World - Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Pakistan denies allowing Iranian aircraft to use its airfields amid U.S.-Iran tensions. President Donald Trump says Pakistani mediation efforts have been "great."

Shadow treasurer says his objective is to ‘defeat’ changes to capital gains and negative gearing. Follow today’s news live See all our Australia budget 2026 coverage Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australia to send military plane to strait of Hormuz reopening mission Australia will join an international mission to reopen the strait of Hormuz, with plans to contribute a hi-tech surveillance plane to the effort. Our intention is to contribute Australia’s world-leading E-7A Wedgetail aircraft to this defensive effort. While this platform [the Wedgetail] is already doing work in the region, providing this capability would make a valuable contribution to the multinational mission and efforts to secure freedom of navigation in the strait of Hormuz. We want to see this conflict end, the strait of Hormuz open and freedom of navigation resume. The longer this conflict goes on the more significant the impact on Australia will be. Our government is doing all we can to shield Australians from the impacts. Continue reading...

Iran stuck to its most recent demands after President Trump dismissed them as unacceptable. As Mr. Trump left for a summit in China, he told reporters the war was “very much under control.”

FBI director also dismisses allegations of unexplained absences as Democrats challenge him over Atlantic report US politics live – latest updates Embattled FBI director Kash Patel has denied under oath recent allegations of excessive drinking and unexplained absences on the job, dismissing them as “baseless” during a fiery congressional hearing. Democrats challenged him over the “extremely alarming” reports, first reported in the Atlantic mid-April, which they argued would a mount to a “gross dereliction” of duty. The FBI director has sued the magazine , and the author of a story it published , filing a defamation lawsuit in US district court for the District of Columbia that seeks $250m in damages. Continue reading...

Lebanon's health ministry says the paramedics were carrying out a rescue mission in Nabatieh in response to an earlier attack that killed one person.

Experts say Xi Jinping may seek to influence President Trump to make certain concessions over Taiwan in exchange for cooperation on tariffs, fentanyl and global flashpoints like Iran.

A military spokesman confirmed the bombing in Zamfara state, but said there was no verifiable evidence of civilian casualties.

Pete Hegseth and other officials appear before House to face grilling on Iran war expenditure and military operations Iran has expanded its definition of the strait of Hormuz into a “vast operational area” far wider than before the war, according to a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy in comments likely to anger the US. The strait is no longer viewed as a narrow stretch around a handful of islands but instead has been greatly enlarged in scope and military significance, according to Mohammad Akbarzadeh, deputy political director of the IRGC Navy, the state-affiliated Fars news agency reported this morning. Continue reading...

Patel and Chris Van Hollen, ranking member of the Senate appropriations subcommittee, trade accusations in heated budget hearing Sign up for the Breaking News US email The Pentagon revealed on 29 April that the US war on Iran had cost about $25bn for roughly two months of spending. Today, when asked if there are any updated costs associated with the war, Jules Hurst III , chief financial official for the Pentagon, said: “At the time of testimony … it was $25bn dollars. But the joint staff team and the comptroller are constantly looking at estimates and now we think it is closer to 29.” Continue reading...

Residents of Rmeish, a Christian town in southern Lebanon, say they confronted Hezbollah and blocked them from using the village area.