The White House said on Monday that it was examining Iran's latest proposal to unblock the Strait of Hormuz, two months after a US and Israeli offensive sent shockwaves through the global economy.
Peace talks between the United States and Iran to end the Middle East war and fully reopen the vital strait have so far proven inconclusive since a ceasefire came into force.
By Michael Holden and Suzanne Plunkett
LONDON/WASHINGTON, April 27 (Reuters) - Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla arrive in the United States later on Monday for a four-day trip, a tour which has taken on even greater prominence after the White House Correspondents' dinner shooting and amid acrimony between the close allies.
The state visit, by far the most high-profile and consequential of Charles's reign, marks the 250th anniversary of the U.S. declaration of independence from British rule, and is the first to the country by a British monarch for two decades.
By Steve Holland and Asif Shahzad
WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD, April 27 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran could telephone if it wants to negotiate an end to their two-month war, as Tehran's foreign minister landed in Russia on Monday to seek support from President Vladimir Putin.
ANKARA, April 27 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan offered his support for U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call following a shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, the Turkish presidency said late on Sunday.
"Erdogan said he saw the incident as a heinous act against democracy and press freedom," the presidency said in a statement on X.
Earlier, Erdogan had condemned the incident in a separate statement on X, saying he was happy that Trump and first lady Melania Trump were unharmed.
Images of bareheaded women sipping coffee in cafes in Tehran, in apparent defiance of the Islamic republic's strict dress rule, have stirred interest outside Iran -- but for Elnaz, 32, it is no breakthrough.
"It is not at all a sign of any change in the government in my opinion. Because no achievement has been made regarding women's rights," said Elnaz, a painter in Tehran, who like other women in the capital and elsewhere contacted by AFP in Paris asked that her full name not be published.
Stuck for over a year behind a perimeter fence on a defunct American base on Doha's edge, 1,100 former Afghan allies of US forces and their families have escaped Afghanistan with their lives only to find themselves trapped in uncertainty.
"We are all living in extreme anxiety, we feel that we are in limbo, not only me and my family, but other people here," Rasouly, a former interpreter for US forces in Afghanistan, and now a 19-month resident at Camp As Sayliyah (CAS) in Qatar, told AFP by phone.
April 26 (Reuters) - Iran through Pakistani mediators gave the U.S. a new proposal on reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the ending of the war, with nuclear negotiations postponed for a later stage, Axios reported on Sunday, citing a U.S. official and two sources with knowledge of the matter.
(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Hogue)
By Johan Ahlander
STOCKHOLM, April 27 (Reuters) - Global military spending rose 2.9% in 2025 despite a 7.5% decline in the United States as President Donald Trump halted new financial military aid to Ukraine, a report by a conflict think-tank showed on Monday.
Expenditure increased to $2.89 trillion in 2025, rising for the 11th consecutive year and taking spending as a share of global gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.5% - its highest level since 2009, according to the data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Global military spending reached nearly $2.9 trillion in 2025, marking an 11th consecutive year of growth, researchers said Monday, as insecurity and rearmament fuelled defence budgets.
The three top spenders -- the United States, China and Russia -- spent a combined total of $1.48 trillion, just over half of global expenditure.
Spending rose by 2.9 percent compared with 2024, despite a reduction by the US, the world's biggest spender, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
April 26 (Reuters) - Israeli strikes killed 14 people and wounded 37 on Sunday, Lebanon's health ministry said, as the Israeli military warned residents to leave seven towns beyond the "buffer zone" it occupied before a ceasefire that has failed to fully halt hostilities.
Sunday's death toll included two children and two women, the health ministry added in a statement. Israel said one of its soldiers was also killed as a fragile ceasefire came under further strain.
