Wednesday 15 July 2026

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.

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.

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 Nirim kibbutz.

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 U.S.

The Directorate General of Counter Terrorism of the Kurdistan Region Security Council reports that international coalition forces have intercepted seven drones in Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.

The U.S. State Department approves a potential US$1.96 billion deal in arms sales to Saudi Arabia amidst the current Iran war and potential re-escalation with the Houthis.

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.

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) says that American forces have redirected two commercial vessels since the blockade resumed.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed "until the United States ends its acts of aggression".

Three drones are reportedly shot down near the U.S. consulate in Erbil.

Morocco signs an agreement with the Board of Peace to join the International Stabilization Force for Gaza.

A drone strike by the Rapid Support Forces hits a power station in the town of Al Dabbah in Sudan's Northern State.

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.

United Nations secretary-general António Guterres appoints Bangladeshi diplomat Rabab Fatima as the next head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

Papuan foreign minister Justin Tkatchenko announces the immediate closure of Taiwan's representative office in Port Moresby, citing Papua New Guinea's adherence to the One China policy, while saying the decision does not affect contracts between Taiwan's CPC Corporation and natural gas in Papua New Guinea.

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.

Kenya's High Court rejects a Rastafarian petition seeking a religious exemption from cannabis laws, ruling that the group does not show the laws violate religious freedom.

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.

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.

Moroccan prosecutors release journalist Ali Lmrabet after questioning him over online posts allegedly defaming unnamed individuals and institutions, while the criminal investigation continues.

IQAir ranks Toronto, Ontario, Canada, as having the worst air quality among major cities worldwide as smoke from wildfires in northwestern Ontario reaches the city, prompting the Canadian environment ministry to advise residents to remain indoors.

American technology company Amazon partners with South African internet provider Herotel to launch Amazon Leo satellite internet service in 2027, marking its first such African agreement.

The total amount of cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo exceed 2,000.

Sudan's health ministry reports that the total amount of cholera cases in north and west Kordofan has increased to 1,547.

One person is killed and 24 others are missing after a passenger boat sank off the coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia.