Iran had warned U.S. forces on Monday not to enter the strategic waterway after President Donald Trump said the United States would “guide out” ships stranded in the Gulf by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran

International News via Reuters:

Iran’s navy prevented “American-Zionist” warships entering the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, state TV reported, while the Fars news agency said two missiles had hit a U.S. warship near Jask island after it ignored Iranian warnings.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports, and there was no immediate response from the United States.

Iran had warned U.S. forces on Monday not to enter the strategic waterway after President Donald Trump said the United States would “guide out” ships stranded in the Gulf by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Trump gave few details of the plan to aid ships and their crews that have been confined to the vital waterway and are running low on food and other supplies more than two months into the conflict.

“We have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site on Sunday.

In response, Iran’s unified command told commercial ships and oil tankers to refrain from any movement that was not coordinated with Iran’s military.

“We have repeatedly said the security of the Strait of Hormuz is in our hands and that the safe passage of vessels needs to be coordinated with the armed forces,” Ali Abdollahi, head of the forces’ unified command, said in the statement.

“We warn that any foreign armed forces, especially the aggressive U.S. Army, will be attacked if they intend to approach and enter the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iran has blocked nearly all shipping into and out of the Gulf apart from its own since the start of the war, cutting off around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas shipments and sending oil prices soaring by 50% or more. [O/R]

U.S. Central Command, which for its part is blockading Iranian ports to put pressure on Tehran, said it would support the rescue effort with 15,000 military personnel and more than 100 land- and sea-based aircraft, plus warships and drones.

“Our support for this defensive mission is essential to regional security and the global economy as we also maintain the naval blockade,” Admiral Brad Cooper, the CENTCOM commander, said in a statement.

Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Andrew Goudsward, Lincoln Feast and Gareth Jones; editing by Clarence Fernandez and Kevin Liffey

The ship, carrying about 150 tourists from various countries, had departed Ushuaia, Southern Argentina, for Canary Islands about three weeks ago

International News via Reuters:

South Africa’s health ministry said on Monday that two passengers have died and a British national was in critical condition after a Netherlands-based cruise ship was hit by a suspected outbreak of hantavirus.

The ship, carrying about 150 tourists from various countries, had departed Ushuaia, Southern Argentina, for Canary Islands about three weeks ago.

Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov and Nilutpal Timsina;Editing by Bate Felix

The coast guard and police on Sunday boarded the Syrian-flagged Jin Hui in Swedish territorial waters

International News via Reuters:

The Chinese captain of a seized oil tanker with suspected Russian links has been placed under arrest on suspicion of carrying false documents and of violating laws on seaworthiness, a Swedish prosecutor said on Monday.

The coast guard and police on Sunday boarded the Syrian-flagged Jin Hui in Swedish territorial waters. 

The captain, who was not named, will be interrogated on Monday, Senior Prosecutor Adrien Combier-Hogg said in a statement.

Authorities said the vessel was believed to belong to the shadow fleet, a clandestine network of vessels Russia has used to evade Western sanctions imposed on it in response to the Ukraine war.

As European nations have increased their efforts to disrupt the shadow fleet, Sunday’s arrest of the Jin Hui was Sweden’s fifth such action this year.

Russia has not commented on the latest action, but has previously condemned interceptions of its vessels as hostile.

It was not immediately known how the suspect responded to the ship’s seizure or the accusations against him.

The coast guard said the ship, whose destination was unclear and which was not thought to be carrying a cargo, figured on several sanctions lists, including those of the European Union and Britain.

Reporting by Terje Solsvik in Oslo and Jesus Calero in Gdansk; editing by Barbara Lewis

Videos on social media showed a large monster truck clearing an obstacle but failing to brake in time, causing the vehicle to veer off to the side and plow into spectators

International News via Reuters:

At least two people were killed and a further 37 were injured on Sunday after a monster truck plowed into crowds at an exhibition event in the southern Colombian city of Popayan, in the province of Cauca, the regional governor said.

Videos on social media showed a large monster truck clearing an obstacle but failing to brake in time, causing the vehicle to veer off to the side and plow into spectators.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the footage. A Popayan city official said one of the victims was a 10-year-old girl, according to Colombian newspaper El Espectador.

Reporting by Iñigo Alexander, Editing by Tom Hogue

The ECB kept rates on hold on Thursday but held an in‑depth discussion about raising borrowing costs to tackle surging inflation triggered by soaring energy prices and indicated a move could come as early as June

International News via Reuters:

The European Central Bank needs clear evidence inflationary pressures are becoming entrenched to begin raising interest rates, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Monday.

The ECB kept rates on hold on Thursday, as was expected, but held an in‑depth discussion about raising borrowing costs to tackle surging inflation triggered by soaring energy prices and indicated a move could come as early as June.

Villeroy, an outspoken dove on the ECB’s governing council, said any tightening would depend above all on signs that inflation is spreading beyond its initial drivers, particularly through underlying price pressures, wage developments and inflation expectations among households and businesses.

While those expectations are harder to measure than financial market indicators, he said the key question is whether they remain anchored over the medium term, around a three‑year horizon.

“Before any possible tightening, it is necessary to have gathered a critical mass of data,” Villeroy said in an annual letter to French President Emmanuel Macron on the state of the economy.

Villeroy, who is due to stand down from the French central bank in the coming weeks, cautioned that monetary policy must remain prudent.

Reporting by Leigh Thomas, editing by Inti Landauro

The attack on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration killed 15, fuelling calls for tougher gun controls and more action to tackle hatred towards Jews, following a spate of antisemitic incidents

International News via Reuters:

Australia began public hearings on Monday in an inquiry into the Bondi Beach mass shooting in December, with Jewish Australians giving evidence of their experience of rising domestic antisemitism.

The attack on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration killed 15, fuelling calls for tougher gun controls and more action to tackle hatred towards Jews, following a spate of antisemitic incidents.

The first block of public hearings will investigate the nature and prevalence of antisemitism, said Virginia Bell, the retired judge leading the wide-ranging national inquiry known as a Royal Commission.

“The sharp spike in antisemitism that we’ve witnessed in Australia has been mirrored in other Western countries and seems clearly linked to events in the Middle East,” Bell said.

“It’s important that people understand how quickly those events can prompt ugly displays of hostility towards Jewish Australians simply because they’re Jews.”

‘WE DON’T FEEL SAFE HERE’

Witnesses from the Jewish community told the inquiry they felt increasingly unsafe amid rising hostility since the October 2023 start of the war in Gaza.

“What is happening in Australia today is not a faint echo of a distant past,” said Peter Halasz, an 86-year-old Holocaust survivor who fled to Australia from Hungary.

“For those of us who lived through the 1930s and 1940s, it is something we recognise, and that recognition is frightening and cause for alarm.”

Sheina Gutnick, who lost her father Reuven Morrison in the Bondi attack, said antisemitism had damaged her family’s sense of safety and freedom of movement.

“As a mother, I’m constantly weighing up the risk of exposing my children to environments where they may be witness, or subject, to antisemitism,” she told the panel.

She recounted an incident in which a stranger at a shopping centre called her an “effing terrorist” for wearing a Star of David necklace.

Another witness said her family was relocating to Israel because of safety concerns.

“We never expected synagogues to be burned down,” said the woman, who used the pseudonym “AAM”. “We never expected Jews to be hunted on Bondi Beach.

“My family and I no longer want to live in Australia. We don’t feel safe here. We don’t feel welcome.”

JEWISH SCHOOL LOOKS ‘MORE LIKE A PRISON’

Stefanie Schwartz, the president of Sydney Jewish primary school Mount Sinai College, spoke of holding drills to prepare young students to deal with terrorist attacks, and requiring an “extreme” security presence on campus.

“You walk past our school and it looks a lot more like a prison than a primary school.”

Antisemitism has “run riot”, with Jewish Australians being held responsible for the actions of the Israeli government, said Benjamin Elton, the chief minister of the Great Synagogue in Sydney.

The inquiry released an interim report of 14 recommendations last Thursday, urging greater security for Jewish public events and further counter-terrorism and gun reforms.

A second block of hearings later in May will focus on the circumstances leading up to the Bondi Beach attack and issues raised in the interim report.

The commission is due to deliver its final report on December 14, exactly a year after the attack.

Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Sonali Paul and Clarence Fernandez

Six individuals were affected in the incident, of whom three have died and one is in intensive care in South Africa, it said in a post on X

International News via Reuters:

Three people have died and one case of hantavirus has been confirmed among passengers on a cruise vessel sailing in the Atlantic Ocean, the World Health Organization said on Sunday.

Six individuals were affected in the incident, of whom three have died and one is in intensive care in South Africa, it said in a post on X.

The WHO did not name the vessel or its operator, although a source familiar with the situation said it was the MV Hondius, travelling from Argentina to Cape Verde.

“WHO is facilitating coordination between member states and the ship’s operators for medical evacuation of two symptomatic passengers, as well as full public health risk assessment and support to the remaining passengers on board,” the WHO said.

A Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed that two Dutch passengers had died, but gave no further details.

Sky News reported that a British tourist was being treated in a hospital in South Africa after the suspected hantavirus outbreak, citing South Africa’s Department of Health. It also quoted Britain’s Foreign Office as saying it was closely monitoring reports of a potential hantavirus outbreak on the Hondius and was in touch with the cruise company and local authorities.

The British Foreign Office and South Africa’s Department of Health did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Mihika Sharma; Editing by Edmund Klamann