U.S. Army paratroopers prepare an M119 howitzer for a fire mission during a field artillery live-fire exercise in the Middle East. Courtesy: U.S. Army Hello, this is Anniek Bao writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open. President Trump’s decision to call off a planned strike on Iran sent oil…
US President Donald Trump says the Board of Peace has reached an agreement for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza in what he says was “a critical step towards Gaza finally being governed by a new Palestinian government”. It was unclear whether Hamas and Israel were part of the agreement….
Ending the military-heavy AUSSOM gives the AU space to develop a political mission focused on long-term stabilisation. After nearly 20 years of operations, the African Union Stabilisation and Support Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) is no longer tenable. On 1 July, the United States (US) notified the AU that it would not provide funding for the…
A woman walks past war-themed graffiti and murals painted on walls along the capital Tehran’s streets and avenues as air defense systems are activated during the night while daily life continues in the shadow of rising military tensions between the US and Iran on July 22, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. Fatemeh Bahrami | Anadolu |…
The Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and the Government of Botswana co-hosted the High-Level Harmonisation Meeting of the AU Panel of Facilitators and the Independent Joint Secretariat (IJS) on the peace process for the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Gaborone, Botswana, from 24 to 26 July 2026. The meeting…
Oil prices rose Wednesday after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran was not serious about reaching a deal to end the fighting, and vowed the U.S. military would continue to protect shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, traded about 2.5% higher at $93.32. U.S. West Texas Intermediate…
The United States launched dozens of strikes on Iran early on Wednesday in what it said was retaliation for Tehran’s attacks on commercial ships in the highly contested Strait of Hormuz, sparking widespread fears of the renewal of all-out war in the Middle East. After the US attacks, President Donald Trump told reporters at a…
With fewer than five years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a new UN report says sustained investment and international cooperation have improved billions of lives, but warns that governments must urgently accelerate action if the goals are to be met by their 2030 deadline. The findings come from the 2026 SDG Progress…
Policing is the cornerstone of peace, said top UN officials ahead of the fifth UN Chiefs of Police Summit, which begins on Tuesday. Key takeaways Follow us on WhatsApp | LinkedIn for the latest headlines The two-day summit brings together ministers, chiefs of police and senior representatives of policing organizations to discuss how UN policing…
An agreement signed four days ago between the Israeli and Lebanese governments, which links Israel pulling its forces out of southern Lebanon with Hezbollah being disarmed, could effectively keep Israeli troops in the neighboring nation indefinitely, analysts say, and that could make a final peace deal between the U.S. and Iran harder to achieve. Hezbollah…
