Airstrikes hit two bridges and a train station in Iran on Tuesday, and Iranian officials urged young people to form human chains to protect power plants, as U.S. President Donald Trump warned that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran does not meet his latest deadline for the Islamic Republic to agree to a deal that includes reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
With the moon now filling their windows, the Artemis II astronauts kicked off their lunar flyby Monday, taking in magnificent views of the far side never before witnessed while setting a new distance record for humanity.
Pope Leo XIV celebrated his first Easter Mass as pontiff with a call Sunday to lay down arms and seek peace to global conflicts through dialogue, but he departed from a tradition of listing the world’s woes by name in the Urbi et Orbi blessing from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica.
With the moon looming ever larger, the Artemis II astronauts raced to set a new distance record Monday from Earth on a lunar fly-around promising magnificent views of the far side never seen before by eye.
Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities on Tuesday released American academic Dennis Coyle after holding him for over a year, with the foreign ministry saying the release came on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
President Donald Trump extended his deadline for Iran to reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz to international shipping, saying Monday that the U.S. would hold off on threatened strikes against Iranian power plants for five days.
Heavy social media use contributes to a stark decline in well-being among young people, with the effects particularly worrying in teenage girls in English-speaking countries and Western Europe, according to the World Happiness Report 2026 published Thursday.
Stock markets fell sharply worldwide after another leap for oil prices hiked the pressure even higher on the global economy. Brent crude, the international standard, briefly rose above $119 per barrel Thursday morning before pulling back to $110, which is still 3.2% up from the prior day.
Officials in Cuba reported an island-wide blackout Monday in the country of some 11 million people as its energy and economic crises deepen and its power grid continues to crumble.
With no clear end in sight, the war with Iran is sending oil prices back to $100 per barrel and stocks sinking worldwide on Thursday.
