BIG Wrap

(BBC News) Israel has hit the Lebanese capital, Beirut, for only the second time since the start of a ceasefire last month. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the attack at about 14:00 (11:00 GMT) was carried out in a "targeted manner", but gave no details. Israeli media cited unnamed sources as saying the target of the strike had been the head of an Iranian militia. Israel had spared Beirut at the request of the US,...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) United States President Donald Trump has threatened longtime ally Oman with military force if it gets involved in the dispute over shipping access to the Strait of Hormuz, as Washington’s war on Iran once again risks engulfing the Middle East. Trump’s threat on Wednesday to “blow up” Oman came as Muscat reportedly held talks with Iran about overseeing passage through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway that handles more than 20 percent...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) India and the United States have signed a framework agreement to secure supplies of critical minerals and rare earths, including their mining and processing, according to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the US embassy in India. Tuesday’s deal was finalised between Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in New Delhi during Rubio’s four-day trip to India. Rubio spent a few days in India before a...

(BBC News) Autocratic monarchs once left an echo of their glory in the ruins of the megaprojects they commanded at the peak of their unchallenged power. Those monumental physical traces are to be found in the fertile plains, mountainsides and deserts of the Middle East. But one of their most prominent modern counterparts may only have a digital footprint to leave behind for some of his most ambitious concepts. A decade ago, the Crown Prince...