AFP/RSS

Oil prices surged more than five percent Tuesday as several countries pushed back against Donald Trump's demand that they help secure the key Strait of Hormuz, while Iran continued to target crude-producing neighbours.  

The price of oil jumped more than five percent Tuesday as several countries pushed back against US President Donald Trump's demand that they help secure the key Strait of Hormuz, while Iran targeted crude-producing neighbours.  

Iran's participation at this summer's finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico has been thrown into doubt since the war began late last month.

An AFP journalist heard several explosions in Doha, a day after blasts resounded across the Qatari capital.

The trio, a woman and two men, were being held on suspicion of seeking to "profit from pornographic video and content," police chief Joseph Edward Purba of the Badung district of Bali told reporters.

It is a critical issue for governments threatened by low-cost, easily obtainable drones that can wreak outsize destruction, and are usually shot down only by the most advanced -- and expensive -- missile technologies.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said London was working with allies to craft a "viable" plan to reopen the waterway, but ruled out a NATO mission, while Berlin insisted it was "not NATO's war".

At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, where countries were discussing the rights situation in Iran -- notably following its deadly crackdown on protesters in recent months -- Tehran said the focus instead should be on the Middle East war.

Global oil prices have surged by 40 to 50 percent as Iran attacks shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and launches waves of missile and drone strikes in the Gulf in retaliation for the war launched by the United States and Israel on February 28.

Flights were temporarily suspended at Dubai's airport, previously one of the world's busiest, on Monday after a "drone-related incident" sparked a fire nearby, city authorities said. The Emirati defence ministry later said its air defence systems were intercepting a wave of Iranian drones and m...