grief hides the real story: for the first time in 36 years, no single person is clearly in charge.

Britain unveils its biggest defence build-up since the Cold War — and its own generals call it half enough →

Starmer's £15bn defence plan lands to a strange chorus: not "too much" but "not nearly enough." Meanwhile Sudan's paramilitaries are accused of crimes against humanity, India logs its driest June in 12 years, and euro-zone inflation eases.

A ceasefire between Pakistan and the Taliban collapses, and each side calls the other's strike the first one →

Afghan and Pakistani forces traded strikes across the border after eight months of calm, with dozens of civilians reported dead — and both governments insist they were only answering an attack. Elsewhere: Ukraine's drones push Russia to import petrol, Gaza's occupation deepens, a deadly heat dome moves from Europe to North America, and central banks quietly start selling dollars.

The Supreme Court tells Trump he can't fire a Fed governor — and draws one bright line he can't cross →

A 5-4 ruling keeps Lisa Cook on the Federal Reserve board, shielding the central bank from a president who has spent a year demanding lower interest rates. The same court let Trump fire officials at three other agencies. Plus Pakistan strikes Afghanistan, China and the EU open trade talks, and a Pacific pact shuts China out.

Ukraine takes the war to Russia's refineries, and Putin admits the fuel is running short →

Long-range Ukrainian drones hit two more Russian oil refineries overnight, and for the first time Putin acknowledged a "difficult period" and fuel shortages — with rationing now reaching Siberia, thousands of miles from the front.

Burkina Faso cuts ties with France, finishing a divorce that was already over in everything but name →

A West African junta formally severs relations with its former colonial ruler — the last paperwork on a split made years ago. Plus Ukraine strikes deep inside Russia, Europe's strongmen recede, Trump threatens a 100% tariff on digital taxes, and bird flu reaches its last continent.

A drone hits a cargo ship in the world's busiest oil lane, and a fragile peace with Iran starts to crack →

Iran struck a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, the US hit back, and a preliminary deal to end the Iran war now hangs on who controls one stretch of water.

Twin earthquakes flatten Caracas, and a hollowed-out Venezuela struggles to dig itself out →

Two of the strongest quakes in a century hit Venezuela seconds apart, killing at least 188 and trapping hundreds — in a country whose state capacity was gutted long before the ground moved. Plus oil falls below pre-war levels as Hormuz reopens, Ukraine's strikes reach deep into Russia, and rescue offers arrive from rivals.

The Senate votes to end a war that's already winding down — and Trump calls it meaningless →

US senators reclaimed their war power over Iran on a 50-48 vote, four months after the fighting began and with a ceasefire already in place. The same day, oil slid below $70 as tankers returned to Hormuz, China pressed Taiwan's waters, and two huge earthquakes flattened buildings in Caracas.

Congo's Ebola outbreak becomes the worst-starting one ever — because it was caught too late →

The Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak has infected more people in its first month than any on record. The reason isn't the virus — it's that the world saw it months too late.

A paramilitary the Sudanese state once built now encircles a city of half a million →

The RSF has surrounded el-Obeid in central Sudan, and governments warn of a massacre if it attacks — the latest turn in a war fought by a force the army created.

A record heatwave shuts down a continent's daily life as Europe and India learn the same hard lesson →

Trains stop, schools close, and festivals empty out as extreme heat strains systems built for a milder world — while China answers US trade curbs with its own, and Britain's prime minister edges toward the exit.

Colombia votes on whether to fight its endless war or keep talking to it →

A presidential runoff Sunday pits a hard-line crackdown against a decade-old peace strategy — as Bolivia sends in the army, Congo's Ebola toll climbs, and a rare climate pattern unsettles global markets.

A Lebanon ceasefire holds by a thread as no one fully controls the peace →

Israel and Hezbollah agreed to halt fighting, but Israeli strikes killed dozens after the deadline, the US-Iran talks meant to seal a wider war were cancelled, and the EU split over how to deal with Russia and China.

Niger's airport burns — and the soldiers who promised to stop this can't →

Attackers hit the capital's airport hours after militants overran two army bases, exposing how little the Sahel's juntas have delivered on the one promise that put them in power.

The G7 hardens against Russia as warning shots, a drone, and a quiet phone call all land in one day →

As the G7 summit in France closed with a pledge of more air defence for Ukraine and tighter sanctions on Moscow, three separate incidents — a Russian warship firing near a British yacht, a drone hitting a children's bus, and an EU official quietly calling the Kremlin — showed how fast a nervous standoff can move in any direction.

Japan raises rates to a 31-year high as the world's central banks fight one war's energy shock →

The Bank of Japan lifted its key rate to 1% — its highest since 1995 — as the Iran war's spike in oil prices pushes up the cost of living across oil-importing economies. The move puts Japan alongside the European Central Bank, which hiked last week, while the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England weigh whether to follow.

After two years frozen by one country's veto, the EU opens its door to Ukraine and Moldova →

The EU formally launched membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova on Monday — a step blocked for two years by Hungary, and only unfrozen after Viktor Orbán lost power. The day's other news: Japan's central bank pushed rates to a 31-year high, Sudan's drone war passed 1,000 civilian dead, and shipowners stayed wary of the Hormuz deal.

The day a US order pulled the world's most advanced AI offline — and Iran and America agreed to end their war →

Washington told Anthropic to block foreign access to its top models; the company switched them off for everyone, and allies from Ottawa to Brussels are asking what it means to depend on a tool another government can turn off. Meanwhile the US and Iran reached a deal to end their war, with a signing set for Friday.

Switzerland votes on whether to cap its own population at 10 million →

A Swiss referendum to legally limit the population could unravel the country's labour deal with the EU. Plus EU accession talks open for Ukraine and Moldova, Congo's Ebola toll passes 710, and China builds a payment rail to rival the dollar.

Students fill Jakarta's streets warning Indonesia is "heading to bankrupt →

Hundreds marched in Indonesia's capital against fuel price rises and a costly free-meals programme dogged by poisonings and corruption — plus the EU restarts Ukraine and Moldova's membership bids, Ebola reaches a Congo camp, and an aid-cuts warning on HIV.

China tests the line around Taiwan, ship by ship →

Chinese coast guard vessels questioned foreign merchant ships east of Taiwan for the first time, and Beijing banned the Philippine defense chief — small, deniable steps that each nudge a contested line a little further.

Ukraine reaches past the front and hits the factory making Russia's drones work →

Long-range Flamingo missiles struck a Russian plant 900km away that builds the antennas keeping Moscow's drones flying — while US inflation jumped on the back of the Iran conflict and Pakistan's borders flared on two sides.

A quarantine plan Kenyans don't trust turns deadly, while Ebola spreads across the border →

A US plan to build an Ebola isolation centre in Kenya has drawn three weeks of protest, two deaths, and a court block — even though Kenya has no cases. Plus the outbreak its medics are fighting next door, a record year for war, and Western sanctions on Israeli settlers.

A drone strays into NATO airspace, and the war's edge keeps creeping outward →

A French jet downs a Russian-linked drone over Latvia — the latest sign Ukraine's war is leaking across NATO's borders. Plus Ukraine's quiet momentum shift, a Peru cliffhanger, Armenia's turn west, and a deadly Philippine quake.

Hundreds of cheap drones, and one at the edge of Chernobyl — the war's reach no longer follows the money →

Ukraine sent hundreds of drones deep into Russia this weekend and a Russian drone struck a spent-nuclear-fuel store near Chernobyl. The strikes show how cheap, plentiful weapons are dissolving the old protection of distance — on both sides.

The blocked strait that didn't break the world — and the war still feeding off it →

Three months after Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz, oil is below $100, not the $200 everyone feared. But the same blockade is now starving Iranians, draining Gulf states, and keeping the US-Iran fight alive.

US and Iran trade fire near the Strait of Hormuz →

American forces struck Iranian radar sites after Iran fired drones and missiles toward the Gulf, pushing a fragile ceasefire — and the oil market resting on it — closer to breaking.

Hezbollah rejects the Lebanon truce as Gaza's toll nears 1,000 →

A US-brokered ceasefire for Lebanon is unravelling before it holds — Hezbollah rejects it and Israel vows to keep striking — while Gaza's death toll since an earlier truce nears 1,000. Iran claims a victory it won't let inspectors verify, and Ukraine's president asks Putin to meet.

A ceasefire is signed for Lebanon while the bombs keep falling →

Israel and Lebanon agreed to renew their truce in Washington — then Israel ordered all of south Lebanon to evacuate and kept striking. In the Gulf, an Iranian drone hit Kuwait's airport as Trump promised an Iran nuclear deal "by the weekend." The same war is now showing up in American grocery prices.

A truce gets announced in Lebanon, and the bombing carries on anyway →

Trump says Israel and Hezbollah agreed to stop shooting; both kept firing. Iran weighs an interim deal as the Strait of Hormuz stays shut. Russia hammers Ukraine, and Washington readies tariffs on 60 economies.

Israel resumes Beirut strikes, and Iran freezes its line to Washington →

Netanyahu ordered the air campaign over Hezbollah's stronghold restarted after weeks of restraint; Tehran answered by cutting its US back-channel, and oil and Asian markets wobbled on the risk to the Strait of Hormuz.