Headlines

Newsletter: A Commissioner's secret trip to Israel

In this newsletter: A high-ranking EU official visits Jerusalem on Monday, exposing a vacuum of information about the trip; UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to lay-out how he will vacate Number 10 Downing Street; plus, the EU-Moldova summit gets underway in the

Trump threatens to invade Iran, torpedoing Swiss peace talks

US President Donald Trump’s threats to destroy Iran and send US forces to occupy the country on Sunday appear to have derailed peace negotiations in Switzerland, with the Iranian delegation reportedly walking out and demanding an apology. Following Iran’s announcement that it

Asia

Serving up success for Belgium

Never mind about the football World Cup… Belgium has crowned two champions already. Claude Remacle and Kristof Vandenabeele have been crowned national champions in a competition organized by the Belgian Bartenders' Union. Claude scooped top prize in the “Classic” category while

China’s Malacca panic jails US scholar to appease Myanmar

The Strait of Hormuz isn’t China’s only chokepoint. The Strait of Malacca may be more strategically vital — and on June 12, Beijing arrested an American scholar to protect its access to it. Min Zin, a scholar of China-Myanmar relations and US citizen, was wrongfully detained in

Asia

T. rex took 40 years to reach full size, scientists find

Tyrannosaurus rex may have been a much slower grower than scientists realized. A new study of 17 tyrannosaur fossils found that the giant predator likely took about 40 years to reach its full size of roughly eight tons, extending previous estimates by 15 years.

How America’s war crowned Iran as the Gulf’s new hegemon

There is a particular irony — the kind that history savors — in the fact that the United States set out in February 2026 to destroy Iran as a regional power and instead ended up cementing its dominance. This is not a paradox – it is a pattern. Anyone who has paid attention to

Asia

Key points from the first round of Iran-US talks

Iran and the United States wrapped up the first round of talks to end the Middle East war at the Burgenstock resort in Switzerland on Monday, with technical talks to continue. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi hailed the "major progress" achieved with the help of mediators