What is Iran's Pickaxe Mountain? UAE trade embargo could shut Iran's key economic escape route: Here's why The United Arab Emirates announced an indefinite trade embargo on Iran on Wednesday, accusing Iranian forces of firing two ballistic missiles at its territory. Iran denied launching missiles and described the reported attack as a "false flag operation" by Israel and the United States. The UAE's embargo has been described as highly significant by analysts, who say Iran is heavily reliant on its neighbour for critical imports and access to financial markets. "In many ways, the embargo being put on by the UAE is even more significant than the embargo being put on by the United States," Mark Kimmitt, a retired US general and former assistant secretary of state, told Al Jazeera, referring to US sanctions and the ongoing American naval blockade of Iranian ports. The recent developments come shortly after the June 17 memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran lapsed on Monday, with little prospect of being renewed.

North Korea has denounced major United States-South Korea military drills set to start next week as a provocation that heightens tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The US-Japan-South Korea military cooperation is turning into a nuclear alliance, and North Korea will respond to a new level of threat with a new level of deterrent, a spokesperson for North Korea's Foreign Ministry said on Friday, according to Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The drills - named "Ulchi Freedom Shield" - are due to start on August 17 and will last until August 27. They will incorporate exercises to counter drones, GPS disruption, and cyberattacks as the US and its allies adapt to North Korea's evolving capabilities. "The US announced that the forthcoming exercises are quite different from the ones of the past five years and intended to master the ability of fighting a war on the basis of the new aspects of modern warfare," the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in the statement.

Is the war entering a new phase? A Russian strike on a ship near the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa has killed at least 10 people, while Ukraine has launched hundreds of drones to attack Moscow, a day after Kyiv was hit by one of the heaviest barrages of ballistic missiles of the war. Russia struck a Guinea-Bissau-flagged ship carrying corn with a crew from India and Syria, Ukraine's seaports authority said on Monday. Officials said eight crew members had been rescued. "Since the beginning of July, the Odesa region was under constant daily shelling. There were days when 13 to 15 air raid alerts had been announced in the region," Kiper told Ukrainian television.

This week, with air raid warnings wailing in the distance, Kyiv held a funeral for two sisters. They had already lost their father who had been fighting on the front line. Their grieving mother is now the family's sole survivor. This is the human cost of the largest sustained Russian aerial assault so far - with 1,500 drones and 56 missiles fired at Ukraine within 48 hours. But the loss of life could have been even higher.

A large Russian aerial strike on Ukraine has again left half of Kyiv's residential buildings without heating or power as temperatures across the country continue to hover around -10C. Drones, ballistic and cruise missiles targeted several locations in Ukraine, including Kyiv, Dnipro in the centre and Odesa in the south. Air raid alerts in the capital lasted for most of the night. On Tuesday, sirens rang out again as Russian drones and cruise missiles approached the capital. President Volodymyr Zelensky said a significant number of targets had been intercepted.

Russia has used the Oreshnik ballistic missile as part of a massive overnight strike on Ukraine. Four people were killed and 25 others injured in Kyiv on Thursday night, where loud booms could be heard for several hours, setting the sky alight with explosions. It only the second time that Moscow has used the Oreshnik, which was first deployed to hit the central city of Dnipro in November 2024. Russia's defence ministry said the strike was a response to a Ukrainian drone attack on Vladimir Putin's residence in late December, which Kyiv denies carrying out . While the ministry did not specify what had been the Oreshnik's target, shortly before midnight (22:00 GMT) videos began circulating on social media showing numerous explosions on the outskirts of the western city of Lviv.

Could Ukraine hold a presidential election right now? Will Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund war? How can Ukraine rebuild China ties? 'Ukraine is running out of men, money and time' Overnight into Friday, Russia launched a large attack on Ukraine with missiles and drones, killing at least three and injuring 16 people in the capital Kyiv, according to The Associated Press news agency. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko reported multiple districts in Kyiv were struck, including Desnyanskyi, where a drone crashed into a building and the first two floors of a residential building were damaged.

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How is Russia replenishing its military? What is a'coalition of the willing'? How China forgot promises and'debts' to Ukraine How are Europe, the US pulling apart on Ukraine? Russia's Putin hails war advances; Ukraine retakes parts of Donetsk John Psaropoulos is an independent journalist based in Athens and has been Al Jazeera's correspondent in Southeast Europe since 2012. Ukraine reclaimed 62sq km (24sq miles) of territory last month, its commander in chief revealed on Monday, contradicting Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent claim to be advancing "in all directions".

How is Russia replenishing its military? What is a'coalition of the willing'? How China forgot promises and'debts' to Ukraine How are Europe, the US pulling apart on Ukraine? On Sunday, Russia launched its largest drone and missile attack since the war began, firing a total of 823 projectiles into Ukraine. The attack killed at least four people, wounded 44, and caused damage to a key building in Kyiv's government district, making it the first on the site since the full-fledged war began in February 2022.