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MANILA: The United States and the Philippines have announced plans for a 4,000-acre “Economic Security Zone” in Luzon (ESZ), a new industrial hub meant to strengthen supply chains for critical goods and deepen allied manufacturing ties, according to a US State Department fact sheet and a post by Under Secretary of State Jacob Helberg. The project, about 1,618.7 hectares (16,187,000 square metres, about 16.187 square km) is being described as the first “AI-native investment acceleration hub” under "Pax Silica", a US-led initiative aimed at building secure supply chains among partner countries. Officials said the site is intended to help secure...

President Donald Trump on April 16 defended his criticism of Pope Leo XIV’s stance on the Iran war, saying he has a right to disagree with the Holy Father and that a meeting is not necessary to resolve their differences. Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump said he has “no disagreement with the fact the pope can say what he wants, and I want him to say what he wants, but I can disagree.”“I want him to preach the Gospel. I’m all about the Gospel,” Trump said of Pope Leo at another point. “But I also know you...

Iran insisted its uranium was “not going anywhere” despite Donald Trump claiming a deal had been struck for the US to remove the nuclear material.The US president told Reuters that he would work with the Iranian leadership to extract the radioactive element from the country at a “nice leisurely pace” before taking it back to America.But Iran’s foreign ministry rejected Mr Trump’s claim, insisting that no such deal existed.“Iran’s enriched uranium is not going to be transferred anywhere,” Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, said.Tehran officials also denied Mr Trump’s suggestion that the Islamic Republic had agreed...

A number of tankers and cargo ships did try to exit the strait Friday via the route designated by Iran around Larak Island but they suddenly turned back, said Matt Smith, director of commodity research at Kpler. “They’ve clearly not been given approval to pass through,” Smith said. Commercial ships must follow a route designated by Tehran and coordinate with its military, a source close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council told Tasnim News. Ships are not allowed to pass if they or their cargoes are linked to hostile nations, according to the Tasnim report. It is “unclear whether there’s...

The speaker of Iran’s Parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Qalibaf, said Friday that Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz again amid the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports, contradicting President Trump, who said the strait was “open for business” earlier in the day. His remarks came as Trump was on stage delivering a speech in Arizona at a Turning Point USA event. “With the continuation of the blockade, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open,” Qalibaf wrote in a post on social platform X, adding that passage through the strait will be “conducted based on the ‘designated route’ and with Iranian authorization.”...

Investors placed a bet worth about $760 million ​on a falling oil ​price around 20 minutes before Iran's foreign minister announced ​on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz was open, another sizeable wager on the world's most traded commodity ahead of major announcements in the course of the ‌Middle East ⁠war. Large, ⁠well-timed trades in recent months have drawn concern from U.S. lawmakers and legal ​experts that decisions around war and diplomacy can give some traders an edge ​in volatile and opaque derivatives markets. Between 1224 GMT and 1225 GMT investors sold a combined 7,990 lots of Brent crude futures,...

President Trump sprinted ahead Friday to take a victory lap celebrating what he said was Iran’s agreement to open the Strait of Hormuz and a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. But conflicting statements from Iranian officials and Israeli pushback on the terms of the ceasefire with Lebanon are raising doubt about the president’s actual successes. “I’m concerned that, in this round, Iran came out with the upper hand,” Danny Citrinowicz, senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, posted on the social platform X. Trump began Friday morning with a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon in...

Air Canada will suspend service to New York’s JFK International airport over the summer as the war in Iran creates jet fuel shortages that have sent prices soaring. Canada’s flag carrier said Friday that service from Toronto and Montreal to JFK will cease June 1 and resume Oct. 25. Service to the New York metropolitan area’s two other airports — LaGuardia and Newark — will continue. Air Canada says it will reach out to customers who are impacted by the suspension with alternate travel options. “As jet fuel prices have doubled since the start of the Iran conflict and some...

Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg today announced the United States’ and the Philippines’ plans to establish a 4,000-acre industrial hub to secure inputs vital to American and global supply chains. The site is located in the Luzon Economic Corridor of the Philippines. The site—the first of its kind—is being designated by the Philippines as an Economic Security Zone, a new model for AI-native investment acceleration hubs being developed under the Pax Silica Initiative. The Economic Security Zone is part of a broader strategy to surge production for inputs vital to U.S. supply chains. It is expected...

If you read the New York Times or watch the foreign policy establishment’s “best and brightest,” you will be told, with imperious certainty, that America is losing the war in Iran and was stupid to begin it. The conspiratorial wing on both the right and left add that it is all the Jews’ fault, although they usually remember to mutter they mean “Israel” instead of all Jews, a gossamer cloak over what they really mean. If, on the other hand, you watch Fox News or read blogs by conservatives or military analysts, you will be told with equal certainty that...

France and Britain said Friday they will lead a multinational mission to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, while emphasising the force would be entirely defensive and only deployed once lasting peace in the region was agreed. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed the force was being set up as they co-chaired international talks in Paris focused on ensuring free-flowing trade through the critical shipping corridor. The conference, held mainly by video link, brought together a total of 49 countries from Europe and Asia, which were represented at various levels including dozens...

All ships can sail through the Strait of Hormuz but this needs to be coordinated ‌with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a senior Iranian official told Reuters, adding that unfreezing Iranian funds was part of the deal. Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi wrote on X that the strait was open after a ceasefire accord was agreed in Lebanon, while U.S. President Donald Trump said he believed a deal to end the Iran war would come "soon", although the timing remains unclear. The Iranian official said transits would be restricted to lanes that Iran deemed safe, ⁠adding that military vessels were...

Oil prices have plummeted after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz would be "completely open" to commercial ships for the remainder of the ceasefire. The cost of a barrel of Brent crude fell to $88 dollars a barrel, having been above $98 earlier on Friday. The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow strip of water linking the Gulf to the Arabian sea, through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquified natural gas is typically transported. US President Donald Trump welcomed Iran's statement, but maritime groups are still verifying the Iranian announcement. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said: "The...

Two images of the rationed meals served to crews deployed to the Middle East have gone viral online, sparking concern about the conditions aboard U.S. warships and reports of dwindling food supplies.In the images, taken anonymously and provided by families to USA Today on Thursday, one tray contains little more than shredded meat and a single tortilla, and another depicts what relatives described as an unidentifiable “grey” processed slab alongside vegetables.

A highly respected figure from Hungary’s Catholic education sector is set to become the education minister in Péter Magyar’s incoming Tisza-led government, according to multiple independent sources. Telex reports that the party has asked the director-general of the Cistercian School Authority to take on the post, and that she has already accepted the role, although she declined to comment publicly before the new government is formally established. The reported appointment would be one of the clearest personnel signals yet about how seriously Tisza intends to pursue its promised overhaul of Hungary’s troubled public education system.

The price of oil plunged sharply and U.S. stock indexes opened at new all-time highs after the Iranian foreign minister said that the Strait of Hormuz was open for commercial vessels. U.S. crude oil plunged 10% to nearly $85 per barrel, while international Brent crude also slid more than 8% to around $90 per barrel. Heating oil futures, which are a proxy for jet fuel, plummeted 13%. Wholesale RBOB gas futures also fell 7%. At the opening bell, the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1%. Both set new all-time highs in early trading as a result....

The Republican-led Senate on Wednesday rejected the latest Democratic attempt to halt President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, turning aside a resolution that would require the U.S. to withdraw forces from the conflict until Congress authorizes further action. The 47-52 vote was the fourth time this year that the Senate has voted to cede its war powers to the president in a conflict that Democrats say is illegal and unjustified. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman was the only Democrat to vote against it. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voted with Democrats. Republicans say they will keep faith in Trump’s wartime...

“We’re very close to making a deal with Iran,” Trump said, adding that negotiators may meet again “over the weekend.” Pakistan, which has been mediating between the two sides, is expected to host the next round of talks. Trump said he would consider traveling there if an agreement is reached. “I would go to Pakistan,” Trump said. “If a deal is signed in Islamabad, I might go. They want me.” The ceasefire between the sides, which began last Tuesday, is set to expire next week, though Trump suggested it may not need to be extended.

In a little over a year in office, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has achieved a series of military triumphs that have not, perhaps, been equaled since World War II: the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities, the arrest of Nicolas Maduro, and the air campaign against Iran’s regime. These missions have been flawlessly executed by Hegseth’s department, so naturally the Democrats want to impeach him.The first articles of impeachment were filed in January by Michigan Congressman Shri Thanedar, but got little attention. A new, expanded set of articles was filed today. You can read the document here. Axios describes the...

"Oh, to be in England, now that April's there," Robert Browning wrote nearly two centuries ago in Home Thoughts from Abroad, but this April, Britons might pine for the riches of... Mississippi?Yes, Mississippi, if they take just a brief gander at the new Institute of Economic Affairs report on the comparative wealth between Britain, American states, and Britons' sad delusions about where they stand. According to the IEA, ask the typical Brit where his country ranks, income-wise, if it were a state. And the typical answer is "Seventh place."Not quite, old chap. The sad fact is that if Britain were...