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May 17, 2026 - World

Wes Streeting's ambition to head the British government was one of the worst-kept secrets in U.K. politics

May 17, 2026 - World

Renowned international security expert Robert Pape issued a dire warning on Sunday that an irreversible “critical point” had been reached in the U.S. war against Iran, one that risks sparking global shortages and economic disruptions on a scale not seen in decades.“Two months ago, I warned that the Iran war was not simply creating an oil price spike. It was creating the conditions for shortages, supply disruptions, and eventually economic contraction,” Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, warned in an analysis published Sunday on his Substack. “That transition is now beginning.”Among Iran’s first responses to the “unprovoked” attack from the United States and Israel was to close the Strait of Hormuz – a critical shipping waterway through which 20% of the world’s oil trade historically flowed – to U.S.-aligned vessels. Predictably, the strait’s partial closure sent oil prices skyrocketing.With the war now stretching into its 78th day as of Sunday, the strait’s closure has finally exhausted worldwide “buffers” that have helped to slow the economic impact from disrupting trade through what is among the busiest shipping channels on earth, Pape warned.“The critical point is no longer oil prices alone,” Pape wrote. “The world’s emergency buffers – inventories, reserves, subsidies, and logistical workarounds – are beginning to fail simultaneously.”Signs of existing stockpiles or resources still in transit being exhausted have already reached the United States. The final shipment of oil from the Strait of Hormuz before its partial closure arrived in California earlier this month, and reporting suggests a major shortage of motor oil may be imminent.

May 17, 2026 - World

Naegohyang FC due to play Suwon FC in semi-final of Asian Women’s Champions League on WednesdayA North Korean women’s football club has arrived in South Korea for an AFC Women’s Champions League semi-final, marking the first visit by athletes from the isolated state to the South in eight years.The delegation of 27 players and 12 staff entered the country on Sunday before Wednesday’s match between Naegohyang FC and South Korea’s Suwon FC Women in Suwon. Continue reading...

May 17, 2026 - World

Four months after Trump’s surprise raid, a political thaw has descended – but mingled with hope is trepidation for what comes nextWhen Ángel Linares heard a strange buzz followed by an explosion, his first thought was that neighbours were setting off fireworks to celebrate the new year.Then his windows shattered, the building’s walls shook and its facade was ripped off, sending him flying on to the ground of an apartment suddenly reduced to rubble. His 85-year-old mother, Jesucita, feared Venezuela’s northern coast had been devastated by an earthquake, like the one she remembers from 1967. Continue reading...

May 17, 2026 - World

Three paramedics at health centre among dead, while Hamas military chief Izz al-Din al-Haddad killed in Gaza strikeIsrael carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon, killing at least six people, including three paramedics working at a health centre, just hours after its envoys had agreed with the Lebanese government to extend a ceasefire.Israel also said it had killed the Hamas military chief, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, in a targeted strike in Gaza on Friday. Continue reading...