Noontime News Recap: Ukraine strikes, Middle East violence and Serbia election shake a crowded news day

Ukraine and Russia traded fresh blows as a Ukrainian drone strike on Voronezh killed two people and injured 17, while European defence ministers from France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom met in Paris to discuss boosting military support for Kyiv.  🔗  🔗

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In the Middle East, Israeli forces intensified their operation in Hebron in the occupied West Bank, demolishing a three storey building and industrial facilities in Farsh al Hawa and displacing more than 2,000 Palestinians.  🔗 Separately, three Palestinians, including a seven year old girl, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a displaced persons camp in the Al Mawasi area west of Khan Younis.  🔗

Also in the region, Israel's election campaign remained dominated by the Gaza war and the politics that followed the 7 October attacks, with Palestinians in Gaza watching for any shift in policy after years of war, displacement and destruction.  🔗 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied reports of a rift with the army chief over possible action against Iran on the eve of the vote.  🔗

Elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa, the Saudi led coalition said it had destroyed Houthi missile facilities in Yemen in an operation aimed at reducing cross border threats.  🔗 Iran is also due to host officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan for talks framed as part of the Mecca Defence Alliance, against a backdrop of regional tension.  🔗

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In Sudan, the Rapid Support Forces carried out coordinated drone strikes on five power stations, knocking out electricity across large parts of eastern Sudan and deepening the country's infrastructure crisis.  🔗 In Algeria, parliament approved sending troops to neighbouring Niger, a rare foreign deployment since 1973 that officials say is meant to protect energy interests and support security.  🔗

Europe saw a major political shift in Serbia, where a student backed movement won snap parliamentary elections and ended the ruling party's long grip on power.  🔗 A separate report said Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat in a televised statement as preliminary results pointed to a strong showing for the opposition backed movement.  🔗

In the UK, Storm Boelo left around 90,000 properties without power as clean up continued after heavy weather hit Scotland and northern England over the weekend.  🔗 In Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the second round of the presidential election, a result described in the supplied material as a setback for the far right.  🔗

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