United States

Switzerland Reopens its Embassy in Tehran

Switzerland said on Sunday it was reopening its embassy in Tehran, which was closed last month amid an air war with Israel, and will resume representing US interests in the country. As of Sunday, the embassy is "again open, having temporarily been closed on June 20 owing to the instability of the situation in the country," the Swiss ...

Texas Flood Kills 50, Dozens of Children Still Missing After River Camp Disaster

Rescuers searched through the night early Sunday for 27 girls missing from a riverside summer camp in Texas after torrential rains caused devastating floods that killed at least 50 people in the US state. Multiple flash flood warnings remained in place across central Texas after water surged through communities, with the Guadalupe River rising by ...

Trump Signs His "Beautiful Bill" for US Independence Day

US President Donald Trump signed his flagship tax and spending bill into law Friday, capping a grandiose White House Independence Day ceremony featuring a stealth bomber fly-by. "America is winning, winning, winning like never before," Trump said before signing the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill" while flanked by Republican ...

Lebanon Risks Missing the Train

There was a time when the idea of Syria normalizing ties with Israel would’ve been laughed out of every Arab capital. Not anymore. Damascus is reportedly engaged in serious discussions to join the Abraham Accords. Once-controversial deals, the Accords now seem like the Middle East’s new baseline. That Syria, of all countries, is entertaining ...

Reuters: Hezbollah Weighs Partial Disarmament Amid Mounting Pressures

According to a detailed Reuters report published on July 4, Hezbollah has begun internal discussions over potentially scaling back its military role without fully disarming, a significant strategic reconsideration in the aftermath of its devastating war with Israel. Citing three sources familiar with the ongoing, unfinalized deliberations, the ...

Trump to sign 'big, beautiful' bill on US Independence Day

US President Donald Trump will sign his flagship tax and spending bill Friday in a pomp-laden Independence Day ceremony featuring fireworks and a flypast by the type of stealth bomber that bombed Iran. Trump pushed Republican lawmakers to get his unpopular "One Big Beautiful Bill" through a reluctant Congress in time for him to sign it ...

What is the State of Play with Trump's Tariffs?

With sweeping tariffs on friend and foe, US President Donald Trump has roiled financial markets and sparked a surge in economic uncertainty -- and tensions are mounting days before a fresh volley of higher duties are due to kick in. Here is a rundown of what Trump has implemented in his second presidency, with levies on dozens of economies set to ...

US Sanctions Seven al-Qard al-Hassan Officials and Iranian Oil Smuggling Network

The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday against seven individuals linked to al-Qard al-Hassan (AQAH), Hezbollah’s illicit financial institution, the US Treasury Department announced in a statement. Sanctions also targeted a commercial network involved in smuggling Iranian oil disguised as Iraqi. The seven individuals sanctioned for ...

Iran Diplomat Says Open to Talks if US Rules Out Military Action

A senior Iranian diplomat said Thursday his country remains open to diplomacy provided the United States offers guarantees it will not resort to military action against the Islamic republic. The remarks came as US news website Axios, citing two unidentified sources, reported that White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was planning to meet ...

Iran Says Remains Committed to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

Iran on Thursday affirmed its commitment to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty as it accused Germany of "malice" over its criticism of Tehran's decision to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog. "Iran remains committed to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) and its Safeguards Agreement," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post ...