Russia launched a large-scale deadly attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early Tuesday, damaging residential buildings, authorities said, as part of a broad offensive on targets across Ukraine.
At least 17 people were killed in the overnight assault that Ukraine’s military said involved more than 600 drones and dozens of missiles, including advanced hypersonics.
Six people were killed in Kyiv and 11 in the central city of Dnipro, including two children, according to Ukrainian officials. More than 100 people were wounded across the country. Five medical facilities were damaged or destroyed, the Ukrainian health ministry said Tuesday.
Inthe capital,the attacks damaged several residential and commercial buildings, sparking fires and burning cars, authorities said.
Kyiv’s air defenses appeared to be less active during a ballistic missile strike around 7 a.m. local time, with CNN producers in the city center hearing ongoing explosions, but not the firing of counter-air systems. A strong smell of smoke permeated the air in the city on Tuesday morning.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko described the overnight assault as a “massive enemy attack.”
There are fears people remain trapped under the rubble of a multi-story apartment block in Podilsky district that partially collapsed after a “double tap” Russian strike, according to Klitschko.
Emergency responders at a property damaged in Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on June 2. State Emergency Service of Ukraine
Images from Ukraine’s State Emergency Services show a fire engulfing a badly-damaged house as firefighters doused the flames, and the windows and facade of what appears to be the front room of another debris-filled home completely blown away.
“Throughout the night, the enemy launched massive attacks on the Kyiv region using drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. Our peaceful towns and villages were once again under attack,” said Mykola Kalashnyk, the Kyiv regional governor.
At least 65 people were wounded across the city, Ukrainian officials said, in strikes that caused power outages and sent residents scrambling to shelters as air raid sirens sounded.
A suspected missile strike hit a 24-story residential building in Shevchenkivskyi district, sparking a fire, and a blaze broke out in a nine-story building in Podil after debris struck the roof, the mayor said. Elsewhere in the city, Russian strikes damaged a clinic and debris fell on the grounds of a kindergarten, Klitschko added. In Bucha, three homes, warehouse facilities and non-residential buildings were damaged, Kalashnyk said.
A residential building damaged in a Russian attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on June 2. State Emergency Service of Ukraine
An emergency worker surveys damage at a property struck during a large-scale attack on Kyiv on June 2. State Emergency Service of Ukraine
Russian attacks were also reported in Dnipro, where 37 people were wounded, and Kharkiv, where 14 were wounded including a child, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. A rescue operation is underway at the site of a four-story apartment building in Dnipro that authorities said was “effectively leveled,” as six people remain unaccounted for.
Among those killed in Dnipro was Maj. Anton Yarmolenko, deputy chief of the Fire and Rescue Unit, who was responding to a rescue call at the time, Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs Ihor Klymenko said.
Altogether, Russia fired 656 drones and 73 missiles at Ukraine overnight, according to Ukrainian Air Force figures, which said the vast bulk of the drones and just over half of the missiles were shot down.
The aftermath of a Russian missile strike on a residential building in Kyiv overnight on May 24, 2026. (Ukraine’s State Emergency Service/Telegram)
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Russian forces launched a large-scale combined missile and drone attack overnight on May 24, targeting mainly Kyiv and the surrounding region, causing casualties and destruction across the capital.
Ukraine’s Air Force said that Russia launched 90 missiles and 600 drones in an attack that lasted several hours, making the attack one of the largest in the last year.
Kyiv Independent journalists on the ground reported a massive series of wall-shaking explosions in Ukraine’s capital from around 1 a.m local time, and then again multiple times between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m, as Russia launched waves of ballistic and cruise missiles at the city.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported damage “in every district of the city,” as missile and drone strikes hit across the capital — including central areas that tend to see fewer strikes during Russian attacks.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 24 that four people were killed and almost 100 others injured across the country as a result of the attack. In Kyiv alone, over 80 people were wounded, including three children, and two victims killed.
The National Art Museum, one of the oldest and most important museums in Ukraine, was damaged by a blast wave, according to the Culture Ministry. The collection, which ranges from classic to contemporary art, was not damaged.
The Kyiv Opera Theater, the Ukrainian House, the Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium, and the Chornobyl Museum were among other institutions damaged in the attack.
Over 40% of the items in the Chornobyl Museum’s collection were “irrevocobly lost,” the Interior Ministry reported the following morning. Rescue workers and musuem staff began evacuating the exhibit immediately after the attack. Their efforts saved several irreplaceable artifacts, including a painting by Maria Prymachenko and the Ukrainian flag planted at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant after its liberation in 2022.
“With today’s strike, Russia attempted to destroy not only lives but also memory,” the ministry said.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that for the first time since World War II, the Foreign Ministry building sustained damage from an attack, although the damage wasn’t severe.
The Cabinet of Ministers, Ukraine’s government headquarters, was also damaged overnight, Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko reported. A blast wave shattered windows, but no one was injured.
The building was damaged for the first time in a mass missile attack in September 2025.Windows blown out by a blast at the Cabinet of Ministers, Ukraine’s government headquarters, after a Russian mass missile attack overnight on May 24, 2026. (Yuliia Svyrydenko / X)
Civilian homes and infrastructure were also targeted. In Kyiv alone, about 30 residential buildings were damaged or destroyed, Zelensky said.
In terms of the number of locations damaged in the onslaught, the strike marks the largest attack against Kyiv of the entire full-scale war, Kyiv City Military Administration Head Tymur Tkachenko said.
“There were sounds… a terrifying explosion. A terrible explosion. Flames. For a brief instant — maybe a second — I lost consciousness,” Yevhen, a 74-year-old pensioner, told the Kyiv Independent at one of the attack sites.
“I can’t say I was scared. I wasn’t scared. You see, we Kyiv residents are already used to this. Our emotions have become a little dulled.”
Zelensky confirmed that Russia used its Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile during the attack, the third time Russia has used the sophisticated weapon against Ukraine. The strike targeted Bila Tserkva, a town 50 miles south of Kyiv.
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/1:031×Ukraine’s State Emergency Service — Kyiv/Telegram
Among other damage to infrastructure in Kyiv, Russian missiles and drones struck a supermarket and shopping center, office center, dormitory, service station, garage, parked vehicles, and multiple warehouses across various neighborhoods of the city.
Ihor Smelyansky, the CEO of Ukrposhta — Ukraine’s national postal service — said that the agency’s headquarters on Kyiv’s central Independence Square sustained damage in the attack.
In Kyiv Oblast, Russian projectiles struck the communities of Fastiv, Bucha, Brovary, Bila Tserkva, Vyshhorod, and Boryspil, regional Governor Mykola Kalashnyk said. The attacks hit residential buildings, homes, garages, utility buildings, and a warehouse.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service — Kyiv/Telegram
Elsewhere in Ukraine, explosions were also heard in the cities of Cherkasy and Kropyvnytskyi, as well as in Khmelnytskyi Oblast, public broadcaster Suspilne reported.
In response to the attack, Poland’s Air Force said it scrambled Polish and allied fighter jets in an effort to protect Polish airspace.
Ukraine has requested emergency meetings of the United Nations Security Council and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) to coordinate an international response to Russia’s assault, Sybiha reported the morning after the strike.
“Putin is trying to intimidate Ukraine by attacking civilians and destroying residential buildings, museums, schools, and critical infrastructure,” the foreign minister said. “He is also trying to intimidate the world by launching IRBMs against peaceful cities.”
Sybiha also said the mass attack was Russia’s attempt “to compensate for the lack of military advances on the battlefield with terror against civilians.”
The latest attack began hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia was preparing a broader assault across the country, including the possible use of the Oreshnik medium-range missile against Ukraine.
“We are seeing signs of preparation for a combined strike on Ukrainian territory, including Kyiv, involving various types of weaponry. The specified intermediate-range weapons could be used in such a strike,” Zelensky said, warning citizens to remain vigilant.
Russia first used an Oreshnik against Ukraine in November 2024 in a strike on the city of Dnipro. The missile was most recently used in an attack on western Lviv Oblast on Jan. 9.
The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv issued a similar warning “concerning a potentially significant air attack” that may occur over a 24-hour time period. The embassy’s warning did not specify what type of weapons may be used.
Earlier in the night, Russian attacks injured civilians in southern and eastern Ukraine, including in Odesa and Kharkiv oblasts. Explosions were also heard in Kyiv as Russian drones targeted the capital, according to Tkachenko.
I am reproducing this A New Policy opposition to Section 224:
🚨TAKE ACTION: Add Your Name to the Letter Urging the House Armed Services Committee to Remove Military Collaboration with Israel from This Year’s Defense Bill
Section 224: The National Defense Authorization Act FY 2027
Summary: Section 224 of the Chairman’s Mark of the NDAA establishes a new U.S. Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative aimed at accelerating joint research, development, and integration of Israeli origin and jointly developed defense technologies into U.S. military systems and programs of record. It directs the Secretary of Defense to designate an executive formalize deeper cooperation and integration across emerging and existing domains, including counter-drone systems, missile and air defense, quantum computing, AI and autonomous systems, cyber and electronic warfare, directed energy, and defense industrial base co-production, while facilitating pathways from R&D into procurement. This section requires regular reporting to Congress on progress and technology transitions, and emphasizes rapid adoption of Israeli defense innovations to strengthen U.S. military capabilities and technological supremacy.
As political pressure builds to reduce U.S. military assistance to Israel, Section 224 provides the framework for continuing – and expanding – U.S.-Israel military ties by entrenching Israeli technology within the U.S. defense supply chain in a way that would shield it from the annual appropriations process. The use of must-pass legislation as the NDAA as a mechanism of integration speaks to the plummeting popularity of continuing unconditional support to Israel.
The original text of this section is derived from were H.R.7540 and S. 3855 (The U.S.-Israel FUTURES Act (Jackson, R-TX/Budd, R-NC) which direct the Department of Defense (DoD) to formalize deeper cooperation and integration.
Section-by-Section Analysis
(a) ESTABLISHMENT—The Secretary of Defense shall designate an executive agent, responsible for synchronizing cooperative efforts between the United States and Israel, to expand and accelerate bilateral defense technology research, development, testing, evaluation, integration, and industrial cooperation.
This section would direct the Secretary of Defense to designate an Executive Agent (EA) to expand and accelerate deeper integration of Israel into U.S. institutions. The EA would be solely focused on implementing Section 224. EA authority takes precedence over the authority of the other DoD Component heads per DOD Instruction 5101.01, meaning that the EA would be able to overrule determinations by other DOD agencies such as the Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA) on Israeli access to U.S. technology.
The appointment of an EA would replace direct Congressional oversight with supervision by the Secretary of Defense. There would be no Congressional confirmation or ability for removal of an executive agent by Congress.
(a) (1) Identifying jointly developed or Israeli-origin technologies with operational utility for potential integration into United States systems and programs of record;
Section (a)(1) seeks to integrate American and Israeli research and development programs by encouraging the direct use of Israeli-manufactured technology into the US’ systems, including its military programs. This would render the United States dependent on Israel’s provision of such technologies, thus giving Israel a significant amount of leverage over future American policy and infrastructure. This would go beyond the typical bilateral relationship by significantly enhancing Israeli leverage through control of critical U.S. military supply chains, and may also inherently give preference to Israeli technologies over U.S.-origin competitors..
(a)(2) Ensuring collaborative research initiatives involving government, private sector, and academic institutions in the United States and Israel, is done in a manner that protects sensitive technology and information and the national security interests of the United States and Israel;
This provision would further entangle the defense supply chains of Israel and the United States across government, private and academic sectors, which blurs the lines of territorial integrity and political sovereignty. The provision assumes that U.S. and Israeli national security policies and objectives are inseparable, despite very clear current evidence (the Iran conflict, for instance) that they can be divergent.
(a)(3) Facilitating the transition of technologies from research and development into procurement and acquisition pathways;
Subsection (a)(3) directs the accelerated transition of military technologies out of early-stage research, testing, and experimentation and into the formal Department of Defense pathways for funding, buying, and fielding at scale. By targeting procurement and acquisition specifically, the provision is designed to move cooperative efforts beyond research dialogue and toward the actual adoption of technologies into U.S. systems and programs of record. Once such transitions occur, it will be very difficult for future Administrations to uproot such technologies or agreements from major defense procurement programs – and indeed would make DOD Program Executive Offices and Program Managers advocates for the continued inclusion of Israeli-origin technologies in U.S. systems.
(a)(4) Establishing frameworks for joint ventures, licensing agreements, and United States-based co-production or manufacturing partnerships with Israeli industry;
Israeli defense manufactures are often direct competitors to U.S. industry. Establishing licensing and co-production agreements to have Israeli companies manufacture in the United States would enhance Israel’s competitiveness in the U.S. market by sidestepping Buy-America provisions. Furthermore, licensing agreements could give Israeli companies access to intellectual property for weapons systems they are directly competing against.
(a)(5) Coordinating with relevant Department of Defense components, including the Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate, capability development and innovation divisions, the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, the Defense Innovation Unit, the United States-Israel Operations Technology Working Group, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Missile Defense Agency, the United States Space Command, the military departments, and other Department of Defense entities, as appropriate, to align efforts and avoid duplication;
Section (a)(5) circumvents the established structures and hierarchy of the Department of Defense by granting the EA the ability to harness the powers and resources of the DoD writ large. It would give that individual the authority to re-allocate the funding and focus of the Department at will, effectively prioritizing the integration of Israel into the US’ national defense structures – and doing so in some of the most sensitive areas of defense technology and operations, giving Israel immense insight into emerging U.S. defense capabilities and operational requirements. This re-allotment of resources could also lead to delays in other fronts, including crucial research and development, given that personnel and funding would be removed from other critical projects in order to focus on this uncalled for integration.
(a)(6) Promoting joint training exercises and information-sharing mechanisms to enhance operational readiness to deploy jointly developed technologies;
Section (a)(6) deepens Israeli integration into the United States’ military infrastructure, as well as intelligence-gathering networks that have directly contributed to civilian deaths in Iran, Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, and Lebanon. Incorporating Israel into not just the production of military technology, but also into its usage and implementation, diminishes the American military’s ability to act independently by sharing trade secrets crucial to the US’ defensive and offensive capabilities with a foreign power. Additionally, involving other countries in the development of military tactics decreases the US’ own qualitative military superiority and legitimacy.
Section (b) COOPERATIVE EFFORTS.—The synchronized cooperative efforts under subsection (a) may be carried out through the following domains:
(1) Counter-Unmanned Systems including aerial, maritime, and ground platforms.
(2) Anti-tunneling and subterranean threats.
(3) Missile and air defense technologies.
(4) Artificial intelligence, quantum, machine learning, and autonomous systems.
(5) Directed energy and advanced sensing.
(6) Cyber defense, electronic warfare, and digital resilience.
(7) Biotechnology, biomanufacturing, and medical defense.
(8) Network integration, data fusion, and contested logistics.
(9) Defense industrial base cooperation, manufacturing, and co-production.
(10) Other emerging technologies as jointly agreed by the United States and Israel.
Section (b) extends cooperative efforts with Israel to our most sensitive areas of military research, technology, and production. Among the most concerning of the potential extensions of collaboration is artificial intelligence, quantum and biotechnology.
AI and quantum are/will be tremendously impactful on current and future US military capabilities. Due to the sensitivity of these technologies, US advanced AI, quantum (which has applications beyond computing), and next generation cyber technologies are tightly restricted, even among close allies. Currently, access to U.S. research on such technologies is strictly limited to the UK and Australia under AUKUS Pillar II, a core partnership in countering the People’s Republic of China influence in the Pacific. This legislation would extend access to cutting-edge military AI research to Israel without including counterintelligence or human rights safeguards.
Deepening defense co-operation with Israel, particularly in the field of emerging defense technologies, creates and expands risks to the U.S. military edge. This program would expose future areas of U.S. military advantage to a country that is known to maintain a robust technological espionage program and which has previously exported sensitive U.S. military technologies to adversaries including the People’s Republic of China — the very nation that the only existing US partnerships on AI/quantum military technologies work to counter. Furthermore, Israel is a leading exporter of offensive cyber tools that have been used to target U.S. citizens, including U.S. Government officials.
Additionally, many of Israel’s military technologies have been field-tested in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Israeli AI enabled targeting systems, surveillance platforms, and predictive tools have been used in operations that human rights organizations and U.N. experts have linked to war crimes and genocide. Israel uses AI-powered tools to generate lists of buildings to be attacked, assign ratings to residents of Gaza to determine if they are military targets, and determine when a resident is in a particular location. Human Rights Watch has found that these tools rely on systemic surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza that is incompatible with international human rights law. United States integration with AI systems developed and used for these purposes would put us at risk for human rights violations and further erode international trust.
Section (b) also extends collaboration with Israel in the area of biotechnology. The biotechnology field poses both incredible promise and incredible dangers to humanity. The convergence of AI and genomics enables the design of novel or enhanced pathogens that can serve as bioweapons. Because of this, all countries with whom the U.S. has existing Congressionally authorized programs have ratified the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), an international treaty that prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons. Israel, however, is one of only 10 countries around the world that has neither signed nor ratified the BWC.
This program, if authorized, would be the U.S.’ first with a country that has refused to foreswear offensive biological weapons, and is widely suspected to have an active offensive biological weapons program. States Parties to the BWC (such as the United States) are required to ensure that any biomedical collaboration with an entity that is not party to the BWC (such as Israel) does not in any way contribute to biological weapons programs, but this program does not include any such safeguards. This gives this legislation the incredibly dangerous potential to implicate the US in the production of bioweapons.
(c) ACTIVITIES IN COORDINATION WITH OTHER FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES.—The Secretary of Defense shall coordinate activities, as appropriate, with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Commerce, and the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agencies, to ensure consistency with existing laws and regulations.
directs the Secretary of Defense to coordinate with State, Commerce, and other agencies to keep the cooperation consistent with existing law, a routine interagency-alignment clause (notably implicating export-control and trade equities through Commerce).
The interim briefing (180 days) and the annual report (running through 2030) require DoD to keep the congressional defense committees apprised of who is running the program (the designated executive agent), the state of coordination with Israeli counterparts, which technologies are being prioritized, and what is actually being transitioned into U.S. acquisition programs or fielded systems. The emphasis on “transition, prototyping, or integration” and on “partnerships established with United States and Israeli industry” signals that this is not a study or dialogue but an operational effort to move Israeli technology into U.S. systems and to link the two countries’ defense industrial bases.
Sections (f) FORM and Section (g) DISCLOSURES:
Reports are unclassified with a classified annex, and DoD must post periodic public updates “to the maximum extent practicable,” explicitly framed around how the effort advances “United States technological and military supremacy,” while carving out anything that would compromise operational security, export controls, or sensitive technology.
A New Policy’s Recommendation: STRONGLY OPPOSE
A New Policy strongly opposes section 224 because the purpose of this section is to avoid the scrutiny and transparency afforded through the current grant assistance to Israel in favor of a mechanism designed to implant Israel’s defense and intelligence establishments into the most sensitive and basic levels of America’s own defense technology ecosystem. This approach exposes sensitive U.S. capabilities to counterintelligence risk, normalizes technologies developed in contexts of occupation and civilian harm, disadvantages U.S. defense companies ability to compete with Israeli competitors, deepens U.S. legal and reputational exposure without clear strategic necessity, and aims to hide continuing U.S. military support to Israel from Congressional and public transparency.
A New Policy recommends Amendment of the underlying bill to strike this section. Were this section to carry into the version of this bill offered for final passage, A New Policy would recommend voting against the underlying bill.
Huge foreign conglomerates like Coca-Cola, Nestle Waters, Sources Alma and Highland Spring are now extracting billions of litres of freshwater from aquifers around Britain to sell as bottled water, it has been revealed.
A freedom of information request by the Guardian found that Coca-Cola extracts the largest amount of resources of any drinks brand in England, with a permit to drain 1.59 billion litres per year from boreholes in Sidcup, Kent. It also has permits in place to extract 377 million litres for bottled water brands Abbey Well and Glaceau Smartwater from Morpeth, Northumberland.
In Scotland, meanwhile, one of the biggest players is Highland Spring, owned by Bahrain-born billionaire businessman Mahdi Al Tajir, also Scotland’s richest man.
The brand has a licence to abstract 1.85 billion litres per year from the Speyside Glenlivet estate in the Scottish Highlands, although it says that it only takes out 32 per cent of the permissible amount and it hasn’t detected any discernible impact on the environment as a result of this abstraction.
Although trade organisation the Natural Source Water Association says that abstraction for bottled water only covers a small fraction of total resources extracted in Britain, the issue – according to Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, UN special rapporteur for water – is that these companies are taking the best quality drinking water there is, putting public supply at risk.
Thousands in Kent still facing water supply issues
ITV News
Mon, 1 June 2026 at 11:20 am BST
Thousands of people in Kent are still facing water supply issues as the county enters its tenth day of disruption.
More than 100 households in Mereworth, a village near Maidstone, currently have no water.
South East Water says more than 3,000 customers may experience low pressure or an intermittent supply during the day in the Coxheath, Loose, Headcorn, Ulcombe, Benenden and Kemsing areas.
The problems began during the recent heatwave, affecting properties in Kent and Sussex, and people are being asked to use water for essential purposes only.
In a statement, South East Water’s Incident Manager, Mike Court, said: “Drinking water supplies are continuing to return to customers across Kent today.
“Currently there are around 117 households with no water in the Mereworth area due to low levels in our drinking water storage tank which supplies the area, however we expect supplies to be restored today.
Coca-Cola is the world’s most recognizable beverage brand, consumed in nearly every country. Its red logo and signature formula symbolize modern consumer culture. Yet beneath its refreshing image lies a long-standing controversy: water rights.
As a company whose primary ingredient is water, Coca-Cola has been accused of over-extraction, pollution, and exploitation of scarce water resources—particularly in developing countries. Communities in India, Africa, and Latin America have accused the company of depleting aquifers, contaminating local supplies, and prioritizing profit over basic human needs.
This article explores Coca-Cola’s water rights issues, tracing major controversies, corporate sustainability pledges, and the broader ethical and environmental dilemmas surrounding water as a commodity.
Why Water Matters
Water makes up 90–95% of Coca-Cola beverages.
Each liter of Coke requires multiple liters of water to produce, including agricultural use for sugar.
Water is not just a raw material but a human right, recognized by the United Nations.
As climate change and population growth strain water resources, corporations like Coca-Cola face scrutiny for how they access and use water.
Coca-Cola’s Global Footprint
Operates in 200+ countries with hundreds of bottling plants.
Relies on local water sources—often underground aquifers—for production.
Agricultural supply chains (sugar, fruit, etc.) further increase water demand.
This global reach means Coca-Cola’s impact on water rights is both widespread and deeply localized.
“Spitting, fuming, angry and powerless” is how Pat Prestage describes her emotions after a water outage that has affected thousands of homes in Kent during the heatwave.
On Wednesday, 8,000 South East Water customers in Whitstable lost water, with 14,000 more in Tankerton, Ashford, and its surrounding areas facing an intermittent supply or low pressure. South East Water’s incident manager, Matthew Dean, said on Thursday that 22,000 people had had water supply problems.
The company blamed increased demand in the hot weather and asked people to use water only for essential purposes.
Urgent concerns must now be addressed as these corporations drill boreholes in our aquifers;
Groundwater provides water even during periods of lower than average rainfall, when surface waters dry up. However, this resilient resource can still fail if rainfall is reduced over a long period. BGS is working to better understand how groundwater droughts occur and the effects they have on people and the environment.
Groundwater drought can have significant negative social and economic impacts on communities that are particularly reliant on groundwater.
Groundwater drought is the sustained and extensive occurrence of below average availability of groundwater.
Aquifers in the UK are usually replenished with water during the winter months, so groundwater droughts may develop if there is reduced rainfall over one or successive winters. Groundwater drought can be exacerbated by high demand for water during unusually hot or particularly dry summers.
Groundwater droughts are marked by lower than average water levels in aquifers, borehole and wells, and by reduced flows to groundwater-fed rivers and wetlands.
Why is groundwater important during surface water droughts?
Groundwater is an important part of the UK’s water supply. It is generally more resilient to drought than surface water due to the relatively slow response of groundwater to changes in rainfall.
At times of surface-water drought, groundwater becomes a critical national resource. As well as providing domestic, agricultural and industrial water supplies, groundwater supports ecologically important flows in many of our rivers during episodes of drought
Senior VP Neil Chapman says supplies may only hold off bigger price shocks for a matter of weeks
FILE: ExxonMobil senior vice president Neil Chapman speaks to the media after a meeting with Cyprus’ president Nicos Anastasiades at the presidential palace in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, 5 October 2018. Photo: AP/SCANPIX
Global markets are quickly reaching “unheard-of inventory levels” of crude oil as nations and companies continue to draw from reserves to tame energy shocks from the Middle East war, a top ExxonMobil executive said Thursday
An uncomfortable reality settled in this past week: There is no clear way to return the energy industry to its pre-Iran War state anytime soon. High oil prices look like they’re here to stay and could stretch into 2027.
Trump wants to sell 1 million barrel reserve of diesel fuel
By Ari Natter, Nathan Risser, and BloombergJune 2, 2025, 1:10 PM ETAdd us on
The Trump administration wants to put a 1 million barrel cache of diesel fuel on the market, saying the reserve meant to provide an emergency supply of home heating oil for the Northeast has never been used for its intended purpose.SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
he Trump administration wants to put a 1 million barrel cache of diesel fuel on the market, saying the reserve meant to provide an emergency supply of home heating oil for the Northeast has never been used for its intended purpose.
The United States’ emergency oil stockpile, theStrategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), is being drawn down at an unprecedented pace as global energy markets reel from the war in Iran. President Donald Trump has released crude from the reserve faster than any previous administration, leaving the SPR near its lowest levels since the early 1980s.
China’s US Treasury holdings have dropped to 2009 levels after its central bank sold more than $8 billion in the month of April.
According to a new update from the Treasury Department, China held $757.2 billion worth of Treasuries at the end of April 2025 – down from $765.4 billion in March and $784.3 in February.
In financial markets, timing is everything—for government policymakers as much as investors. So when word leaked this week that Chinese regulators were urging domestic financial institutions to limit their purchases of US Treasuries—and telling those with large exposures to reduce their positions—one question jumped out: why now? After all, the leak came at a time when this guidance had reportedly already been in place for weeks.
One major clue may be that the news broke on Bloomberg less than one week after Qiushi, a leading Chinese Communist Party journal for disseminating official views, published a 2024 speech by President Xi Jinping calling for the internationalization of China’s currency. Either development coming to light at this particular moment could be coincidental, but both surfacing within a single week are too conspicuous to ignore—especially amid what’s currently happening in Washington and New York.
Financial market turbulence
Markets have been unsettled by US President Donald Trump’s pursuit of Greenland, the unpredictability of US tariffs coupled with the Supreme Court’s impending ruling on their legality, and uncertainty over the administration’s dollar policy. Over the past month, the so-called debasement trade—selling or hedging dollar assets and buying precious metals—has gained momentum. Trump’s own comments seemingly endorsing a weaker dollar have added to the volatility.
Beijing has likely been watching closely how these developments fit into its long-term strategy. Over the past several years, China has been reported to be reducing its holdings of US Treasuries, falling from the largest sovereign holder to the third largest, behind Japan and the United Kingdom, although some of those sales may simply reflect assets transferred to other Chinese financial institutions and custodians in countries like Belgium. Other governments—including India and Brazil—have also been selling Treasuries.
At the same time, China is actively pursuing the internationalization of its own currency—a strategy aimed at reducing over time the US dollar’s central role as the primary global reserve currency. In a speech this summer, the Governor of the People’s Bank of China, Pan Gongsheng, explicitly stated that multipolarity was the government’s goal, with the dollar no longer playing such an outsized role in both the global economy and the use of financial sanctions. His deputy, Lu Lei, went a step further in December when he doubled down on China’s new cross-border payment systems, which are designed to operate outside Western networks.
Why China is tightening controls on overseas stock trading
The move has already rattled brokerages and investors, and could reshape how mainland Chinese access foreign market
Published Tue, May 26, 2026 · 12:17 PM — Updated Wed, May 27, 2026 · 05:44 AM
The CSRC is leading the effort, along with the National Financial Regulatory Administration, which handles consumer protection and supervises banks. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
CHINA’S efforts to control capital outflows are colliding with growing demand from mainland investors for access to overseas stocks.
After an estimated US$1 trillion of unauthorised money left the country last year, authorities launched a sweeping crackdown on offshore trading platforms accused of helping investors bypass Beijing’s capital controls.
The move has already rattled brokerages and investors, and could reshape how mainland Chinese access foreign markets.
Individuals are subject to a US$50,000 annual cap on US dollar purchases, primarily intended for overseas travel, education and other non-investment purposes.
Local citizens and companies also face restrictions around converting renminbi into foreign currencies to trade securities overseas. Mainlanders are only able to invest overseas through special channels with stringent government oversight, such as the Southbound Stock Connect and the Wealth Connect programmes, which are designed for investment in certain stocks and other financial products in Hong Kong.
Another channel, the Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor programme, allows mainlanders to invest in global markets through mutual funds, while cross-border total return swaps are often used by institutions to trade overseas securities through brokers. Retail investors also have direct access to certain Hong Kong-listed shares through the Mainland-Hong Kong Mutual Recognition of Funds scheme.
Besides from using those approved channels, any overseas trading without approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission and other regulators is considered illegal, and that’s the target of the latest crackdown.
How is Beijing cracking down on illegal overseas trading?
Since 2022, unauthorised overseas brokers have been banned from helping mainland Chinese investors open new trading accounts.
On May 22, eight government agencies launched a joint enforcement campaign threatening severe penalties for brokers that violated the rules. Authorities also barred such firms from engaging with onshore clients across the business chain, including marketing, fund settlements, and technical and customer support.
The CSRC is leading the effort, along with the National Financial Regulatory Administration, which handles consumer protection and supervises banks. The People’s Bank of China, the nation’s central bank, is also involved, as are the country’s Internet and information technology agencies.
Already three of the biggest, most active brokers in this space have been targeted in the crackdown: Futu Holdings and Long Bridge Securities, which are based in Hong Kong, and Singapore-based Tiger Brokers. The firms were fined a combined US$330 million for operating on the mainland without a license, and all “illegal gains” would be confiscated, the regulators said.
As a result of the crackdown, existing mainland clients can only sell positions and withdraw funds from banned brokerages; no new purchases or deposits are permitted. After two years, all related mainland-facing websites, apps, and servers must be fully shut down.
For now, Chinese nationals with permanent residency in Hong Kong and Singapore and those with investor or work visas are not being forced to close their trades.
Why is China cracking down on illicit overseas trading?
Illegal channels have allowed investors to circumvent China’s capital controls, which are designed to keep currency fluctuations in check and maintain financial stability. As with most economies that manage cross-border flows, China is wary of asset bubbles and the sharp crashes that often follow.
May 2026, Japan starts reducing its exposure to funding US debt:
Japan, China lead foreign government retreat from US Treasurys as Iran war fallout stokes currency fears
Story by Anniek Bao
China reduced its stash of Treasurys to $652.3 billion, the lowest level since September 2008.
Japan, the single largest foreign holder, shed approximately $47 billion to $1.191 trillion.
The U.S.-Iran conflict and a subsequent surge in crude oil prices sent currencies tumbling.
China has been gradually reducing its direct Treasury exposure since its peak in 2013, “shadow holding” in custodial countries.
The U.S. Treasury Department building in Washington.
Foreign governments cut U.S. Treasurys in March as the Middle East war forced central banks to liquidate dollar reserves, defending local currencies against an energy shock that sent exchange rates tumbling.
NEWARK, New Jersey, May 30 (Reuters) – New Jersey state police who deployed near an immigrant detention center found that out-of-state agitators escalated tensions during protests, Governor Mikie Sherrill said on Saturday.
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State police on Friday set up “protected protest zones” after several days of confrontations between protesters and federal agents outside Delaney, a 1,000-bed facility whose detainees had announced a labor and hunger strike to draw attention to what they called inhumane conditions and to demand their release.
About Mikie Sherrill:
Sherrill, a former member of Congress, federal prosecutor and Navy helicopter pilot, succeeds Phil Murphy, ushering in a third term in a row of Democrats helming the state — a feat that had not been achieved for six decades. Sherrill and her running mate, Dale Caldwell, had a blowout victory in November as Democrats up and down the ballot across the country secured wins due in large part to voters’ frustrations with the first year of President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, particularly the rising cost of living.
Trump’s $1.8 billion reparations fund for Proud Boys and Jan. 6 rioters sparks fury while Black Americans still can’t even get a slavery study
Story by Nyamekye Daniel
President Donald Trump’s controversial new $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” has already triggered outrage over the possibility that Jan. 6 rioters and Trump allies could collect taxpayer money.
TotalEnergies Drills Lebanon’s Qana Prospect Amid New Global Interest in EastMed Gas
Lebanon hopes to join the club of EastMed gas producers as TotalEnergies and its partners spud an appraisal well near Beirut’s maritime border with Israel where gas is already being produced.
As of September, TotalEnergies together with partners Eni and QatarEnergy will have spud exploration well 31/1 on Block 9 of Lebanon’s Qana prospect. It is the consortium’s second attempt in 6 years to strike gas in the EastMed where upstream riches at the crossroads of markets east and west struggle against the fiercest of global geopolitical headwinds.
Lebanese media hailed the 16 August arrival of the Transocean Barents semisubmersible drilling platform at Block 9 with guarded optimism, reporting on the Barents journey from the North Sea like a sports play-by-play, detailing the landing of the first crew transport helicopter and the offloading of pipe and other equipment delivered by ship to the Port of Beirut.
The Lebanese Petroleum Administration busily dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s on the drilling license application that TotalEnergies EP Lebanon had submitted in June while MP Ibrahim Kanaan, head of the parliament’s finance and budget committee, announced creation of the Lebanese Sovereign Fund for Oil and Gas to protect future revenues from political interference.
“The rig will start working in Lebanon in September … before the end of the year we will know if there is a discovery,” Lebanon’s caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad told Reuters at an event earlier this summer in Abu Dhabi.
Built to operate in harsh environments the Barents will drill in deep water, its crew hoping to hit the sweet spot that is the Tamar Sands Formation from which Israel, Cyprus, and Egypt are producing gas or developing fields for domestic needs and for export.
Assuming commercial gas reserves are confirmed in Qana, Lebanon will join the club of EastMed gas producers—a development that would ease Beirut’s seemingly endless energy crisis, give the financially bankrupt country a share of revenues for gas exported to Europe and Asia, and attract further global investment. The World Bank has described Lebanon’s economic collapse as possibly one of the top three most severe worldwide since the 1850s.
Ain Qana, also known as Ainqana, is a municipality in the Nabatieh Governorate, Southern Lebanon. The town is situated 680 meters above sea level, has an area of 630 hectares and a population of approximately 5585.
On April 18, 1996, the village of Qana in Southern Lebanon was shelled by artillery fire from the Israeli Defense Force, the official Israeli military organization. Unfortunately, Qana was the location of a United Nations compound manned by members of the Fijian United Nations Interim Force and had been providing haven to about 800 Lebanese civilian refugees. The attack left 4 of the Fijian soldiers wounded and killed 106 of the Lebanese civilians, injuring another 116 civilians. The bombardment was part of an Israeli offensive operation from April 11-April 27, 1996, known as Operation Grapes of Wrath, an operation to stop the Islamic terrorist faction known as Hezbollah, an Iranian backed group, from sending rockets into Israeli territory from havens in Lebanon.
3 days ago:
Why is Israel attacking Lebanon’s Nabatieh, the major southern city?
Smoke billows following an Israeli strike in Nabatieh, Lebanon May 26, 2026 [Stringer/Reuters]
Beirut, Lebanon – The Israeli military ordered the forced displacement of the population of Lebanon’s southern city of Nabatieh on Tuesday, amid an escalation of its campaign – ostensibly against Hezbollah targets – in Lebanon.
Israel hit towns on the outskirts of Nabatieh on Wednesday with “near continuous artillery shelling”, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodor reported, coming as Muslims in the country celebrated the religious holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Local media reported that Israel hit Nabatieh multiple times on Tuesday, including direct air strikes on a cemetery in the city limits. Israel also struck surrounding villages, with the village Yohmor al-Shaqif hit multiple times.
Russia spent the week telling diplomats to leave Kyiv.
Telling foreign residents to leave Kyiv.
It warned embassies to empty their offices, treating a capital city like a room with a light switch.
As if life could be folded and zipped into a bag, so carried somewhere safe before the next missile arrives.
“Leave Kyiv.”
Where exactly are we supposed to go?
There is something almost obscene in the way some people say evacuation. The word sounds clean from a distance.
The vocabulary of people who have never had to do it.
They speak as though everyone already has a map open, a road chosen, and a bed prepared somewhere else.
But ordinary life just does not work like that.
People are not loose objects. We are tied to places by rent, parents, jobs, cats, pharmacies, documents, debts, school schedules, doctors who know our history, neighbors who have our spare key, the small grocery store where the woman behind the counter already knows what bread we buy.
A person cannot simply become portable because Russia has decided to threaten the city they happen to live in.
This is the part that always disappears when powerful men speak.
They say “leave.”
And they forget that not everyone in this city is a member of some diplomatic mission, with evacuation plans prepared long before the rest of us even know where to begin.
Sometimes people abroad ask me why Ukrainians don’t just leave the threatened areas.
I understand the question. Most of them have never had to calculate escape like this.
So let me give you the calculation.
Do you have money for a week somewhere else?
Can your mother walk down five floors?
Does your salary depend on showing up tomorrow?
Well intentioned people ask because they have never had to imagine war entering every small decision, and I completely forgive them for that (that is one reason I write by the way.)
Russia, no.
Russia does not ask because they just and simply do not care.
Russia knows ordinary people cannot simply move, and this is why the warning is part of the attack.
The bomb is one violence.
The order to disappear before the bomb arrives is another.
It tells people that the problem is their presence, not Russia’s violence.
And I cannot accept that.
Kyiv is not a hotel people can check out of because a criminal government sends a warning.
This is a city where three million sleep-deprived souls are waking up this morning, making coffee, answering messages, going to work, holding their children, feeding their cats, looking at the sky and continuing because continuing is still the only honest answer we have.
You, reading this from a place at peace, hold this for a second:
A neighboring country has decided your home is now a “legitimate target.”
Notice the word they use. Legitimate.
What a clean little word for such insanity.
As if a city were obligated to empty itself politely to make room for someone else’s missiles.
As if staying were the provocation.
People stay because the place where you survive becomes part of your body.
If an embassy leaves, the missile is still a missile.
The family forced to leave is still a family forced to leave.
The attacker who warns before attacking only proves he knew exactly what he was doing.
So let this be recorded, Russia threatened more than buildings.
It threatened the idea that people are allowed to keep living where their lives already exist.
The simple human right to belong somewhere.
And still, Kyiv is here.
Kept alive by people who wake up every morning and choose this city again.
Kyiv is here because a home is not abandoned every time a murderer points at it.
Because people do not stop belonging to a place just because someone else wants it empty.
Sometimes the most radical act left is to remain where your life still knows your name.
—Viktor
🇺🇦
I usually ask you to subscribe if you can, but today, I want to ask something different: please send this piece to one person who should understand why “just leave” is not a real answer.
This testimony already belongs beyond me, and if it reaches them because of you, then this record has already gone farther than I could take it by myself.
Recently Zelensky flew to Sweden to sign an agreement to buy their Gripen fighter jets. This was a post by Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba:
Dry stream bed of River Till, Berwick St James, Wiltshire, in 2004. BGS © UKRI.
![Smoke billows following an Israeli strike in Nabatieh, Lebanon May 26, 2026 [Stringer/Reuters]](https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AA249WQY.img?w=768&h=512&m=6 "Smoke billows following an Israeli strike in Nabatieh, Lebanon May 26, 2026 [Stringer/Reuters]")
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