Breakfast News Recap: Ukraine ports hit, Middle East tensions rise and markets swing on oil and gold

Ukraine and Russia traded fresh long range strikes on Black Sea infrastructure, with a Ukrainian attack hitting Novorossiysk grain terminals and a Russian Black Sea naval base, while Moscow said it was redirecting cargo flows to other ports after casualties rose.  🔗 Russian forces also struck the port of Izmail in southern Ukraine’s Odesa region, damaging infrastructure and starting a fire, as Kyiv warned of an interceptor shortage.  🔗

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Ukraine’s drone campaign inside Russia has intensified, with near daily strikes since June reported against oil refineries and other targets deep in Russian territory.  🔗 The attacks underline the widening economic and military pressure around energy and transport routes on both sides of the border.  🔗

In the Middle East, Donald Trump said the United States had total control over the Strait of Hormuz and would keep it, sharpening rhetoric as the blockade continues.  🔗 Separately, an oil spill from the tanker Caroline Bezengi has reached Oman’s mainland coast, contaminating beaches at Ras Madrakah and adding to regional shipping and environmental concerns.  🔗

Gaza saw further bloodshed after an Israeli air strike killed one person and wounded five in northern Beit Lahiya, according to local authorities.  🔗 In Washington, Trump also said pro Israel lobbying groups no longer held the same influence they once did, a notable political shift in tone.  🔗

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In Syria, a court in Damascus sentenced ousted president Bashar al Assad, his brother Maher al Assad and six other former officials to death in absentia, a major symbolic ruling against the former leadership.  🔗 In Iraq, the government said September 30 was the final deadline for the US led coalition to end its military mission and complete its withdrawal.  🔗

Elsewhere in global security and justice, the UK is facing calls to sanction two Russian officials accused of helping remove Ukrainian children from occupied areas and subjecting them to political indoctrination.  🔗 The Pentagon also disclosed that US strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen killed 153 civilians during the April 2025 campaign, a report likely to intensify scrutiny of the operation.  🔗

In Africa, the World Health Organization warned that the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is spreading faster than health authorities can contain it and is on track to become the deadliest on record.  🔗 In the United States, an Army Apache helicopter crashed near Fort Hood in Texas during a routine training flight, killing the two people on board and sparking a wildfire.  🔗

In Europe and the wider Anglosphere, Japan protested Vladimir Putin’s visit to one of the disputed Kuril islands, renewing a long running territorial dispute.  🔗 NATO’s top commander said ending US access to Shannon Airport would likely damage ties with Ireland.  🔗 The European Broadcasting Union changed Eurovision rules so broadcasters from states involved in armed conflict will no longer be eligible to host.  🔗

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Australia moved on two domestic fronts, with governments preparing a A$2.5 billion bailout for Tomago Aluminium, the country’s largest smelter, and advancing a news bargaining law that would force major digital platforms to pay publishers.  🔗  🔗 In Canberra, David McBride was released on parole after serving 27 months for leaking secret defence documents about the Afghanistan war.  🔗 In Northern Ireland, a Lithuanian van driver was jailed after the National Crime Agency said he smuggled cannabis worth GBP 220,000 through Belfast port.  🔗

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