Israeli strikes kill at least two in Gaza, damage hospital medical stores day after Hamas deal

Israeli strikes killed at least two Palestinians in Gaza and destroyed medical supply warehouses next to a hospital, a day after Hamas said it had agreed to the latest stage of a US-brokered deal to end the war.

Iran's foreign ministry defends Hormuz blockade, tanker strikes as lawful self-defence

Iran's foreign ministry has defended its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and strikes on tankers as lawful self-defence against US aggression, citing the UN definition of aggression. The US military rejects Iran's claim to control the strait.

UPDATE: Iran's IRGC says it struck two tankers attempting to cross Strait of Hormuz

Iran's IRGC says it struck and stopped two oil tankers attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz under US air escort, with four others turning back. The claim could not be independently verified, and the US military has given a competing account.

Hamas agrees to disarm and surrender power in the Gaza Strip, Trump announces

US President Donald Trump announced that the Board of Peace reached a "historic" agreement with Hamas to disarm, with control of Gaza to be transferred to a technocratic government.

Quetta coal mine blast in Pakistan kills 26 miners

A methane gas explosion at a coal mine on the outskirts of Quetta in Pakistan's Balochistan province killed at least 26 miners on July 30, while rescue teams continued efforts to locate workers still trapped underground.

Nayax bets on North Macedonia’s cashless future

Israeli fintech company Nayax has launched its cashless payment services in North Macedonia, expanding its Balkan footprint.

Anthropic says Claude AI models breached three companies during cyber tests

Anthropic says three Claude AI models gained unauthorised access to three companies' systems during cyber tests, after a config error gave the models internet access. The disclosure follows a similar rogue-agent episode revealed by OpenAI.

Investors commit nearly €200mn to expand Estonia's largest data centre

A group of prominent Estonian entrepreneurs is investing almost €200mn to expand the country's largest data centre, aiming to position the facility as a regional hub.

Digital Silk Road: Chinese and Kazakhstan-based tech companies ink multibillion-dollar agreements

Freedom Holding Corp says it is gaining access to tech from leading Chinese businesses while building infrastructure to adapt and scale it across Central Asia.

Estonia's first remote taxi crash highlights legal grey areas

Remotely operated taxis have been operating in Tallinn for nearly a year, with fewer than 10 vehicles currently in service.

MACRO ADVISORY: Best Eurasia books published in 1H26

Macro-Advisory Limited has issued its annual mid-year compilation of the best business, political and general interest books published in 1H26, covering the twelve states in the Eurasia region plus Iran and Afghanistan.

COMMENT: Putin is hardening, not softening, despite Ukraine's battlefield gains

Ukraine's Western allies are preparing a final push to pressure Vladimir Putin before a winter expected to be gruelling for Kyiv, even as Ukraine's own long-range strikes campaign does real damage. But Putin is not budging.

EU needs 'Team Enlargement' coalition to drive next expansion push, think-tank says

The European Union needs a coalition of key member states to overcome political divisions and prepare the bloc for its next enlargement wave, according to an ECFR paper.

COMMENT: Russia nears a political crossroads as elites tire of the war

Russia’s war on Ukraine is entering a new phase in which the odds of escalation are rising even without any single dramatic turning point, says Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.

COMMENT: Ukraine's three-tier state

Is Volodymyr Zelenskiy more focused on his own political survival than on winning the war? That is the question The Spectator's Owen Matthews asked after the Ukrainian president's reshuffled his government.

Ukraine's central bank raises key rate to 15.5% as inflation risks build

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) raised its key policy rate to 15.5% from 15% on July 30, ending a hold that had lasted since March and reversing the rate-cutting cycle it opened at the start of the year, the central bank said.

Number of people living in each city - OWID

Most of the world’s fastest-growing megacities will soon be in Africa. Many cities across East Asia and Latin America have grown quickly over the last few decades.

Taiwan shares slide again, heading to worst monthly decline ever

The Taiex has now fallen more than 6,192 points in July, and is on course for its largest monthly points decline on record.

Japanese yen jumps past 158 against dollar

Japanese authorities are believed to have last intervened in the foreign exchange market between April and May, selling US dollars and buying yen.

Uzbekistan's 1H foreign trade reaches $41bn as trade deficit widens to $9.3bn

Exports decline 9%, imports move up 21%.

Russia begins mass production of cheap, upgraded Banderol cruise missile

Drought grips Central Europe, disrupting nuclear power, shipping and agriculture

Europe's worst drought in decades has brought shipping on parts of the Danube to a standstill, threatened nuclear power generation and exposed growing vulnerabilities as climate change pushes temperatures to unprecedented levels.

Kyrgyzstan gained UN Security Council seat; now comes hard part

Bishkek’s priorities to include climate, Afghan reintegration into world order.

One war, three continents and total slippage

A drone hit on a US gas carrier at Damietta puts the Iran war on the Mediterranean shore. From the Caspian to the Gulf of Aden, one conflict now spans three continents. It is wide but not yet deep, and widening is its own escalation.

Ukraine closing the missile gap on Russia from a standing start

Soviet Ukraine once built some of Moscow's deadliest missiles: the Yuzhmash plant in Dnipro produced the SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile, technology reportedly still echoing decades later in North Korea's own missile engines.

ISTANBUL BLOG: Turkey probes TV presenter who called Syria’s al-Sharaa a “terrorist with a tie”

Dubious rise to the top is questioned. Watchdog says remarks “incompatible with foreign policy vision”.

CENTRAL ASIA BLOG: Unjust bureaucratic hurdles are wrecking legit UK travel dreams

Tourist visas denied based on highly subjective assessments of financial means and intentions to use “return” section of plane ticket.

MOSCOW BLOG: The Nato-Russia clash mission creep

The stochastic war continues to escalate into a brutal tit-for-tat missile war with both sides continuously rolling out new and improved weapons that could eventually lead to a direct clash between Nato and Russia.

MOSCOW BLOG: Hitting the Wildberries warehouse is a lot more painful than it looks

The tit-for-tat missile war escalated at the weekend after Ukraine hit the largest distribution centre belonging to Wildberries, the “Amazon of Russia.” The Kremlin hit back the next day with a massive drone and missile barrage.

KYIV BLOG: What is Ukraine’s future: Afghanistan or Finland?

What is in store for Ukraine? There are two starkly different possibilities. It can become Finland — a country that lost a war, lost a tenth of its territory, swallowed neutrality, and then got rich. Or it can become Afghanistan.

Wind and solar overtake fossil fuels in Germany for the first time ever

Europe enters the Pyrocene age of fire that makes its own weather

"The Pyrocene is here," climate researcher Peter Dynes wrote on X on July 28, as wildfires near Bordeaux began generating huge pyrocumulus clouds intense enough to create their own weather.

EIB lends €260mn for Poland’s second-largest onshore wind farm

Tauron’s 190MW Miejska Górka wind farm in western Poland will generate enough electricity to supply nearly 200,000 households.

Wildfires ravage Southern Europe – Statista

Southern Europe’s wildfire season used to typically run from July to September, but now data shows that it is getting longer and more intense.

Sanctions on Russia backfire, leaving Spain's firefighting helicopters grounded as wildfires rage

EU sanctions on Russia have backfired, leaving Spain's best Russian-built Kamov Ka-32 firefighting helicopters grounded as severe wildfires burn across southern Europe, reported Berliner Zeitung.