Category: World

EU lawmakers have moved the digital euro closer to formal negotiations, giving Brussels a stronger legislative path for a public payment system designed to reduce dependence on Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay and other privately controlled networks.The European Parliament’s economic affairs committee has approved draft rules for the proposed digital euro, clearing a key stage before a wider parliamentary vote expected in July. The measure is intended to create a central bank-backed digital wallet that eurozone residents could use for online,

Alibaba Group Holding has asked a US federal court to remove it from a Pentagon blacklist that identifies the e-commerce and cloud computing group as a company supporting China’s military, escalating a legal fight over Washington’s widening use of national security powers against large Chinese technology businesses.The case, filed in San Jose, California, challenges the Department of Defense’s decision to place Alibaba on its Section 1260H list of “Chinese military companies” operating directly or indirectly in the United States. The

Uber Technologies’ directors and senior management have been sued by shareholders who allege the company failed to respond adequately to warnings about sexual abuse by drivers, opening a new governance front in the ride-hailing group’s long-running safety litigation.The derivative lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, accuses the board and executives of breaching their duties by allowing compliance lapses to persist despite internal and external alerts over passenger safety. The action is led by the Police and Fire Retirement

Keir Starmer has said he will resign as prime minister, triggering a Labour leadership contest and setting Britain on course for its seventh head of government since the 2016 Brexit referendum.Starmer announced on Monday, June 22, that he would oversee an orderly transfer of power and remain in Downing Street until Labour chooses a successor, expected by September. His decision ends a premiership that began with a commanding election victory in 2024 but became increasingly strained by weak poll ratings,

Iran has moved to impose a new authorisation regime over the Strait of Hormuz, saying vessels must secure permission and mandatory insurance before crossing the world’s most sensitive energy chokepoint, even as Washington said about 20 ships had quietly sailed through the waterway.The measure, framed by Tehran as a safety and liability requirement, has raised alarm across shipping, insurance and energy markets because it appears to test the limits of international navigation rights while giving Iran a mechanism to influence

Moscow's Tagansky District Court has fined Google for failing to remove Google Maps pages for several Moscow liquor retailers, after regulators alleged the listings carried information linked to distance sales of alcohol, a category prohibited under Russia's rules on alcohol circulation.The penalty, issued in October 2025, became clearer through appeal materials dated 29 April 2026, when Moscow City Court upheld the lower court's ruling. The amount was not visible in the published text, but Google has previously been fined 3.8

Kylian Mbappé scored twice as France opened their World Cup campaign with a 3-1 win over Senegal at MetLife Stadium, recovering from a poor first half to take control of their Group I opener in New Jersey.The France captain struck in the 66th minute, added a second deep into stoppage time and moved to 14 World Cup goals, overtaking Pelé and Lionel Messi on the tournament’s all-time scoring list. Bradley Barcola, sent on as a substitute, scored France’s second in

A Russian frigate fired warning shots near a UK-registered civilian yacht in the English Channel, causing no injuries or damage but intensifying concern over Moscow’s naval activity close to Britain.The incident took place at about 11.40am on Tuesday, around 20 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight and outside UK territorial waters. The vessel involved was the 40ft sailing yacht Bright Future, carrying retired couple Jane and Alan Kelvey on a passage from the south coast of England towards

Oil prices fell to three-month lows as a US-Iran framework to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and place Tehran’s enriched uranium stockpile under international control moved towards a planned June 19 signing in Geneva, easing fears of a deeper Gulf energy shock.Brent crude slipped to about $83 a barrel on Tuesday after a sharper fall at the start of the week, while West Texas Intermediate traded near $81. The decline followed confirmation that Washington and Tehran had approved a memorandum

Iran twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with New Zealand in their 2026 FIFA World Cup opener, taking one point from a turbulent Group G match shaped as much by the protests outside the Los Angeles venue as by the exchanges on the pitch.The match at Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood gave both teams a foothold in a group that also includes Belgium and Egypt, whose 1-1 draw left all four sides level after the opening round. For Iran,

Abdullah Ibrahim, the South African pianist and composer whose spare, meditative sound carried Cape Town’s musical memory into the global jazz canon, has died in Germany at the age of 91 after a short illness.The musician, born Adolph Johannes Brand in Cape Town in 1934 and known early in his career as Dollar Brand, became one of the defining cultural figures of the anti-apartheid era. His family said he died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones. His partner, Dr Marina Umari,

The World Bank Group has raised $509 million through a second loan-backed bond deal, taking its emerging-market securitisation programme past $1 billion as it seeks to draw more private capital into businesses that can expand employment across developing economies.The transaction, closed through the International Finance Corporation, packages 62 IFC-originated loans from different sectors into a collateralised loan obligation, or CLO. It follows a $510 million debut deal in September 2025 and shows the lender wants securitisation to become a regular

Africa’s top disease control agency has warned that the true scale of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo cannot be established because response teams have not located thousands of people exposed to confirmed patients.The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said contact tracing in Ituri, the outbreak’s epicentre, remains far below the level needed to break chains of transmission. Dr Jean Kaseya, the agency’s director general, said only a small fraction of likely contacts had been

Refined fuel exports from the Persian Gulf have climbed this month as more tankers crossed the Strait of Hormuz, easing pressure on diesel, jet fuel, gasoline and naphtha markets starved of supply since the waterway was disrupted by the Iran war.The rebound marks a break from the squeeze that followed the closure of the world’s most important energy chokepoint after the February 28 attack on Iran by the United States and Israel. Tanker movements remain far below normal, but the

El Niño has formed across the tropical Pacific, setting the stage for a potentially powerful climate event that could intensify heat, drought, floods and storms across several regions through the end of the year and into early 2027.Forecasters have issued an El Niño advisory after ocean and atmospheric indicators aligned over the past month, confirming that the coupled climate system has shifted into the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. Sea surface temperatures have risen above normal across the

Elon Musk is on the brink of becoming the world’s first trillionaire as SpaceX prepares to open trading on Nasdaq after pricing the largest initial public offering on record, a deal that places one of the most strategically important technology companies at the centre of a debate over wealth, markets and power.Space Exploration Technologies Corp. priced 555,555,555 Class A shares at $135 each, raising about $75bn and giving the company an implied valuation of roughly $1.77tn. The shares are due

Wall Street’s AI trade came under pressure as investors reassessed stretched technology valuations before SpaceX’s planned market debut, with Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta Platforms and Oracle losing more than $200 billion in combined market value during the session.The sell-off hit some of the largest companies tied to artificial intelligence spending, cloud infrastructure and data-centre expansion. Alphabet fell about 2.5 per cent, Microsoft lost nearly 2.7 per cent, Meta slipped close to 1.9 per cent and Oracle dropped more than 11 per