Trump Pauses Iran Strikes As Air Defences Dwindle (Middle East)
Iran Accuses Ukraine Over Caspian Vessel Strike (Conflict)
Netanyahu And Mamdani Clash Over ICC Warrant (Courts)
US And Ukraine Weigh Air Ceasefire Plan (Conflict)
Cuba Marks Revolution Amid US Sanctions Clash (Diplomacy)
Wildfires Threaten Bordeaux As Europe Burns (Europe)
Myanmar Junta Escalates Civilian Attacks (Asia)
North Korea Troop Claim Deepens Russia Ties (Conflict)
West Bank Mosques Burned Amid Settler Violence (Middle East)
Brazil Recalls Envoy After Milei Attacks Lula (South America)
A succinct daily briefing delivered each weekday to help you stay on top of the stories shaping the world.
President Donald Trump paused U.S. strikes around Iran’s southern coast and the Strait of Hormuz after Admiral Brad Cooper, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, advised that two weeks of bombing had reached the limit of its effectiveness.
Cooper told the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs and the White House that strikes had significantly degraded Iran’s ability to attack ships, but that designated targets were mostly exhausted. General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also warned that shortages of air defence interceptors could add risk to protecting U.S. forces and allies.
Diplomacy is now being given some space to operate as Iran and Oman negotiate a possible arrangement to reopen the strait without attacks. The current pause remains fragile: Trump said he could still choose a heavier military course. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected in Washington on Tuesday to discuss Iran and what he believes should be next steps.
Sources: Axios, Wall Street Journal
Iran accused Ukraine of attacking an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, causing an explosion that killed one sailor and injured another. Iran summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran over what it called a “hostile and criminal attack”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the attack could not go unanswered and raised the incident in calls with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Tehran said the incident violated the United Nations Charter and could further inflame and expand the Russia-Ukraine war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv had achieved very strong results with long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea, hitting vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran and a warship. He did not identify the commercial vessel named by Tehran as a target. This is important as it could potentially open yet another front in the widening Middle East conflict.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani of “fomenting hate” after Mamdani said Netanyahu was not welcome in the city. Mamdani urged the US federal government to arrest Netanyahu over International Criminal Court charges if he visits for the United Nations general assembly.
Netanyahu said he intends to travel to New York in September and dismissed the ICC war crimes charges as “bogus”. Mamdani acknowledged New York City lacks independent legal authority to enforce the warrant, but said the federal government should act.
The dispute has turned a planned UN appearance into a wider test of Israel’s standing in U.S. politics. Netanyahu said bipartisan support for Israel is at risk and warned that Jewish New Yorkers feel uncomfortable, while Mamdani has made opposition to Israel’s military operation in Gaza central to his platform.
Sources: The Guardian, BBC
Russia said it was too early to comment on reports that the United States and Ukraine are discussing a possible halt to aerial attacks as part of efforts to end the war, after a Ukrainian source said an air ceasefire proposal had been discussed for presentation to Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia did not know how credible the reports were and that any new peace initiative would be judged by whether it aligned with Moscow’s interests or not. He also said Russia maintained channels of dialogue with U.S. negotiators.
The reported proposal comes as efforts by the United States to broker a peace deal have largely stalled in recent months, with diplomatic attention diverted by the Iran war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke this week with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and is due to meet President Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday.
Sources: Ukraine Pravda, Reuters
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel used National Rebellion Day to condemn Washington’s oil embargo and hardened sanctions, calling U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy “political genocide” as Cuba marked the anniversary of the 1953 uprising that began the revolution.
Diaz-Canel criticised a recent U.S. State Department report accusing Cuba of infiltrating the U.S. government and backing leftwing terrorism on American soil. He said Washington was seeking a scapegoat for protests by people hit hardest by the U.S. economy, and pleaded for an end to sanctions and to the oil blockade.
The speech came as Cuba faces its worst economic crisis in decades, with rolling blackouts, fuel shortages, grid collapses, crippled public transport and a shortened school year. Former President Raúl Castro, 95, was absent from the anniversary rally for the first time in at least 30 years, with no explanation offered.
Sources: Internazionale, The Independent
Wildfires advanced towards Bordeaux on Sunday as France and Spain battled blazes that have forced more than 330,000 people from their homes across both countries.
French President Emmanuel Macron will hold a crisis cabinet meeting on Monday as another heatwave threatens to complicate firefighting. Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave said the fire was only about 15km from the city, while Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the situation was very unfavourable and the blaze was moving erratically towards Bordeaux.
In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited fire-hit areas in Ávila, where Environment Minister Sara Aagesen said more than 50,000 hectares had burned in the country’s biggest wildfire in recent history.
The fires follow prolonged drought and successive heatwaves that scientists say have been intensified by climate change. Across Europe aid has been mobilised, with Greece and Italy sending aircraft, Portugal deploying military personnel, and Turkey expected to send two planes.
Sources: BBC, France 24
Myanmar’s military has sharply escalated attacks on civilians since a new administration took office, with conflict monitor ACLED reporting worsening repression and an intensified aerial bombing campaign under new commander-in-chief Ye Win Oo.
ACLED said the command changes followed coup leader Min Aung Hlaing’s transition from military commander to civilian president in April, after elections that banned most opposition. The group said the military now regularly deploys specialised groups of two to five jet fighters for sustained air strikes against single targets, making fewer recorded strike events even deadlier for civilians and more damaging to civilian infrastructure.
During the first half of 2026, ACLED recorded more than a dozen military-perpetrated mass killings, with over 450 civilians killed. Nearly 40 per cent of those deaths occurred in the central Anyar region, while the junta renewed offensives into border areas containing rare earth deposits and vital trade routes.
The recent elections sought to sanitise the rule of the Myanmar junta but the sustained attacks against civilians show the intent of the military.
Sources: South China Morning Post, ACLED
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is preparing to receive another 30,000 North Korean troops, with arrangements under way in the Voronezh region since June, and claimed Pyongyang was also planning to send additional missile launchers.
Neither North Korea nor Russia has publicly responded, and the claims have not been independently verified. Analysts said the deployment would deepen Pyongyang-Moscow military ties, though some experts questioned whether another large frontline deployment was imminent.
About 14,000 North Korean combat troops are estimated to have been deployed to Russia, mainly in Kursk, while Pyongyang has since sent another 6,000 military engineers and construction personnel. Experts said additional forces could support Russia through artillery, missile operations or rear-area security, while North Korea could seek battlefield experience, money and advanced Russian military technology in return. The injection of manpower comes at a time when warfield attrition has outstripped Russia’s capacity to recruit new troops.
Sources: South China Morning Post, Korea Herald
Two mosques in the Israeli-occupied West Bank were set on fire overnight in an apparent Israeli settler attack, officials said Sunday, after violence killed four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers.
The mosques in Qusra and Kour suffered extensive damage. Attackers in Qusra spray-painted “revenge Benayahu”, referring to Israeli soldier Benayahu Mellet, who was killed on Friday. Israel’s military said it was working with police to investigate and strongly condemned harm to religious sites, while soldiers and police spread across the West Bank and Israel arrested more than 70 Palestinians over the weekend.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged allies including the European Union to press Israel to stop settler violence, which he described as systemic policy and a dangerous escalation. The Palestinian Health Ministry says 87 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank this year, including 21 by Israeli settlers.
Sources: Times of Israel, Associated Press
Brazil recalled its ambassador to Buenos Aires after Argentine President Javier Milei used a trip to Brazil to criticise its leaders and its judiciary, two sources familiar with the matter said.
Milei arrived in Brazil on Friday to support Senator Flavio Bolsonaro’s presidential campaign, as the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro officially launched his bid to unseat Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Speaking beside Bolsonaro in Sao Paulo, Milei called Lula a “convict”, accused him of being a “thief” and a “delinquent”, and labelled the Brazilian government “thieving socialists”.
The recall of ambassador Julio Bitelli was decided on Sunday after Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira consulted Lula.
A source said Brazil viewed Milei’s remarks as a “direct affront”, underscoring what is a virtually non-existent diplomatic relationship between South America’s two largest economies.
Sources: Reuters, Politico
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On this day …
On this day in 1586, Sir Walter Raleigh returned from the English colony at Roanoke, helping introduce tobacco to the English court and popularise its use.
What began as an unfamiliar plant from the Americas quickly became a global commodity, fuelling trade, taxation and colonial expansion for centuries.
Only much later did scientific evidence reveal the full scale of tobacco’s health consequences, transforming public attitudes and government policy worldwide.
Few products have had such a profound influence on economies, societies and public health.
Can any other consumer product claim to have shaped history so extensively while carrying such lasting human costs?
Netanyahu thinks he decides who is the USA president - this Really pisses off most NYC !!
Most NYC vote Democrat, especially for a president.
Most Jews in NYC are Democrats.