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Global famine fears rise as Hormuz crisis threatens ‘eight-year,’ Suez-scale disruption
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Analysts warn global famine fears are rising as food prices climb and fragile supply chains are strained during the Strait of Hormuz crisis, raising the risk of a prolonged, Suez-scale, eight-year disruption.
As the conflict entered Day 62, the U.S. maintained its naval blockade of traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports, while Iran continued to effectively close the Strait.
«Best case, there is an agreement between the U.S. and Iran within the next few weeks, and the Strait reopens,» Lars Jensen, CEO and partner at Vespucci Maritime, told Fox News Digital.
«And it has to be a deal where there is trust that Iran is sufficiently satisfied with the deal such that they do not suddenly close the strait again.
AIRLINES MAY CUT FLIGHT SCHEDULES AS IRAN TENSIONS DRIVE UP FUEL COSTS, EXPERTS WARN
A cargo ship sails in the Persian Gulf toward the Strait of Hormuz April 22, 2026. (AP Photo)
«Even in that case, it will still take months for the supply chains to revert back to normality.»
President Donald Trump announced April 21 he would delay renewed strikes on Iran until it presents a proposal for long-term peace, effectively extending a 14-day ceasefire indefinitely.
Trump said Washington’s blockade of Iranian ports has been effective, urging Tehran to «just give up» as tensions escalate over the waterway.
«Worst case, we can look at the eight-year closure of the Suez Canal from 1967 to 1975,» Jensen said.
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The SKS Doyles crude oil tanker moves along the Suez Canal towards Ismailia in Suez, Egypt, on Dec. 21, 2023, amid a sharp decline in tanker traffic through the Red Sea due to attacks disrupting global trade routes. (Stringer/Bloomberg)
«Despite its importance to the global economy, it proved impossible to reopen the canal for those eight years,» he said.
The Suez Canal, shut from 1967 to 1975 after the Arab-Israeli conflict, has faced recurring disruption, including Red Sea attacks since 2023, driving up insurance costs, creating a «shadow blockade» and curbing traffic.
For Hormuz, Jensen says fertilizer, which is central to agricultural production, is the most critical factor, and any sustained disruption could quickly ripple through global food systems.
«Fertilizer is the most important element. Thirty percent of the world’s seaborne fertilizer comes from the Persian Gulf,» Jensen said. «Fertilizer prices are already rising fast,» he warned.
IRAN FIRES LIVE MISSILES INTO STRAIT OF HORMUZ AS TRUMP ENVOYS ARRIVE FOR NUCLEAR TALKS
A ship is seen passing through the Strait of Hormuz during a two-week temporary ceasefire between the United States and Iran on April 8, 2026. (Shady Alassar/Anadolu/Getty Images)
«In wealthy countries, it means more expensive food come harvest season, and, in poor countries, it means that farmers right now cannot afford fertilizer,» Jensen added.
«This will lead to the harvest being lower later in the season, leading to rapid increases in food prices in very poor countries. And such a situation increases the risk of famine and conflict.»
Diplomatic efforts remained fragile between the U.S. and Iran as of Thursday, with limited signs of progress.
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According to reports, a giant banner hangs on a building in Tehran’s central Enqelab Square declaring, «The Strait of Hormuz will remain closed; the entire Persian Gulf is our hunting ground.»
«Cargo vessels are not going through for the simple reason that commercial companies do not want to see their seafarers potentially killed,» Jensen added.
conflicts, middle east, war with iran, iran, trade
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Banco Central de Honduras mantiene sin cambios la tasa de política monetaria y destaca respaldo del FMI a la economía del país
El Banco Central de Honduras mantuvo sin cambios la Tasa de Política Monetaria, una decisión que su presidente, Roberto Lagos, vinculó con las condiciones del mercado financiero y con la política de la Reserva Federal de Estados Unidos. El organismo también destacó la aprobación de la cuarta y quinta revisión del programa con el FMI.
Lagos dijo que la decisión respondió a un análisis de las condiciones actuales del mercado financiero, en el que no se identificaron presiones para modificar la tasa de referencia que guía el costo del dinero en la economía hondureña.
De acuerdo con el funcionario, la política monetaria del país continúa en sintonía con las decisiones de la Reserva Federal de Estados Unidos, lo que ha permitido mantener coherencia en el manejo de los instrumentos financieros en un contexto global marcado por ajustes graduales en las tasas de interés internacionales.
El mantenimiento de la TPM implica que el Banco Central considera que no existen riesgos inmediatos de inflación o desequilibrios financieros que obliguen a encarecer o abaratar el costo del crédito en el corto plazo.
En este escenario, la autoridad monetaria busca preservar la estabilidad de precios y evitar movimientos bruscos que puedan generar incertidumbre en el sistema financiero, en un entorno donde los bancos centrales de la región han optado por estrategias de cautela.
Lagos enfatizó que la política actual está “totalmente acoplada” a la tasa de la Fed, lo que reduce la necesidad de realizar ajustes independientes que puedan provocar distorsiones en el mercado cambiario o en los flujos de inversión.
Este tipo de alineación es común en economías altamente vinculadas al dólar estadounidense, donde las decisiones de la Reserva Federal tienen impacto directo en el comportamiento del crédito, la inflación y el tipo de cambio.
La decisión del Banco Central se enmarca en una estrategia de estabilidad macroeconómica orientada a evitar sobresaltos en los principales indicadores financieros del país.
Mantener la tasa sin cambios permite dar señales de previsibilidad a empresas, inversionistas y entidades financieras que dependen de condiciones claras para planificar sus operaciones.
En términos prácticos, la TPM funciona como una referencia clave para determinar el costo del crédito en la economía. Su estabilidad suele traducirse en condiciones más predecibles para préstamos, inversiones y operaciones del sistema bancario.
El BCH ha insistido en que la prioridad en esta etapa es preservar la estabilidad macroeconómica, controlar la inflación y mantener el equilibrio en el mercado cambiario, factores que influyen directamente en la confianza de los actores económicos.
En paralelo a la decisión sobre la tasa de política monetaria, el Banco Central destacó la reciente aprobación de la cuarta y quinta revisión del programa económico suscrito entre Honduras y el Fondo Monetario Internacional.
Para las autoridades, este visto bueno representa una señal sobre la conducción de la política económica del país y el cumplimiento de los compromisos establecidos en el acuerdo con el organismo multilateral.
La aprobación de estas revisiones permite el acceso a desembolsos programados y envía un mensaje a los mercados internacionales, que suelen seguir de cerca la relación de los países con el FMI como indicador de disciplina fiscal y monetaria.
Según explicó Lagos, el respaldo del FMI contribuye a mejorar la percepción de riesgo país, un factor clave para la atracción de inversión extranjera y el acceso a financiamiento en mejores condiciones.
Cuando un país mantiene acuerdos vigentes con el Fondo y cumple con sus metas, los mercados suelen interpretar esto como una señal de mayor credibilidad institucional, lo que puede traducirse en tasas de interés más favorables en los mercados internacionales.
En ese sentido, la estabilidad macroeconómica no solo se mide en términos internos, sino también en la forma en que los inversionistas globales perciben la capacidad del país para cumplir con sus obligaciones financieras.
Lagos subrayó que mantener reglas claras en la gestión económica es fundamental para fortalecer la confianza del sector privado y de los organismos multilaterales, lo que a su vez facilita la llegada de capital y la expansión de proyectos productivos.
Otro de los puntos señalados por el funcionario es el uso previsto de los recursos derivados del programa con el FMI, que serán destinados principalmente a inversión pública e infraestructura.
Este tipo de asignación busca cumplir con los compromisos del programa económico e impulsar el crecimiento a mediano plazo mediante obras que mejoren la competitividad del país.
Corresponsal:Desde Tegucigalpa, Honduras
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Secret Service missed ‘multiple opportunities’ to prevent Trump assassination attempt: watchdog
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The U.S. Secret Service «missed multiple opportunities» to prevent or disrupt the July 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump as he spoke to supporters during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General said in a report released Thursday.
The 64-page document detailed several lapses in security that allowed Thomas Matthew Crooks to get a line of sight of Trump as he stood on stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, during the July 13, 2024, event.
«The Secret Service’s overall lack of policy and processes coupled with limited intelligence sharing and poor collaboration and communication with protectee staff and state and local law enforcement set the conditions that led to missing opportunities to prevent and detect the attempted assassination,» the report states.
Among the OIG’s findings was a failure to warn Trump’s protective detail that Crooks had a range finder and a long gun and had climbed onto the roof of a nearby building due to a lack of communication between the Secret Service and local law enforcement.
TWO MEN SHOT AT TRUMP’S BUTLER RALLY SUE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OVER SECRET SERVICE ‘PREVENTABLE FAILURES’
Republican candidate Donald Trump with blood on his face surrounded by Secret Service agents as he is taken off the stage at a campaign event at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pa., July 13, 2024. A Homeland Security Office of Inspector General report released Thursday detailed several mistakes made by the U.S. Secret Service that could have prevented or disrupted the shooting, officials said. (Getty Images/Rebecca Droke)
Instead, they operated out of separate locations 257 yards apart with intermittent and highly limited radio connectivity between them.
As a result, the Secret Service missed 102 radio transmissions regarding an increasingly intense search for a suspicious individual, including alerts that the suspect was on the roof with a long gun.
A flag is displayed during Donald Trump’s campaign rally as he returns to the site of the July assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pa., Oct. 5, 2024. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)
Because the Secret Service communications room only received a handful of phone calls and texts, agents failed to recognize the urgency of the threat and never warned Trump’s protective detail to delay the speech or remove him from the stage, the OIG said.
«Communications was a problem because of inoperability. There were too many command posts,» Paul Eckloff, a former Secret Service agent, told Fox News Digital. «The biggest failure that is probably not addressed in the OIG report is that they never should have accepted the risk of doing it at this site. It never should have been done. That roof had an egregious line of site.»
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Crooks was able to fire eight shots. Trump was grazed in the ear, and Corey Comperatore, 50, who was attending the rally, was killed. Two other spectators were critically injured but survived.
Moments after Trump was shot, Secret Service agents rushed the stage and moved him to safety.
In addition to a lack of communication, the Secret Service failed to detect Crooks’ drone flight that he used to view the campaign event stage less than three hours before the rally due to an under-trained operator and an equipment malfunction, the report states.
Crooks flew the drone undetected for almost nine minutes and flew 471 yards from the event stage at an altitude of 102 feet. During the rally, the Secret Service had a counter-drone system on site, but it malfunctioned.
The counter-drone system was not operational when Crooks flew his drone hours before he tried to kill Trump.
A U.S. Secret Service agent, left, protects President Donald Trump, right. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The agency also failed to share intelligence about a long-distance threat to Trump with the Pittsburgh field office and agents on site, the report said.
Agents also failed to secure the area outside the security perimeter and did not use available resources to block Crooks’ line of sight from the roof of the American Glass Research International building to Trump despite the line of sight being identified as a concern, the OIG said.
Despite identifying the AGR complex as a line-of-sight vulnerability during advanced walkthroughs, the Secret Service failed to ensure the view to the stage was obstructed.
«There should have been a better advance, more officers, more agents, but there’s simply a limit to that,» Eckloff said.
Officials originally proposed using trucks already onsite to block the view from the AGR complex, but Trump’s campaign staff rejected the idea because it would interfere with press photographs.
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An agent proposed a secondary location for the trucks but never verified that the campaign staff actually moved the equipment. As a result, Crooks had an unobstructed view of Trump’s podium from a distance of just 155 yards, the report said.
The turnout coat of Corey Comperatore, a retired volunteer fire department chief who was shot and killed in the July assassination attempt against Donald Trump, in the stands during a moment of silence during a rally in Butler, Pa., Oct. 5, 2024. (Reuters/Carlos Barria)
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Secret Service and the White House.
The report offered several recommendations to improve the Secret Service’s processes for securing events, such as mandatory threat communication, enhanced counter-drone training and a process to formally document the identification and blocking of line-of-sight vulnerabilities.
security, news events, homeland security, donald trump, national security
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A young couple in Indonesia was publicly caned Thursday after allegedly kissing during a TikTok livestream.
The couple — a 22-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman — each received 21 lashes, according to the Associated Press (AP).
They were reportedly convicted of violating local morality laws under an Islamic sharia court in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province.
The pair, who were detained in March, had already spent four months in prison prior to the punishment, which ultimately reduced their sentence from 25 lashes to 21, the AP said.
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Shariah law officials assist an unmarried woman, convicted of violating Islamic law by kissing during a TikTok livestream, to get up after being publicly caned, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
According to local authorities, the couple filmed a TikTok video inside a car one night in March.
As the video went viral, they were subsequently apprehended for what officials described as an «immoral act.»
«Their actions were uncovered thanks to reports from residents who were disturbed by their immoral livestream content,» Sharia police said in April.
«The trigger was their livestream on TikTok while engaging in immoral acts in the car,» Head of the Sharia Police Muhammad Rizal added in his statement. «This sparked criticism from netizens and local residents, who then reported them to the authorities.»
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A man is publicly caned after he was convicted of violating Islamic law by kissing during a TikTok livestream, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
The court also confiscated a cellphone and a USB flash drive containing the TikTok video, which authorities promised to destroy, according to the AP.
A Banda Aceh resident who attended the caning, 22-year-old Aini Nadhirah, said she believed the punishment was «entirely justified.»
«In my opinion, this caning is entirely justified because it serves as a warning to other Aceh residents to be more careful when using social media,» Nadhirah said, according to the AP.
«It also raises awareness that such actions are unacceptable, thereby educating the public.»
STUNNING PHOTOS CAPTURE MOMENT ONE OF INDONESIA’S MOST ACTIVE VOLCANOES ERUPTS
Aceh is the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia that enforces its own Islamic Criminal Code governing moral conduct.
The province’s right to implement Islamic law was granted by Indonesia’s secular central government around 2005 as part of a peace deal to end a separatist insurgency. The policy was later expanded to apply to non-Muslims as well.
Under the law, moral offenses — including adultery and same-sex relations — can carry penalties of up to 100 lashes. Caning is also used for individuals accused of gambling, drinking, adultery and premarital intimacy.
Shariah law officials escort a woman convicted of violating Islamic law by kissing a man, both unmarried, during a TikTok livestream after her public caning, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Thursday, July 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)
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Public caning in Aceh has long drawn criticism from human rights groups, including Amnesty International Indonesia, which has called the practice cruel and degrading.
Despite Indonesia having ratified international conventions prohibiting cruel punishment, local authorities in Aceh defend the practice, arguing it does not fall under such definition.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
asia world regions, islam, crime world, human rights united nations
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