A missile lands in a field in Poland, Saudi Arabia is forming a maritime alliance to protect shipping vessels, European football could boycott the next World Cup, and a Pan Am Boeing 747 crash lands in San Francisco. These stories and more are some of the top headlines GEORGE is covering today in the @World News Roundup. GEORGE’s @The War Room feature now covers multiple battles and conflicts across the globe, including important dispatches in the Russo-Ukrainian War and the U.S.-Israeli War in Iran. Our @The War Room correspondents report. The constant barrage of news headlines about artificial intelligence sparked an idea for the newspaper’s @The Sketch editorial cartoon columnist. Frustrated by the lack of substance versus hype, he used the power of the fountain pen and nib to make a point. Today’s editorial cartoon appears immediately below the current section. Today’s @World News Roundup features key stories from our correspondents that you may have missed in the course of a week that never seemed to come to an end. Indeed, there is more exclusive reporting in today’s GEORGE – but don’t touch that dial. Scroll down for today’s editorial cartoon in @The Sketch, then continue with additional news, commentary, and stories readers will not find elsewhere. GEORGE will return this weekend with a new editorial cartoon and more original dispatches and reportage. @THE SKETCH (above) Meanwhile, at the ECB Euro Banknote Design Centre… @INTERMEZZO I Camels resting at the Al-Shahaniya camel racing track in Doha @INTERMEZZO II Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani @INTERMEZZO III The Souq Waqif in Doh @WEDGWOOD ON FINANCE Corporate earnings from the quarter ended 30 June 2026 ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ABOUT TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON. The constant barrage of news headlines about artificial intelligence sparked an idea for the newspaper’s @The Sketch editorial cartoon columnist. Frustrated by the lack of substance versus hype, he used the power of the fountain pen and nib to make a point. ____________________________________ Camels resting at the Al-Shahaniya camel racing track in Doha ______________________________________ — Saudi Arabia proposed creating an international maritime-defense alliance on the heels of attacks on oil tankers in and around its port in the Red Sea by the Houthis, an Iranian-backed terror group. The Saudi defense ministry said dozens of countries met to discuss the plan on Thursday, adding that 14 nations, including Egypt and Qatar, had expressed support for the idea. — Movement of vessels in the Strait of Hormuz continued to be paralyzed as the five-month conflict between the United States and Iran continues. — The United States and Iran each fired barrages of missiles at the other on Thursday. — The on-again off-again fighting between the United States and Iran entered a new phase as Saudi Arabia entered a new role as an active combatant, joining the United States in conducting joint military airstrikes targeting Iran-backed militia sites in Iraq. The change came on the heels of a wave of aggressive drone and missile attacks directed by Tehran’s proxies against Saudi energy infrastructure and regional U.S. assets. U.S. and Saudi fighter aircraft hit multiple logistics hubs and weapon storage sites overnight, targeting bases belonging to Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces across seven provinces. The PMF reported that at least 20 of its fighters were killed and 32 others were wounded in the strikes. — The Popular Mobilization Forces, also known as al-Hashd al-Shaabi, are an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization composed of roughly 67 armed factions primarily Shia-dominated and backed by Iran.
NATO Hit by Russian Missile; Saudi Arabia, Hamas Propose New Deals
