Breakfast News Recap: Middle East shipping crisis deepens as Colombia quake toll climbs and North Korea fires missile

Rescue teams in Colombia are still searching for survivors after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake killed 216 people, with the death toll continuing to rise as emergency crews work through the wreckage.  🔗

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In the Middle East, oil prices climbed again as renewed attacks on shipping sharpened fears over the Strait of Hormuz and other vital maritime routes. Iran's top security official said the strait will stay closed unless the United States meets Tehran's conditions, while the US military said it disabled a Panama flagged ship near an Iranian port after repeated warnings were ignored.  🔗 🔗 🔗

The maritime violence widened further in the Bab al Mandeb, where Yemen's internationally recognised government blamed the Houthis for a deadly attack on the Egyptian owned cargo vessel Tihamah, saying at least six people were killed.  🔗

Security tensions also rose in East Asia after North Korea launched a ballistic missile from the Wonsan area towards the East Sea, days before planned US South Korea drills.  🔗

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In Europe and the wider war in Ukraine, Kyiv said it had sent new proposals to the United States on ending the conflict with Russia, while the UN told the Security Council that more than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians remain detained by Russia.  🔗 🔗

On the battlefield in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces arrested at least 23 Palestinians and demolished homes, warehouses and other structures, as the UN warned the situation was nearing a breaking point.  🔗

Elsewhere, Russia freed ailing former US Marine Robert Gilman, who has now returned to the United States for medical care, and President Donald Trump said the release followed talks with Vladimir Putin.  🔗 🔗

In other developments, Brazil's Supreme Court is due to hear cases that could weaken Amazon protections and affect Indigenous land rights, UNESCO said about 2.4 million girls in Afghanistan are still barred from secondary school, and four US based rights groups launched a fresh legal challenge to the Trump administration's sanctions campaign against the International Criminal Court.  🔗 🔗 🔗

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Diplomatic shifts were also reported in the Caribbean and Middle East, with Venezuela and Israel agreeing to restore consular relations, the Cook Islands heading into an election shaped by foreign policy disputes and ties with Beijing, Lebanon abolishing the death penalty, and a Sydney court matter ending after assault charges were dropped against Bondi Beach shooting hero Ahmed al Ahmed.  🔗 🔗 🔗 🔗

In the Baltic region, defence startups in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are racing to build low cost tools to counter what they see as growing Russian hybrid threats.  🔗

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