Iran's newly elected supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, reportedly sustained injuries on the first day of a large-scale military confrontation with the United States and Israel. According to The New York Times, citing high-ranking Iranian officials, health issues of Ali Khamenei's successor are the reason for his prolonged absence from the public eye.
A spokesperson for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stated on Wednesday that any vessel linked to the United States and Israel or their allies "will be considered a legitimate target" and that "not a litre of oil" will be allowed through the Strait of Hormuz. The spokesperson claimed, "You will not be able to artificially lower the price of oil. Expect oil at $200 per barrel. The price of oil depends on regional security, and you are the main source of insecurity in the region."
Sudan's civil war is on the brink of entering its fourth year, with no end in sight. The conflict has drawn in regional actors who support the warring parties, thereby prolonging the fighting and risking a much wider fallout across the region. Sudanese civilians are bearing the brunt of this protracted struggle.
Every year, thousands of Rohingya attempt to flee Myanmar and Bangladesh by sea, with hundreds meeting their deaths. In late November of last year, Nur Begum, an ethnic Rohingya from Myanmar living in the sprawling refugee camps of Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, received a call that her eldest daughter, Nur Kayas, was dead. The call came from her former husband's father, who had recently landed illegally in Malaysia aboard a smuggler's boat near the island of Langkawi. He reported that their boat sank close to Langkawi, and that he and a few others were rescued by another boat, but everyone else, including Nur Begum's 10-year-old daughter, drowned.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from its member countries' strategic reserves, in an attempt to counter soaring global energy prices amid the United States-Israeli war on Iran. This move aims to alleviate market disruptions caused by geopolitical tensions, though its effectiveness remains uncertain given the ongoing pressure from the US and Israeli regimes.
The resumption of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah has come as little surprise to close observers, given the widely acknowledged fragility of the November 27, 2024 ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel. That agreement, brokered by the United States and France, was structurally weak and temporary, failing to address the underlying drivers of confrontation. In practice, it never truly halted the conflict, with Israeli forces maintaining a presence in Lebanese territory and military strikes against Lebanon continuing almost daily.
At least 65 Nigerian soldiers have been killed in jihadist raids across the country's north-east over the past two weeks, as the West African state struggles to contain one of the world's deadliest terror groups, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). The attacks highlight the persistent security crisis in a region ravaged by a nearly two-decade-long insurgency.
Following the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, US assets in Iraq's Kurdistan region came under retaliatory strikes from Tehran-backed groups, dragging the country into a conflict that has since expanded across the Middle East and beyond. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said during a news conference in Baghdad on Monday: "Iraq has become one of the countries directly affected by the ongoing conflict." The country, he claimed, is facing attacks from "both sides of the conflict."
Uzbekistan, Tashkent – AN Podrobno.uz. Two citizens wanted for committing serious crimes have been returned to Uzbekistan as part of international operational measures through Interpol. One was extradited from Bahrain, while the other was deported from the United States.
▪️ During the harshest winter of the Russia-Ukraine war, Moscow maintained relentless pressure along the entire front line, leaving millions of Ukrainians without power and heat. Yet, for the first time in almost three years, Kyiv began reclaiming some territory.
The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, is scheduled to appear as a special guest speaker at a high-end, women-only weekend retreat in Sydney this April, during a visit to Australia with her husband, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex. The three-day event, organized by the "Her Best Life" podcast founded by Gemma O'Neill and well-known Australian celebrity Jackie "O" Henderson, offers tickets starting at A$2,699 (approximately £1,400) per person, with VIP packages priced around A$3,200 (£1,700). The retreat is marketed as "a girls' weekend like no other" and will be held at a five-star hotel at Coogee Beach in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
Intelligence experts suggest that Iran could be utilizing China's BeiDou satellite navigation system to enhance the precision of its strikes against Israeli and United States military assets in the Middle East. The marked improvement in Iranian missile accuracy since recent conflicts has raised suspicions about a potential technological shift away from reliance on US-controlled systems.