BAGHDAD, June 25 (Reuters) – Iraq will be compelled to consider all available options if its OPEC quota is not significantly increased, a senior Iraqi oil ministry official told Reuters on Thursday.

Separate sources told Reuters Iraqi officials had considered leaving OPEC, but the current plan was to remain a member and seek a higher quota.

The prospect of Iraq considering an exit from OPEC would be a further blow to the group after the departure of the United Arab Emirates this year. Iraq is one of five founding members and the group was formed in the Iraqi capital.

OPEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iraq is enduring a critical financial crisis on the back of the Iran war and a significant increase in its OPEC quota is a must and should be treated with utmost seriousness, the Iraqi official source told Reuters.

OPEC+, is comprised of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers including Russia.

(Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Maha El Dahan; Editing by Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Michael Georgy)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Police in Kenya set up roadblocks on Thursday to prevent access to the capital, Nairobi, ahead of a planned demonstration marking two years since at least 60 people died in anti-government protests that also saw protesters storming the parliament.

Families whose loved ones died in the 2024 protests have said they would protest the delay in justice for the victims. The government has been accused of a lack of transparency in an ongoing process to compensate those who suffered human rights abuses during the protests.

Last week, President William Ruto said people would be allowed to protest, but the government would also protect the rights of children to go to school and workers to work, warning against any attempts by the demonstrators to “shut down the country.”

Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said Wednesday that police would escort the protesters but warned that criminals disguised as protesters would not be allowed to infiltrate and raid businesses.

On Thursday morning, police erected roadblocks on all major highways around Nairobi, blocking motorists from accessing the city. Parliament buildings remained barricaded and businesses were closed.

Opposition leaders have backed the planned protests, calling for transparency in the government’s compensation program.

For Edith Wanjiku, whose son Ibrahim Kamau died of two gunshots nto the neck, life has been difficult without her 19-year-old son.

“We’ve really suffered emotionally for the last two years,” she told The Associated Press.

Wanjiku said her family has yet to benefit from the compensation program although they have submitted all the required paperwork to the Kenya Human Rights Commission.

“Only two out of 10 families whose children were shot that day near Parliament have been compensated and we are wondering what criteria the government is using,” she said.

During the June 2024 protests, thousands of young Kenyans stormed the parliament building, urging legislators to vote against a finance bill that had proposed an increase in taxes despite the rising cost of living.

Police opened fire outside the building, killing dozens of protesters.

Ruto last week said the government compensation represents “a state acknowledgment that harm occurred” and was not an “admission” of guilt.

He also said the compensation was not the “price of life, of pain or of loss,” and that it should not be seen as a “reward for violence or criminality” in a country where violent protests are common.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Liberian oil tanker made its way out of the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday despite threats to shipping from Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and using a new route close to Oman’s shore that has been promoted by a U.N. maritime agency.

The transit of the Stoic Warrior and the threats come as tensions rise between Iran and the United States over the terms of their interim accord aimed at permanently ending the Iran war. From getting ships through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf to the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, the two nations are increasingly debating the terms of the deal signed last week.

Through the signing of the memorandum of understanding, the U.S. and Iran agreed to a 60-day period to iron out these and other details. Until that happens — during private talks — leaders from both countries will also continue to negotiate in public, raising the risks of derailing the shaky ceasefire in the region.

A major threat to the deal is the flareup of fighting in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah. On Wednesday. Israel launched an airstrike that killed two people in southern Lebanon, the country’s state-run news agency said. It was Israel’s first airstrike on Lebanon since the latest ceasefire took effect on Saturday.

The Stoic Warrior — signaling that it planned to transit the Strait of Hormuz — took off early Thursday morning on a trip that saw it hug the coast of the United Arab Emirates and then Oman.

The vessel then traveled around Oman’s Musandam Peninsula fairly close to the shore, part of a route that Oman laid out alongside the International Maritime Organization, an agency of the United Nations that oversees shipping at sea.

North of the route is the Traffic Separation Scheme, the route in the center of the strait that for decades ships moved through freely. The route is used for transport of about a fifth of all the world’s oil and natural gas.

However, there has been the report of at least one mine sighted in the water after the Guard said that it mined the passage during the war that started on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. The threat of mines shut off the route.

The naval arm of the Revolutionary Guard, apparently reacting to Oman and the IMO’s route, gave an angry warning Thursday, carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.

“A few hours ago, without notice or coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, some authorities announced a new route for ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, which is unacceptable and completely dangerous,” the Guard said.

“It is hereby notified to all that the only authorized route for passing through the Strait of Hormuz is the one declared by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Iranian force said. “Vessel traffic outside these routes is extremely dangerous and prohibited.”

It added: “Violators will be dealt with,” without elaborating.

There were no immediate reports of any incidents in the strait as the Stoic Warrior passed. Several ships trailed behind it, according to ship-tracking data.

Anwar Gargash, a senior Emirati diplomat, warned Iran on Thursday over trying to impede the strait or put fees on vessels plying its waters.

“New geopolitical facts cannot be imposed on the Arab Gulf states as a result of a treacherous aggression against them,” Gargash wrote on X. “It sows new seeds of discord and conflict for the future. And this is precisely what applies to the Strait of Hormuz.”

Israel’s military said on Thursday that a reservist soldier was killed and another hurt in southern Lebanon, where troops are occupying swaths of the country. At least 37 soldiers have been killed in Lebanon or northern Israel during the fighting, as well one civilian defense contractor. Two civilians in northern Israel have also been killed.

Over 4,000 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since this latest Israel-Hezbollah war began in March, two days after the Iran war started and when the Lebanese militant group fired at Israel.

Iran has insisted that fighting in Lebanon be stopped and that Israel give up the land it occupies there to reach a permanent deal with the U.S. on the Mideast war. Israel insists it must maintain a freehand to counter Hezbollah attacks as pressure from the U.S. on its campaign grows.

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Associated Press writer Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

June 25 (Reuters) – Cambodia’s Supreme Court has upheld the sentences of two journalists jailed last year on charges of revealing military secrets during the country’s border clashes with Thailand, their lawyer’s office said on Thursday.

The two reporters, Phorn Sopheap, 39, and Pheap Pheara, 41, were working for the local news outlet TSP 68 TV Online.

• The two journalists were both jailed for 14 years by the Siem Reap Provincial Court last December after being convicted of “supplying a foreign state with information prejudicial to national defence” under Article 445 of Cambodia’s Criminal Code.

• They were arrested separately on July 31, 2025 after returning from an assignment in Oddar Meanchey province, which borders Thailand and was the location of some of the fighting last year.

• They were accused of producing content that revealed Cambodia’s military positions and strategies during the conflict.

• Their sentences were upheld by the Battambang Appeal Court in March, leading to their final appeal in the Supreme Court. The final ruling on Thursday can be overturned only by the king.

• Cambodia has come under international criticism for arresting activists, environmental campaigners and journalists, including an award-winning reporter involved in investigating corruption and online scam centres in the country.

• Cambodia’s press freedom rating was downgraded by the U.S.-based advocacy group Freedom House this year because “virtually all independent media outlets in the country have closed”.

(Reporting by Reuters staff, Writing by David Stanway, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

By Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir

June 25 (Reuters) – Newly issued Sudanese pounds have begun circulating in territory controlled by a paramilitary group fighting the national army, raising questions about the source of the notes and potentially deepening the country’s de facto division.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – which cooperated with Sudan’s armed forces before the two fell out and began fighting a war in April 2023 – now controls large swathes of the country, including the vast western Darfur region.

Last year, the RSF set up a parallel cabinet, known as the “Tasis” government, in areas under its control and has gradually sought to assume functions such as paying civil servant salaries.

Control over Sudan’s currency has been a point of contention since 2024, when the army-led government declared old Sudanese pounds invalid and began issuing new 500 and 1,000-pound notes.

The RSF declared the new notes invalid, and cash gradually became scarce in territory under its control, according to four residents who spoke to Reuters.

BRAND NEW NOTES

That scarcity appeared to ease in late May, when civil servants and RSF fighters were paid in Sudanese pounds — an unusual development in RSF-held areas. The notes, described by residents as new and unused, were dated May 2022, according to a photograph shared with Reuters.

Reuters could not determine the source of the notes, which look almost identical to pre-war banknotes. However, a banker in Nyala, the Darfur city that serves as the Tasis authority’s base, said they were newly printed.

Adding to the uncertainty, the notes bear the signature of Hussein Yahia Jangol, Sudan’s pre-war central bank governor, who was appointed head of a new Tasis-run central bank on May 21, shortly before the notes surfaced.

Tasis Prime Minister Mohamed Hasan al-Taishi said authorities continued to recognise pounds issued before June 2024. 

He declined to comment on the origin of the new notes, but said “any arrangements related to cash management or liquidity provision” were based on “well-thought-out technical plans aimed at maintaining economic stability and meeting the needs of citizens and markets.”

Taishi accused the army-led government of harming civilians “by changing the currency, drying up the markets, and exploiting the currency as a tool of war.” The army-aligned central bank did not respond to requests for comment.

The RSF — which Sudan’s military says receives financial and military support from the United Arab Emirates, a charge UAE denies — may struggle to gain recognition for its central bank. Suliman Baldo, head of the Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker think tank, said many countries would be reluctant to accept a parallel system.

“But they are moving ahead … because they have a real problem they need to resolve,” he said.

With cash in short supply, many Sudanese have turned to Bankak, an online payments app run by the Bank of Khartoum and used across front lines, though high fees can make it more expensive than cash. 

In RSF-held areas, a rival transfer service, Future Bank, has emerged this year, and was used to pay at least some May salaries, residents said.

The pound’s value has collapsed since the war broke out, weakening in recent weeks to more than 5,000 pounds to the dollar, from less than 600 before the war.

(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Alexander Dziadosz and Ros Russell)

TOKYO, June 25 (Reuters) – Canadian Defence Minister David McGuinty said on Thursday he had discussed the advanced fighter jet programme being pursued by Japan, Britain and Italy with his Japanese counterpart to learn more about what he described as a “promising initiative”.

The three countries launched the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) in 2022 to field a next-generation stealth fighter by 2035, led by Britain’s BAE Systems, Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Italy’s Leonardo.

Canada’s potential interest comes as the programme attracts attention from potential new partners and a rival European fighter project has collapsed. Any Canadian involvement would mark GCAP’s first expansion beyond its three founding members. Speculation has grown that additional countries could join the programme, with Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto saying this month he would welcome partners willing to share development costs.

“We are interested in learning more about it. I’ll take it back to my team and see what it looks like,” McGuinty told Reuters in an interview after meeting Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi in Tokyo on Wednesday.

Officials in Rome and executives at Leonardo have floated Canada, Saudi Arabia and Germany as potential future partners or observers. Any expansion of GCAP would require the agreement of its three founding members.

GCAP is one of two major Western sixth-generation fighter projects, alongside the U.S. Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) programme.

A rival European effort, the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), that was being developed by France, Germany and Spain, has collapsed amid a dispute between Airbus and Dassault Aviation.

(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by David Dolan)

LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) – British finance minister Rachel Reeves said on Thursday she was backing Andy Burnham to be the next prime minister, brushing off reports she could lose her role and be moved to a more junior post if he took over the Labour Party.

“I’m supporting Andy to be prime minister,” she told the BBC, after Burnham emerged as the only declared candidate to replace Keir Starmer, who announced his resignation on Monday.

Starmer said he would oversee an orderly transition after bowing to pressure over weak poll ratings and poor local election results, triggering a leadership contest set to begin on July 9.

Reeves, a close ally of Starmer, said no one could doubt her commitment to the outgoing prime minister, adding that she had worked alongside him for six years.

Burnham, who is the only candidate to have put his name forward, is widely expected to be installed without a challenge, meaning he could become prime minister by mid-July. If appointed, he would be Britain’s seventh leader in a decade.

Asked about reports she could be demoted, Reeves said cabinet decisions would be a matter for Burnham.

“I’m not going to pre-empt the decisions that the new prime minister will make. I’m backing Andy. I think he’d be a great prime minister, but those are his decisions, not mine,” she said.

She said she stood ready to provide targeted, temporary support on energy bills later this year.

Reeves said the next leader should stick to her fiscal rules, including balancing day-to-day spending with tax revenues and reducing debt as a share of output.

Burnham has previously signalled he would keep current borrowing rules in place.

“I know that whoever is prime minister and chancellor in the future will inherit a stronger economy than the one I inherited two years ago,” she said.

(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti, Editing by Paul Sandle)

June 25 (Reuters) – An Israeli military official said on Thursday a soldier was killed in southern Lebanon after a vehicle had overturned.

The official described the incident as an accident.

Earlier, the military said a soldier had died during “operational activity”.

(Reporting by Jana Choukeir and Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

Shiite Muslims have been observing a solemn period of communal mourning leading to the day of Ashoura, which marks the seventh century killing of Hussein, a revered leader and a grandson of Prophet Muhammad.

Annual day of Ashoura commemorations are observed on the 10th day of the month of Muharram in the lunar-based Islamic calendar. In Shiite communities, Ashoura is viewed as a symbol of struggle against injustice and tyranny.

This year, Muharram and Ashoura follow the war in Iran, where the population is overwhelmingly Shiite, and an interim deal to end it. In Lebanon, many Shiites have been marking Muharram after the devastation inflicted during the war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

“The gathering every year and the reaffirming of collective memory and collective grief allows every year for the story and the message to adapt to its current context,” said Noor Zehra Zaidi, an assistant professor of history at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County who focuses on Shiite Islam.

Shiite Ashoura commemorations mark the death of Imam Hussein, who was killed in the Battle of Karbala, in present-day Iraq. He fought against the army of then Caliph Yazid, to whom Hussein had refused to pledge allegiance.

Hussein’s killing is seen as having cemented the schism between Sunnis and Shiites, which stems from the early days of Islam and arguments over Muhammad’s successors as caliph, or leader. The Shiites wanted the caliphate to descend through Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law and Hussein’s father.

To Shiites, who make up the second-largest branch of Islam after the Sunni majority, the killing holds deep religious and historical resonance and plays a key role in shaping identity.

In the U.S., many Shiites of various racial and ethnic backgrounds gather for assemblies where they typically listen to recitations of the Quran, elegies, lamentations and lectures.

“In many communities, emotional lamentation and weeping are considered acts of devotion because they express solidarity with the suffering (of) the Prophet’s household,” Zaidi said.

U.S. communities embody a lot of the diversity of rituals seen across the Shiite world, she said.

“Our community comes to life. It pulsates with a beautiful group unity, where everybody comes together,” said Adam Almaleky in Michigan. “It’s a program of self-development, self-purification, gaining closeness to God through Hussein.”

In Texas, 23-year-old Sakina Ali attends the gatherings, which are also held in other parts of the world, with four generations of her family. “We learn and we mourn,” she said, adding the atmosphere gives her goose bumps.

Around the world, mourning rituals of Muharram and Ashoura can include rhythmic chest-thumping or beating in unison and public processions. Some Shiites self-flagellate and draw their own blood in public mourning practices that are controversial, fervently upheld by some while shunned or opposed by other Shiites.

In Iraq, pilgrims converge on the holy city of Karbala, site of the battle and home to a shrine to Hussein. Large volunteer service stations there feed pilgrims, Zaidi said, adding that distributing food and drink is one of the most universal practices.

“One of the remarkable enduring features of Ashoura commemorations is the way that rituals and communities reflect local cultures, traditions and languages while still remaining centered on Karbala,” she said.

As part of the Texas team of Who is Hussain, a London-based charity with teams in dozens of cities around the world, Ali has been helping organize a blood drive during this year’s Muharram commemorations.

“It’s to save lives. It’s to do good in the name of Hussein,” she said. “Since this is such an emotional time and the community is coming out from everywhere … the impact is much bigger.”

Hussein, she said, “sacrificed his life … for morality and for justice,” adding, “If he did all of that, I can do good in my community as well, following his example.”

These blood drives happen elsewhere in the U.S. and beyond. Mustafa Jafri’s mosque in New Jersey has been organizing them for many years.

“We do it really to honor Imam Hussein and his companions and his family,” said Jafri, a physician and a board director at Masjid-e-Ali. “He gave his blood to stand against injustice and so we resonate and want to give our blood to save lives.”

It’s a practical way, he said, to translate some of Hussein’s values into action and to give back. The drives, he said, often also attract some non-Muslims from the community to donate blood.

Zaidi said the blood drives are a more modern phenomenon in Shiite commemorations.

Jafri said it’s a time to reflect on how to better oneself and on “tackling injustices that are all throughout the world.”

Almaleky, team leader with Who is Hussain in Michigan, said that from Hussein, “I learn altruism. I learn principle. I learn dedication.”

Even following tragedy, he added, “we continue to draw energy as a community, and no matter how difficult this world becomes, it doesn’t compare in the difficulty that the family of Hussein ibn Ali faced and Hussein and his companions faced.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela in quick succession Wednesday evening killed at least 32 people and injured 700, the nation’s acting president said, as communities across the South American country sustained damage.

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez warned the toll was expected to rise as rescuers search collapsed buildings and emergency crews reach devastated areas after the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes that struck shortly after 6 p.m.

Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday and said the quakes caused damage in several states. The casualty figures released early Thursday excluded the state of La Guaira, which Rodríguez described as a “disaster zone” and the area hardest hit.

“Dozens of buildings have collapsed there, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Caracas, and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” she said.

The earthquakes, among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century, roiled the region, with buildings evacuated in cities and areas impacted as far as Brazil’s Amazon about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) from Venezuela’s capital Caracas.

Venezuela’s state-run VTV showed footage early Thursday of three children, covered in dust but alive, being pulled from the rubble in hard-hit La Guaira.

The earthquakes damaged and closed Simón Bolívar International Airport near Caracas, the country’s main airport, Rodríguez said, adding that schools were canceled and subway and natural gas services in Caracas were not operating. She urged Venezuelans to use a government app to report damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially said the first earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 hit west of Morón on the Caribbean coast about 168 kilometers (104 miles) west of Caracas with a depth of 22 kilometers (13.6 miles).

The USGS reported a 7.5-magnitude earthquake just a minute later. The second quake had a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) with an epicenter 16 kilometers (10 miles) southwest of Morón.

In the coastal state of Falcon, Gov. Víctor Clark said 32 people were hospitalized and 15 people were trapped.

Offers of help were made by various governments including Argentina, Chile, Panama and Uruguay.

U.S. Secretary of State Rubio said in a post on X early Thursday that the United States is “immediately deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance to Venezuela.”

Rodríguez thanked U.S. President Donald Trump and said in an X post later that she spoke with Rubio by phone without sharing details. She also expressed thanks to the leaders of various nations who have sent messages of support.

Rodríguez said Thursday that Qatar, Mexico and El Salvador had already sent rescue personnel.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, once diametrically opposed to Venezuela’s government, said in a post on X Wednesday night that he had offered aid.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said he had ordered the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to help respond to the emergency.

Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz, who less than a week ago declared a state of emergency in his country following weeks of anti-government protests, said his country stood ready to provide assistance.

Television broadcasts showed rescue workers using power tools on collapsed structures and dozens of people spending the night in parked cars, subway stations and other public places to heed warnings to avoid damaged structures. Collapsed buildings, toppled electric poles and debris blocked streets.

During the quakes, people evacuated swaying buildings in Caracas, many visibly shocked as they saw collapsed walls that left furniture visible from the street.

“It started off gently and then gradually grew, and in the end, we all had to leave our houses, go outside and gather together,” Caracas resident Hector Ricci said.

Roberto Gama said his building in Caracas “really shook from side to side. Unreal. The force was incredibly strong.”

Cellphone service was unavailable across parts of Venezuela, which deepened the distress of many families, particularly among the more than 7.7 million people who have left the country.

Venezuela opposition leader María Corina Machado, in exile after leaving Venezuela in December, sent wishes on X for “strength, serenity, and solidarity.”

Venezuela Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said the quake could be felt in several states and asked motorists to give way to ambulances and other emergency vehicles.

“We understand that some people may be desperate, but we are acting according to protocols to activate aid and rescue efforts to help those who need it most,” Cabello said. “Be very careful with children and the elderly. Call each other and check that no one has been harmed.”

Buildings in Manaus, Belem and Macapá in Brazil’s Amazon were evacuated, according to TV Globo. The earthquakes also were felt in Colombia’s Caribbean and northeast regions.

The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued several tsumani alerts after the earthquakes that were quickly lifted, with the center later reporting there was no tsunami threat.

Strong earthquakes are unusual in Venezuela despite sitting near multiple fault lines at its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates.

Quakes are frequent in other countries on Latin America’s Pacific coast including Mexico and Chile, which sit along the seismically active tectonic belt known as the Ring of Fire, an area that the USGS said is responsible for 90% of earthquakes.

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Garcia Cano reported from Bogota, Colombia. Associated Press writers Clara Preve in Buenos Aires, Astrid Suarez in Bogota, Colombia, Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo and Anna-Catherine Brigida, Megan Janetsky and India Grant in Mexico City, Cristina Fuentes in Madrid and Maria Teresa Hernandez in Beijing contributed to this report.