Articles for category: Politics

August 1, 2026

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Vance lands in Switzerland as Iran says Strait of Hormuz is closed over ceasefire violations

Iran said Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz is closed, citing ceasefire violations after Israel continued deadly strikes in southern Lebanon overnight. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy warned ships not to approach the waterway, which Iran had committed to reopening under the interim peace deal signed this week. It said in a statement that vessels’ safety would be at risk if they did so. Iran’s top joint military command said the ⁠closure was the “first step” in response to what were described as ‌breaches of ⁠commitments by the U.S. and Israel, according to Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency. In

August 1, 2026

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Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera

Monrovia, Liberia – On the streets of Liberia’s capital, the signs of the kush crisis are increasingly hard to miss. Young people gather in neighbourhoods where families say addiction has pulled children away from school, their homes and their communities.Kush, a cheap and highly addictive synthetic street drug, has spread across parts of West Africa and become one of Liberia’s most urgent public concerns. First reported in neighbouring Sierra Leone, it has since spread into Liberia, where parents say they have watched young people slip into addiction and struggle to return to everyday life. For Miata Paye, the crisis is

August 1, 2026

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Morsani College of Medicine celebrates record-breaking incoming Class of 2030

The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine today welcomed the strongest incoming class in its history, with a record-breaking academic profile that places the students among the most accomplished in the nation. The 140 students of the Class of 2030 arrived with a median MCAT score of 521, equal to the 98th percentile nationally, or the Top 2% of all test-takers based on current national scoring data. It represents the highest median MCAT score ever recorded by an incoming class at the University of South Florida. New college highs were also achieved for GPA, with a median overall GPA of

July 31, 2026

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US military redirects 30 commercial ships near Hormuz – Shafaq News

2026-07-31T21:55:26+00:00 font Enable Reading Mode A- A A+ Shafaq News- Washington US Forces redirected 30 commercial vessels, disabled two ships, and inspected two others to ensure full compliance with security measures, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) stated on Friday. CENTCOM also said that it facilitated the passage of about 30 ships through the blockade to deliver humanitarian aid. A U.S. Navy MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter is prepared for flight aboard USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) as the warship supports the U.S. blockade against Iran while sailing in regional waters. As of July 31, CENTCOM has redirected 30 commercial vessels, disabled

July 31, 2026

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Trump administration confirms new 12.5 per cent tariff for Australia

The Trump administration has placed a 12.5 per cent tariff on Australian exports to the US. The new levy has replaced a temporary 10 per cent tariff that expired at the same time the new tariff took effect. Dozens of other countries have also been hit with new tariffs, which were first proposed last month after a US trade investigation into forced labour in international supply chains. Some of those countries, including the UK, are only subject to a smaller 10 per cent tariff. The US says those nations are taking stronger action against forced labour — a claim Australia

July 31, 2026

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American service member killed in Iraq; U.S. strikes Iran for 9th straight night

Drone and rocket strikes killed nine members of an Iranian Kurdish armed opposition group in Iraq’s Kurdistan region on Friday, the exiled party said, blaming the attack on Iran. In Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan, rebels shot down several drones, the group said, and Agence France-Presse journalists heard loud explosions in the city. The Kurdish government also blamed the attacks on Tehran. Idriss Kohlwazi from the exiled Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan told AFP the strikes killed nine members of their party at their camp near the city of Sulaimaniyah. Qatar’s interior ministry said in a statement that it “strongly

July 31, 2026

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Why the Iran war is breaking the US-European strategic alliance

Days after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran began on Feb. 28, 2026, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez denied American forces the use of the Naval Station Rota and the Morón Air Base – installations that had hosted U.S. troops for more than 70 years. “We are a sovereign country that does not wish to take part in illegal wars,” Sánchez said. U.S. President Donald Trump responded by threatening a full trade embargo against Spain. Weeks later, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – Trump’s closest European ally and the only EU head of government invited to his second inauguration –

July 31, 2026

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US Takes a Big Step In Breaking China’s Magnet Dominance

The US is looking to break China’s dominance in the rare earth magnet sector and put an end to its powerful monopoly. The latest development in tackling China comes after the Florida-based alloy manufacturing firm REalloys signed a strategic agreement with South Korea’s magnet manufacturer JS Link to develop and build the first fully integrated non-Chinese rare earth magnets. The deal is to bring together feedstock, separation, metallization, and permanent magnet manufacturing under a single North American industrial strategy. Also Read: US Stocks That Rose More Than 100% in a Year US Takes on China in Rare Earth Magnets Source:

July 31, 2026

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Pentagon identifies 4th service member killed in recent days as U.S. carries out more strikes

At least three U.S. servicemembers were killed over the weekend in Iranian attacks,  A third American soldier in northern Iraq died following “a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone,” CENTCOM said in a statement. The first two were killed in a strike on a U.S. air base in Jordan. Remains have been found after another soldier at the base was declared missing after the attack, but they have yet to be identified. Video of the precision ballistic missile attack in Jordan suggests it came with little or no warning, with shocked military personnel scrambling

July 31, 2026

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Breaking down the GDP report as U.S. economy slows in 2nd quarter

Amna Nawaz: Meanwhile, here at home, in a sign that the war may be weighing on economic growth, the U.S. economy saw a slowdown in the second quarter, expanding at a lower-than-expected rate of 1.5 percent. That’s according to a new report today from the Commerce Department. It all comes after the Federal Reserve voted yesterday to keep interest rates unchanged, despite three dissents, all arguing in favor of a rate increase. To help make sense of it all, we’re joined now by Greg Ip. He is chief economics commentator at The Wall Street Journal. So, Greg, I’m going to