Past 24 Hours: Hormuz Pressure, Ebola Spread and Europe’s Extreme Heat

The past 24 hours have produced a news cycle in which separate crises are increasingly connected. Energy security in the Strait of Hormuz is influencing diplomacy and prices; conflict in the West Bank and Ukraine is testing political pressure and civilian protection; and public institutions are responding to emergencies in health, climate and technology.

This briefing draws on reporting published or updated within the rolling 24-hour window by the Associated Press and The Guardian. Claims made by governments, militaries and companies are identified as such, while figures are attributed to the organizations that reported them.

Iran and the United States return to economic pressure as Hormuz talks stall

The Trump administration is again emphasizing financial pressure on Iran after stop-start diplomacy failed to produce an agreement ending the war or fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The Associated Press reports that Washington believes months of bombing have weakened Iran’s economy enough for expanded sanctions and the naval blockade of Iranian ports to force concessions on Tehran’s nuclear programme and shipping through the strait.

The waterway gives the standoff consequences far beyond the two countries. Before the conflict, roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies moved through Hormuz, according to AP. The war has largely closed that route, and attempts to restore traffic have been short-lived. Oil prices rose as investors interpreted the latest US position as a sign that shipments of crude, refined fuels and natural gas could remain constrained.

The strategy is still an argument rather than a demonstrated outcome. Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected the renewed sanctions approach, while outside specialists told AP that financial restrictions generally take time and that the United States has not consistently defined whether its central objective is Iran’s nuclear programme, the strait or ballistic missiles. The immediate fact is a continued stalemate: military pressure has not delivered a settlement, and economic pressure is being asked to do work it cannot accomplish quickly.

US ambassador condemns a settler siege in the occupied West Bank

Israeli settlers surrounded three Palestinian homes in Qusra, south of Nablus, for several days, including a house owned by a Palestinian American. US Ambassador Mike Huckabee called the episode a “horrific act of terror,” an unusually sharp criticism from the Trump administration as violence by settlers has increased across the occupied West Bank. AP’s account says the confrontation began on Sunday.

Residents and local officials said groups that at times numbered in the dozens threw stones, tried to pull down a nearby wall and prevented occupants from leaving while food and water ran low. One homeowner’s brother and teenage son had stayed inside to defend the property. By Thursday, the Israeli military had moved them to another house, but they remained unable to leave the area.

The Israeli military said troops dismantled two illegal outposts near Qusra, detained one Israeli and deployed additional soldiers for patrols and defensive duties. The village mayor said seven homes were evacuated so troops could take positions, and families had not returned when AP reported the story. The episode therefore remained unresolved even after the outposts were removed, with the ambassador’s condemnation adding diplomatic weight to demands for accountability.

Ukrainian drones strike another major Russian oil facility

Ukraine struck the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat refining and petrochemical complex in Russia’s Bashkortostan region, according to Ukraine’s General Staff. AP reports that it was the fourth Russian refinery attacked in three days, part of Kyiv’s campaign against the oil sector that provides revenue and fuel to Moscow during its full-scale invasion.

The Salavat complex lies about 1,300 kilometres from Ukraine’s border and is one of Russia’s largest facilities of its kind. Ukraine’s military said the plant can process as much as 74 million barrels of oil a year and produces gasoline, diesel and other products. Bashkortostan Governor Radiy Khabirov confirmed a drone attack in the Salavat industrial zone, saying it started a fire and wounded two civilians.

Kyiv presents the sustained attacks as a way to reduce refining capacity and push President Vladimir Putin toward negotiations. AP notes that previous strikes have contributed to fuel shortages at Russian filling stations, but there is no sign that the pressure has yet changed the Kremlin’s war aims. The latest operation nevertheless shows both the reach of Ukrainian drones and the growing role of energy infrastructure as a strategic battlefield.

Congo’s Ebola outbreak reaches a sixth province

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak has spread to a sixth province after a man died in Buta, the capital of previously unaffected Bas-Uele. Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jean Kaseya said the patient had travelled from Isiro in Haut-Uele. AP reports that the eastern Congo outbreak is considered the fastest-growing recorded so far.

Government figures cited by AP put the toll at more than 2,100 deaths among over 4,500 cases. The World Health Organization warned that the outbreak is on course to surpass the 2014–16 West Africa epidemic, which killed more than 11,000 people, because the current death toll has accumulated almost three times faster. The strain involved is the rare Bundibugyo virus, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments.

Those clinical limits are being compounded by conditions on the ground. Some unpaid health workers have gone on strike, armed groups remain a threat, communities carry years of trauma and misinformation has encouraged claims that Ebola is not real. The spread to Bas-Uele is therefore more than a geographic update: it shows how travel, fragile services and distrust can accelerate an outbreak even when the mechanisms of Ebola transmission are well understood.

Europe’s heat emergency deepens as fires spread in Greece

A provisional temperature of 38.1C at Kew Gardens made Thursday the United Kingdom’s hottest day of 2026 and the fifth-hottest day ever recorded there, according to the Met Office. The Guardian’s live reporting said more than 135 million people across Europe were expected to experience temperatures of at least 35C as warnings expanded and transport and health services faced strain.

France’s heatwave entered its seventeenth day, making it the country’s third-longest period of extreme temperatures on record, while readings approached or exceeded 40C in several areas. In England, nurses’ representatives reported staff becoming dizzy, nauseous or faint during shifts, and rail operators warned passengers that heat could disrupt services. The pattern is no longer only a matter of uncomfortable daytime highs; it is affecting workplaces, infrastructure, agriculture and water supplies.

In Greece, gale-force winds intensified the fire danger and drove a major blaze in Chalkidiki. Officials said boats removed hundreds of tourists and residents from beaches around the Kassandra peninsula as a precaution, while firefighters and aircraft tried to contain flames that reached homes. The combination of heat, dry vegetation and winds above 100 kilometres an hour illustrates how one weather hazard can quickly multiply into an evacuation and emergency-response crisis.

Instagram and YouTube found liable in a landmark addiction trial

A California jury found Meta and Google-owned YouTube liable for harm suffered by a 20-year-old woman who said she became addicted to social media as a child. According to AP, the plaintiff, identified by the initials KGM, testified that platform use worsened her mental-health struggles and that the companies had designed their services to hook young users without adequately protecting their wellbeing.

After more than 40 hours of deliberation, a majority of jurors awarded $3 million in damages. Jurors then recommended another $3 million in punitive damages after finding that the companies had acted with malice, oppression or fraud; the judge retains the final decision on the amount. The verdict came in a first-of-its-kind case and followed a separate New Mexico verdict against Meta earlier in the week.

Both companies dispute the decision and are considering appeals. Meta said adolescent mental health is complex and cannot be attributed to a single application, while Google argued that YouTube is a responsibly designed streaming service rather than a social-media platform. Whatever happens on appeal, the verdict creates a legal test for thousands of related claims alleging that engagement-focused design caused foreseeable harm to young users.