Oil traffic through Strait of Hormuz drops 50 percent

9 min agoA Russian drone hit the headquarters of Ukraine's security services in Kyiv on Friday, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying the strike targeted the SBU chief's personal office. At least 12 people were wounded in the attack on the heavily fortified government building.

39 min agoThe United States and China are preparing for dialogue on artificial intelligence safety scheduled for mid-September. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will lead the American delegation, according to sources briefed on the discussions.

1 h agoCrossings through the strategic waterway fell 50 percent on August 31, with only five vessels confirmed passing through, according to maritime data firm Kpler. President Trump said the U.S. was now protecting tankers from Iranian attacks in the strait, calling the conflict with Iran 'small potatoes' for the country.

1 h agoUS intelligence assessments indicate Iran is determined to continue military confrontation at least until November midterm elections to wear down Washington, according to recent reports. Trump said 18 Americans have been lost and characterized the conflict as a minor matter. A federal judge extended a block on Trump administration orders seeking to restrict mail-in voting in the midterm elections.

2 h agoSix countries abstained from the UN vote on the new map, in addition to the United States' dissenting vote. The new map is known as the Equal Earth cartographic projection.

2 h agoPresident Donald Trump characterized the conflict with Iran as a minor military operation rather than a full-scale war, citing 18 U.S. service members killed. He compared the toll to the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan, which lasted years.

2 h agoThe United States intercepted and sank three Ecuadorean vessels this week in operations Ecuador said were part of joint investigations into drug trafficking. The sinkings are the latest in Operation Southern Spear, a broader U.S. military campaign that has destroyed some 70 vessels and killed more than 220 people over the past year, drawing criticism from human rights groups and some Latin American leaders.

2 h agoThe United Nations voted to adopt a new world map reflecting Africa's true size, with 164 nations backing a Togo-sponsored resolution and the United States as the sole dissenting vote. All 55 African Union member states supported the measure as part of the #CorrectTheMap campaign, addressing longstanding criticism that the widely-used Mercator map visually exaggerates and centralises Western nations.

3 h agoOn Friday, the Treasury Department added three Turkish entities to its sanctions blacklist, severing their access to dollar-denominated financial markets. According to the agency, these companies functioned as intermediaries in a scheme that routed Iranian oil sales proceeds through Chinese channels into Turkey, where they were converted into physical assets.

3 h agoThe US Treasury Department sanctioned Golden Global Investment Bank, a Turkish bank with $34 million in capital, and two subsidiaries for facilitating tens of millions in transactions for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. The sanctions, part of Operation Economic Outcast, target what Treasury said was a critical channel providing Iran correspondent banking access.