Kenyan President William Ruto said he won't sign into law a finance bill proposing new taxes, a day after protesters stormed parliament and several people were shot dead. It was the biggest assault on Kenya's government in decades. The government wanted to raise funds to pay off debt, but Kenyans said the bill caused more economic pain as millions struggle to get by. The chaos led the government to deploy the military, and Ruto called protesters' actions "treasonous."

The president now says the bill caused "widespread dissatisfaction" and he has listened and "conceded." It's a major setback for Ruto, who came to power vowing to help Kenyans cope with rising costs but has seen much of the country, led by youth, unite in opposition to his latest attempt at reforms. "It is necessary for us to have a conversation as a nation on how to do we manage the affairs of the country together," he said.

An aerial drone launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels struck and damaged a vessel in the Red Sea, officials said, the latest attack by the group targeting shipping in the vital maritime corridor. The attack comes as the US has sent the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower back home after an eight-month deployment in which it led the American response to the Houthi assaults. Those attacks have reduced shipping drastically through the route crucial to Asian, Middle East and European markets in a campaign the Houthis say will continue as long as the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip rages on.

The drone attack happened around dawn off the coast of the rebel-held port city of Hodeida, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said. It said the vessel sustained damage but its mariners on board "were reported safe." It did not elaborate on the extent of the damage to the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owner bulk carrier, but said an investigation was ongoing.

More than 15 police officers and several civilians, including an Orthodox priest, were killed by armed militants in Russia's southern republic of Dagestan on Sunday, its governor Sergei Melikov said in a video statement early Monday (Jun. 24). The gunmen opened fire on two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a police post in two cities, according to the authorities. Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee described the attacks in the predominantly Muslim region with a history of armed insurgency as terrorist acts.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were declared days of mourning in the region.Dagestan's Interior Ministry said a group of armed men shot at a synagogue and a church in the city of Derbent, located on the Caspian Sea. Both the church and the synagogue caught fire, according to state media. Almost simultaneously, reports appeared about an attack on a church and a traffic police post in the Dagestan capital, Makhachkala.

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared gun violence a public health crisis, a move aimed at curbing the US' role in leading the world in shooting deaths. In a first-of-its-kind report urging action, the country's top doctor noted that a majority of Americans or their family members have experienced gun violence. A public health approach could help, Dr Murthy argues, as it did with changes to seatbelt safety in vehicles and warnings about health impacts of smoking cigarettes.

He hopes to remove politics from an issue that has bitterly divided lawmakers and instead have Americans look at the impacts and the data. "I want people to understand the full impact gun violence is having on the United States," Dr Murthy told the BBC in an interview. Gun safety advocates are cautiously optimistic about the advisory and see it as a step toward changing how the public view the issue.