Breakfast News Recap: Riyadh under repeated attack as IMF cuts regional outlook and Ukraine strikes continue

Saudi Arabia said it intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards Riyadh as the Houthis claimed fresh strikes on the capital’s airport and an air base in Khami, with the airport remaining closed after renewed attacks. The claims came amid a third straight day of missile and drone attacks on the Saudi capital.  🔗  🔗  🔗

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In the wider Gulf, Qatar’s emir said the country had faced “exceptional events” as regional instability continued to weigh on the state, while the International Monetary Fund sharply downgraded its outlook for the Middle East and Central Asia, warning the region’s economy is now set to contract in 2026 as war fallout and any disruption to the Strait of Hormuz hit growth.  🔗  🔗

Yemen’s conflict also remained active away from Riyadh, with pro government forces saying they had pushed Houthi fighters out of part of a desert battlefield in Lahj governorate as fighting continued near the front lines.  🔗

In Ethiopia, government forces entered the strategic town of Adwa in northern Tigray after advances by fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, and the fighting is now drawing in wider regional interests, with the United Arab Emirates publicly backing the federal government and Saudi Arabia’s role coming under scrutiny.  🔗  🔗

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Ukraine said Russian strikes continued after Donald Trump announced what he described as an energy ceasefire, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying at least six energy facilities were hit. Zelenskyy also said a Ukrainian strike on a Yandex data centre in Vladimir was followed by a sharp fall in bot traffic and disruption to the company’s services.  🔗  🔗

Security concerns widened in Europe, with Britain saying a suspected plot linked to RAF Fairford was almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as sanctions were widened, while the UK also expanded police protection for non MPs and ordered an urgent security review. In Poland, two Turkish citizens were detained in Germany over a fire at a Starlink station that officials described as sabotage carried out on Russia’s behalf.  🔗  🔗  🔗

NATO’s top military commander warned in Warsaw that the alliance would respond forcefully if attacked, as European concern grows over possible sabotage and hybrid threats. Separately, the EU established a new support mission in Lebanon and added three people and four entities to its DPRK sanctions list over ties to Russia.  🔗  🔗  🔗

Elsewhere, US federal agents searched the Washington home of Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar as part of a criminal investigation, while in Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney used a Thanksgiving message to urge unity ahead of Alberta’s secession referendum. In Pakistan, the PTI said it would challenge in court the federal takeover of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and in Australia Labor highlighted a A$630 million charity funding boost and planned pay rises for care workers.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

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Other developments included a public inquiry in Britain hearing claims that senior officers blocked military police from following evidence in the Afghanistan SAS murder investigation, a leaked documents report raising perjury concerns in the Abramovich oil fields case, and the Security Council meeting on Syria as the country’s fragile transition faces pressure from economic hardship and insecurity.  🔗  🔗  🔗

Flash floods and a landslide in Nepal’s Gorkha district left more than 100 foreign trekkers stranded on the Manaslu route, while the World Steel Association forecast global steel demand would be flat in 2026 before a rebound in 2027.  🔗  🔗

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