Syria Off Terror List as Hormuz, Leipzig Tensions Rise

Syria's four-decade exile from Washington's terrorism blacklist ended Monday, when the United States formally struck the country from its state sponsors of terrorism list, closing a chapter that began in 1979 and clearing the way for foreign investment to reach the war-battered nation. The diplomatic shift came against a tense backdrop elsewhere. In the Strait of Hormuz, another tanker was struck by an unidentified projectile near the Omani coast on Tuesday, its engine room damaged and the vessel left drifting without power, the latest sign that Iran's blockade of the waterway is tightening rather than easing. In Germany, investigators revealed that August's drone attack on Leipzig airport was far more serious than first disclosed: a third explosive drone was found in a nearby field, and officials now suspect one of the devices may have collided with a DHL cargo plane. Meanwhile in Brandenburg, a homegrown crisis is deepening as Red Bull, Rauch and Tesla are found to be drawing 92 percent of groundwater in drought-hit towns, leaving residents to share just 8 percent of the local supply. Away from the conflicts, a lighter piece traced how leaders from Giorgia Meloni to Angela Merkel and Volodymyr Zelensky use their wardrobes as calculated political signals, turning pastels and blazers into statements about power and belonging.