World News Summary: From Ukrainian Drone Strikes to Thailand's Marriage Equality Milestone

This summary highlights key global events, including a Ukrainian drone strike at a Russian oil terminal, soaring temperatures affecting pilgrims in Saudi Arabia, Putin's support for North Korea, the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, and Thailand's move to recognize same-sex marriage. It also covers conflicts involving Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, and rising tensions in Gaza and the West Bank.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Ukrainian drone attack causes fire at Russian oil terminal

A Ukrainian drone strike caused a large fire in a fuel tank at an oil terminal in Russia's southern port of Azov on Tuesday, according to Russian officials and a Ukrainian intelligence source. Russia's ministry of emergency situations said a large fire-fighting team was tackling the blaze. Regional channels of the Telegram messaging app said a tank with methanol was on fire.

Soaring temperatures scorch pilgrims on Haj in Saudi Arabia

Throngs of tightly packed pilgrims struggled through searing heat which has claimed lives during the annual Haj pilgrimage as temperatures reached 51.8 degrees Celsius (125.2 Fahrenheit) in the shade of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi state TV said on Tuesday. Six Jordanian citizens died of heat stroke during Haj, the Jordanian foreign ministry said. It later said the death toll had risen to 14 but it gave no reason for the subsequent deaths.

Putin vows to support North Korea against the United States

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed on Tuesday to deepen trade and security ties with North Korea and to support it against the United States, as he headed to the reclusive nuclear-armed country for the first time in 24 years. The U.S. and its Asian allies are trying to work out just how far Russia will go in support of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whose country is the only one to have conducted nuclear weapon tests in the 21st century.

UN rights chief: Rohingya have 'nowhere to flee' in western Myanmar fighting

Tens of thousands of Muslim-minority Rohingya, who were feared to be trapped amid fighting in western Myanmar, had nowhere to flee, the United Nations human rights chief said on Tuesday. The Arakan Army, which is fighting for autonomy for Myanmar's Rakhine region, said late on Sunday that residents of the town of Maungdaw, inhabited primarily by the Rohingya, should leave by 9 p.m. (1430 GMT) ahead of a planned offensive.

Philippines says sailor sustained serious injury in South China Sea collision

A Philippine navy sailor suffered "serious injury" after what the country's military called on Tuesday "intentional-high speed ramming" by the Chinese coast guard during a resupply mission in the South China Sea. The Philippine military said in a statement the Chinese coast guard's "continued aggressive behavior and unprofessional conduct towards a legitimate humanitarian mission is unacceptable."

U.S. wants to avoid 'greater war' along Lebanon-Israel border, envoy says

The United States is trying to avert a greater war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein said on Tuesday, following an escalation in cross-border fire between the foes along Lebanon's southern frontier. Iran-backed Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israel for the last eight months in parallel with the Gaza war. Last week, the group fired the largest volleys of rockets and drones of the hostilities so far at Israeli military sites, after an Israeli strike killed the most senior commander yet.

Israeli forces deepen Rafah invasion, kill 17 in central camps

Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday killed at least 17 Palestinians in two of the Gaza Strip's historic refugee camps and Israeli tanks pushed deeper into the enclave's southern city of Rafah, residents and medics said. Residents reported heavy bombardments from tanks and planes in several areas of Rafah, where more than a million people had taken refuge before May. Most of the population has fled northwards since then as Israeli forces invaded the city.

Thailand to be first Southeast Asian country to recognise same-sex marriage

Thailand's Senate passed the final reading of a marriage equality law on Tuesday, paving the way for it to become the first country in Southeast Asia to recognise same-sex couples. The bill, the culmination of more than two decades of effort by activists, was supported by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers in the upper house.

UN human rights chief: situation in West Bank 'drastically deteriorating'

Palestinians in the Israeli occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are suffering a drastically worsening human rights environment, alongside "unconscionable death and suffering" in the Gaza Strip, the U.N. human rights chief said on Tuesday. "The situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is dramatically deteriorating," Volker Turk, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told the opening session of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Russia buying spies to make up for expelled diplomats, German agency says

Russia has turned increasingly to blackmail and financial incentives to hire Germans to spy for it after the blow dealt to its intelligence services by Europe's expulsion of some 600 Russian diplomats, Germany's domestic security service said. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) said Russian intelligence services were spending big to recruit agents in Germany despite Western attempts to limit their operations since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)