Trump Threatens Oman as Iran Standoff Deepens

President Trump escalated the standoff with Iran, threatening to bomb Oman if it interferes while revealing a secret US backchannel with Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Amid that, Trump envoy Jared Kushner met Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu after Hamas talks, pressing for Israeli backing of the Gaza peace plan. Elsewhere, Vladimir Putin visited the disputed Kuril Islands in an election-season show of strength ahead of September's vote, unsettling Japan's PM Takaichi. In London, Politico revealed that mayor Andy Burnham had exchanged messages with someone impersonating Trump's chief of staff; Downing Street declined to comment. Grim news also broke: the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo became the deadliest in the country's history, killing more than 2,300 people, with no vaccine yet for the rare Bundibugyo strain. In Spain's Ceuta, thousands of unaccompanied migrant minors remain stranded amid reports of illness and abuse. Tragedy struck elsewhere too: five teenagers died in a wrong-way motorway crash in Ireland's County Kildare, and a US hiker was killed by lightning on Mount Etna. Actress Hayden Panettiere died at 36. On business, Virgin edged closer to launching Channel Tunnel trains against Eurostar, and vodka brand Au was reported set to sell for £500 million.