Seoul Gazette - News from Seoul, the Dongan District, Manan District, Buk District, Busanjin District, South Korea and the world

Iraq coach Graham Arnold pleaded with FIFA on Monday to postpone his team's intercontinental playoff for the World Cup because many of his players and backroom staff are stranded by the growing Iran war.

German Max Kanter sprinted to victory in the Paris-Nice second stage at Montargis on Monday as American Luke Lamperti kept the leader's yellow jersey.

France and its allies are preparing a "defensive" mission to reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, President Emmanuel Macron said Monday as the Middle East war entered its second week.

A woman alleged to have fired an assault rifle at the luxury Los Angeles home of Rihanna -- while the pop superstar was inside -- was being held by police on Monday.

Anthropic filed suit Monday against the Trump administration, alleging the US government retaliated against the AI company for refusing to let its Claude AI model be used for autonomous lethal warfare and mass surveillance of Americans.

Antarctic sea ice coverage has likely rebounded this year, coming closer to its annual summer average after four years of extreme lows, US scientists said Monday.

Eddie Howe has urged his players to become Newcastle legends by emulating the club's famous 1997 Champions League win over Barcelona when they face the Spanish giants in the last-16 first leg.

The Iran war sent oil prices soaring on Monday after Tehran, under new leader Mojtaba Khamanei, fired a new barrage of missiles at its Gulf neighbours and signalled that the strategic Strait of Hormuz would likely remain shut.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that 11 countries had tapped Kyiv for help in how to counter Iranian drones being fired by Tehran in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes.

France and its allies are preparing a "defensive" mission to reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, President Emmanuel Macron said Monday as the Middle East war entered its second week.

Ships anchored in the Gulf or transiting the Strait of Hormuz are changing their tracking data to boast links to China in an attempt to evade Iranian attacks, according to data from shipping tracker Marine Traffic analysed by AFP.

US President Donald Trump said Monday that Australia had agreed to grant asylum to some of Iran's visiting women's football team, amid fears they could face retaliation back home for not singing the national anthem before a match.

NATO said it shot down a second ballistic missile from Iran in Turkish airspace on Monday, prompting a stern warning from Turkey to Tehran, which told its neighbour not to take "provocative steps".

Here are the latest economic events in the Middle East war on Monday:

Hundreds of thousands of people are at imminent risk from a government offensive in a South Sudan town, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Monday, after NGOs were ordered to evacuate.

France's finance minister said Monday the G7 was "not there yet" in terms of any release of strategic oil reserves as the world's leading industrialised nations held crisis talks on the economic fallout of the Middle East war.

Live Nation reached a tentative settlement with the US Justice Department on Monday in the federal antitrust case brought against the entertainment giant, a senior official said.

A tightening of Europe's immigration policy paving the way for so-called "return hubs" for failed asylum-seekers is expected to gain the backing of EU lawmakers this week, with centre-right and far-right deputies joining hands to see it through.

President Emmanuel Macron on Monday warned that an attack on Cyprus was an attack on all of Europe and said France and its allies were preparing a "defensive" mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as the Middle East war entered its second week.

Attacks on water systems are uncommon in wartime, but they have appeared in the war in the Middle East with strikes on desalination plants -- critical infrastructure for millions of people in the arid region.

Scotland will be without first-choice second-row pair Gregor Brown and Scott Cummings as they chase a shock first Six Nations title against Ireland on Saturday.

Stock markets slumped as energy prices soared on Monday on supply disruptions from the Middle East war drove volatility and fanned inflation fears.

Ankara on Monday said a second ballistic missile was shot down by NATO defences in Turkish airspace, as Washington urged all of its citizens to leave southeast Turkey over security concerns.

South Korea squeezed into the World Baseball Classic quarter-finals by the finest of margins after a nerve-jangling 7-2 win over Australia on Monday to finish as Pool C runners-up.

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone highlighted the speed of Premier League sides' play on Monday ahead of the Champions League last 16 tie against Tottenham Hotspur.

North Korea has abruptly cancelled an international marathon originally scheduled for early next month, a tour operator said Monday, citing an official statement with no explanation for the decision.

Kyiv on Monday accused Hungary of grossly violating the rights of seven Ukrainian bank employees -- including by forcibly drugging a man with diabetes -- after they were detained with a truck of cash and gold.

President Emmanuel Macron on Monday discussed regional security with the leaders of Cyprus and Greece and was later set to board France's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier deployed to the Mediterranean.

Russia won its first Winter Paralympic gold medal under its own flag since 2014 as skier Varvara Voronchikhina was crowned women's super-G standing champion on Monday in Cortina.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday the government was monitoring the economic fallout of the US and Israel's war in Iran, as energy prices soared due to supply disruptions.

Sri Lanka and India are providing sanctuary to 434 sailors from three Iranian naval vessels targeted or threatened by the United States, a diplomatic conundrum as the war spills into the Indian Ocean.

Bangladesh has tightened security at filling stations, sent students home and even scrapped light displays for independence and Ramadan celebrations, officials said Monday, as the Middle East war worsens the country's energy crunch.