April 15, 2026 9:56 PM

Finance ministers, stung by hit to economies, call for full Iran war ceasefire

Finance ministers from almost a dozen countries led by Britain called on the U.S., Israel and Iran to implement their ceasefire in full on Wednesday and said the conflict would weigh on the global economy and markets even if it was resolved soon. A joint statement, signed by the finance ministers from Australia, Japan, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Spain, Norway, Ireland, Poland and New Zealand as well as Britain, was agreed a day after the International Monetary Fund cut its global economi...

March 10, 2026 9:52 AM

Iran says oil blockade will continue until attacks end, Trump threatens to hit harder

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they would not allow "one litre of oil" to be shipped from the Middle East if U.S. and Israeli attacks continue, prompting a warning from President Donald Trump that the U.S. would hit Iran much harder if it blocked exports from the vital energy-producing region. Trump's comments came after global financial markets seesawed on Monday on concerns that Iran's security establishment was rallying behind new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and was not prep...

March 3, 2026 3:12 PM

Netanyahu says US-Israeli war on Iran ‘not going to take years’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war against Iran was "not going to take years", as the conflict widened with Israel again attacking the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and Iran striking Gulf states that host U.S. bases. U.S. President Donald Trump, who launched strikes on Iran together with Israel on Saturday, initially projected the war to last four to five weeks, but has since sought to justify a broad, open-ended war. In the meantime, Iran has launched missile...

February 26, 2026 4:16 PM

US, Ukraine discuss post-war reconstruction as Russia pummels grid

Ukrainian and U.S. officials gathered in Geneva for talks on post-war reconstruction on Thursday despite a deadlock in peace negotiations with Russia, which pounded infrastructure across Ukraine with drone and missile strikes overnight. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had launched 420 drones and 39 missiles in another night of attacks on energy and other critical infrastructure. Dozens of people were injured and damage was reported across eight regions, he said. The talks i...

October 30, 2025 12:38 PM

What are rare earths and why are they so important?

U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have wrapped up a summit in South Korea with a deal to keep Chinese rare earth exports flowing. Here are some basic facts about these obscure elements making headlines around the world: WHAT ARE THEY? Rare earths are a group of 17 elements including 15 silvery-white metals called lanthanides, or lanthanoids, plus scandium and yttrium. WHAT ARE THEY USED FOR? Rare earths or the magnets which they are sometimes made into can b...

October 22, 2025 10:53 PM

Russia holds nuclear drills, Ukraine seeks Swedish jets as Trump delays summit

Russia said on Wednesday it had conducted a major training exercise involving nuclear arms, a day after the U.S. announced a delay in plans for a second summit between presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin released video showing General Valery Gerasimov, head of the General Staff, reporting to Putin on the drills. Russia said it fired missiles from ground launchers, submarines and aircraft, including intercontinental ballistic weapons capable of striking ...

October 15, 2025 12:52 PM

Trump won’t ‘waste our time’ with Argentina if Milei loses in midterms

U.S. support for Argentina hinges on the ruling party of President Javier Milei succeeding in this month's midterm legislative elections, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, saying "we're not going to waste our time" if Milei's party does not win. Trump and Milei were meeting at the White House just days after the U.S. agreed to provide a major financial lifeline to the South American nation. "I'm with this man because his philosophy is correct, and he may win it," Trump s...

September 24, 2025 9:38 AM

Trump, in rhetorical shift, says Ukraine can retake all its land

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he believed Ukraine could retake all its land occupied by Russia and that Kyiv should act now with Moscow facing "big" economic problems, in a sudden and striking rhetorical shift in Ukraine's favor. But there was no sign that Trump's words would be matched by a change in U.S. policy, such as a decision to impose the heavy new sanctions on Moscow sought by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as he traveled to New York this week. "Putin and Russia...

September 23, 2025 3:31 PM

Putin offers Trump one-year extension to nuclear weapons treaty

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday offered to voluntarily maintain the limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons set out in the last arms control treaty between the two powers once it expires next year if the U.S. does the same. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Putin's proposal sounded "pretty good," but that U.S. President Donald Trump, who has in the past expressed concern about the treaty's fate, would address the offer himself. The 2010 New START accord, which e...

July 16, 2025 9:43 AM

US launches probe into Brazil’s trade practices, digital payment services

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Tuesday he had launched an investigation into Brazil's "unfair" trading practices, a week after President Donald Trump threatened a 50% tariff on imports from Latin America's largest economy. Trump's trade war, launched since starting his second term in January, sets tariffs on nearly all U.S. trading partners, aiming to reorder the global economy and end decades of what he calls discrimination against the United States. The USTR investigation, ...