A wildfire that started on the 14th in eastern Belgium has been preliminarily contained, the Liège provincial governor's office said on the 18th; about 3,000 hectares burned. The fire occurred in a nature reserve with peat wetlands, so underground smouldering may persist; fire services have reinforced ground firefighting resources.

Rezai, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Washington cannot reopen the Strait of Hormuz, exposing a gap between US claims of control and its actual capability and marking the start of a Persian Gulf “post‑American order.” He wrote the gap “is greater than the 7,000‑mile distance between Washington and the Strait” and added “welcome to the Persian Gulf’s ‘post‑American order’” and “some dreams are too far from reality.” The remarks followed a social‑media image posted by US President Trump that labeled the Strait of Hormuz “US new territory.”

Pony.ai (02026.HK) CFO Wang Haojun said the company’s overseas deployment plan now exceeds 4,000 Robotaxis. He highlighted a recent joint plan with Uber to deploy more than 2,000 Robotaxis across five major European cities, calling that an initial phase and saying larger deployments are likely as the European Robotaxi market matures. Pony.ai said it is confident it will exceed its 2026 Robotaxi revenue target and is on track to deploy 3,500 Robotaxis across more than 20 cities by end-2026.