God bless their cotton spreadsheets, but the boffins at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) just dropped their latest economic outlook , and it's edgier than the calm headlines suggest, starting with…
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INDIA
Modi and Australian PM Albanese sealed a deal in Melbourne yesterday to unlock commercial Australian uranium exports to India, more than a decade after the two countries struck a civil nuclear deal. India wants 100GW of nuclear power by 2047, but because India is a non-NPT state, it took a decade of legal and safeguards work to get the deal done. (ABC News)
VENEZUELA
The UN has launched a $296M appeal to help 1.3 million Venezuelans after last month's twin earthquakes. The official death toll passed 3,800 yesterday and Caracas is now urging the UK and US to release its frozen gold and funds to help pay for recovery. (Euronews)
IRAN
Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has “ground to a near halt” after two consecutive nights of US strikes on Iran, while President Trump has again floated seizing the Kharg Island terminal which handles ~90% of Iran's crude exports. (CNBC)
✧ NATO
NATO is considering skipping next year's summit in Albania, with the alliance's top military officer telling Bloomberg TV the timing is now under discussion after Wednesday's Ankara declaration omitted any date. (Bloomberg)
UKRAINE
Ukraine says its drones hit another 14 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov overnight, including 12 shadow fleet tankers, taking its four-day tally to about 35 ships. Moscow has been forced to ban diesel exports until 31 July and will begin importing seaborne gasoline for the first time in decades. (PBS)
SYRIA
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons restored Syria's rights and privileges yesterday. Those rights had been suspended since 2021 over Assad-era chemical attacks. On Wednesday, the Trump administration told Congress it intends to lift Syria's state sponsor of terrorism designation. (Al Jazeera)
SUDAN
ICC deputy prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told the BBC yesterday, after meeting survivors in eastern Chad, that investigators have made a "breakthrough", with evidence now linking the el-Geneina (2023) and el-Fasher (2025) massacres to leadership-level figures in the ‘Rapid Support Forces’ paramilitary. (BBC)
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