International News from Tuesday, July 14th, 2026

US President Donald Trump stepped back from a proposal to charge a 20 per cent transit fee to guard the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway as part of the conflict with Iran, saying on Tuesday he would instead seek investment deals with Gulf states.

Russia launched two cosmonauts and an American astronaut to the International Space Station on Tuesday from Kazakhstan, resuming crewed flights from a recently repaired launchpad with a rare joint attendance by the heads of NASA and Russia's space agency.

Several people have died in a fire at a construction site in Brussels, with a search for six missing persons ongoing, local authorities said.

An Israeli strike and gunfire killed at least two Palestinians, including a 10-year-old boy, in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, with the death toll since an October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas touching more than 1,100 Gazans.

Lebanon and Israel resumed talks on Tuesday in the Italian capital, with Beirut hoping for progress towards securing an Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon under a US-brokered deal, although expectations for swift progress were low.

Some 500 soldiers from the "Coalition of the Willing" backing Ukraine marched down Paris' Champs-Elysees on Tuesday in the annual Bastille Day parade, in what France said would be a symbol of Europe's strategic awakening.

The death toll from a devastating fire at a live music pub in Thailand's capital climbed to 30 on Tuesday, officials said, as Bangkok's governor vowed stricter inspections and police investigated possible negligence and safety breaches.

The Trump administration has stated on Monday that it is blocking American citizens in the Democratic Republic of Congo from traveling to the US on commercial flights, according to a White House official.

A US air base in Jordan was targeted by Iranian ballistic missiles on Tuesday, as US forces completed their latest wave of strikes on Iran.