Breakfast News Recap: Middle East tensions deepen as US diplomacy, Ukraine strikes and market swings dominate

Israel is reportedly stepping up military preparations for a possible strike on Iran, while Tehran has warned of expanded retaliation if pressure rises further. The warning comes as Iran says the Strait of Hormuz will not return to its pre war status amid ceasefire talks, underlining how fragile the regional standoff remains.  🔗  🔗

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In Gaza, Israeli strikes killed at least five Palestinians, including in a hit on a tent shelter, as heavy rain and flooding worsened an already severe humanitarian crisis. Separately, an Israeli airstrike hit a building at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, killing at least five more people according to Gaza civil defence officials.  🔗  🔗

Yemen's conflict is also intensifying, with the World Health Organisation saying more than 320,000 people have been displaced since 1 August. The Houthis denied targeting Mecca after Saudi Arabia said it intercepted missiles, adding to fears of a wider regional escalation.  🔗

US diplomacy over the wars in Ukraine and Russia is moving back into focus, with envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner due to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow and Volodymyr Zelensky in Dublin after talks in Abu Dhabi. Donald Trump said at a Veterans Day event in Arlington that the United States did not start the war with Iran and that the conflict would end soon.  🔗  🔗

Ukraine's power system is now described as close to critical after renewed Russian strikes on the energy grid, leaving rolling blackouts and deepening the strain as winter approaches. In a separate development, Russia's ambassador to the United States, Alexander Darchiev, has died suddenly at 66, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.  🔗  🔗

Across Europe, France barred Israeli settler leader Yossi Dagan from entering the country after he arrived at a Paris airport, while Russia retaliated against Paris by banning four French figures after France expelled pro Kremlin commentator Xenia Fedorova. Ireland also warned that undersea cables near its waters face a growing threat from hostile actors.  🔗  🔗  🔗

Elsewhere, thousands of schools in Italy, Scotland and Northern Ireland received bomb threats in what authorities believe is a hoax campaign, and Poland saw tens of thousands join a nationalist Independence Day march in Warsaw after the Krakow attack. The EU Council and Parliament also reached agreement on the bloc's 2027 annual budget.  🔗  🔗  🔗

In the Americas, at least two people were killed when a three storey mixed use building collapsed in Brooklyn's Flatbush neighbourhood, with rescue crews still searching the rubble. Paraguay's Central Bank said it has partially refunded eligible Ueno Bank depositors after the lender collapsed, while in US politics Democrat Scott Colom won the Mississippi Senate race, giving Democrats a 55 seat majority.  🔗  🔗  🔗

Further afield, Nigeria's President Bola Ahmed Tinubu launched his re election manifesto amid cost of living pressure, Bangladesh opinion writers said ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina should return from India to face her sentence, and Bolivia arrested former senior judge Aldo Quezada in a drug trafficking probe. In Australia, the Victorian Liberal Party dumped its Williamstown candidate Paul Lindemann over anti Aboriginal comments, and US intelligence reportedly linked former tech executive Alice Huang to Beijing espionage allegations.  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗  🔗

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used a COP31 speech in Antalya to call the Gaza war an ecocide and press for more humanitarian aid, while Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said recent election results in the United States and Israel could help Lebanon in its long running dispute over the group's weapons. Iran and Argentina also traded terrorist designation moves in a fresh diplomatic escalation.  🔗  🔗  🔗

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