Ukraine's long-range drone campaign against Russian oil refineries has become routine enough that analysts are now describing it as a predictable cycle rather than a series of shocks: strike, assess damage, repair, and restart.

"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.

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.

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.