The U.S. dollar is coming under pressure in the early weeks of 2026 as investors reassess long-held assumptions about the stability of the world’s dominant currency amid rising geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty, financial markets and analysts say.

The United States on Tuesday announced the launch of a large, multi-day aerial military readiness exercise across the Middle East, underscoring heightened alertness as tensions continue to rise with Iran amid a deadly regime crackdown on nationwide protests.

Already frosty relations between Budapest and Kyiv further cooled Tuesday after Hungary’s pro-Russia prime minister accused Ukraine of election interference to overthrow him and ordered the Ukrainian ambassador to be summoned to the foreign ministry.

China’s military leadership is facing major upheaval after its most senior general — a close ally of President Xi Jinping — was accused of leaking information about the Communist country’s nuclear-weapons program to the United States and committing other “serious violations of discipline and law.”

The United States has formally completed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, citing the organization’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, failure to implement meaningful reforms, and what U.S. officials described as undue political influence by member states.

The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying warships have entered the Middle East, according to U.S. officials, significantly expanding President Donald Trump’s military options as tensions with Iran continue to escalate.

Mexico was mourning Monday after gunmen opened fire at a soccer field in the central city of Salamanca, killing at least 11 people and wounding a dozen others in the latest mass attack linked to organized crime violence.

Authorities in Pakistan have detained two prominent human rights lawyers known for defending people accused of blasphemy against Islam and exposing what supporters describe as a “blasphemy business” network, sources told Worthy News.

Indonesian emergency workers on Sunday resumed search-and-rescue efforts for scores of people missing after a landslide killed more than two dozen villagers in the country’s West Java province.

Officials say Ukraine and Russia ended U.S.-brokered peace talks in Abu Dhabi without a deal, though more negotiations are expected next weekend despite ongoing attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that a U.S. security guarantees document for Ukraine is “100% ready” following trilateral talks involving Ukraine, the United States, and Russia aimed at ending the nearly four-year war.

President Donald Trump said last Thursday that a massive U.S. naval force is moving toward Iran, warning the regime in Tehran that continued violence against its own people and renewed nuclear activity could trigger further American action.

President Donald Trump has confirmed that the United States deployed a previously undisclosed weapon system—dubbed “The Discombobulator”—during the January 3 raid that led to the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro in Caracas.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has effectively called the European Union a failure and said radical reforms are needed to save the 27-nation bloc amid significant global challenges.

Ukraine, Russia, and the United States are holding three-way talks in Abu Dhabi in what is the first time the three countries have sat down together since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The meeting comes after U.S. President Donald J. Trump raised fresh hopes that he could help bring the armed conflict to an end soon.