World News

Poland's government has approved legislation extending social security protection to professional artists on low incomes for the first time.

We were planning to visit the village of Ras ‘Ein al-’Auja in the northern West Bank. But three weeks before the trip, all 700 residents of the village fled due to violence from nearby settlers. When we drove through the ruined remains of the village, we saw groups of Israeli settlers having a picnic.

We were able to visit the village Fasa’il al-Wusta in the Jordan Valley. When we visited, six out of eight families had fled. Two weeks later, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) demolished the home of the family we visited. Now only one of those families is left.

As the world’s attention is fixed on the war that President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu started with Iran, Israel’s far-right government is quietly pursuing full-scale annexation in the West Bank. What we saw was a microcosm.

The US, Australia and United Kingdom have unveiled a new "signature" project to develop cutting edge weapons systems and sensors for underwater drones as they try to reinvigorate the second pillar of the AUKUS agreement.

Two still missing as divers make their way deeper into cave through muddy water and sharp rocks to find them

Following through on threats, the Trump administration has designated Brazil’s two largest drug gangs as terrorist groups.

The United States plans to designate Brazil’s two biggest drug gangs as terrorist groups on Thursday, after months of aggressive lobbying by the sons of the jailed former president, Jair Bolsonaro, a close ally of President Trump’s.

The move comes just days after two of Mr. Bolsonaro’s sons, one of whom plans to run for president later this year, visited Mr. Trump at the White House.

What is Washington actually offering?

When US officials speak of sanctions waivers, oil revenues, frozen funds or easier trade, much of this is presented as diplomacy. Yet a large part of it is the partial return of what the sanctions architecture has already obstructed: Iran’s access to its own money, its ability to sell oil and its right to conduct ordinary commerce without every bank and insurer fearing secondary penalties. The frozen funds at the centre of these talks have been reported at around $100 billion, much of it from Iranian oil sales. This is how a manufactured concession works: scarcity is created first, and relief from it is then presented as a prize.

The reported 60-day memorandum makes the imbalance visible. Iran would reopen Hormuz, clear mines and enter nuclear negotiations. Washington would ease port and shipping restrictions and issue sanctions waivers for oil sales. But the most valuable American steps — broader sanctions relief and the release of frozen funds — would be negotiated during the window and implemented only as part of a final, verifiable agreement. Iranian moves would be immediate and visible; the decisive American concessions would remain deferred, conditional and reversible. In post-war diplomacy, sequence is not a technical matter. It is power.