The seizure of the Skipper on Wednesday marked the first US capture of Venezuelan oil cargo since sanctions were imposed in 2019

Venezuelan oil exports have reportedly fallen sharply since the US seized a tanker this week and imposed fresh sanctions on shipping companies and vessels doing business with Caracas, according to shipping data, documents and maritime sources.

The US seizure of the Skipper tanker off Venezuela’s coast on Wednesday was the first US capture of Venezuelan oil cargo since sanctions were imposed in 2019 and marked a sharp escalation in rising tensions between the Trump administration and the government of Nicolás Maduro.

Conflict monitors say the junta has increased airstrikes year-on-year since the start of Myanmar’s civil war

Dozens have been killed in a military strike on a hospital in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, according to an aid worker, a rebel group, a witness and local media reports, as the junta wages a withering offensive ahead of elections beginning this month.

“The situation is very terrible,” said on-site aid worker Wai Hun Aung. “As for now, we can confirm there are 31 deaths and we think there will be more deaths. Also there are 68 wounded and will be more and more.”

British government also rejects president’s claims on sovereignty over Falkland Islands as he suggests wanting to make Argentina a ‘world military power’

The British government has denied it is engaged in negotiations to lift a ban on selling arms to Argentina that has been in place since the Falklands war.

Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, told the Daily Telegraph his government had begun speaking to the UK about the restrictions.

The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) carries $8bn more than the funding Trump requested in May

The US House has approved a sweeping defence bill that bolsters Europe’s security, in what appears to be sharp rebuke to Donald Trump’s mounting threats to downgrade Washington’s ties to traditional allies and Nato.

The bipartisan vote came just days after the publication of a White House national security strategy that said Europe faced “civilisational erasure” and made explicit Washington’s support for Europe’s nationalist far-right parties – rattling EU leaders and opening up a seismic shift in transatlantic relations.

Space agency is investigating after Maven abruptly stopped communicating to ground stations over the weekend

Nasa has lost contact with a spacecraft that has orbited Mars for more than a decade, though the US space agency said it was trying to re-establish a communications link.

Maven abruptly stopped communicating to ground stations over the weekend. Nasa said this week that the spacecraft had been working fine before it went behind the red planet. When it reappeared, there was only silence. “Telemetry showed all subsystems working normally before it orbited behind [Mars],” Nasa said in a statement.