IRAN LAUNCHES Large-SCALE MISSILE BARRAGE AT TEL AVIV, LEAVING OVER 70 INJURED AND ESCALATING MIDDLE EAST TENSIONS
Tel Aviv came under heavy missile fire on Monday evening as Iran launched a large-scale retaliatory strike, damaging residential buildings and injuring over 70 people. Rescue teams are searching for survivors as tensions between Iran and Israel continue to escalate.
In response to the attack, Israeli forces have launched counter-attacks on Iranian military targets in Syria, according to reports. Iran's Foreign Ministry has also issued a statement condemning the Israeli response, saying it "will not forget" the incident.
President Donald Trump said he believed it’s possible Israel and Iran could reach an agreement to end their conflict, though the two sides may need to continue fighting before they’re ready to broker a peace deal.
“Sometimes they have to fight it out, but we’re going to see what happens,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday as he departed for the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in Canada.
Meanwhile, concerns over an escalation in oil prices also sparked panic, with Brent crude climbing as much as 5.5% before paring some gains to trade above $76 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was near $75.
In other news, India's unemployment rate rose to 5.6% in May, up from 5.1% in April, according to the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
The GST Council is also likely to consider a major restructuring of the cess regime, with plans to replace the existing compensation cess with two new levies — a Health Cess and a Clean Energy Cess — once the current cess expires on March 31, 2026.
Additionally, Air India officials are continuing their investigation into the London-bound plane that crashed within moments of takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, killing 169 Indians, 53 British, one Canadian and seven Portuguese nationals. A British citizen survived the crash.
Over the past four days, Government sources have also indicated that extra sessions are being held in the India-European Union (EU) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with the frequency of meetings having increased from quarterly to monthly.
In related news, Supreme Court advocates have expressed strong opposition to the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) now-withdrawn notice issued to a senior advocate in connection with the Religare ESOPs case, calling it an “executive overreach”.
The monsoon has also intensified across Maharashtra, especially in the western region, bringing heavy rainfall and increased water levels in dams. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for Pune to Kolhapur ghat areas for the next 24 hours.
History was made on the Indo-Pak border as BSF women soldiers became India’s first women in combat, holding posts for 72 hours and forcing a Pakistani retreat during Op Sindoor.