Day News Recap: Kyiv hit hard as Middle East tensions widen and markets turn risk averse

Russian ballistic missiles struck Kyiv, killing at least 13 people and injuring more than 30, while power cuts hit the capital after damage to buildings and infrastructure. Ukrainian officials said the attack was one of the deadliest on the city in recent months.  🔗

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In Gaza, a mass funeral was held in Gaza City for at least 50 Palestinians whose bodies were recovered from rubble in several neighbourhoods, as Israeli strikes hit the city for a second day and the death toll rose. The Israeli military also said it would open criminal investigations into the killings of five year old Hind Rajab and Palestinian medics, and later published findings from five internal probes into deadly incidents involving aid and medical workers, referring two cases to military police.  🔗  🔗  🔗

Pressure on Israel also grew on other fronts. Australia summoned Israel's ambassador after the military declined to bring criminal proceedings over the 2024 Gaza airstrike that killed aid worker Zomi Frankcom, and again after the IDF cleared soldiers over her killing. Human Rights Watch said settler violence and settlement expansion were forcing Palestinian displacement in the West Bank, while the UN raised alarm over new illegal outposts and incitement against Palestinians.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

Regional tensions widened beyond Gaza. The United States warned that an Israeli strike on a Syrian airbase could have triggered direct confrontation with Turkish forces, after Israel hit the Abu al Duhur airbase near Aleppo and Damascus denied Turkish base plans. Lebanon extradited a former Syrian general to Syria for trial over alleged war crimes, and Canada pledged more than $50 million in Lebanon aid while an official condemned the Israeli invasion.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

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At sea and across the wider Middle East, armed men seized a tanker in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen and diverted it toward Somalia, according to the United Nations. The US sent the USS George Washington to the Middle East as an emergency reserve amid the war with Iran, with the carrier later reported in the Arabian Sea, while NATO said it was prepared after Bulgaria tightened security at Bezmer Air Base over reported Iranian strike plans.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

Iran and its adversaries traded more pressure. Trump threatened what he called the most crushing economic operation against Iran, Iran's parliament advanced a foreign infiltration bill, and oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz were reported to have risen sharply during a 60 day US Iran memorandum that expired without a peace deal. Separately, the Pentagon questioned NATO allies on support for US policy, and the ICC called new US sanctions on its president and prosecutor a flagrant attack.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

In Asia, North Korea fired about 10 short range ballistic missiles into its eastern waters, then said Trump's decision to scale back joint drills with South Korea changed nothing. Trump also said he planned to meet Kim Jong Un later this year, while China blamed US hostile policy for Korean Peninsula tensions after Wang Yi's visit to Seoul. South Korea and the United States agreed to cut their annual drills from 11 days to five.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

Elsewhere in the region, Myanmar's Rohingya crisis was said to be deepening as the Arakan Army's takeover in Rakhine State drove fresh abuses, and Myanmar's military chief made his first foreign trip to Bangkok in a diplomatic push. In Indonesia, rescuers pulled an 84 year old woman alive from the rubble three days after a quake off Flores island, while South Australia declared a significant escalation in H5 bird flu after more than 1,000 seabird deaths.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

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In Europe and the wider economy, Romania destroyed an explosive sea drone near the Neptun Deep gas project in the Black Sea, Belgium brought its largest wildfire in a century under control, and Russia faced fresh domestic strain as petrol shortages deepened and bank withdrawals continued for a second day. Ukraine's president also sacked senior aide Iryna Mudra amid a corruption investigation, while Russia's national debt and savings concerns were not in the supplied items.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

In the Americas and beyond, Evergrande founder Xu Jiayin was sentenced to life in prison and the company was hit with a larger fine, the US national debt topped $40 trillion, and Russia's oil and cash pressures added to a broader picture of financial stress. Zambia's opposition leader Brian Mundubile said he would challenge the presidential election result in court, Pakistan summoned the top US diplomat after Kashmir remarks, Bangladesh held its first contested presidential election in 35 years, and José Julio Rodríguez Cumba was sentenced to 30 years in prison in Puerto Rico.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

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