Russian barrage kills at least 24 across Ukraine on Putin's birthdayHouthi strikes on Saudi and Aden airports kill three foreigners in Saudi ArabiaTanker attacks in Hormuz hit weekly high as US and Iran dispute control of straitGlobal bond selloff resumes as US 30-year yield reaches highest since 2002IMF warns energy prices will stay high as IEA speeds oil stock releaseEritrean troops reported inside northern Ethiopia as ties collapseTanker burns off Sochi as Bulgaria ends search for sunken ship's crewKenya traces contacts after first Ebola death exposes screening gapsUS and WHO press Russia for details on suspected plague deathYemen displacement passes 200,000 as UN agencies warn of hungerThai flood toll climbs to at least 52 as new storms loomFrench bond yields rise again as central bank chief rules out ECB helpFrance suspends stun grenades at student protests as unrest spreads to BelgiumEU-China trade talks open after Beijing rejects voluntary hybrid curbsTurkey sends defensive support to Saudi Arabia while Syria denies joining Houthi fightSpaceX credit risk hits record after $40bn chip-financing reportEx-BND chief Hanning in custody as allies review shared intelligenceChrista Pike wakes and speaks after surviving Tennessee lethal injectionsIsrael marks three years since Hamas attack as strikes hit GazaMathematicians question vetting after OpenAI publishes hundreds of claimed resultsIndia's central bank raises rates for the first time since 2023EU ambassadors agree largest-ever expansion of Russia sanctions listShiroka-Pula takes office as Kosovo president while EU voices concern over court lawIraq devalues dinar as Hormuz disruption hits oil exportsHungary lifts veto as EU opens two negotiating clusters with Ukraine and MoldovaIsraeli forces raid West Bank towns and smash memorials as settlers attack homeLithuania to deploy army at Kaliningrad border as Denmark accuses Russia of sabotageUS forces on Okinawa put under curfew after Marine arrested over woman's killingFlávio Bolsonaro vows constitutional reform ahead of Brazil runoff as US Democrats question visa revocationShell expects record refining margins as Iran war reshapes fuel marketsAfD lawmaker elected Saxony-Anhalt parliament president, rattling Merz's coalitionChina opens pilot training base in LaosProbes widen after flydubai hijacking attemptEviction symbol Maricarmen dies as Spanish unions call general strikeParamount Skydance completes Warner Bros. Discovery takeoverGermany blocks Cosco takeover of Hamburg port logistics firmHackers used Chinese AI tool against South Korean banks; Qilin suspect held in GermanyAfrican Union launches continent's first credit rating agencyUK consulate in East Jerusalem prepares to closePorsche plans to cut 25% of workforce and shift to pricier carsNewsom condemns Trump's remark that Iran could 'take out' Los AngelesFinland orders Google to halt work at data centre sitesMyanmar's Min Aung Hlaing visits Malaysia amid concerns over Rohingya returnsIzmir mayor joins Erdoğan's partyFirst working nuclear clocks unveiled by Chinese and European teamsIndonesian wildfire haze makes Singapore's air the world's worstOman evacuates injured crew from attacked tanker in HormuzChatGPT for Teens judged an 'unacceptable risk' to childrenNATO military committee visits KyivLibya's eastern parliament removes speaker Saleh after 12 yearsJapan to cut hundreds of stocks from Topix in record revampRussian barrage kills at least 24 across Ukraine on Putin's birthdayHouthi strikes on Saudi and Aden airports kill three foreigners in Saudi ArabiaTanker attacks in Hormuz hit weekly high as US and Iran dispute control of straitGlobal bond selloff resumes as US 30-year yield reaches highest since 2002IMF warns energy prices will stay high as IEA speeds oil stock releaseEritrean troops reported inside northern Ethiopia as ties collapseTanker burns off Sochi as Bulgaria ends search for sunken ship's crewKenya traces contacts after first Ebola death exposes screening gapsUS and WHO press Russia for details on suspected plague deathYemen displacement passes 200,000 as UN agencies warn of hungerThai flood toll climbs to at least 52 as new storms loomFrench bond yields rise again as central bank chief rules out ECB helpFrance suspends stun grenades at student protests as unrest spreads to BelgiumEU-China trade talks open after Beijing rejects voluntary hybrid curbsTurkey sends defensive support to Saudi Arabia while Syria denies joining Houthi fightSpaceX credit risk hits record after $40bn chip-financing reportEx-BND chief Hanning in custody as allies review shared intelligenceChrista Pike wakes and speaks after surviving Tennessee lethal injectionsIsrael marks three years since Hamas attack as strikes hit GazaMathematicians question vetting after OpenAI publishes hundreds of claimed resultsIndia's central bank raises rates for the first time since 2023EU ambassadors agree largest-ever expansion of Russia sanctions listShiroka-Pula takes office as Kosovo president while EU voices concern over court lawIraq devalues dinar as Hormuz disruption hits oil exportsHungary lifts veto as EU opens two negotiating clusters with Ukraine and MoldovaIsraeli forces raid West Bank towns and smash memorials as settlers attack homeLithuania to deploy army at Kaliningrad border as Denmark accuses Russia of sabotageUS forces on Okinawa put under curfew after Marine arrested over woman's killingFlávio Bolsonaro vows constitutional reform ahead of Brazil runoff as US Democrats question visa revocationShell expects record refining margins as Iran war reshapes fuel marketsAfD lawmaker elected Saxony-Anhalt parliament president, rattling Merz's coalitionChina opens pilot training base in LaosProbes widen after flydubai hijacking attemptEviction symbol Maricarmen dies as Spanish unions call general strikeParamount Skydance completes Warner Bros. Discovery takeoverGermany blocks Cosco takeover of Hamburg port logistics firmHackers used Chinese AI tool against South Korean banks; Qilin suspect held in GermanyAfrican Union launches continent's first credit rating agencyUK consulate in East Jerusalem prepares to closePorsche plans to cut 25% of workforce and shift to pricier carsNewsom condemns Trump's remark that Iran could 'take out' Los AngelesFinland orders Google to halt work at data centre sitesMyanmar's Min Aung Hlaing visits Malaysia amid concerns over Rohingya returnsIzmir mayor joins Erdoğan's partyFirst working nuclear clocks unveiled by Chinese and European teamsIndonesian wildfire haze makes Singapore's air the world's worstOman evacuates injured crew from attacked tanker in HormuzChatGPT for Teens judged an 'unacceptable risk' to childrenNATO military committee visits KyivLibya's eastern parliament removes speaker Saleh after 12 yearsJapan to cut hundreds of stocks from Topix in record revamp
Bota

The Situation · Edition 27

Thursday, 8 October 2026

← 7 OctToday →

The Gulf war widened on Wednesday, 7 October. Houthi strikes on the Riyadh and Abha airports killed three foreign nationals, according to Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority, and the Houthis also hit Aden's airport. Sources told Reuters that attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz reached their highest weekly count of the war, while Washington says the strait is open and Tehran says it is closed.

Read more ▾

Elsewhere, Russian missiles and drones struck Ukraine overnight into Wednesday and killed at least 24 people. Kyiv says the destruction of an apartment block in Pryluky was a 'birthday gift' to Vladimir Putin. EU ambassadors agreed to add more than 1,500 individuals and organizations to the Russia sanctions list, and Hungary agreed to lift its veto on the technical phase of Ukraine's accession talks. In the Horn of Africa, witnesses report Eritrean soldiers inside Ethiopia's Tigray region, and Eritrea calls Addis Ababa's accusation a pretext for war. Turkey is sending mainly defensive support to Saudi Arabia, two officials said, while Syria denied it may join the fight against the Houthis.

The war is feeding through to money. IMF chief Georgieva said energy prices will stay high even if the war ends, and the IEA agreed to speed up its emergency oil release. Long-term bond yields rose again, with the US 30-year at its highest since 2002, and the Reserve Bank of India raised rates for the first time since 2023. In technology, SpaceX's default-insurance cost hit a record after a report that it seeks $40bn in debt for Nvidia chips.

Less noticed was Kenya's first Ebola death, confirmed on Tuesday: a man who flew to Nairobi after falling ill in Congo, with authorities now tracing the passengers on his flight. Watch on Thursday for the start of EU-China trade talks in Beijing, where China has refused to limit hybrid car exports voluntarily, the Financial Times reports.

Important today

All stories

Global · 5

Europe · 17

Middle East · 11

Africa · 4

Asia · 8

North America · 5

South America · 1