Conflicts, peace talks, alliances
Tehran wants an end to the war, the lifting of the US naval blockade and the release of its frozen assets before traffic resumes. Iran and Oman are also negotiating a temporary shipping corridor as a stopgap.
The World Food Programme, which got nearly half its funding from the US last year, has lost support for programmes in 14 countries. In Sudan alone, its budget has collapsed from $645 million to $206 million, and it warns food aid for Sudanese refugees in Chad will be suspended next month.
The Tigray People's Liberation Front says fighting with federal forces has resumed, with clashes reported in Afar and Amhara. The renewed conflict threatens the Pretoria Agreement, signed in November 2022 to end a war that killed more than 600,000 people.
The Yemen-based group says it is acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Greek-owned vessels account for nearly a third of those targeted, and the US has led airstrikes against the Houthis since January.
Federal troops and TPLF fighters are clashing again in Tigray, with at least 14 people killed in a strike on Alamata and the airport in Mekelle seized. The TPLF has also joined six opposition groups in an alliance vowing to overthrow Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Xi Jinping's trip to Washington is his first state visit since 2015. Analysts are cautious about the chances of a major deal, though there may be room for progress on tariffs, farm purchases and some export controls.
Neria Leiter, a reservist, was hit at the Maccabim checkpoint west of Ramallah. His father, Ambassador Yechiel Leiter, said he believes his son 'needs a miracle'.
The two leaders met in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon and agreed to cooperate on liquefied natural gas, space infrastructure and critical minerals. Canada is also in talks to become the EU's first associate member.
Qatari diplomats mediated the discussions in New York, the first major contact since June. A senior Iranian official said Tehran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if Washington eases military and economic pressure.
Washington is withholding a visa for Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, tying his attendance to a 90-day truce proposal that Sudan's military has resisted. The UN secretary-general says he is deeply concerned and is pressing the US to honour its host country obligations.
Abbas Araghchi says his delegation will use the platform to defend Iran's rights and interests. He described the trip as taking place in what he called a continuing state of war, and is expected to hold talks with foreign ministers during High-Level Week.
The Tigray People's Liberation Front took control of airports including Mekelle's and launched offensives in Afar and Amhara. The group has also joined an alliance of seven armed factions seeking to remove the government in Addis Ababa, putting the 2022 Pretoria peace agreement under serious pressure.
One RAF Voyager based in Cyprus will support Saudi defensive flights in a time-limited arrangement, Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced on Monday. The mission will not support Saudi strikes against the Houthis.
Airstrikes struck Kunar and Paktika provinces early Monday. Afghan Taliban officials said three members of one family were killed; Pakistan claimed it had hit suicide bomber training facilities and killed 28 fighters, a figure that could not be verified.
The accord, signed at the UN General Assembly, amends the 1951 defence treaty and allows the US to expand its military presence and build new structures without Danish or Greenlandic approval. It must clear national parliaments before it takes effect.
Iranian authorities closed the French Language Centre under a judicial order, accusing it of building networks among elite figures and helping them leave the country. France called the move unjustifiable and summoned Iran's ambassador, as the two foreign ministers prepare to meet in New York on Tuesday.
Foreign ministers meeting in New York condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and warned that the escalation threatened global energy and trade. The UK has separately agreed to send Royal Air Force tankers to support Saudi aircraft, a mission that could last weeks.
France and Luxembourg secured the exemptions as part of a deal extending EU sanctions against around 3,000 Russian individuals and entities until 2029. Ukraine called the decision shameful, with Zelenskyy warning that wars are not won through concessions.
Some 130 heads of state are expected to speak at the General Assembly in New York, with conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and beyond topping the agenda. Secretary-General António Guterres will open the session — and his second term ends in December, with no successor yet in sight.
The Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival spans six regions and includes the TPLF and Fano militias, which fought on opposing sides of a civil war that killed around 600,000 people. The coalition says it wants to remove Abiy's government and replace it with a transitional administration, but has set out no timetable or military strategy.
The explosion occurred south of the military demarcation line during a military operation. It is unclear whether the device was a North Korean mine, a South Korean mine or something else — an echo of a 2015 blast that Seoul blamed on Pyongyang and Pyongyang denied.
Kyiv targeted the capital's main oil refinery and disrupted flights at all four Moscow airports. Exit polling showed Vladimir Putin's United Russia party on course to win nearly half the vote in the parliamentary elections.
A new UN Human Rights Office report attributes 89 percent of verified cases to Russian forces, who used sexual violence to torture and coerce prisoners throughout captivity. The investigation could only operate in Ukrainian-held territory, meaning the true number of cases is likely far higher.
The French president said Russia's campaign of sabotage, cyberattacks and drone incursions against Europe had intensified. He warned the activity would not go unanswered and pledged to maintain France's support for Ukraine.
The pull-aside with Delcy Rodríguez will be the highest-level contact between Washington and Caracas since Obama met Nicolás Maduro briefly in Panama in 2015. It follows the US operation that captured Maduro earlier this year, and comes as Trump says a deal would give the US majority control of Venezuela's oil reserves.
Poland's prime minister told parliament that Russian intelligence assessments pointed to hybrid drone and missile attacks on countries backing Ukraine. Moscow would frame any strike as accidental, he said, to undermine the will of NATO members to defend each other.
Washington has granted visas to President Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Araghchi for the General Assembly, with tight curbs on movement and purchases. The White House denied the same entry to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for the second year running.
The group denied targeting the holy city, saying its strikes are directed at Saudi oil facilities and military bases. The incident comes as the Houthis claim recent territorial gains and Saudi infrastructure faces mounting damage.
Yemen's Houthi rebels say they fired ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at sensitive sites in the Saudi capital and at Aramco facilities in Yanbu. A fuel tank was seen burning near King Khalid International Airport and flights were severely disrupted, though it was not established that the claimed attack caused the fire.
A Russian frigate fired two emergency flares at a Danish Fennec helicopter monitoring it in the Baltic Sea, with one passing close to the aircraft. Denmark called the act reckless; Russia said it will investigate and accused Danish helicopters of dangerous flying near its warships.
The huge pro-regime march came as the US-Iran war entered its seventh month with no resolution in sight. Trump is weighing further military action to break the deadlock, and told Americans that rising gas prices were 'a very inexpensive price to pay'.
The announcement points to a possible shift from rotation to a permanent presence, in a country that already hosts almost 10,000 US troops. Key details — location, scale, cost and timetable — remain undisclosed.
Five people including a child were wounded in the Black Sea resort city, which closed its beaches because of continuing strike risk. Russian drones killed five on a passenger bus in Ukraine and three at a farm warehouse in Chernihiv.
The president claims Iran wants a deal and that he has spoken with officials there directly. A UN mission complicates the picture: it says two US strikes in February, one on a primary school where about 120 children died, amount to war crimes.
The State Department cited Palestinian failures to reform and their use of international courts to press for statehood. Abbas will address the General Assembly by prerecorded video, after 142 countries endorsed Palestinian statehood at a conference co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia.
Four journalists were among those released and were immediately deported to Lithuania. More than 900 political prisoners are thought to remain in Belarusian custody, according to the human rights group Viasna.
The $2.8 billion package reverses a Biden-era pause over civilian casualty concerns in Gaza. At least one US senator has said he will work to block it.
The European Commission president made the proposal during her annual address to the European Parliament, with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in attendance. EU treaties contain no such category, and its rights, obligations and institutional shape remain undefined.
A 1,000-page report based on leaked state documents says orders went out to respond 'mercilessly' and 'go as far as causing death'. Amnesty has named 87 officials it says should face criminal investigation for crimes against humanity.
The deal, brokered in New York with US involvement, also includes trade and investment agreements and the return of direct flights. No timetable was given for when the embassies would actually open — a similar pledge was made in 2022 and never carried out.
The multistorey block had sheltered displaced families after being hit in an Israeli strike early in the war. About 400 buildings across Gaza are said to be at risk of collapse, with roughly 2,000 damaged structures still inhabited.
Leaders meeting in New Delhi adopted the New Delhi Declaration, urging maximum restraint as US-Iran strikes resumed. The statement also criticised unilateral sanctions, called for UN Security Council reform, and backed greater use of local currencies in trade within the bloc.
Five army units took part in Saturday's live-fire exercise, which included attack drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles fired into the country's eastern waters. Pyongyang called it a test of coordinated strike capability across a unified command system.
Baghdad confirmed the attack originated in Iraqi territory and dismissed the province's military commander and police chief. Saudi Arabia shut the pipeline but held back from retaliation, giving Iraq time to act.
The attack near Qeshm Island wounded four others, and Trump declined to say whether the US was responsible. A planned meeting in Oman on maritime traffic through the strait was postponed the same day, as shipping through the waterway remains roughly 90% below pre-conflict levels.
All 206 passengers had been evacuated minutes before the strike at Yahodyn station. Boris Johnson, David Petraeus and other Western figures were passing through on diplomatic trains at the time, and Ukraine's state railway says the diplomatic train may have been the intended target.
The film features testimony from 24 anonymous Israeli military and intelligence insiders describing AI-assisted targeting systems they say were expected to kill civilians. The IDF categorically rejects the allegations, saying strike decisions are made by humans only.
Speaking in Ireland on Sunday, Trump said the strikes were causing a global diesel shortage — not the Middle East conflict, as many analysts argue. Zelenskyy has not responded, and it is unclear how the public dispute will affect US-mediated peace talks.
The two leaders backed a "fair and mutually acceptable" resolution to their long-running border dispute but set no timetable. Trade imbalances and supply chains were also on the table, with no deal announced on either front.
The Iran-UAE split over the US-Israeli war is blocking a joint declaration, with Kremlin officials saying it has had a 'negative impact' on the group. Xi Jinping is also attending, in his first visit to India since 2019.
The capture of Perim Island gives the group a position at the mouth of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the route Saudi Arabia has depended on since the Iran conflict closed Hormuz. Saudi crude output has already fallen to its lowest level in more than three decades.
The Financial Times says US officials have briefed European counterparts on plans to expand John Ratcliffe's involvement. The CIA called the report false, without saying which parts it disputes.
Eight F-15s were also hit, though they returned to service. The attack is the latest exchange in a war that has now killed 18 US service members, injured more than 800, and burned through roughly 65% of America's Patriot interceptor stocks.
The diplomats were accused of activities incompatible with their status under the Vienna Convention, though Budapest gave no further details. It is Hungary's first such expulsion since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Revolutionary Guards called the $2.5m Anduril submersible a 'prize of war'. The Pentagon said the vehicle had malfunctioned and carried no classified equipment.
The Kremlin said Trump presented a swift settlement as the path to restored ties and expanded trade between Washington and Moscow. Russia resumed drone and missile strikes on Kyiv the same day, killing five people.
Putin met US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff at the Kremlin for three hours on Sept. 5. The pause covers only Kyiv and Moscow — the wider war continues, and no broader ceasefire was announced.
Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff met Putin at the Kremlin on Saturday with what Trump called 'an idea for peace'. Zelenskyy matched the pause, saying Ukraine would hold off strikes on Moscow through Monday. The two envoys travel to Kyiv on Sunday — their first joint visit to the Ukrainian capital since the peace process began.
A UN fact-finding mission says transnational networks — many linked to the UAE — supplied the RSF with weapons, training and foreign personnel. More than 1,000 people were killed in drone strikes in the first five months of 2026 alone.
The drone struck the SBU's central building on Volodymyrska Street, near Saint Sophia Cathedral. President Zelensky said the intended target was the office of the acting intelligence chief, who was not there at the time.
Berlin says the device's components and ignition systems match patterns seen in other Russian hybrid operations and the war in Ukraine. Germany will close Russia's consulate in Bonn, cancel a cultural centre contract in Berlin and seek further EU sanctions.
India's prime minister made his appeal at a summit in Bishkek. The Kremlin has said a ceasefire freeze is impossible while Russia's goals remain unmet.
The campaign began after a ceasefire deal collapsed on 8 July, and is focused on the Strait of Hormuz — a route for a fifth of the world's oil and gas. Tehran has issued an 'eye for an eye' warning as Washington puts the cost of the war at $37.5bn.
The agreement could mark a significant easing of military tensions between the two countries. US oil prices rose above $70 a barrel, though it is unclear whether the deal drove the move.
A brief reached us asserting Iran's Revolutionary Guard attacked two American military installations in Jordan. No source material was supplied, and The Modern will not publish the claim until that changes.
The US military says Iran fired first, and struck back with what it called a 'powerful response'. Trump warned further Iranian attacks would be met with an even harder blow. Casualty figures have not been confirmed.
Tehran's Foreign Ministry said countries were obliged under international law to ignore the measures, which target 60 individuals, entities and vessels. Behind the scenes, Iranian officials told Pakistani mediators they were open to resuming peace talks.
The strike on Jenin appeared to be the first Israeli air strike in the occupied West Bank since February. It came as a US-backed peace envoy said both sides were failing to stick to the roadmap, putting the Gaza ceasefire at risk.
Repeated large-scale missile and drone strikes from late July through late August have killed dozens of civilians and disrupted industry across Ukraine. Companies are pulling back from the Odesa region as Russia deliberately stockpiles weapons to overwhelm air defences.
The six-month US conflict with Iran burned through roughly 65% of America's Patriot interceptors, officials say. US forces in Europe now have 'very limited' ability to stop even a single Russian ballistic missile strike.
The US president made at least two separate public statements on 27 August dismissing any Russian threat to NATO territory. His remarks came after reports that CIA Director John Ratcliffe had travelled to Moscow — a visit Trump called routine, though it was the first by a CIA chief to the Russian capital since 2021.
Sources close to the Kremlin say Putin now sees diplomacy as a dead end and is weighing major ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv and Ukrainian infrastructure. Some Russian officials have raised the prospect of tactical nuclear weapons in internal discussions, though Bloomberg found no signs of active preparation.
Washington wants the existing Darfur embargo expanded to cover all of Sudan before it expires on 12 September. Russia has warned against any measures targeting the Sudanese army, raising doubts about whether the resolution can pass.
Denmark's foreign minister delivered the joint statement at the United Nations, backed by all EU members and allies including Japan, Australia and Canada. The signatories represent about a quarter of UN member states — a reminder of how far international consensus on the war remains from unanimous.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the plan a 'one-two punch' — a naval blockade combined with what he dubbed the financial equivalent of a bombing campaign. Former US diplomats warn it could take years to build a coalition that makes the measures stick, and that Iran may strike Gulf energy infrastructure in retaliation.
Russia's president warned Kyiv to expect hits on its 'most sensitive economic sectors' after Ukrainian drones triggered fuel shortages inside Russia. Strikes on Ukraine's Black Sea grain exports have already begun, jeopardising a key source of foreign revenue and food supplies for parts of Africa and the Middle East.
Washington has launched what it calls an unprecedented economic campaign against Iran, combining a naval blockade with sweeping secondary sanctions targeting anyone still doing business with Tehran. History suggests economic pressure rarely forces a regime to yield — and research warns a cornered Iran may take bigger risks, not fewer.
Zelensky signed four decrees targeting Russian arms makers, aluminum suppliers and a children's animation studio. The move shines fresh light on an EU loophole that has allowed an Irish refinery to send hundreds of thousands of tonnes of alumina to Russian smelters linked to weapons production.
Israel's military says the April 2024 airstrike that killed seven World Central Kitchen workers, including Australian Zomi Frankcom, does not meet the threshold for criminal proceedings. Australia has summoned the Israeli ambassador and says the decision falls far short of the accountability it expects.
The regime survived US-Israeli strikes by rallying around an external enemy. Its generals and security chiefs now appear to believe that a negotiated end to the war would expose them to the one threat they can't suppress: their own people.
Two cruise missiles struck a busy intersection in Pechenihy, hitting a café and a service-station car park less than a minute apart. At least 17 others were wounded; a post office, homes and shops were also damaged in the attack.
The two countries have settled on shipping lane coordinates, but a finalised agreement on who controls the strait — and what ships will pay to pass through it — is still unresolved. Iran wants transit fees of up to seven percent of cargo value; Washington insists on zero.
The sixty days agreed in Islamabad expired on 17 August without an agreement, a confirmed extension, or any sign the Strait of Hormuz will reopen. The two sides cannot even agree on whether the ceasefire ever formally began.
The UN recorded nearly 1,400 civilians killed in Ukraine in the first half of 2026 alone. Ukraine has also struck deep inside Russia, hitting a Black Sea beach crowded with holidaymakers and launching the largest drone assault of the year on Moscow.
The president told Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth to substantially reduce the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, citing cost and what he called a hostile signal to North Korea. He also revealed South Korea had refused his request to join US efforts to pressure Iran.
Moroccan security forces moved in after spotting social media calls for a repeat of the July 30 surge, which killed up to 100 people. Spain also sent reinforcements, bringing the total security presence in the city to more than 1,500 officers.
The attacks on al-Makha and a cargo vessel in the Bab al-Mandeb strait are the most intense since a UN-backed ceasefire collapsed in July. It is the first deadly Houthi strike on a ship since the US and Israel hit Iran in February.
An air strike on a tuk-tuk in northern Gaza on 12 August broke more than a week of quiet. Israel says it targeted a Hamas commander; Gaza's civil defence says the man killed was part of a municipal water repair crew.
The launch from North Korea's east coast follows a similar test on August 6, with both seen as protests against US–South Korea military exercises due to begin on August 17. Kim Jong Un's sister has warned that Pyongyang will set up additional military options in response to Japan's posture in the Pacific.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed the handover on 11 August but did not disclose what the proposals contain. Three-way talks with Russia have been suspended since the US-Israel-Iran conflict pulled Washington's attention elsewhere earlier this year.
Two aircraft carriers, over 120 warplanes and 14 navy ships have been deployed to the Arabian Sea since January 2026. The buildup followed a Trump ultimatum over Iran's nuclear programme — a deadline that came and went without a deal.
The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement commits three of the Muslim world's most powerful states to treat an attack on one as an attack on all. It arrives as Netanyahu, facing elections in October, had privately identified a normalisation deal with Saudi Arabia as his last major prize before the vote.
A peer-reviewed study has traced at least three wide-area disruption events to Russian satellites in high elliptical orbit — the first time interference at this scale has been confirmed from space. The findings sit alongside near-daily ground-based jamming in the Baltic that has grounded flights and thrown ships off course.
NASA thermal readings and independent satellite imagery corroborate a Ukrainian attack on the 15th Arsenal in the Leningrad Region, which Kyiv says stores missiles for Baltic Sea operations. Russia has not acknowledged any damage.
The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement commits three of the Muslim world's most significant military powers to treat an attack on any one of them as an attack on all three. Pakistan brings nuclear capability, Turkey the region's largest NATO army, and Saudi Arabia its economic weight — making this the most consequential Muslim-world security alliance in decades.
Beijing framed the moves as retaliation for recent American trade and technology restrictions. Analysts say the measures are calibrated to apply pressure without derailing the September summit.
The US president declared a historic agreement to fully disarm Hamas in Gaza. Israel said the terms fell short of its core demands, and Hamas stopped well short of accepting.
After 13 nights of US strikes and a Strait of Hormuz blockade, a three-day pause has produced the same split as the last ceasefire in March: Washington claiming momentum, Iran flatly denying any direct negotiations are underway.
RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia are being used by American bombers under a policy the government calls defensive — but Iran has named the bases legitimate targets, lawyers are sceptical of the distinction, and protests have followed.
Oman is mediating on Strait of Hormuz transit arrangements after 13 nights of US airstrikes, with a compromise taking shape — though Washington has kept strikes on the table and Tehran still refuses to call the talks direct.
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