The strategic Strait of Hormuz remains closed in the stand-off between Iran and the United States, with Iran's powerful parliament speaker signalling a final peace deal remained "far" off despite some movement in negotiations.

Michael Healy-Rae loved being a minister but was acutely aware of price to pay if he ignored his base, writes Paschal Sheehy.

North Korea has test-fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles, South Korea's military said, the latest in a recent flurry of launches by the nuclear-armed state.

With Hezbollah battered and Iran focused on its own survival, Lebanon sees a rare opportunity to chart its own course - but Hezbollah's threats carry echoes of a darker past, writes Edmund Heaphy.

Bulgarians are voting in the country's eighth election in five years, with ex-president Rumen Radev's grouping tipped to win on a pledge to fight corruption, after an anti-graft movement triggered a long political crisis.