World, in brief

The war between the United States and Iran is six months old. Attacks have stopped for now. Talks have not started. [1][2][6]

Washington's weapon is now money. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent called the new sanctions an economic D-Day. [3][1]

A former US diplomat called it Desperation Day instead, and said the administration is no closer to a way out. [1]

The State Department says Iran's economy is in free fall and its army is wrecked. Its spokesman said Trump holds all the cards. [1]

Iran's own figures show the damage. Prices were 87.9% higher than a year ago in July, and food cost 128% more. [1]

Iran's weapon is time. It has lived under sanctions for decades and did not change course. [1][3]

The American aim has moved. It began with Iran's nuclear programme. The fight is now over the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has closed. [1][6]

Qatar's prime minister flew to Tehran on Thursday to try to reopen the strait. Doha has carried messages between the two capitals all year. [6][7]

Oil fell for a fourth day on the hope that he succeeds. Brent traded near $87 a barrel. [8]

The first sanctions package named 60 small traders, ships and people in China and Hong Kong. It left the big Chinese banks alone. China buys up to 90% of Iran's oil. [5]

This round started when the United Arab Emirates suspended trade with Iran last week. Iran had few trading partners to lose. [4]

Nobody outside Iran is certain who is in charge. Trump said he believes Mojtaba Khamenei is alive. He has not been seen in public. [10]

Why it matters. Watch whether Qatar's visit produces a date for talks. If the strait is still shut in late September, the pressure moves to the Gulf states, who carry the cost and hold the least say. [6][1]

Opposition leader Brian Mundubile is in police custody, state media said. On Monday, the legal deadline for challenging the 13 August election, Zambia closed its entire judiciary for security reasons. [12][14]

Why it matters. No petition was filed by the deadline, so the disputed result can no longer be tested in court. [13]

Zambian opposition figures wrote to the AU asking it to halt President Hakainde Hichilema's swearing-in on 1 September, saying it would make judicial scrutiny pointless. He won about 60% of the vote and denies fraud. [13]

Why it matters. Independent observers reported signs the count was inflated, and there is now no court open to hear it. [13]

At least 160 people are confirmed dead in the Nepal-Tibet flash flood. Nepal lists more than 450 unaccounted for, 341 of them foreign tourists, and China lists 265 more. [15]

Why it matters. Nineteen bridges and about 40km of road were destroyed, which is why the count is still moving. [15][18]

Researchers are examining whether a glacial collapse released the water that swept the Lhende Khola valley. A similar outburst flood came from the Chinese side in July 2025. [16][17]

Why it matters. Warming brings heat waves, glacial retreat and thawing permafrost to the Himalayas, and all three make this kind of flood more likely. [17]

Chinese ships detected around Taiwan's main island reached 244 in July, against 55 in June and 30 in May. About 60% were coast guard, not navy. [19][20]

Why it matters. Coast guard ships assert authority without being an act of war, which is the point of using them. [19]

Taiwan's parliament approved a $7.6 billion budget for locally made drones on Thursday. The bill came from the opposition KMT and TPP, after the government's own proposal was rejected. [21][22]

Why it matters. The opposition that has fought the government on defence spending wrote the cheque itself. [21]

Russia is preparing to step up attacks on Ukraine after concluding peace talks have hit a dead end, three people close to the Kremlin said. Ballistic strikes on central Kyiv and on infrastructure are being weighed. [23]

Why it matters. Every framework has collapsed, and at home fuel shortages and falling pay have Russians, in one broadcaster's survey of its own readers, mad as hell. [23][28]

Wheat reached its highest price in three years as Russia prepared to escalate, with ports and grain terminals already damaged in one of the world's top exporting regions. [24]

Why it matters. The people who pay first are bread buyers in countries with no part in the war. [24]

The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden wrote to Brussels asking it to return to using Russia's €210 billion in frozen state assets for Ukraine. Zelenskyy says he faces a €23 billion defence funding hole. [26]

Why it matters. The plan died in December when Belgium, where most of the money sits, demanded unlimited guarantees. [26]

Germany's disease institute recorded a record 15,800 heat-related deaths this year, against a previous high of 8,900 in 2018. A cabinet retreat on heat this week announced no new measures. [29]

Why it matters. The chancellor said the 16 states are responsible and already funded; a campaign group called that irresponsible. [29]

A new study finds human-caused warming is making El Nino itself more intense, not just amplified by it. The event peaking later this year is expected to be the strongest in living memory. [30]

Why it matters. It runs both ways: El Nino supercharges warming, and warming supercharges El Nino. [30]

Tanzania's CCM expelled Vice-President Emmanuel Nchimbi for indiscipline days after he resigned, and named Energy Minister Deogratius Ndejembi in his place. [31]

Why it matters. It follows October's contested election, when rivals were disqualified, riots were put down and the internet was cut for days. [31]

ICC president Tomoko Akane rejected US accusations after Washington sanctioned her and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye, freezing any assets touching the American financial system. [32]

Why it matters. The court's president is now personally cut off from the banking system her court's cases run through. [32]

Malaysia said the first phase of a voluntary return will take place on 29 September, moving 1,476 Myanmar nationals on two Myanmar navy warships and a hospital ship. [33]

Why it matters. About 10,388 Myanmar nationals were in immigration detention on 15 August, and not all count as refugees. [33]

Indonesia tightened security as students rallied in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Makassar, a year after protests in which ten people were killed and nearly 7,000 arrested. President Prabowo's approval has fallen to 38%. [34]

Why it matters. The anger is aimed at a costly free-meals programme dogged by mass food poisoning and legal challenges. [34]

Guinea-Bissau holds a referendum on Sunday on a constitution written by the military junta that seized power in November 2025, while the last election's ballots were still being counted. [35]

Why it matters. It is the legal groundwork for elections the junta plans for December. [35]

An Israeli strike on Arab Salim in southern Lebanon killed a woman the state news agency said had been married for 48 hours, and wounded six more including a child. [36]

Why it matters. Israel said it was answering a Hezbollah attack on its soldiers overnight; at least ten strikes hit the area. [36]

The UN's acting Middle East coordinator told the Security Council that Israeli air strikes resumed on 12 August after a week's lull. He counted 100 Palestinians killed and more than 400 injured in the period. [43][42]

Why it matters. The Board of Peace's own aid chief called the arrangement failing, and asked why its mandate is being used this way. [42][41]

Russia warned it could strike British military targets inside and outside Ukraine, in answer to Ukrainian attacks using long-range British weapons. [25]

Why it matters. It widens the list of people the war can reach without anyone declaring a new one. [25]

The US Senate passed Lindsey Graham's Russia sanctions bill after Zelenskyy briefed half the chamber behind closed doors, asking for Patriot missiles and wider access to weapons. [27]

Why it matters. Washington is tightening the screw on Moscow in the same weeks it is tightening one on Tehran. [27]

Republicans face a midterm verdict in November with the war still running, and voters who sat out the last election say they will turn out against it. [11]

Why it matters. A war with no exit becomes a domestic argument, which is its own kind of clock. [11]

Pastef, Senegal's governing party, is pressing the government to hold local elections in January 2027 as the law requires. [39]

Why it matters. It is unusual: the party in power arguing for the calendar, not against it. [39]

Tropical Storm Dolly formed about 1,555 miles east of the Leeward Islands with winds of 40mph, moving west. No coastal watches were issued. [40]

Why it matters. The fourth named Atlantic storm of the season, and the quietest thing in this list. [40]

France goes into a budget fight with one of the euro zone's biggest deficits and no majority in parliament. The presidential election falls on 18 April and 2 May. Both front-runners are from the hard left and the far right. [37]

Why it matters. Two prime ministers have already been removed over failed budget talks since 2024. [37]

Mark Brown's Cook Islands Party won 13 of parliament's 24 seats in official results, a fifth term in office. [38]

Why it matters. A rare quiet result in a Pacific increasingly courted by both Washington and Beijing. [38]