Breakfast News Recap: Indonesia quake toll rises as Ebola spreads and Ukraine, Gaza tensions deepen

Rescue teams in eastern Indonesia are still searching collapsed buildings and landslide debris after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake on Flores island killed at least 51 people, forced thousands from their homes and left many residents waiting for aid.  🔗

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The disaster has also triggered a wider humanitarian response, with reports from the island saying roads and damaged villages are making access difficult as crews continue to look for survivors.  🔗

In central Africa, the World Health Organization says the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is spreading faster than containment efforts and is on track to become the deadliest on record, with cases now also reported in Uganda.  🔗

Ukraine and Russia exchanged heavy overnight strikes, with Russian missile and drone attacks killing at least one woman and wounding seven people in Ukraine, while a NATO air policing jet shot down a drone that entered Romanian airspace.  🔗 A separate barrage saw about 600 drones target the Moscow region and fires break out in Kyiv, underlining the scale of the cross border campaign.  🔗

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In the Middle East, Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed 11 people, including three children, as Israel said it had killed a Hezbollah commander in the area.  🔗 At the same time, Hamas political leader Khalil al Hayya is heading to Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials as efforts continue to narrow differences over Gaza ahead of a visit by Jared Kushner.  🔗

Elsewhere in Europe, two women were killed and two babies injured in northwestern Spain after torrential rain triggered a flood and landslide.  🔗 In Belgium, a fast moving wildfire in the Altos Fens nature reserve burned 2,700 hectares and forced evacuations in nearby villages.  🔗

In Africa, recovery teams in Zimbabwe have pulled 23 more bodies from a ferry that capsized on Lake Kariba, taking the death toll to 69.  🔗 In Zambia, counting in the presidential election was briefly suspended after reports of intimidation, violence and alleged ballot paper theft at polling stations.  🔗

Across the Asia Pacific, Hawaii is facing dangerous winds and torrential rain as Hurricane Lala brushes the southern part of the Big Island, with warnings widening and one death reported.  🔗 In Australia, New South Wales will begin a gun buyback scheme on 2 November after the Bondi Beach attack, while authorities say the spread of H5N1 bird flu to the Northern Territory is only a matter of time.  🔗  🔗

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In other developments, the USS George Washington has begun leaving Da Nang, Vietnam, in a move expected to send the aircraft carrier toward the Middle East.  🔗 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Egypt could potentially join the newly signed Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan defence pact.  🔗 Canada is also seeing pressure on its ties with Washington, after a petition calling for the expulsion of US Ambassador Pete Hoekstra passed 171,000 signatures.  🔗

In the United States, Donald Trump urged the Senate to end twice yearly clock changes and vote on the NO MORE CHANGING THE CLOCKS ACT, signalling renewed domestic legislative pressure.  🔗 The Democratic National Committee has meanwhile approved a revised 2028 presidential primary calendar that puts South Carolina first.  🔗

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