Trump threatens Iran oil sanctions after next round of indirect talks postponed

U.S. President Donald Trump restarted blackmail against Iran on Thursday, saying any country or person that buys oil or petrochemicals from Iran would face immediate U.S. sanctions, after the indirect talks between the two countries were postponed.

"All purchases of Iranian Oil, or Petrochemical products, must stop, NOW! Any Country or person who buys ANY AMOUNT of OIL or PETROCHEMICALS from Iran will be subject to, immediately, Secondary Sanctions," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump nominates Mike Waltz as U.S. ambassador to UN

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday nominated his national security advisor Mike Waltz as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

"In the interim, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as National Security Advisor while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department," said Trump in a post on social media.

Tesla board opened search for CEO to succeed Elon Musk: WSJ

About a month ago, with Tesla's stock sinking and some investors irritated about Elon Musk's White House focus, Tesla's board got serious about looking for Musk's successor, reported The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Thursday.

Board members reached out to several executive search firms to work on a formal process for finding Tesla's next chief executive, while tensions had been mounting at the company with sales and profits deteriorating rapidly, said the report.

China denounces U.S. "reciprocal tariffs" at WTO meeting

China has refuted the accusations of "overcapacity" made by the United States and some other countries at a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting and condemned U.S. "reciprocal tariffs" and discriminatory subsidy policies for seriously undermining WTO rules.

Speaking at a meeting on Tuesday of the Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, the Chinese delegation pointed out that there is no universally recognized standard or methodology to define overcapacity.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce warns of tariffs' "irreparable harm" to small businesses

In a letter sent to the White House, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned against "irreparable harm" to small businesses and a potential economic recession, calling for immediate tariff relief.

In a statement released on Thursday, the chamber said it had sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Wednesday.

China's space station delivers new samples for research

The latest samples from 25 scientific experiments conducted aboard China's Tiangong space station, totaling approximately 37.25 kilograms, were brought back to Earth on Wednesday.

Marking the eighth batch of experimental materials from the orbiting laboratory, the samples were brought back to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-19 return capsule. According to a news release from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on Thursday, the returned materials originated from experiments in space life sciences, materials science and new space technologies.

9 Druzes killed in ambush near Damascus as sectarian unrest continues: war monitor

Nine Druze men were killed Thursday after falling into an ambush set by Syrian forces and allied paramilitary units while en route to support Druze fighters in Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

According to the Britain-based war monitor, the Druze fighters were en route from the southern Suwayda province to support the Druze in Ashrafiyat Sahnaya in the southwest of Damascus, bringing the total number of people killed in the recent sectarian unrest to 73.