Breakfast News Recap: NATO boosts eastern defences as US confirms weapons in orbit and Houthi attacks widen

The biggest security shift came from Washington, where US officials publicly confirmed for the first time that the country has weapons in orbit capable of disabling or destroying enemy satellites, as the Golden Dome space interceptor programme was said to be ready for flight. The Pentagon watchdog also warned that the war with Iran exposed shortages of key munitions and bottlenecks in the US defence industrial base.  🔗  🔗

Sponsored

Across Europe, NATO said it will increase support for Ukraine and strengthen its own defences along the eastern border with Russia after fresh strikes near Poland, while Lithuania said NATO fighter jets shot down a drone that entered its airspace overnight. Finland also agreed to join France's Forward Deterrence Initiative, widening French nuclear deterrence cooperation to another European state.  🔗  🔗  🔗

In the Middle East, Yemen's Iran aligned Houthis launched a new wave of missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, with one series of strikes wounding 13 civilians in the south of the kingdom. The attacks came as pressure mounted on Riyadh from Houthi advances and as pipeline disruption deepened tensions around the Red Sea.  🔗  🔗

Gaza remained under fire, with Israeli strikes hitting camps and other locations and killing at least two people, including at Abu Khadra camp where tents were destroyed. The latest attacks add to an already rising ceasefire toll.  🔗

Sponsored

Elsewhere in the region, Russia resumed resupplying its military bases in Syria under a new deal with Damascus, sending a convoy to Tartous for the first time since the August agreement. In Vienna, the United States blocked Iran's nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami from attending the IAEA General Conference after Austria revoked his visa.  🔗  🔗

In the Americas, the US Supreme Court blocked Donald Trump's attempt to impose new restrictions on mail in ballots before the midterm elections, a setback for the president as voting begins. Trump also pledged to remove the 10% tariff on Irish whiskey after his visit to Ireland, while a Russian national pleaded guilty in a US aerospace export scheme involving illegal shipments of aviation and aerospace parts to Russia.  🔗  🔗  🔗

In Asia, China tightened travel restrictions under new national security rules, giving authorities wider powers to bar citizens from leaving the country. In Pakistan administered Kashmir, internet access has now been severely restricted for more than 100 days amid unrest, while India approved emergency electricity exports to Nepal after floods damaged much of its hydropower network.  🔗  🔗  🔗

In Europe, EU states agreed to raise investment in the Arctic as they seek a stronger response to strategic competition in the far north, and ministers met in Dublin Castle for cohesion funding talks under Ireland's EU presidency. In Serbia, university students submitted an election list ahead of the snap vote, signalling an organised challenge to the political field.  🔗  🔗  🔗

Sponsored

In the United States, a Santa Barbara County courthouse bombing case ended with a guilty plea from a Santa Maria man who admitted detonating the device in 2024, injuring three people and damaging the building.  🔗

#NATO #Houthiattacks #USdefence #markets #Europe #breakingrecap #recapbreakfast