Morning Headlines

Following marathon peace talks in Switzerland, Iran agreed to allow IAEA inspectors back in and the US temporarily lifted oil sanctions; the UN's International Maritime Organization launched a coordinated evacuation of more than 11,000 seafarers stranded in the Persian Gulf since the Strait closed in February. The deal represents the most significant de-escalation in the US–Iran conflict since hostilities erupted, though disputes remain over the exact scope of the inspection agreement.

Investors dumped AI and semiconductor stocks amid growing doubt over returns on more than $1.6 trillion in cumulative AI investment, sending the Nasdaq down 2.2%, Micron down 13%, Nvidia down 4%, and South Korea's Kospi tumbling far enough to trigger a circuit breaker. The sell-off echoes dot-com era anxieties and comes as both OpenAI and Anthropic are reportedly weighing landmark IPOs.

Starmer stepped down as Britain's prime minister less than two years after Labour's 2024 landslide, citing relentless internal pressure and dismal council-election results driven by the surge of far-right Reform UK. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, sworn in as an MP hours after the announcement, is widely seen as the frontrunner to become the UK's seventh leader in ten years.

The DRC Ebola outbreak — caused by the Bundibugyo virus — has reached more than 1,000 confirmed cases and 267 deaths across multiple provinces, with the infection also spreading into Uganda. Health officials describe it as the highest first-month case count ever recorded for an Ebola outbreak in Africa, raising urgent fears of wider regional spread.

Abelardo de la Espriella, a flamboyant lawyer with no prior public office, narrowly defeated leftist Iván Cepeda by less than one percentage point in Colombia's presidential runoff — a result Trump celebrated and thousands of Colombians protested in the streets of Bogotá and Medellín. The outcome marks a hard-right turn for South America's fourth-largest economy, with de la Espriella pledging El Salvador-style mega-prisons and new oil exploration.