10 Things Global News - 28th May 2026
No deal in Iran yet - Trump denies being under pressure, Ukraine war going badly for Russia and US chemical giant sued by Australian Government | Succinct, unbiased global news
Trump Threatens Further Iran Strikes Over Hormuz (Conflict)
Israel Targets New Hamas Military Commander (Conflict)
Trump Threatens Oman Over Hormuz Control (Middle East)
Trump Gaza Board Fund Stalls Despite Pledges (Middle East)
Ukraine Sees Six Month Window to Shift War (Conflict)
UK Spy Chief Says Russia Is Losing Ground (Conflict)
Five Found Alive in Flooded Laos Cave (Asia)
WHO Calls for Congo Ceasefire Over Ebola (Africa)
US Weapons Stockpiles Face Years to Recover (USA)
Australia Sues 3M Over Forever Chemicals Contamination (Legal)
A succinct daily briefing delivered each weekday to help you stay on top of the stories shaping the world.
President Donald Trump threatened additional strikes on Iran on Wednesday as U.S. forces attacked an Iranian drone launch site near Bandar Abbas after intercepting four attack drones near the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said Iran had misjudged his willingness to prolong the conflict, dismissing suggestions that domestic political pressure or midterm elections would push him toward compromise.
The administration described the latest strikes as defensive measures intended to preserve a fragile ceasefire, even as negotiations appeared stalled. Trump insisted the Strait of Hormuz would remain open to all countries and rejected any arrangement allowing Iran, Oman or other regional actors to control shipping access.
The renewed tensions came as oil prices rose and Kuwait reported hostile missile and drone threats. Trump also ruled out sanctions relief or the release of frozen Iranian assets before Tehran relinquishes its enriched uranium stockpile.
Sources: Washington Post, Bloomberg
Israel said it had killed Mohammed Odeh, the new commander of Hamas’s armed wing in Gaza, in a strike on a residential building in Gaza City on Tuesday. Hamas later confirmed that Odeh had been killed, along with his wife and two of his children.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Odeh was one of the architects of the October 7 attack and was responsible for the murder, abduction and wounding of Israeli civilians and soldiers. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel was committed to preventing Hamas from governing Gaza either civilly or militarily.
The strike came days after Odeh’s predecessor was killed in another Israeli air strike. Despite the ceasefire agreed in October, violence in Gaza has continued almost daily, with Israel saying it can target Hamas members and Hamas accusing Israel of breaching the deal.
Sources: BBC, CBS News
President Donald Trump appeared to threaten military action against Oman on Wednesday after being asked whether he would accept a short-term deal allowing Iran and Oman to control the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said the waterway was international waters, would be open to everybody, and that Oman would have to behave like everyone else.
The White House did not immediately clarify whether Trump had misspoken, while the State Department later posted a clip and transcript of the remarks without correction. Oman is a key U.S. ally and has acted as a mediator between Washington and Tehran since the conflict began in February.
The comments followed an Iranian state television report on an unofficial draft framework to restore commercial shipping through Hormuz, with Iran and Oman jointly managing traffic. Trump dismissed the report, while unresolved talks also include Iran’s nuclear capacity, sanctions and frozen funds.
Sources: South China Morning Post, Al Jazeera
President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace has no money in its official Gaza reconstruction fund, despite billions pledged by donor countries and a promised $10bn in U.S. funding. Four months after its creation, the World Bank-administered fund endorsed by the UN has received no donor money, according to people familiar with the matter.
Donations have instead gone directly through a JPMorgan account, which has no independent transparency requirements. The board says contributors have chosen other funding options and that financial reporting will go to its own executive board when deemed appropriate.
The funding impasse has delayed reconstruction work in Gaza, where estimated rebuilding needs exceed $70bn over the next decade. No contracts have been awarded and no U.S. dollars have been deployed for rebuilding. Officials say the board is not yet operating in Gaza because Hamas has not disarmed.
Sources: FT, France 24
Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky said Ukraine has a six-month window to seize the battlefield initiative from Russia and strengthen its position for peace talks. He predicted an imminent turning point, arguing that Russian forces are exhausted and unable to make major breakthroughs after more than four years of war.
Biletsky said Ukraine could improve its positions, take strategic points and negotiate from strength if it can build momentum over several months. Control of Donetsk remains a major obstacle in stalled U.S.-backed peace talks, with Russia seeking the whole region and Ukraine refusing to withdraw from territory Moscow has not conquered.
Analysts also pointed to signs of shifting momentum, saying Russian gains are approaching net zero while Ukraine challenges the positional character of the war. Russia has meanwhile threatened systematic strikes on Kyiv, warning foreign nationals to leave the capital which some are seeing as an act of desperation rather than a statement of strength.
Sources: Reuters, CBS News
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Anne Keast-Butler, director of GCHQ, said almost 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In her first public speech as head of the agency, she said Russian forces were going backwards on the battlefield for the first time since late 2022.
The estimate comes as Ukraine seeks to raise Russian killed and wounded numbers above Moscow’s recruitment capacity, after years of slow territorial losses in the east. Western estimates put Russian casualties at about 30,000 a month in April, while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said 15,000 to 20,000 of those were killed each month.
Keast-Butler also warned that Russia was relentlessly targeting Britain’s infrastructure, democracy, supply chains and public trust, and said no nation could face such threats alone.
Sources: The Guardian, BBC
Rescuers have found five of seven men trapped for a week in a flooded cave in Laos, after specialist divers navigated narrow, submerged passages in persistent rain. Video showed the men sitting on a rock ledge surrounded by muddy water, hungry and dehydrated but alive.
The group entered the cave in Xaysomboun province on May 20 and became trapped after heavy rain triggered flooding and blocked a passageway. Two men remain missing, while rescuers are planning a complex extraction for the five survivors and continuing the search.
Thai and international divers, including members of the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue team, joined the operation. The site is remote, with rescuers facing a 4km jungle route, narrow tunnels, floodwater, sediment, collapse hazards and possible contaminated air.
Sources: ABC, The Guardian
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, called for an immediate ceasefire in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to contain an Ebola outbreak he said was outpacing the response in Ituri province.
Suspected cases are nearing 1,000, with at least 220 suspected deaths. The health ministry has confirmed 101 cases and is investigating more than 3,000 possible contacts, while Uganda has closed its border with DRC for four weeks except for Ebola response, humanitarian and security operations, and food and cargo transport.
The outbreak has spread into North Kivu and South Kivu, where Rwanda-backed M23 rebels control large areas. Tedros said fighting was driving displacement, pushing exposed contacts into overcrowded camps and making it nearly impossible to track cases. Aid groups say attacks on medics and equipment shortages are hampering the response.
Sources: The Guardian, Reuters
U.S. military contractors need at least three years to replenish three advanced weapons systems used heavily in the Iran war, according to a new analysis. The systems are Tomahawk cruise missiles, Patriot interceptors and THAAD interceptors, all central to long-range strike or missile defence.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies said the depleted inventories have created a window of vulnerability for a possible Western Pacific conflict, even though the United States has enough munitions for plausible Iran war scenarios. The report said the problem is time, not money, because production capacity and complex weapons systems take years to build.
The U.S. fired more than 1,000 Tomahawk missiles at Iran, with full replenishment possibly lasting until late 2030. Patriot and THAAD interceptor stocks may not return to prewar levels until 2029.
Sources: PBS, The Hill
Australia’s federal government is suing 3M and 3M Australia for $2bn over firefighting foam containing PFAS (commonly known as “Forever Chemicals”) that contaminated 28 Defence Force bases across the country. Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said the government was seeking to recover significant costs from investigating, managing and remediating contamination from legacy use at Defence sites.
The government alleges 3M withheld environmental testing results showing significant adverse effects from its PFAS products, misrepresented the effects of its foams and failed to disclose environmental risks. It says Defence and taxpayers have already incurred more than $1bn in related costs.
3M said it would defend itself, saying it never manufactured PFAS in Australia and stopped selling the products there about two decades ago. The case is the largest legal claim ever brought by the Commonwealth. Australia banned PFAS last year.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, ABC
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On this day …
On this day in 1961, Amnesty International was founded in London after British lawyer Peter Benenson launched a campaign supporting prisoners jailed for their political beliefs.
What began as a small advocacy movement evolved into one of the world’s most influential human rights organisations, documenting abuses, campaigning against torture and political imprisonment, and shaping international debates around civil liberties and state accountability.
Amnesty’s rise reflected a broader post-war shift in which human rights increasingly became part of international diplomacy rather than solely domestic politics. The tension between national sovereignty and universal rights remains unresolved today.