Breakfast News Recap: Haiti church massacre, US sanctions on Iran and Ukraine AI drone strike dominate briefing

At least 40 displaced people were killed when armed gang members attacked a church shelter in Kenscoff, in the hills above Port-au-Prince, in one of the deadliest assaults yet on civilians fleeing violence in Haiti.  🔗

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The United States has launched a fresh sanctions offensive against Iran, widening financial pressure and warning that countries or entities doing business with Tehran could face consequences, while Iran said it was ready and vowed retaliation.  🔗  🔗

In Ukraine, authorities said a Russian drone guided by artificial intelligence killed three people in Zaporizhzhia, which they described as the first confirmed AI guided strike of its kind, as Kyiv also marked Independence Day with its first ever aerial, ground and naval drone parade.  🔗  🔗

Fighting and pressure around the wider war continued on several fronts, with Russia issuing a decree allowing temporary state control of critical infrastructure judged insufficiently protected from attack, and the UK and Ukraine agreeing a new deal to use battlefield data to train AI systems for protecting sensitive sites.  🔗  🔗

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In the Middle East, an Israeli air strike hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians near al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah, killing at least one person and wounding several others, while Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his claim that Iran tried to kill one of his sons without giving details.  🔗  🔗 The Houthis also said they fired a missile at the Saudi vessel Amzan off Yanbu in the Red Sea, and the ship operator later confirmed an incident.  🔗

Washington also stepped up pressure on other fronts, removing Syria from its state sponsor of terrorism list after 47 years and saying the move clears major barriers to investment, while separately imposing new sanctions on International Criminal Court officials.  🔗  🔗 In Syria, a court in Damascus sentenced former grand mufti Ahmed Hassoun to life in prison over crimes including inciting civil war and supporting killings during the Assad era.  🔗

In Africa, two United Nations peacekeepers were killed in an ambush near Pajut in South Sudan, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo a ceasefire verification mission arrived in Minembwe as monitoring of the truce began.  🔗  🔗 The DRC also saw a separate political battle intensify over President Felix Tshisekedi’s succession plans and reform agenda.  🔗

Elsewhere, Canada is preparing its response after new US tariffs on select Canadian goods took effect, while the US Supreme Court cleared the way for Donald Trump to proceed with restrictions on mail voting ahead of the midterms.  🔗  🔗 In the UK, Andy Burnham refused to rule out tax rises in the autumn Budget, and in Northern Ireland police in Omagh arrested a 16 year old boy after finding four viable explosive devices.  🔗  🔗

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In the Asia Pacific, wildfires in Indonesian Kalimantan burned through tens of thousands of acres and sent haze towards Malaysia and Singapore, while heavy rain in South Australia broke August records and disrupted Telstra services on the lower Yorke Peninsula.  🔗  🔗 Australia’s energy operator also warned that data centres could become one of the country’s biggest new power demands by 2036, and Woodside scrapped emissions and clean energy targets after a profit surge linked to higher prices during the Iran conflict.  🔗  🔗

France was hit by severe weather too, with a tornado injuring 41 people and damaging about 300 homes in the village of Pomas, while Norway said it would press ahead with Arctic oil and gas development in the Barents Sea despite EU pressure to halt new drilling.  🔗  🔗 A Brazilian national also pleaded guilty in New York to illegal reentry into the United States.  🔗

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