Global events and international developments affecting markets.
Reporting on international affairs, geopolitical developments, and global economic trends. This category connects world events to their potential impact on financial markets, trade flows, and investor risk perception.
1,442 total articles
The Financial Conduct Authority has reviewed firms operating in the second charge mortgage market and found shortcomings in how some lenders and brokers advise customers, assess affordability and disclose fees. The FCA warns these weaknesses could increase the risk of financial harm for borrowers, particularly those seeking to consolidate existing …
A scheduled international passenger train departed Beijing for Pyongyang on Thursday, restoring the direct rail connection between the Chinese and North Korean capitals for the first time in six years. The service, which had been suspended in 2020 amid the COVID-19 outbreak, will run on a limited timetable and with restricted ticketing tied to busi…
A Russian military court has sentenced four Tajik men to life imprisonment and handed long terms to 15 other defendants for their roles in a mass shooting at Crocus City Hall on March 22, 2024, which killed 149 people. The Islamic State-Khorasan group claimed responsibility; prosecutors had charged 19 people in the case. Trials were conducted behin…
A federal judge granted a short-term restraining order that stops construction on a Maryland warehouse being converted into an immigration detention facility. The state sued, arguing federal authorities failed to conduct a proper environmental review or solicit public input before spending over $100 million to retrofit the site for up to 1,500 deta…
Australian authorities recovered two bodies from a car in the Gympie region of Queensland during a search for two missing Chinese backpackers. The pair, a 26-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman, were reported to have been travelling to North Burnett. Flooding across parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory has left towns isolated and prompte…
The conflict between the United States and Iran shows no immediate sign of ending after recent strikes that have set tankers ablaze in Iraqi waters and struck vessels near the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. leaders and Iranian commanders signalled sustained military objectives, while global energy markets reacted sharply to disruptions and to coordinated r…
U.S. intelligence reporting compiled in recent days finds Iran’s ruling clerical establishment largely intact and not facing imminent collapse after nearly two weeks of intensive U.S. and Israeli strikes. Sources say the analysis is consistent across a multitude of reports, though officials acknowledge the situation on the ground is fluid and could…
An electoral reform put forward by President Claudia Sheinbaum failed to obtain the constitutionally required supermajority in the lower house after allied parties withheld support, registering 259 votes for, 234 against and one abstention. The vote exposed a rare split in the governing coalition. Sheinbaum has proposed pursuing modifications to se…
The United States has opened its first Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) office in Ecuador, the U.S. Embassy in Quito said on Wednesday. The office is intended to collaborate immediately with Ecuadorean authorities to combat drug and weapons trafficking, as well as money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Interior Minister John Reimber …
Speaking at a rally in Hebron, Kentucky on March 11, President Donald Trump asserted that the United States had won the conflict with Iran, saying the outcome was effectively decided within the first hour. He claimed U.S. forces had disabled 58 Iranian naval vessels and stressed that American troops would remain in place until the job was completed…
A dispute between the U.S. Department of Defense and AI lab Anthropic intensified in late February after Anthropic declined Pentagon requests to relax safety restrictions on its models. The DoD labeled the company a "supply-chain risk," triggering federal agencies and major contractors to move away from the firm and prompting Anthropic to sue. Lega…
Maritime agencies and analysts report at least two recent attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf using explosive-carrying unmanned surface vessels. The incidents, occurring off Oman and near Iraq, highlight a new maritime threat in a period of heightened confrontation involving the U.S., Israel and Iran, and come as Tehran signals it may obstruct shipm…
Two anonymous sources say outdated intelligence appears to have been used in a strike on a girls' school in Minab that killed scores of children. Video experts say footage appears to show a U.S. Tomahawk missile hitting the area. U.S. officials have opened an investigation and have declined further comment; Iran reports 150 students were killed.
Nearly the entire U.S. Senate Democratic caucus signed a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth requesting a prompt probe into airstrikes on a girls' school in Iran that killed scores of children and into any other U.S. military actions that may have harmed civilians. The correspondence asks whether U.S. forces carried out the strikes, what measu…
President Donald Trump said he was not concerned that Iran would extend retaliation to strikes on U.S. soil, even as an FBI alert distributed to local police cited a February intelligence report alleging Iran aspired to use drones launched from an unidentified vessel off the U.S. coast to strike unspecified targets in California. U.S. and Israeli s…
The British government has released the first set of documents relating to Peter Mandelson's appointment as ambassador to the United States. The papers, published amid an active police inquiry into allegations that Mandelson leaked government material to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, have reignited scrutiny of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's…
Polish prosecutors have opened an investigation into suspected human trafficking tied to the late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and will request information and material assistance from two other European countries. Documents in the Epstein files created what authorities describe as a reasonable suspicion that trafficking took place in Poland b…
Israeli officials, speaking in closed discussions, have concluded that there is no certainty the ongoing U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign will topple Iran's clerical government. Despite the deaths of Iran's supreme leader and senior commanders, mass uprisings have not materialized amid intense strikes and threats of lethal force by Iranian security se…
Esi Sharon-Sagie, a volunteer forensic dentist who helped identify scores of victims after the October 7 attack, was summoned again as the recent U.S.-Israel air assault on Iran sparked a wider regional conflict. She has worked on identifications following an Iranian missile strike in Beit Shemesh and the recovery of remains in Gaza, applying foren…
Since airstrikes against Iran began on February 28, military-imposed roadblocks and closures have restricted movement in the occupied West Bank, rights groups, medics and villagers say. That tightening of access has coincided with a marked rise in deadly attacks by Israeli settlers, with at least five Palestinians killed in the past week and delays…
Exceptional Minds, a nonprofit vocational academy and visual effects studio for adults on the autism spectrum, provides a three-year training program and studio experience that has placed graduates on major film and television projects. The organization combines technical instruction in visual effects and animation with social skills coaching and w…
Documents released under Justice Department directives and a source familiar with the matter indicate that a foreign hacker penetrated a server at the FBI's New York Field Office in February 2023. The intrusion, which targeted a machine at the Child Exploitation Forensic Lab and included activity described as searching through files linked to the i…
Israeli intelligence assesses that Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s newly installed supreme leader, was lightly wounded in an Israeli-U.S. joint air campaign and that this injury accounts for his absence from public view, a senior Israeli official said. Tehran’s Revolutionary Guards are reported to have driven his selection, viewing him as a more compliant…
Two drones fell close to Dubai International Airport on March 11, injuring four people, while authorities say air traffic continues to operate normally. The event comes amid ongoing attacks across the Gulf on the 12th day of the Iran crisis, which has disrupted global aviation and contributed to higher fuel prices.
Metropolitan police have used a rarely-invoked power to ban the annual Al Quds march in central London, citing the potential for severe public disorder and warnings from security services about threats connected to the Iranian regime. The decision also covers counter-protest marches; organisers say the event was intended to show support for Palesti…
