West Asia war updates: Netanyahu acknowledges halt in fighting with Iran but vows to respond 'with force' to future attacks - The Hindu

• Geopolitical instability is increasingly threatening physical cloud infrastructure, prompting enterprises to re-evaluate their reliance on centralized hyperscale platforms. • Companies are rethinking long-held assumptions regarding business continuity and resilience for critical communications services to avoid single points of failure.

• Fresh Israeli strikes in Tyre have killed eight people, highlighting the fragility of the current ceasefire and the ongoing risk of escalation. • A UN-led assessment released Tuesday estimates that buildings in Beirut and Mount Lebanon have suffered over $365 million in damages.

• Global conflicts have surged to their highest levels since World War II, according to data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP). • Conflict-related fatalities reached a record high in 2025, with approximately 244,600 people killed.

• A new report from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program reveals that global conflict levels have reached their highest point since World War II. • The data highlights a surge in one-sided violence in Africa, specifically citing massacres in El Fasher as a primary driver.

• Voters in four U.S. states are heading to the polls today to participate in primary elections. • A new report indicates that global conflicts have reached their highest levels since the end of World War II.

Protests across the city turned violent on Tuesday night – with some police officers appearing to conclude it wasn’t safe to interveneOn a residential street draped in loyalist flags near Belfast’s Shankill Road, the masked men approached a house with a boarded-up window and a security camera stationed outside.As a woman from an ethnic minority background looked down from an upstairs window, some of the men rushed the front door and broke it down. With the air thick with smoke from fireworks, they attacked the downstairs windows with bricks. Continue reading...

Penny Wong issues statement overnight announcing joint action with western allies to combat ‘horrific levels of settler violence against Palestinian civilians’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastGood morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Nick Visser with the main action.Australia has joined the UK and other western allies in introducing sanctions against “extremist settlers” accountable for the “horrific levels of settler violence against Palestinian civilians”. More coming up. Continue reading...

Texas trial drew national attention due to race, as Karmelo Anthony is Black and Austin Metcalf was whiteFollowing a trial that lasted just one week from jury selection to verdict, a Collin county, Texas, jury found Karmelo Anthony, now 19, guilty of murder in the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf last year. The closely watched trial drew national attention, with viral social media posts that highlighted the racial composition of the case: Anthony is Black; Austin was white. Attorneys selected 12 jurors and six alternates for the trial; none of the jurors was Black.Anthony, of Centennial high school, and Austin, of Memorial high school, were both 17 when they met during a Frisco independent school district track meet in April 2025. A rain shower started and led to confusion – some athletes stayed on the field, while others ran for cover under team tents. Centennial did not have a tent that day, and when Anthony sought shelter under Memorial’s tent, a confrontation occurred resulting in Anthony stabbing Austin, who was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a local hospital. Continue reading...

US president says crew members are ‘safe and uninjured’ after attack near strait of Hormuz early on TuesdayMiddle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump has blamed Iran for downing a US army helicopter near the strait of Hormuz, warning that the US would be forced to respond to the attack.The US army Apache helicopter gunship crashed off the coast of Oman early on Tuesday, according to US Central Command. The two crew members were later rescued in an unprecedented operation using an unmanned drone boat, the military said. Continue reading...

Political row emerges over state’s failure to tackle sexual violence against children as people protest across FranceA lawyer for the family of an 11-year-old girl whose disappearance and murder sparked protests across France has called for more funding for the struggling justice system, amid a political row over the French state’s failure to tackle sexual violence against children.“Frankly, if the justice system had more resources, this tragedy and all the others wouldn’t have happened,” said the family’s lawyer, François Roujou de Boubée, on Tuesday. “The victim’s family and I trust in the justice system. So enough is enough.” Continue reading...

Leon O’Leary threw a smoke grenade and Connor Bishop a traffic cone at officers during disturbance in SouthamptonTwo men who threw a smoke grenade and traffic cone at police during the violence in Southampton that followed the sentencing of Henry Nowak’s killer have been jailed.Leon O’Leary, 41, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, was sentenced to three years and one month after throwing a smoke grenade at officers. Continue reading...