Armed conflicts and attacks
Middle Eastern crisis
CENTCOM announces the U.S. has launched new strikes against Iran for a fifth consecutive day aimed at coastal defense systems, cruise missile storage, and launch sites in the Greater Tunb Island. (AFP via NDTV) (Politico)
2025–2026 Iran–United States negotiations
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says that ceasefire negotiations aimed at ending the war have not closed despite renewed fighting between Iran and the United States. (The New York Times)
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed "until the United States ends its acts of aggression". (Euractiv)
2026 Strait of Hormuz campaign
2026 United States naval blockade of Iran
The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) says that American forces have redirected two commercial vessels since the blockade resumed. (AA)
CENTCOM says that American forces disabled the Curaçao-flagged oil tanker M/T Belma as it was heading towards an Iranian port in the Persian Gulf amidst the blockade. An 18 second video confirms that a U.S. aircraft disabled the vessel. (Stars and Stripes)
India's Directorate General of Shipping warns companies not to deploy Indian sailors onto vessels transiting through the Strait of Hormuz after two Indian seafarers were killed in separate ship attacks in the waterway. (The Indian Express) (Reuters)
Morocco signs an agreement with the Board of Peace to join the International Stabilization Force for Gaza. (Reuters)
Nirim attack, Gaza war hostage crisis
Israel's military claims to have killed a militant from the Hamas branch Al-Qassam Brigades that participated in the abduction of soldiers Col. Asaf Hamami, St.-Sgt. Tomer Yaakov Ahimas, and Sgt. Kiril Brodski during the October 7 attacks on the Kibbutz Nirim. (The Jerusalem Post) (Haaretz)
Sudanese civil war
A drone strike by the Rapid Support Forces hits a power station in the town of Al Dabbah in Sudan's Northern State. (Sudan Tribune)
The Sudanese Armed Forces-allied Joint Forces announce that they have recaptured the Orshi Reservoir area in North Darfur, a month after the Rapid Support Forces seized the area. (AA)
Disasters and accidents
Seven people are killed and one person is missing after a rubber dinghy exploded near Liaoning Province, China. (Xinhua)
Health and environment
2026 Ebola epidemic
The total amount of cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo exceed 2,000. (Medical Xpress)
Sudanese cholera epidemic
Sudan's Federal Ministry of Health reports that the total amount of cholera cases in north and west Kordofan has increased to 1,547. (Sudan Tribune)
International relations
United Kingdom–European Union relations
The United Kingdom and the European Union remove the land-border fence between Gibraltar and Spain under a post-Brexit treaty, allowing free movement while introducing joint British-Spanish checks at Gibraltar's airport and port. (AP)
Law and crime
Moroccan prosecutors release journalist Ali Lmrabet after questioning him over online posts allegedly defaming unnamed individuals and institutions, while the criminal investigation continues. (Reuters)
U.S. president Donald Trump announces that American citizen Dena Karari has been released from Iran after being detained on espionage charges since 2024. Her lawyer, Jared Genser, also confirmed her release. (The Guardian) (NBC News)
Bhutanese refugees scam
A district court in Kathmandu, Nepal, sentences former deputy prime minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi to four years in prison and former home minister Bal Krishna Khand to two years for roles in forging documents for a fraudulent Bhutanese refugee resettlement scheme. (Reuters)
Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict
The Democratic Republic of the Congo establishes a council composed of mostly international war crimes lawyers to advise state institutions seeking accountability and reparations for victims of violence in the country's east. (Reuters)
Detention of Craig and Lindsay Foreman
The family of British national Craig Foreman says an Iranian court has added two years to his 10-year espionage prison sentence for speaking to the media, as he and his wife Lindsay continue a hunger strike. (CBS News)
Politics and elections
France's National Assembly gives final approval to a bill allowing eligible adults with incurable, life-threatening illnesses to obtain lethal medication under strict conditions. The measure awaits Constitutional Council review before taking effect. (AP)
Science and technology
Discoveries of exoplanets
Astronomers directly image the exoplanet Beta Pictoris d next to its star, located 63 light-years away, using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. It is also reported to be fainter than its sibling Beta Pictoris b. The discovery is published in the The Astrophysical Journal. (Space.com) (ABC News)
Sports
2026 ESPY Awards
The ESPY Awards is held at the David H. Koch Theater in New York City, New York, U.S., with the 2025–26 New York Knicks win five awards, including the Best Team award after winning their first NBA championship since 1973, while point guard Jalen Brunson wins the Best Male Athlete and Best Championship Performance awards. (NBC News) (Reuters)
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