International
What is the Strait of Hormuz and why is it so important for oil?
OPEC members Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq export most of their crude via the strait, mainly to Asia.
(BBC) – Iran’s top security body must make the final decision on whether to close the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian TV said on Sunday, after parliament reportedly backed the measure in response to U.S. strikes on several of Tehran’s nuclear sites.Iran has in the past threatened to close the strait but has never followed through on the move, which would restrict trade and impact global oil prices.
Below are details about the strait:
WHAT IS THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ?The strait lies between Oman and Iran and links the Gulf north of it with the Gulf of Oman to the south and the Arabian Sea beyond.It is 21 miles (33 km) wide at its narrowest point, with the shipping lane just 2 miles (3 km) wide in either direction.
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
About a fifth of the world’s total oil consumption passes through the strait. Between the start of 2022 and last month, somewhere between 17.8 million and 20.8 million barrels of crude, condensate and fuels flowed through the strait daily, data from analytics firm Vortexa showed.
OPEC members Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq export most of their crude via the strait, mainly to Asia.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia have sought to find other routes to bypass the strait.
About 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd) of unused capacity from existing UAE and Saudi pipelines could be available to bypass Hormuz, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in June last year.
Qatar, among the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas exporters, sends almost all of its LNG through the strait.
The U.S. Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, is tasked with protecting commercial shipping in the area.
HISTORY OF TENSIONS
In 1973, Arab producers led by Saudi Arabia slapped an oil embargo on Western supporters of Israel in its war with Egypt.
While Western countries were the main buyers of crude produced by the Arab countries at the time, nowadays Asia is the main buyer of OPEC’s crude.
International
Democrats Win US midterm elections
Trump acknowledges the Iran war, and the rising cost of living, were factors in his Republican Party’s defeat – as the White House posts on social media: “Trump is still your president”
US President Donald Trump
The Democrats win the Senate and the House in US midterm elections, taking control of Congress for the rest of Donald Trump’s tenure.
Voters in conservative bastions who had propelled the president to his second term in office just two years ago swung dramatically toward Democrats, fueled by deep frustration over the unpopular war with Iran, anxiety over the high cost of living and anger at Trump’s stewardship of the country.
Trump acknowledges the Iran war, and the rising cost of living, were factors in his Republican Party’s defeat – as the White House posts on social media: “Trump is still your president”

In Texas, the biggest Republican state, Democrats ended a decades-long losing streak in seismic fashion, winning a Senate seat and ousting three-term Governor Greg Abbott.Kansas elected its first Democratic senator since the Great Depression nearly a century ago, and in South Carolina, a state that Trump carried by nearly 18 points in 2024, Democrats turned aside his hand-picked Senate candidate.The results will usher in a new era of divided government in Washington, following two years in which the Republican-controlled Congress rarely exercised its power to rein in Trump.
International
JUST IN: Plane Crash Near Trump’s Florida Home Kills All 9 Aboard
A private Learjet 60 crashed into a residential neighborhood in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday afternoon, killing all nine people on board, officials confirmed.
The aircraft, flying from Austin, Texas, to the Bahamas, went down around 12:50 p.m. local time near Cresthaven/Greenacres, roughly 7–11 kilometers (about 4–7 miles) from President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
It struck near a busy roadway at the entrance to a mobile-home community, creating a large fireball and leaving a crater in the road. Debris was scattered across a wide area, and nearby power and water lines were damaged.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the crash a “horrific tragedy” and confirmed there were no survivors among the nine occupants.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described the impact as “cataclysmic,” saying it “looked like a missile going down.” No injuries were reported among people on the ground. About 600 residents of a nearby mobile-home park were evacuated.
Trump had been at Mar-a-Lago earlier Sunday but departed on Air Force One from the nearby airport about an hour before the crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation, with support from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Early reports noted the crew had discussed moderate turbulence and ice shortly before the steep descent.
International
Tens of thousands protest against Narendra Modi regime in Delhi
The protest was one of the largest shows of opposition strength in years, taking place amid a wider resurgence of anti-government dissent which has been systematically crushed over the 12 years of the Modi regime.
Thousands of opposition supporters have gathered in Delhi as protests against the Narendra Modi government continue to gather momentum.
Led by the Congress party, India’s opposition alliance has brought together supporters from across the country, amid growing anger over a large-scale revision of the country’s voter roll that has seen 130 million names erased.
Opposition leaders have alleged the process gives Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) an electoral advantage, and have called for the resignation and impeachment of the chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar.
The BJP has denied the claims.
Addressing tens of thousands of party workers and supporters, the opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said Kumar had “carried out the biggest crime. He has tried to silence the voice of people, strangulate our country.”
Gandhi said the opposition, united under the acronym India (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance), would not let “democracy be finished in the country” and warned Modi: “You can’t run anywhere.”
The protest was one of the largest shows of opposition strength in years, taking place amid a wider resurgence of anti-government dissent which has been systematically crushed over the 12 years of the Modi regime.
The Guardian Uk
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