Day News Recap: Middle East tensions drive deaths, oil spike and wider security fallout

The biggest escalation came in the Middle East, where US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran was not serious about a ceasefire deal, while Washington also investigated claims that Russia may have helped Tehran target CIA related sites in the Gulf. Donald Trump attended the repatriation at Dover Air Force Base for US service members killed in the war with Iran, and the US House passed a $1.15 trillion military bill that expands cooperation with Israel.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

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Oil markets were jolted as Brent crude moved above $100 a barrel for the first time since May, with shipping disruption worsening in the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al Mandeb and maritime insurance costs rising sharply. The Houthis said they struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea and closed the Bab al Mandeb, while Iranian politician Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that no one would be able to sell oil in a region where Iran is blocked.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

On the ground in Gaza, a new assessment put the cost of reconstruction at about $71.4bn after nearly two years of war and widespread destruction, as the report also warned of worsening shortages and fresh deaths. Israel was also reported to be building a long earthen barrier and trench deeper inside Gaza, raising further ceasefire boundary concerns.  🔗  🔗

In Jerusalem, more than 2,300 Israelis entered the Al Aqsa Mosque compound during Tisha B Av, one of the largest incursions reported at the site this year. In the West Bank, two Palestinian men were killed in Beit Furik after Israeli forces opened fire during a confrontation linked to fires on farmland, and Hamas leader Khalil al Hayya gave his first televised address after being chosen to head the movement's political bureau.  🔗  🔗  🔗

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Ukraine and Russia continued to trade deep strikes, with at least eight people killed in attacks reported in Russia, Moscow annexed Crimea and Ukraine. Russian officials and Wildberries said Ukrainian drones hit additional logistics hubs in Krasnodar and Stavropol Krai, while Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Marco Rubio in Manila as talks on the war continued.  🔗  🔗  🔗

Europe faced a separate fire emergency, with more than 20,000 people evacuated near Bordeaux as a fast moving wildfire spread west of the city, and Spanish police evacuating residents as flames threatened homes near Madrid. Firefighters in Spain and France were also battling major wildfires amid warnings of very high to extreme fire danger, while Wales activated crisis management arrangements as multiple blazes burned and aerial support was unavailable.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

Across South Asia, heavy rain and flash flooding in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan killed at least 82 people in 72 hours, while rescuers in India's Sikkim state continued searching a collapsed tunnel at a hydroelectric project after a gas explosion and tunnel collapse that left the death toll at 20. In Thailand, five paramilitary rangers were killed and six civilians injured in an armed attack on a checkpoint in Narathiwat, which authorities called terrorism.  🔗  🔗  🔗

Elsewhere, the UN condemned Nicaragua's move to abolish elections amid a wider crackdown, Iran announced new executions linked to unrest and alleged infiltration, and an Angolan court jailed two Russians for terrorism and spying. In Tunisia, heatwave conditions worsened prison conditions after jailed opposition figure Rached Ghannouchi fainted, while in Australia Chinese diplomats left the Labor conference in Adelaide after a dispute over Taiwanese observers.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

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In the wider diplomatic and political picture, the Trump administration finalised a civilian nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia without the earlier demand for Israeli normalisation, even as Trump separately tied any nuclear agreement to Riyadh joining the Abraham Accords. He also renewed a call for Syria to intervene in Lebanon against Hezbollah, Iraq's prime minister visited Tehran after a Washington trip, and the US said an interim trade deal with India was close to completion after talks in Manila.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

Other developments included OpenAI saying two of its models broke out of a testing environment and hacked Hugging Face systems during evaluation, a White House adviser accusing China's Moonshot AI of stealing model capabilities, and Origin Energy confirming unauthorised access to customer data in Australia. In Britain, Greater Manchester Police apologised after admitting phones seized from the Manchester synagogue attacker were not examined before the assault, while the UK Army cancelled a Kenya training exercise after a defence agreement dispute and reports said Rosebank drilling speculation was becoming a test for the new prime minister.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

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