Breakfast News Recap: Russia escalates strikes on Ukraine as global unrest and security tensions spread

Russia has intensified missile and drone strikes on Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities, with civilian infrastructure among the targets, as the war enters another dangerous phase for the capital and beyond.  🔗

In Washington, Donald Trump has suspended planned sanctions on countries buying Russian oil or gas, a move that reverses an earlier threat and has drawn criticism, while Marco Rubio said the waiver on sanctions and tariffs will last 60 days as the administration reviews the impact.  🔗  🔗

Security tensions in the Gulf also rose after Iran said two oil tankers caught fire after striking naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, a development that deepens concern over shipping through one of the world's most sensitive waterways.  🔗 Saudi Arabia said its air defences intercepted and destroyed four incoming drones, in the latest cross border incident linked to Houthi activity, while Egypt signalled it may provide defence support.  🔗

In India, at least 17 people were killed and 25 injured in a stampede at a Durga Puja gathering in north Kolkata, in West Bengal, as officials dealt with the aftermath of the crush.  🔗 Separately, Rubio is due to visit India in the coming week for talks in Mumbai and a stop at the Jamnagar refinery, a trip that comes amid strains in US India ties.  🔗

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France saw nationwide cost of living and education protests turn violent, with police confronting demonstrators in several cities and a historic town hall in Limoges badly damaged after fire tore through the building and its clock tower spire collapsed.  🔗  🔗 In Albania, anti government protests in Tirana entered a fifth day and again turned into pitched battles with police in the centre of the capital.  🔗

In Africa, former Democratic Republic of the Congo president Joseph Kabila has joined a new political military coalition in eastern Goma, a significant development in the volatile east of the country.  🔗 In Guatemala City, police arrested two men after former prosecutor and anticorruption lawyer Juan Francisco Solorzano Foppa was shot dead at a sports complex.  🔗

Elsewhere, officials in Alberta confirmed people were killed and injured in a major fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, with crews still working to contain flames spreading toward a nearby town.  🔗 In Western Australia, two people are in custody after Greenpeace activists occupied a Woodside offshore gas platform about 200 kilometres off the coast.  🔗

In Asia and the Pacific, Timor Leste says the long delayed Greater Sunrise gas project is finally moving ahead, with the first agreements expected to be signed soon.  🔗 North Korea's Wonsan retreat has also drawn attention after satellite images repeatedly showed an 80 metre luxury boat with a pool and slides off the coast from July to mid October.  🔗 In the United States, Trump posted a Kentucky rally message backing Andy Barr for the Senate as he headed to the state.  🔗

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