US joins forces with Saudis to strike Tehran-backed militias in Iraq

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Oil price spikes after flare-up of fighting and claimed Iranian attacks on three tankers in strait of Hormuz

The US military said it knocked down an Iranian missile barrage and worked with Saudi Arabia forces to strike sites in Iraq that Tehran-backed militias have used to launch attacks in recent days. The strikes on Wednesday killed at least 20 members of a former paramilitary alliance that includes pro-Iran groups.

In what Washington cast ⁠as “an attempted surprise ⁠attack” by Tehran, Iran had launched multiple ballistic missiles at US forces in the Middle East, shattering a brief pause in fighting. Iran’s target was a US base in Jordan, Axios cited a US official as saying.

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Ukraine Says It Hit Major Rosneft Refinery in Russia’s Ryazan – Bloomberg

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  1. Ukraine Says It Hit Major Rosneft Refinery in Russia’s Ryazan  Bloomberg
  2. Ukraine Shifts Drone Strategy to Target Hard-to-Replace Russian Energy Components  UNITED24 Media
  3. US, France Help Ukraine Target Russian Refineries with Precision Strikes  Kyiv Post
  4. Putin’s oil empire under fire as Ukraine’s drone blitz cripples Russia’s fuel network  London Business News
  5. Zelenskyy unveils asymmetric measures to counter Russian ballistic missile attacks  The New Voice of Ukraine
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‘The shaking was terrifying’: stories of survival and loss emerge after Japan earthquake

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Rescuers pulling people from the wreckage in southern Japan in a haunting repeat of disaster that struck 10 years ago

“There was a voice coming from the collapsed house, and I could see a hand,” Tomohide Nagata, a volunteer firefighter, told the Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun. “One of our senior members crawled in and pulled him out. He was bleeding from the head, but I’m so glad he survived.”

Nagata had heard a noise coming from one completely flattened home in the rural town of Hikawa, close to the epicentre of Tuesday’s 6.8-magnitude earthquake in southern Japan. The town was one of the areas hardest hit, with numerous older houses collapsing. Terrified of the ongoing aftershocks, many residents spent Tuesday night in their cars outside Hikawa’s town hall, where staff distributed food and drinks.

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Shares in Asian chip firms plunge further as AI sell-off continues

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Drop comes after South Korean company SK Hynix’s results undershoot investors’ expectations

Shares in companies linked to AI have plunged further after disappointing results from the South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix, which sent the country’s stock market tumbling for a second day in a row.

Seoul’s Kospi index, which is dominated by semiconductor manufacturers, slid by as much as 12.6% at one point on Wednesday, following on from a near 11% slump the previous day, reaching its lowest level since early April.

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Victorian cults inquiry accidentally shares email address of anonymous survivors with group members

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Committee apologises for not concealing email addresses when alerting witnesses to final report

A Victorian parliamentary committee investigating the harmful impact of cults accidentally sent the email addresses of anonymous survivors who made submissions to current members of such groups and to journalists.

The committee, which had its report into “cults and organised fringe groups” tabled in parliament on Wednesday, emailed hundreds of recipients shortly after midday to inform them it had been published, but erroneously left their addresses visible.

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Saudi Arabia, US carry out strikes on Iran-backed groups in Iraq – Al Jazeera

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  1. Saudi Arabia, US carry out strikes on Iran-backed groups in Iraq  Al Jazeera
  2. US thwarts ‘surprise’ Iran missile attack, and joins forces with Saudis to hit targets in Iraq  The Guardian
  3. Iran war live: US, Saudi forces attack Iraq; IRGC fires missiles at Jordan  Al Jazeera
  4. Saudi Arabia joins U.S. military strikes on Iranian proxies  The Washington Post
  5. U.S., Saudi Forces Strike Iran-Backed Terrorist Sites in Iraq  centcom.mil
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Daniel Andrews says Ben Carroll ‘can win’ Victoria election in rare public statement

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Former leader shows support for new Victorian premier while paying tribute to Jacinta Allan

Daniel Andrews has thrown his support behind Victoria’s new premier, Ben Carroll, saying he has what it takes to win November’s state election.

In a rare public statement on Wednesday, the former premier also paid tribute to Jacinta Allan, whom he handpicked to replace him as Labor leader when he resigned in September 2023.

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Parsing Trump’s Decision to (Maybe) Give Uranium Enrichment to Saudi Arabia – War on the Rocks

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  1. Parsing Trump’s Decision to (Maybe) Give Uranium Enrichment to Saudi Arabia  War on the Rocks
  2. Trump-Netanyahu meeting: Why Trump’s Saudi nuclear deal is making Israel uneasy  vox.com
  3. Republican Lawmaker Breaks Ranks With Trump Over U.S.-Saudi Arabia Nuclear Deal  Time Magazine
  4. Transcript: Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," July 26, 2026  CBS News
  5. The Saudi Nuclear Deal Would Set a Dangerous New Proliferation Precedent  Council on Foreign Relations
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Japan earthquake kills at least 13 as rescuers search for people trapped in damaged mall and factory – CBS News

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  1. Japan earthquake kills at least 13 as rescuers search for people trapped in damaged mall and factory  CBS News
  2. Earthquake rocks southern Japanese island of Kyushu – in pictures  The Guardian
  3. Murakami eager to aid hometown after devastating earthquake  MLB.com
  4. After the quake came the blast: Inside Japan's shopping mall disaster  Reuters
  5. Japan: Rescuers 'race against time' after deadly earthquake  DW.com
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Wednesday briefing: Will Zelenskyy’s domestic struggles harm his reputation on the global stage?

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In today’s newsletter: A recent government reshuffle has exposed deep fractures within Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s wartime cabinet

Good morning. Another week, another diplomatic success for Volodymyr Zelenskyy. On Monday, his first meeting with Andy Burnham as PM confirmed continuity in the UK’s steadfast support for Ukraine. “We’ve got your back,” Burnham said as the pair spoke in Portsmouth. Yesterday, in Washington DC, after attending the funeral of Lindsey Graham – a once supportive Republican senator – Zelenskyy and Trump held a “positive and productive” meeting, as per the White House. Overnight, the US Senate advanced a sweeping Russian sanctions bill.

Save for that somewhat shaky start in the early days of Donald 2.0, these well-executed global stage set-pieces have come to define Zelenskyy’s wartime leadership. The hundreds of billions he has secured in military, financial and humanitarian aid from the US, Europe, the UK and beyond during a period of global economic unease is remarkable.

UK news | Young people will be expected to engage with new support to find work, Pat McFadden has said.

World news | At least 13 people have been killed after a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Japan, injuring hundreds and knocking out power and water to tens of thousands.

Europe news | Nearly 4,000 people have been evacuated from tourist sites on France’s Atlantic coast as the return of winds and extreme heat jeopardises firefighters’ battles to contain wildfires raging in France and Spain.

US news | Donald Trump hosted back-to-back White House meetings with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, as Ukraine seeks more firepower for its air defences and the Israeli prime minister tries to repair his strained relationship with the US president.

UK news | Led By Donkeys has received compensation after a giant banner it displayed in Parliament Square saying “Yes It’s A Genocide” was seized by officials and destroyed.

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