Russian President Vladimir Putin has outlined Russia’s accelerating battlefield gains in Ukraine, denounced Kiev’s increasingly desperate threats to civilian aviation as a bid for “state terrorism,” and warned that British military facilities on Ukrainian soil would be “legitimate targets.”

Speaking to reporters in Bishkek, Putin also addressed Moscow’s strikes on ships carrying weapons to Ukraine, contacts with US intelligence and Trump’s envoys, relations with Germany, and what he described as the West’s “sharks of imperialism.”

Here are the key takeaways:

’The enemy will crumble’

Putin said Ukrainian forces are steadily losing ground, while cautioning against predicting exactly when a decisive turning point could come because “war is cruel and difficult to predict.”

Russian troops are not merely advancing but “increasing the pace of the offensive,” he said, giving a brief rundown of developments across the front. Putin said Russian forces are approaching Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and Druzhkovka, while claiming that roughly 5,000 Ukrainian troops have been physically encircled near the Krasnooskolskoye Reservoir. He also reported advances in Zaporozhye Region and toward Sumy.

“I have no doubt that the enemy will ‘crumble.’ The question of timing is always very complicated.”

The Russian president also rejected proposals merely to freeze the conflict along the current front line.

“We don’t want to freeze it. We want to end the war and achieve a lasting, absolute peace – both in Ukraine and in Europe.”

’No negotiations with terrorists’

Asked about Vladimir Zelensky’s threat to civilian airlines using Russian airspace, Putin said the remarks amounted to “a bid for state terrorism,” contrasting them with Kiev’s simultaneous calls for “negotiations and personal meetings.”

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“You don’t negotiate with terrorists,” Putin said, warning that if attacks on civilian aircraft were actually carried out, Moscow would find a way to respond.

Asked whether Ukrainian political and military leaders could become targets, Putin said Moscow has so far refrained from such strikes because it may ultimately need people on the Ukrainian side with whom to negotiate.

“This is a bid for terrorism; it is not yet a transition to terrorism. If it comes to that, we will see how to respond. We will find the tools.”

’They hit ours – they’ll get an answer’

Putin said the Russian military has been ordered to prepare “massive strikes” against Ukrainian energy facilities in response to attacks on Russian civilian and fuel infrastructure. Ukrainian drones again attempted overnight to penetrate the air defenses of Moscow and St. Petersburg and strike three Russian oil refineries, but the attacks were repelled, according to the president.

“They hit ours – they’ll get an answer. That’s roughly how things stand.”

Putin also said a recent decree allowing temporary state management of poorly protected critical infrastructure was intended to force private companies and state agencies to cooperate more closely on defense against drone attacks, rejecting suggestions that it amounted to nationalization.

’Kiev opened Pandora’s box’

Putin stressed that Russia had not been attacking Ukrainian shipping at random, but had targeted only vessels that were bringing weapons or ammunition into Ukraine, arguing that secondary explosions following the attacks confirmed the nature of their cargoes.

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“We did carry out precision strikes on certain vessels, but they were genuinely selective.”

The president said Moscow expanded its maritime response only after Zelensky launched his much-touted 40-day campaign against the Russian economy and logistics. According to Putin, Kiev failed to inflict any “critical damage” but hit around 100 vessels and killed several sailors, including foreign nationals.

“You yourselves opened Pandora’s box – now take what comes.”

Putin recalled that the original Black Sea grain initiative had been promoted as essential to averting hunger in developing countries, particularly in Africa. Yet, according to him, only around 0.2% of Ukrainian grain exported under the arrangement reached developing markets, while most went to comparatively wealthy European countries.

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CIA contacts and Trump’s ‘welcome guests’

Putin dismissed the idea that contacts between Russian and American intelligence chiefs were unusual, noting that such channels remained open even during the Cold War. He singled out Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, describing the Trump confidants as sincere interlocutors who have the US president’s trust.

“Mr. Kushner and Witkoff are always welcome guests here, and we work with them with pleasure.”

Moscow is open to additional participants in Ukraine talks if they can make a concrete contribution, Putin added, while warning against allowing diplomacy to revolve in a “meaningless mode.”

British targets and a ‘military secret’

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Putin confirmed that any British military facilities established on Ukrainian territory would be considered legitimate targets by Russian forces.

“Any military facilities in Ukraine are our legitimate targets – British ones, any others.”

Asked whether British military-industrial facilities inside the UK itself could become targets if British weapons were used to strike Russia, Putin declined to reveal where Moscow’s red lines lie.

“That’s a secret. A military secret.”

Germany just needs to ‘press the button’

Putin also rejected German accusations surrounding a drone incident in Leipzig, arguing that Berlin is invoking the threat of an “aggressive Russia” to distract from domestic political and economic problems.

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He recalled earlier accusations that Moscow had sabotaged its own Nord Stream pipelines, calling the allegation absurd given Russia’s interest in selling gas to Europe.

Russia remains capable of supplying Germany with gas, he said.

“They only need to press the button.”

German leaders, however, lack the political will to do so because of US sanctions, Putin said, describing Berlin’s broader Russia policy as contrary to the interests of the German people.

Western ‘sharks of imperialism’

Putin was also asked to explain a recent analogy involving orcas, polar bears and Russia’s confrontation with the West.

He joked that comparing the collective West to an orca would be unfair to the animal, describing killer whales as intelligent creatures. Instead, he revived an old Soviet expression: “the sharks of imperialism.”

“If someone tries to drag us down the food chain and gobble us up, they may get hit in the teeth. Russia is ready to do that, despite the rapidly growing appetites and teeth of these sharks.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has outlined Russia’s accelerating battlefield gains in Ukraine, denounced Kiev’s increasingly desperate threats to civilian aviation as a bid for “state terrorism,” and warned that British military facilities on Ukrainian soil would be “legitimate targets.”

Speaking to reporters in Bishkek, Putin also addressed Moscow’s strikes on ships carrying weapons to Ukraine, contacts with US intelligence and Trump’s envoys, relations with Germany, and what he described as the West’s “sharks of imperialism.”

Here are the key takeaways.

’The enemy will crumble’

Putin said Ukrainian forces are steadily losing ground, while cautioning against predicting exactly when a decisive turning point could come because “war is cruel and difficult to predict.”

Russian troops are not merely advancing but “increasing the pace of the offensive,” he said, giving a detailed rundown of developments across the front. Putin said Russian forces are approaching Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and Druzhkovka, while claiming that roughly 5,000 Ukrainian troops have been physically encircled near the Krasnooskolskoye Reservoir. He also reported advances in Zaporozhye Region and toward Sumy.

“I have no doubt that the enemy will ‘crumble.’ The question of timing is always very complicated.”

The Russian president also rejected proposals merely to freeze the conflict along the current front line.

“We don’t want to freeze it. We want to end the war and achieve a lasting, absolute peace – both in Ukraine and in Europe.”

’No negotiations with terrorists’

Asked about Vladimir Zelensky’s threat to civilian airlines using Russian airspace, Putin said the remarks amounted to “a bid for state terrorism,” contrasting them with Kiev’s simultaneous calls for “negotiations and personal meetings.”

Read more

“You don’t negotiate with terrorists,” Putin said, warning that if attacks on civilian aircraft were actually carried out, Moscow would find a way to respond.

Asked whether Ukrainian political and military leaders could become targets, Putin said Moscow has so far refrained from such strikes because it may ultimately need people on the Ukrainian side with whom to negotiate.

“This is a bid for terrorism; it is not yet a transition to terrorism. If it comes to that, we will see how to respond. We will find the tools.”

’They hit ours – they’ll get an answer’

Putin said the Russian military has been ordered to prepare “massive strikes” against Ukrainian energy facilities in response to attacks on Russian civilian and fuel infrastructure. Ukrainian drones again attempted overnight to penetrate the air defenses of Moscow and St. Petersburg and strike three Russian oil refineries, but the attacks were repelled, according to the president.

“They hit ours – they’ll get an answer. That’s roughly how things stand.”

Putin also said a recent decree allowing temporary state management of poorly protected critical infrastructure was intended to force private companies and state agencies to cooperate more closely on defense against drone attacks, rejecting suggestions that it amounted to nationalization.

’Kiev opened Pandora’s box’

Putin stressed that Russia had not been attacking Ukrainian shipping at random, but had targeted only vessels that were bringing weapons or ammunition into Ukraine, arguing that secondary explosions following the attacks confirmed the nature of their cargoes.

Read more

“We did carry out precision strikes on certain vessels, but they were genuinely selective.”

The president said Moscow expanded its maritime response only after Zelensky launched his much-touted 40-day campaign against the Russian economy and logistics. According to Putin, Kiev failed to inflict any “critical damage” but hit around 100 vessels and killed several sailors, including foreign nationals.

“You yourselves opened Pandora’s box – now take what comes.”

Putin recalled that the original Black Sea grain initiative had been promoted as essential to averting hunger in developing countries, particularly in Africa. Yet, according to him, only around 0.2% of Ukrainian grain exported under the arrangement reached developing markets, while most went to comparatively wealthy European countries.

Read more

CIA contacts and Trump’s ‘welcome guests’

Putin dismissed the idea that contacts between Russian and American intelligence chiefs were unusual, noting that such channels remained open even during the Cold War. He singled out Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, describing the Trump confidants as sincere interlocutors who have the US president’s trust.

“Mr. Kushner and Witkoff are always welcome guests here, and we work with them with pleasure.”

Moscow is open to additional participants in Ukraine talks if they can make a concrete contribution, Putin added, while warning against allowing diplomacy to revolve in a “meaningless mode.”

British targets and a ‘military secret’

Read more

Putin confirmed that any British military facilities established on Ukrainian territory would be considered legitimate targets by Russian forces.

“Any military facilities in Ukraine are our legitimate targets – British ones, any others.”

Asked whether British military-industrial facilities inside the UK itself could become targets if British weapons were used to strike Russia, Putin declined to reveal where Moscow’s red lines lie.

“That’s a secret. A military secret.”

Germany just needs to ‘press the button’

Putin also rejected German accusations surrounding a drone incident in Leipzig, arguing that Berlin is invoking the threat of an “aggressive Russia” to distract from domestic political and economic problems.

Read more

He recalled earlier accusations that Moscow had sabotaged its own Nord Stream pipelines, calling the allegation absurd given Russia’s interest in selling gas to Europe.

Russia remains capable of supplying Germany with gas, he said.

“They only need to press the button.”

German leaders, however, lack the political will to do so because of US sanctions, Putin said, describing Berlin’s broader Russia policy as contrary to the interests of the German people.

Western ‘sharks of imperialism’

Putin was also asked to explain a recent analogy involving orcas, polar bears and Russia’s confrontation with the West.

He joked that comparing the collective West to an orca would be unfair to the animal, describing killer whales as intelligent creatures. Instead, he revived an old Soviet expression: “the sharks of imperialism.”

“If someone tries to drag us down the food chain and gobble us up, they may get hit in the teeth. Russia is ready to do that, despite the rapidly growing appetites and teeth of these sharks.”

Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has suggested that opposition politician Yair Golan knew about the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack in advance, prompting him to demand an apology and threaten legal action.

Speaking to Israel’s Channel 14 on Monday, Netanyahu questioned how Golan, a retired IDF deputy chief of staff, had been able to reach southern Israel so quickly during the assault.

“When you’re a military man of such high rank, claiming that you fought on October 7, already early in the morning you were there, already dressed and ready at a very, very early hour when others didn’t know, such as the prime minister,” she said.

Golan accused Netanyahu of “spreading a false conspiracy” and “attempting to rewrite” the events. He threatened to sue for defamation unless she apologized within 24 hours and made a substantial donation to survivors of the Nova music festival massacre, where nearly a third of the roughly 1,200 people killed in the attack died.

The retired major general drove to the festival area during the Hamas assault and rescued several people fleeing the massacre, the Times of Israel reported at the time.

Golan is running in Israel’s October 27 election as leader of the left-wing Democrats. However, the opposition bloc’s frontrunner and Benjamin Netanyahu’s main political rival is considered to be Gadi Eisenkot of the centrist Honest! Party.

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Sara Netanyahu’s remarks echoed claims that Israeli officials deliberately allowed the Hamas attack to happen. Asked directly about the so-called “betrayal theory,” however, she distanced herself from it. “I’m not part of any theories and I don’t know,” she said.

IDF investigations have identified a chain of systemic failures preceding October 7, including failures to act on intelligence about Hamas’s “Jericho Wall” attack plan. A broader inquiry into failures across Israel’s political and security leadership has yet to clear parliament amid disagreements over its independence, with critics arguing that the government should not have influence over an investigation into its own potential failings.

Iran has launched a new wave of missile and drone attacks against US military facilities in Jordan and Bahrain after American strikes on southern Iran hit a residential building where a wedding ceremony was underway, killing four people, including a child, and injuring dozens.

The US military began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, saying the operation was launched in response to alleged Iranian attempts to attack commercial shipping and American troops in the region. President Donald Trump described the strikes as “large and powerful” and warned Tehran that any retaliation would trigger an even harsher response.

Iranian authorities said shrapnel from one of the US strikes hit a residential house in Kuhestak, in Hormozgan Province, where a wedding was taking place. The death toll later rose to four, including a young child, while Iranian media reported that the number of injured had climbed to 68.

The IRGC subsequently announced the start of what it called a “punishing response,” saying ballistic missiles had been fired at Camp Titin, a US military facility near Aqaba in southern Jordan. The Guard claimed that American troops were killed and military infrastructure and helicopters destroyed, although Washington has not confirmed those claims.

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Iran’s regular army separately said it had launched drones against US facilities at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, targeting radar installations and areas used by American forces.

Jordan said 13 ballistic missiles entered its airspace during the latest attacks, with ten intercepted and three falling away from populated areas. 

The new escalation follows an exchange of strikes over the weekend, after US forces hit Iran’s Larak Island in the Strait and Tehran retaliated with ballistic missiles and drones targeting American military positions in Jordan. US President Donald Trump vowed to “hit Iran hard.” 

Earlier, Washington launched what it called an “economic onslaught” against Iran, imposing new sanctions and threatening to boot any country dealing financially with Tehran out of the US dollar system. On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said new secondary sanctions would be rolled out every week against foreign banks and companies that continue dealing with Iran.

Iran has launched a new wave of missile and drone attacks against US military facilities in Jordan and Bahrain after American strikes on southern Iran hit a residential building where a wedding ceremony was underway, killing four people, including a child, and injuring dozens.

The US military began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, saying the operation was launched in response to alleged Iranian attempts to attack commercial shipping and American troops in the region. President Donald Trump described the strikes as “large and powerful” and warned Tehran that any retaliation would trigger an even harsher response.

Iranian authorities said shrapnel from one of the US strikes hit a residential house in Kuhestak, in Hormozgan Province, where a wedding was taking place. The death toll later rose to four, including a young child, while Iranian media reported that the number of injured had climbed to 68.

The IRGC subsequently announced the start of what it called a “punishing response,” saying ballistic missiles had been fired at Camp Titin, a US military facility near Aqaba in southern Jordan. The Guard claimed that American troops were killed and military infrastructure and helicopters destroyed, although Washington has not confirmed those claims.

Read more

Iran’s regular army separately said it had launched drones against US facilities at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, targeting radar installations and areas used by American forces.

Jordan said 13 ballistic missiles entered its airspace during the latest attacks, with ten intercepted and three falling away from populated areas. 

The new escalation follows an exchange of strikes over the weekend, after US forces hit Iran’s Larak Island in the Strait and Tehran retaliated with ballistic missiles and drones targeting American military positions in Jordan. US President Donald Trump vowed to “hit Iran hard.” 

Earlier, Washington launched what it called an “economic onslaught” against Iran, imposing new sanctions and threatening to boot any country dealing financially with Tehran out of the US dollar system. On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said new secondary sanctions would be rolled out every week against foreign banks and companies that continue dealing with Iran.

Canada has very few similarities with Iran – to Canada’s own shame.

Let’s leave aside the basic differences, such as location, demographics, weather, and cuisine, and focus on the essentials: Historically, Iran is old and firmly based on an ancient civilization; Canada, like the US, is young and a little accidental, a leftover of the British Empire in its settler-colonial-ethnic-cleansing variant.

In terms of religion, Iran is shaped by pious Shia Islam; Canada displays the flaccid mix of an emasculated Christmas-and-jingle-bells-only Christianity and aggressive anything-goes consumerist secularism typical of the contemporary West.

Geopolitically, Iran is a proud and victorious opponent of the US and Israel; Canada is a fairly ordinary vassal in the American empire.

Accordingly, Canada is deeply and proudly involved in the West’s proxy war against Russia by way of using up Ukraine. Indeed, the Canadian contribution is particularly ironic because it also serves a frenetic and powerful nationalist Ukrainian lobby, rooted in deliberately privileged fascist World War Two runaways and Cold War conspirators. Iran, on the other side, has long helped Russia and, for its efforts, been directly attacked by Kiev’s Zelensky regime. In return, Western sources claim, Moscow has been helping Tehran with its ongoing defense against the US and Israel.

Most importantly, Iran is a country on the side of elementary decency, fundamental human ethics, and international law and therefore against the genocide committed by Israel, the US, UK, Germany, and various other Western accomplices against the Palestinian nation. Canada – Israeli murders of Canadian citizens and some cheap and, in effect, empty gestures from Ottawa notwithstanding – has been, at the very best, yet another camp follower of the Western genocide coalition.

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And yet, strange as it may be, recent events have produced something that Iran and Canada have in common. Or to be precise, it’s Washington’s bizarre policies that have created this odd overlap: both Canada the long-standing vassal and Iran the steadfast antagonist are currently at the receiving end of both fresh attempts at coercion by economic warfare and escalating rhetoric from Washington.

Of course, there are orders-of-magnitude differences between the Trump administration’s ‘Operation Economic Outcast’ against Tehran and the latest round of tariff and trash-talk launched against Canada.

The ‘Operation’ targeting Iran, according to its mastermind and cheerleader Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, aims to combine a naval blockade, intelligence gathering, “mapp[ing] every node, every facilitator and every network that Iran” is using to trade abroad, and wide-ranging secondary sanctions to, in Bessent words, “asphyxiat[e]” Tehran. The declared end goal is to “collapse” Iran by inflicting an “Economic D-Day,” as President Donald Trump has put it.

There’s no such intention to wage total economic war in the case of Canada. Regarding Ottawa, Washington has merely initiated a pressure campaign within its empire. Its goal is not absolute destruction but the punishment and coercion of a wayward vassal.

In essence, the Canadian government under Prime Minister Mark Carney has rejected Washington’s offer of a crudely disadvantageous and interfering trade deal, featuring, according to the Financial Times, “ludicrous” American demands.

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Faced with “clodhopping bullying” so extreme no leader could have submitted – except maybe, say, the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen or Germany’s Friedrich Merz – Carney had an excellent opportunity to make a stand. He declared that Canada is under US attack and, in effect, at war – all restricted to the economy, of course – and that his government will retaliate tit-for-tat, dollar-for-dollar.

Washington is striking at Ottawa with 50% tariffs on Canadian goods worth $20 billion, and, in return, Ottawa will give as good as it gets. That’s the plan at least. But while the Wall Street Journal reports that both sides are getting ready for a long fight, there also is still some time for last-minute off-ramps.

Things need to be kept in proportion: the new US tariffs would affect about 5% of Canadian exports to its overbearing southern neighbor. The Canadian retaliation would target about 6% of what the US sends north. Meanwhile, US rhetoric is surging. Trump has renamed Lake Ontario as Lake America and posted an extraordinarily odd AI-generated video about it, featuring (Canadian?) wild geese marching in lockstep under US flags and firing assault rifles. In Canada, for now at least, Carney’s hardline response is popular.

In short, what is really happening between Ottawa and Washington may well seem like a farce if compared to the state of things between Washington and Tehran. Unsurprisingly, the Iranian leadership has declared that it won’t budge. And why should it? It has already won two rounds of war against Washington. While its economy is certainly suffering, the American-Israeli aggression has, in effect, fully immunized Iranian society against any regime-change schemes.

Finally, Washington will not succeed in making key players submit to its secondary-sanctions blackmail. China, now the world’s great oil power, as The Economist concedes, and a crucial partner for Iran not merely in economic terms, has already made that much clear. Russia is very unlikely to be impressed either.

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But take a step back and look at the picture as a whole. Here we are: the US is waging economic war – of different intensity – against both opponents and so-called allies. More importantly, it is meeting resistance in both cases. And most importantly, in both cases, there is no reason to assume that Washington will win. All of that is happening against a background of the US escalating its use of brute force: There is the fresh “deal” – really, steal – to siphon off 65 billion barrels of crude from the de facto US protectorate of post-Maduro Venezuela. Regarding the much-disturbed bond markets, meanwhile, Trump has openly threatened to use the US military to shape them to Washington’s advantage.

The idea is about as smart as trying to fix a microchip with a sledgehammer. But, with the US, that doesn’t mean it won’t be tried. For the red thread running through all of the above is a combination of slipping real power, escalating aggressiveness, and rising resistance from others. What makes this so dangerous is that Washington seems to have entirely lost the ability to realistically adjust its aims and demands to its declining capabilities. Think of it as a bully past his prime who is not only very violent but also not smart enough to see when being more flexible would be in his own best interest.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a well-timed ploy to ramp up defense spending? The late-autumn drone sighting hysteria that swept across Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium, was used by the bloc to amplify and entrench an anti-Russia stance that has seen it throw hundreds of billions it cannot afford into weapons and a war its chosen side cannot win.

Tens of millions of Euro has since been spent on the back of a 'scare' that has been shown to have been irrational, exuberant and driven by vested interests.

The most bizarre national security scare in recent European history began at Copenhagen’s Kastrup Airport on September 2 last year. According to Denmark’s Frihedsbrevet news site, an airport employee told her supervisors that she saw two drones approach the area “stealthily,” adding that “they are big. They are not toys.”

The airport was temporarily shut down, and within hours, reports of a similar drone incursion came in from Oslo, Norway.

“I can only say that this is in my eyes a serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at the time. “I cannot in any way deny that it is Russia.” Her Norwegian counterpart, Gahr Store, came to a similar conclusion. “Russia has violated Norwegian airspace on three occasions this spring and summer,” he claimed. “We cannot determine whether this was done intentionally or due to navigation errors. Regardless of the cause, this is not acceptable.”

“It is clear we are witnessing a pattern of persistent contestation at our borders,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “Our critical infrastructure is at risk. And Europe will respond to this threat with strength and determination.”

Open-source investigators insisted that the sightings were a hoax from the outset. Sleuths on the Metabunk forums concluded that the ‘drone’ seen at Kastrup Airport in the above footage was actually a small single-engine plane. FlightRadar24 data showed one such plane – a Socata TB-20 Trinidad – passing over the airport’s main runway twice at the time of the sighting.

Where were drones spotted?

Nevertheless, panic spread across northern Europe as drones were supposedly spotted at the following airports, military bases, and infrastructure sites in the following days and weeks:

• September 23: Aalborg Airport, Denmark

• September 24: Aalborg Airport, Billund Airport, Sonderborg, Esbjerg and Skrydstrup airports, Denmark

• September 25: Billund Airport, Denmark; Thyssenkrupp factory, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany; University Medical Center, Kiel, Germany; Bundeswehr base, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
  September 26: Karup Air Base, Skrydstrup Air Base, Jutland Dragoon Regiment base, Denmark

• September 27: Orland Main Air Station, Norway

• September 28: Bronnoysund Airport, Norway; Borris Camp, Denmark

• October 2: Munich Airport, Germany; Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base, Belgium

• October 3: Munich Airport, Germany

• October 31: Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, Germany

• November 2: Bremen Airport, Germany; Kleine Brogel Air Base, Belgium

• November 6: Gothenburg Airport, Sweden; Brussels Airport, Antwerp Port, Belgium

• November 9: Liege Airport, Doel Nuclear Power Plant, Belgium

• November 22: Volkel Air Base, Netherlands

• December 1: In the Irish Sea off Dublin, during Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s arrival by plane

Police across northern Europe received thousands of additional drone reports from civilians. In Denmark alone, nearly 6,000 reports of suspected drones were filed.

Did the drones even exist?

Not only is there no proof that Russia was connected with these sightings, there is no evidence that any drones were present at all. No wreckage has been recovered, no perpetrators have been identified, and no footage of the drones exists, except for the video from Copenhagen that apparently shows a light aircraft.

Despite being certain that Denmark was under “hybrid attack,” Mette Frederiksen acknowledged in late September that there could be an “alternate explanation” for the sightings. Six months later, six government sources told Denmark’s TV2 that they don’t “have any technical evidence to support that Denmark was subjected to a hybrid attack with drones.” Frihedsbrevet’s sources came to a similar conclusion, with the airport employee who reported the initial sighting admitting that she could have been mistaken.

Airport management still insist that drones were present in the area on September 22, but police have not acknowledged any drones, only “reports” of drones.

Danish troops reportedly opened fire on a drone over Borris Camp on September 28. According to an investigation by TV2, the only aircraft operating in the area at the time was a turboprop passenger plane. The Danish military, if TV2’s reporting is correct, nearly shot down a civilian aircraft over a false alarm.

After interviewing witnesses and reviewing surveillance footage, Norwegian police closed their investigation on November 6, stating that they were “unable to confirm or deny whether drones were actually observed on the night of September 23.”

German police have not been able to confirm any drone activity; Dutch officials have identified no threat, with internal documents stating that there was “no indication of sabotage or attacks on vital objects.” Dutch and Belgian authorities have found no credible basis for panic, with Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken issuing a half-apology last month for attempting to pass off a video of a police helicopter as evidence of nefarious aerial activity.

Did they just lie?

Out of every country involved, Denmark’s leaders were most insistent that Russia was behind the spate of sightings. Frederiksen, Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, and Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard all described the incidents as “attacks,” despite nothing being attacked and no attackers being present.

“I consider it a new reality that Denmark and Europe are under more violent and frequent hybrid attacks,” Frederiksen said in a televised address on September 25. “And even though the authorities cannot conclude who is behind the hybrid attacks…there is primarily one country that poses a threat to Europe's security – and that is Russia.”

The flood of tips and reports from the public can be written off either as mass hysteria, or – more charitably – as a natural reaction from Europeans primed by their politicians and media to believe that Russia is planning an all-out war on the continent. As for why Frederiksen would stoke this fear, however, some clues can be found in her actions.

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At the time, Denmark was just over a year into an historic rearmament program. After a €5.4 billion military budget hike in 2024, Frederiksen announced last February that defense spending would be increased from 2.4% to 3% of GDP by 2030 (since increased to 3.5%). By late 2025, Denmark had purchased hundreds of armored combat vehicles, signed contracts for new air defense systems, increased annual conscription numbers, and, for the first time in its history, introduced compulsory military service for women.

Denmark, she said last February, needs to undergo a “massive rearmament,” because “We don’t know what [Russian President Vladimir Putin] is planning, but we know that he and Russia are in the process of rearming.”

Frederiksen referenced this rearmament again in her September address, declaring that “the events of recent days only emphasize how important it is.”

Denmark held the EU’s rotating presidency at the time, and Frederiksen added that the alleged drone threat would be made front and center when EU leaders met in Copenhagen the following week, and that she would push for “the establishment of an actual drone wall.”

The EU’s drone wall

Frederiksen kept her word. Published on October 16, the European Commission’s ‘Defense Readiness Roadmap’ stated that a ‘European Drone Defense Initiative’ – the so-called “drone wall” comprising sensors and interceptors – would be operational along the bloc’s eastern borders with Russia and Belarus by 2027.

🚨🇪🇺 “We need to act now”

Ursula von der Leyen now wants to build a “Drone Wall” on the Eastern Flank of Europe to protect from the alleged Russian Aggression. pic.twitter.com/UAGH93fKRc

— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) October 1, 2025

Drones continued to dominate the agenda at a European Council summit in Brussels in December. “The European Council strongly condemns all recent hybrid attacks against the European Union and its Member States,” read a statement released after the meeting. “In the light of Russia’s and Belarus’ intensified hybrid campaign, it calls for accelerated efforts to strengthen resilience, protect critical infrastructure, and…decisively ramp up Europe’s defense readiness by 2030.”

None of this is to suggest that Denmark orchestrated the drone panic to justify its remilitarization, or to sell the EU’s “drone wall.” Both initiatives were already underway at the time. Instead, it illustrates how Danish and EU officials saw an opportunity not to let a crisis go to waste, and kept the drone threat alive even as their own police forces, to put it mildly, struggled to substantiate it.

Belgium's very own drone crisis

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Frederiksen wasn’t the only national leader who saw an opportunity amid the panic. Remember Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken? After police hotlines were flooded with more than 550 reports of drones between September and December, Francken bypassed the standard bidding process to authorize the purchase of €50 million worth of drone detection and jamming systems.

An investigation by Belgium’s VRT broadcaster has since found that none of the reports of drones were credible, and Francken has been hammered by the opposition for sharing an image of a ‘drone’ over Brussels Airport that turned out to be a police helicopter. VRT found that the defense ministry ignored warnings from Belgium’s Inspectorate of Finance and purchased detection antennas at an inflated price, and Francken is now the subject of an inquiry by the Brussels Public Prosecutor's Office.

The debacle is reminiscent of the Agusta-Dassault affair. During the 1980s, defense contractors Agusta and Dassault paid the equivalent of €4 million in bribes to secure no-bid contracts for AW109 transport helicopters and electronic warfare equipment. Once exposed, the scandal led to the criminal conviction of Belgian Defense Minister Guy Coeme and Foreign Minister and NATO Secretary General Willy Claes. 

Read more

So did Russian drones spook the EU? 

Nearly eight months after the first ‘drones’ were spotted over Copenhagen, the crisis is still being milked across Europe. In early May, long after the threat had been debunked in Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands, the Dutch defense ministry announced that it would acquire approximately 900 “electro-optical aiming devices” for use against UAVs, “without prior announcement due to the urgency of a crisis situation.”

Questioned by the Belgian parliament in April, Francken insisted that there is “no other plausible explanation” for the reports other than Russian drones, and that the only way to prove or disprove this is to invest in drone defense technology. “As long as you don’t have the means to detect and neutralize drones, it stands to reason that you cannot immediately produce physical evidence,” he told lawmakers.

The Dutch and Belgians aren’t letting a lack of evidence stop them from pursuing the defense deals that they wanted from this crisis, and the EU is unlikely to step in and pump the brakes.

The EU's censorious and paranoid media industry is the perfect environment for fake news to fester, as long as it suits the bloc. Remember, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's claims of “GPS jamming” hitting her plane on a trip to Bulgaria last September, and how, despite it being roundly debunked within days, it has been allowed to fester to serve her political agenda.

Anti-Russian hysteria is the animating political force in the EU, and the bloc’s leaders clearly aren’t going to let police and media investigations, or common sense, put a stop to the show.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a well-timed ploy to ramp up defense spending? The late-autumn drone sighting hysteria that swept across Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium, was used by the bloc to amplify and entrench an anti-Russia stance that has seen it throw hundreds of billions it cannot afford into weapons and a war its chosen side cannot win.

Tens of millions of Euro has since been spent on the back of a 'scare' that has been shown to have been irrational, exuberant and driven by vested interests.

The most bizarre national security scare in recent European history began at Copenhagen’s Kastrup Airport on September 2 last year. According to Denmark’s Frihedsbrevet news site, an airport employee told her supervisors that she saw two drones approach the area “stealthily,” adding that “they are big. They are not toys.”

The airport was temporarily shut down, and within hours, reports of a similar drone incursion came in from Oslo, Norway.

“I can only say that this is in my eyes a serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at the time. “I cannot in any way deny that it is Russia.” Her Norwegian counterpart, Gahr Store, came to a similar conclusion. “Russia has violated Norwegian airspace on three occasions this spring and summer,” he claimed. “We cannot determine whether this was done intentionally or due to navigation errors. Regardless of the cause, this is not acceptable.”

“It is clear we are witnessing a pattern of persistent contestation at our borders,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “Our critical infrastructure is at risk. And Europe will respond to this threat with strength and determination.”

Open-source investigators insisted that the sightings were a hoax from the outset. Sleuths on the Metabunk forums concluded that the ‘drone’ seen at Kastrup Airport in the above footage was actually a small single-engine plane. FlightRadar24 data showed one such plane – a Socata TB-20 Trinidad – passing over the airport’s main runway twice at the time of the sighting.

Where were drones spotted?

Nevertheless, panic spread across northern Europe as drones were supposedly spotted at the following airports, military bases, and infrastructure sites in the following days and weeks:

• September 23: Aalborg Airport, Denmark

• September 24: Aalborg Airport, Billund Airport, Sonderborg, Esbjerg and Skrydstrup airports, Denmark

• September 25: Billund Airport, Denmark; Thyssenkrupp factory, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany; University Medical Center, Kiel, Germany; Bundeswehr base, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
  September 26: Karup Air Base, Skrydstrup Air Base, Jutland Dragoon Regiment base, Denmark

• September 27: Orland Main Air Station, Norway

• September 28: Bronnoysund Airport, Norway; Borris Camp, Denmark

• October 2: Munich Airport, Germany; Elsenborn-Butgenbach Air Base, Belgium

• October 3: Munich Airport, Germany

• October 31: Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, Germany

• November 2: Bremen Airport, Germany; Kleine Brogel Air Base, Belgium

• November 6: Gothenburg Airport, Sweden; Brussels Airport, Antwerp Port, Belgium

• November 9: Liege Airport, Doel Nuclear Power Plant, Belgium

• November 22: Volkel Air Base, Netherlands

• December 1: In the Irish Sea off Dublin, during Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s arrival by plane

Police across northern Europe received thousands of additional drone reports from civilians. In Denmark alone, nearly 6,000 reports of suspected drones were filed.

Did the drones even exist?

Not only is there no proof that Russia was connected with these sightings, there is no evidence that any drones were present at all. No wreckage has been recovered, no perpetrators have been identified, and no footage of the drones exists, except for the video from Copenhagen that apparently shows a light aircraft.

Despite being certain that Denmark was under “hybrid attack,” Mette Frederiksen acknowledged in late September that there could be an “alternate explanation” for the sightings. Six months later, six government sources told Denmark’s TV2 that they don’t “have any technical evidence to support that Denmark was subjected to a hybrid attack with drones.” Frihedsbrevet’s sources came to a similar conclusion, with the airport employee who reported the initial sighting admitting that she could have been mistaken.

Airport management still insist that drones were present in the area on September 22, but police have not acknowledged any drones, only “reports” of drones.

Danish troops reportedly opened fire on a drone over Borris Camp on September 28. According to an investigation by TV2, the only aircraft operating in the area at the time was a turboprop passenger plane. The Danish military, if TV2’s reporting is correct, nearly shot down a civilian aircraft over a false alarm.

After interviewing witnesses and reviewing surveillance footage, Norwegian police closed their investigation on November 6, stating that they were “unable to confirm or deny whether drones were actually observed on the night of September 23.”

German police have not been able to confirm any drone activity; Dutch officials have identified no threat, with internal documents stating that there was “no indication of sabotage or attacks on vital objects.” Dutch and Belgian authorities have found no credible basis for panic, with Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken issuing a half-apology last month for attempting to pass off a video of a police helicopter as evidence of nefarious aerial activity.

Did they just lie?

Out of every country involved, Denmark’s leaders were most insistent that Russia was behind the spate of sightings. Frederiksen, Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, and Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard all described the incidents as “attacks,” despite nothing being attacked and no attackers being present.

“I consider it a new reality that Denmark and Europe are under more violent and frequent hybrid attacks,” Frederiksen said in a televised address on September 25. “And even though the authorities cannot conclude who is behind the hybrid attacks…there is primarily one country that poses a threat to Europe's security – and that is Russia.”

The flood of tips and reports from the public can be written off either as mass hysteria, or – more charitably – as a natural reaction from Europeans primed by their politicians and media to believe that Russia is planning an all-out war on the continent. As for why Frederiksen would stoke this fear, however, some clues can be found in her actions.

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At the time, Denmark was just over a year into an historic rearmament program. After a €5.4 billion military budget hike in 2024, Frederiksen announced last February that defense spending would be increased from 2.4% to 3% of GDP by 2030 (since increased to 3.5%). By late 2025, Denmark had purchased hundreds of armored combat vehicles, signed contracts for new air defense systems, increased annual conscription numbers, and, for the first time in its history, introduced compulsory military service for women.

Denmark, she said last February, needs to undergo a “massive rearmament,” because “We don’t know what [Russian President Vladimir Putin] is planning, but we know that he and Russia are in the process of rearming.”

Frederiksen referenced this rearmament again in her September address, declaring that “the events of recent days only emphasize how important it is.”

Denmark held the EU’s rotating presidency at the time, and Frederiksen added that the alleged drone threat would be made front and center when EU leaders met in Copenhagen the following week, and that she would push for “the establishment of an actual drone wall.”

The EU’s drone wall

Frederiksen kept her word. Published on October 16, the European Commission’s ‘Defense Readiness Roadmap’ stated that a ‘European Drone Defense Initiative’ – the so-called “drone wall” comprising sensors and interceptors – would be operational along the bloc’s eastern borders with Russia and Belarus by 2027.

🚨🇪🇺 “We need to act now”

Ursula von der Leyen now wants to build a “Drone Wall” on the Eastern Flank of Europe to protect from the alleged Russian Aggression. pic.twitter.com/UAGH93fKRc

— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) October 1, 2025

Drones continued to dominate the agenda at a European Council summit in Brussels in December. “The European Council strongly condemns all recent hybrid attacks against the European Union and its Member States,” read a statement released after the meeting. “In the light of Russia’s and Belarus’ intensified hybrid campaign, it calls for accelerated efforts to strengthen resilience, protect critical infrastructure, and…decisively ramp up Europe’s defense readiness by 2030.”

None of this is to suggest that Denmark orchestrated the drone panic to justify its remilitarization, or to sell the EU’s “drone wall.” Both initiatives were already underway at the time. Instead, it illustrates how Danish and EU officials saw an opportunity not to let a crisis go to waste, and kept the drone threat alive even as their own police forces, to put it mildly, struggled to substantiate it.

Belgium's very own drone crisis

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Frederiksen wasn’t the only national leader who saw an opportunity amid the panic. Remember Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken? After police hotlines were flooded with more than 550 reports of drones between September and December, Francken bypassed the standard bidding process to authorize the purchase of €50 million worth of drone detection and jamming systems.

An investigation by Belgium’s VRT broadcaster has since found that none of the reports of drones were credible, and Francken has been hammered by the opposition for sharing an image of a ‘drone’ over Brussels Airport that turned out to be a police helicopter. VRT found that the defense ministry ignored warnings from Belgium’s Inspectorate of Finance and purchased detection antennas at an inflated price, and Francken is now the subject of an inquiry by the Brussels Public Prosecutor's Office.

The debacle is reminiscent of the Agusta-Dassault affair. During the 1980s, defense contractors Agusta and Dassault paid the equivalent of €4 million in bribes to secure no-bid contracts for AW109 transport helicopters and electronic warfare equipment. Once exposed, the scandal led to the criminal conviction of Belgian Defense Minister Guy Coeme and Foreign Minister and NATO Secretary General Willy Claes. 

Read more

So did Russian drones spook the EU? 

Nearly eight months after the first ‘drones’ were spotted over Copenhagen, the crisis is still being milked across Europe. In early May, long after the threat had been debunked in Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands, the Dutch defense ministry announced that it would acquire approximately 900 “electro-optical aiming devices” for use against UAVs, “without prior announcement due to the urgency of a crisis situation.”

Questioned by the Belgian parliament in April, Francken insisted that there is “no other plausible explanation” for the reports other than Russian drones, and that the only way to prove or disprove this is to invest in drone defense technology. “As long as you don’t have the means to detect and neutralize drones, it stands to reason that you cannot immediately produce physical evidence,” he told lawmakers.

The Dutch and Belgians aren’t letting a lack of evidence stop them from pursuing the defense deals that they wanted from this crisis, and the EU is unlikely to step in and pump the brakes.

The EU's censorious and paranoid media industry is the perfect environment for fake news to fester, as long as it suits the bloc. Remember, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's claims of “GPS jamming” hitting her plane on a trip to Bulgaria last September, and how, despite it being roundly debunked within days, it has been allowed to fester to serve her political agenda.

Anti-Russian hysteria is the animating political force in the EU, and the bloc’s leaders clearly aren’t going to let police and media investigations, or common sense, put a stop to the show.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow last week.

What we know: Ratcliffe met with Sergey Naryshkin, the director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service. This has been confirmed by Naryshkin himself, who described the meeting as “routine.” We also know that the US spy chief did not meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The meeting took place, there is nothing unusual in this,” Naryshkin stated afterwards. “In the practice of special services, meetings of managers, personal meetings or online are part of our work. So, the meeting with John Ratcliffe is a working format.”

Naryshkin refused to state what issues were discussed, explaining that they were within the competence of the intelligence services. “And the competence of the intelligence services is such a rather delicate and special thing,” the Russian spy chief said.

What we don’t know: literally anything else.

Rumors abound about additional attendees, as well as the agenda – or lack thereof – that was pursued by Ratcliffe during a meeting which appeared to be anything but routine. But the fact is, any meeting between Ratcliffe and Naryshkin, given the nature of the times we live in, could never be described as “routine.”

A quick reminder: John Ratcliffe’s CIA is currently at war with Russia. Literally.

Ratcliffe assumed his current position on January 23, 2025. Prior to this, he did a short stint as national intelligence director during the last year of Trump’s first term in office. He was a Texas congressman for a few years, as well as a small-town mayor and acting US attorney for the Eastern District of Texas.

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He is a politician, not a spy.

But he is fully cognizant of the CIA’s secret war against Russia, having been fully briefed while serving as DNI. As a member of Congress, Ratcliffe was a leading policy maker on national security issues serving as a member of the House Intelligence and Homeland Security committees.

Any effort to portray him as some sort of “innocent abroad” fails on the face of the facts.

The CIA has always been at war with Russia. During the Cold War, Moscow Station (the name of the CIA’s operation center based out of the US Embassy) was literally the front line of the spy-versus-spy antics taking place between the US and the Soviet Union.

The CIA headed up Operation Cyclone, a massive paramilitary-driven effort to create a Vietnam-like quagmire for the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The goal of Operation Cyclone was to kill Russians.

I worked with people who were directly or indirectly affiliated with Operation Cyclone. ‘Kill more Russians’ was literally their mantra.

There was a time when the CIA hired genuine Russia-area experts. The analysts who populated the Office of Soviet Analysis (SOVA) in the Directorate of Intelligence at the height of the Cold War were some of the best experts on the Soviet Union imaginable.

I know because I worked with them. From 1988-1990, I received two classified commendations from the director of the CIA for my analytical work involving the Soviet Union. I was considered by the CIA leadership to be a top-notch Soviet analyst.

In 1992 the CIA actively recruited me for an analytical position within the predecessor to SOVA, the Slavic and Eurasian Office. I was brought in for a high-level interview, after which I was informed that the CIA would be passing on my application. When I asked why, I was told that I was too married to old school thinking about Russia – in short, I was a ‘Sovietologist’.

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The CIA was looking for people who could imagine Russia ‘differently’. What this meant was divorcing oneself from the mindset that Russia (i.e., the Soviet Union) was a peer-level opponent worthy of respect (my view), and instead adopting a stance that Russia was a defeated foe that needed to be kept down by any means necessary.

In the 1990s, the CIA’s task was to use Boris Yeltsin as an agent of influence to weaken Russia and facilitate foreign control over its resources. The CIA actively infiltrated every aspect of the Russian economy and used ‘soft power’ resources funded by the likes of the National Endowment for Democracy and overseen by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to hijack Russian democratic institutions and Russian social life, especially through media-related activities.

The CIA also was very active in working to break Russia up into more manageable fiefdoms, each ruled over by a CIA-controlled lackey. The Russian-Chechen conflict was a primary example of this activity.

When Boris Yeltsin stepped aside in favor of Vladimir Putin as Russia’s president on New Year’s Eve 1999, the CIA immediately made it its task to undermine Putin and replace him with someone from the Yeltsin camp willing and able to do the CIA’s bidding.

Putin’s resistance and resilience as a Russian leader operating independent of CIA control helped shape a new generation of Russophobes in the United States. The first generation were the ‘new Russian’ thinkers that replaced the old school ‘Sovietologists’ at the end of the Cold War. To them, Russia was a playground for which to launch experiments on economic and political domination with absolutely zero regard to the price being paid by the people of Russia.

This generation of Russophobes simply detested Russia and the Russian people, failing to attribute any normative human value to their lives. Millions of Russians lost their lives as a result, and tens of millions of others suffered greatly.

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Michael McFaul, the former US ambassador to Russia, falls into this category. So, too, does Fiona Hill. And Beth Sanner. People whose educational background and Russian experience pre-dates Putin, people who know the truth about Russia but opted instead to embrace the hegemonic policies of superpower singularity and work to weaken and destroy Russia.

But Putin’s stubborn hold on power, despite concerted efforts by the CIA to oust him (think Navalny), led to the birth of a new generation of Russophobes, so-called ‘experts’ whose only claim to relevance is their undying hatred of Putin and everything Russian.

It is this generation that has gravitated to the upper levels of the CIA’s analytical community, and who openly hate all things Russia. People like Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Julia Gurganus.

It is this openly Russophobic CIA that John Ratcliffe oversees.

His relationship with Julia Gurganus is both instructive and illustrative of the sickness that pervades the CIA when it comes to Russia. Gurganus was the National Intelligence Officer for Russia back in 2016-17, at the height of the Obama-era Russiagate scandal that tried to make the case of collusion between then-candidate Donald Trump and Russia to steal the 2016 presidential election from Hillary Clinton.

Gurganus helped manufacture the intelligence that underpinned this false allegation. She was a vociferous critic of Trump, so much so that the CIA quietly exiled her to a think tank position during Trump’s first term in office.

When Trump was reelected, Ratcliffe oversaw the whitewashing of Gurganus’ role in falsely accusing Trump of collusion, leading to the elevation of Gurganus as the senior CIA briefer onboard Air Force One as Trump flew to Alaska to meet with Putin in August 2025. That’s right – Ratcliffe purposefully cleansed Gurganus of her anti-Trump credentials so she could personally brief the president before his meeting with Putin.

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Tulsi Gabbard, in her role as DNI, exposed Gurganus as an anti-Trump operative and had her security clearances revoked, but not before the damage was done.

There was a time when the CIA’s Directorate of Operations Russia House was home to living legends. People like Milton Beardon, who helped run Operation Cyclone and was chief of the Soviet/East European Division at the time the Soviet Union fell. Gardner Hathaway and Berton Gerber, who ran some of the most successful CIA spying operations from Moscow Station in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

And Murat Natirboff, another legendary Russian hand who led the Moscow Station during the Nicholas Daniloff affairs in the 1980s. Natirboff is instructional in this regard. His father was an officer in the Russian White Army which fought the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War. Natirboff hated the communists. But he loved Russia. He was held in very high regard by the Soviet officers of the KGB which faced off against him during his tour in Moscow.

I can personally attest to Murat’s feelings toward Russia – I met him after he left Moscow in 1988, where we spoke about my experiences in Votkinsk as an INF Treaty weapons inspector.

The CIA no longer employs people of this caliber in its operational work regarding Russia. Gone are the days of the Russian romantics – people who took the time to learn about their enemies to bring to life Sun Tzu’s classic observation: “If you know your enemy as yourself, you need not fear the outcome of a hundred battles.”

The present-day Directorate of Operations is overrun with paramilitary operatives, men (and women) who cut their teeth during the heyday of the post-9/11 ‘Global War on Terror’, where they oversaw secret wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iran.

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They take their cue from veterans like Tom Sylvester, a former Navy SEAL who worked in the CIA’s Special Activities Branch as a Ground Branch operative. Tom headed the CIA’s efforts in Ukraine post-2022, when the Special Military Operation began. His job was literally to kill Russians.

People like ‘Santa Claus’, the nickname of the CIA’s Kiev Station Chief who sent Ground Branch to Ukraine post-2014 to train the Ukrainian intelligence special operations forces on how best to kill Russians.

Veterans of the CIA’s drone assassination programs now advise the Ukrainian drone operators on how to kill Russians and destroy Russian infrastructure.

In December 2025, the CIA helped direct Ukrainian drones toward a residence in Valdai where Putin was staying.

Yes – John Ratcliffe’s CIA tried to kill the Russian president. The CIA denies Putin was the target, but the data from the guidance chips extracted from Ukrainian drone debris appears to suggest otherwise.

Today, the CIA is knee-deep in the business of killing Russians. They continue to guide Ukraine’s expanded drone warfare campaign targeting Russia. And Russians.

This is John Ratcliffe. This is the organization he leads. So, when people reflect on the recent visit by Ratcliffe to Russia, never lose sight of his primary mission.

Israeli authorities have seized a UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school in the Shufat refugee camp, leaving Palestinian children in East Jerusalem facing uncertainty as their academic year begins.

RT’s Charlotte Dubenskij reports from the ground, where families say they fear losing access to affordable schooling or being forced to send their children into an Israeli-run system.

Fourteen-year-old Noor and her 11-year-old sister Fatima are among those still without a school just days before the new academic year, Dubenskij reported from Shufat. The sisters fear the disruption could derail their ambitions of becoming a doctor and a dentist.

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Their father told Dubenskij that the family cannot afford municipal schools, which could cost thousands of shekels, while UNRWA, which provides education, healthcare, and other services to Palestinian refugees, charged only a symbolic annual fee. Parents are also concerned about their children being transferred to Israeli-run schools and taught a different curriculum.

A local community leader interviewed by Dubenskij said parents fear the Israeli curriculum would exclude subjects previously taught at UNRWA schools, including Islamic education and Arab history. Asked by the RT correspondent whether he feared the children would be “brainwashed,” he replied: “Of course, absolutely, without a doubt.”

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UNRWA says personnel linked to the Jerusalem Municipality entered its Shufat facilities without authorization and began work inside, in violation of the agency’s UN protections. The municipality says the sites are privately owned and will be reopened for local residents, although Dubenskij reported that the school remains closed with no reopening date set.

The developments follow Israel’s takeover of UNRWA’s Qalandiya Training Center in East Jerusalem late last month, disrupting vocational education for hundreds of students. During the raid, Israeli forces shot and wounded a Palestinian teenager. UNRWA said more than 50 Israeli security personnel entered the facility while around 20 staff were inside and forced them from the premises.

Watch the full story below:

The US killed multiple civilians in southern Iran using new “precision” missiles with a wide damage radius, conflict monitoring group Airwars has found. Tehran has repeatedly accused Washington of war crimes since the US and Israel launched a war on Iran which has killed up to 3,000 civilians.

In an investigation published on Monday, the London-based watchdog examined three February 28 strikes in the city of Lamerd that killed at least 21 civilians, including seven children. It concluded that the weapons used were likely Lockheed Martin’s Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM), which made their combat debut during the opening phase of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The PrSM is designed to explode above the ground, spraying tens of thousands of dense tungsten pellets in all directions rather than relying primarily on the blast itself.

Airwars found that civilians were killed at least 50 meters from the estimated detonation points, while damage extended as far as 150 meters. The three missiles exploded over two residential neighborhoods and a sports center.

Among those killed was a two-year-old girl struck while playing outside her home around 50 meters from one blast. Another strike over a sports hall killed seven civilians, most of them children.

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No military personnel were reported killed, and Airwars found no evidence that military infrastructure had been hit. A nearby Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps compound appeared undamaged.

The Associated Press separately reviewed the evidence and consulted six weapons experts, including two former military officials, who also assessed that PrSMs were responsible for the strikes.

“You would be hard-pressed to find a reason to use the PrSM in a densely populated area,” former US Army adviser Michael Meier told AP.

US Central Command has acknowledged deploying PrSMs against Iran, describing their use as a “historic first,” but has denied firing any weapons at Lamerd. It has instead suggested that an Iranian cruise missile was to blame, although weapons experts cited by AP and Airwars disputed that assessment.

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The PrSM had only recently completed its prototype phase and had not completed operational testing before its combat debut in Iran. A US Army official later said a deployed unit exhausted its entire stock of the missiles early in the war. Washington has since committed billions of dollars to expanding production.

Tehran has repeatedly accused Washington of war crimes over strikes on civilian areas. The Lamerd attack came on the same day as the US bombing of an elementary school in Minab, which killed 175 people, most of them children.

The Airwars findings come as direct US-Iran hostilities resumed over the weekend after a month-long lull. Washington struck Iran’s Larak Island on Sunday, prompting Tehran to launch missiles and drones at US military facilities in Jordan.

US President Donald Trump has since threatened another round of attacks, saying Washington would “hit Iran hard.”

A US lawmaker listed the names of prominent Jeffrey Epstein-linked figures in an extraordinary attempt to force the Department of Justice (DOJ) to fully release government materials on the millionaire who provided sex services to the global elite.

Representative Thomas Massie believes the administration of US President Donald Trump is covering up for Epstein’s associates and is seeking to pass an amendment to strengthen the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law a year ago.

In brief remarks on the House floor on Monday, which Massie later shared on X, he accused the government of continuing to withhold more than 3 million files.

“We want perpetrators of these crimes to be investigated and prosecuted,” Massie said, before naming known Epstein associates. “Perhaps hearing these names will shame the Department of Justice into delivering justice.”

On the House floor tonight, I read the names of several Epstein coconspirators who should be investigated and prosecuted.

I also began collecting 218 signatures for the discharge petition to force a vote on Epstein Files Transparency Act II. pic.twitter.com/fgpebvxNpP

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) August 31, 2026

Massie is considering running for a House seat from Kentucky in 2028, after losing the primary for the 2026 Republican nomination to Trump-backed contender Ed Gallrein. The former Navy SEAL’s victory in May was fueled by a record-breaking multi-million-dollar war chest backed by pro-Israel groups.

Massie and Trump had a major falling out over several issues, including the Epstein scandal, the Iran war, and major tax cuts passed last year.

Who are the people on Massie’s list?

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• James ‘Jes’ Staley. The former JPMorgan executive stepped down as CEO of British bank Barclays in 2021 amid a British regulatory investigation into his ties with Epstein.
• Leon Black. The private equity investor was one of Epstein’s clients. Earlier this month, he was threatened with being held in contempt of Congress for allegedly delaying its investigation into the late financier.
• Les Wexner. The Ohio billionaire had a long financial relationship with Epstein and was at one point described by Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell as his closest friend.
• David Copperfield. The world-renowned magician has been identified as an associate of Epstein. The DOJ released a photograph showing Copperfield and Maxwell wearing bathrobes and embracing, reportedly taken on Epstein’s private island.
• Lapo Elkann. The Italian businessman and investor involved with the Fiat and Ferrari family empire was mentioned in the Epstein files as a “dear friend” of the American.
• Tom Pritzker. The hotel magnate stepped down as executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels earlier this year after details of his association with Epstein and Maxwell received renewed scrutiny following government disclosures.
• Glenn Dubin. The billionaire hedge fund manager had a long relationship with Epstein described in the media as a “strange friendship.” His wife, former Swedish model Eva Andersson-Dubin, dated Epstein before marrying Dubin. Following Epstein’s 2008 sex-crime conviction, she reportedly told his probation officer she was comfortable with him being around the couple’s minor children.

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• Frederic Fekkai. The French celebrity hairstylist was accused of sexual assault by former Epstein assistant Sarah Kellen, who was invited to testify before the House Oversight Committee earlier this year.
• Eduardo Teodorani. The Italian businessman was mentioned extensively in files released by the DOJ, indicating a years-long relationship with Epstein.
• Jean-Luc Brunel. The French modeling scout was among Epstein’s better-known associates. He was found dead in a Paris prison cell in 2022 while under investigation by the French authorities over allegations involving the rape of minors and trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation. Massie described him on the House floor as “conveniently dead by suicide in prison.”
• Daniel Siad. Another deceased modeling scout with ties to Epstein. Massie described him as “recently discovered dead in Paris.”
• Ramsey Elkholy. A musician who also worked as a modeling scout in Brazil and whose links to Epstein were highlighted in government disclosures.
• Prince Andrew. One of the most prominent figures associated with Epstein, the disgraced British royal was stripped of his title and House of Windsor properties last year.
• Lesley Groff. The former assistant to the late financier was “not a victim” and “conspired with Epstein to traffic other women,” Massie said. She was the only woman on the lawmaker’s list.

Rescue teams in Nepal continue to search water-logged hydropower tunnels in the country’s north, where hundreds of workers remain unaccounted for seven days after a flash flood devastated areas near the border with China.

The death toll has risen to 1,003, Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said on Tuesday afternoon.

Nearly 4,000 people remain unaccounted for, the country’s Foreign Ministry said, adding about 590 foreign nationals from 39 countries are among them. Some 11,800 have been rescued.

As the authorities try to bring relief and supplies to survivors , rescue teams are racing to locate the hundreds believed trapped in the 12-13 tunnels of the many hydroelectric projects dotting the Trishuli river corridor.

The NDRRMA has listed 639 people associated with the hydropower projects as missing. But the authorities have not been able to establish how many of those could be inside the tunnels or may have been swept away.

At the Upper Trishuli-3A Hydropower Project, where rescue teams had located and drilled into the tunnel’s head on Monday, they were still pumping in air and draining water to enable entry. Excavators and rock breakers are clearing access routes to the 4 km-long tunnel, where between 30 and 40 people are believed to be in the underground powerhouse, the Kathmandu Post reported.

🇳🇵 Salute to Our Nepal Army! 🫡❤️@NepalPoliceHQ

Risking their own lives without hesitation, Nepal Army personnel are tirelessly working on the front lines to rescue people affected by this devastating disaster.

Their courage, sacrifice, and unwavering dedication to saving… pic.twitter.com/e7d0lYFeOq

— Ananda Nepali (@anandanepali99) August 31, 2026

Since Monday, Nepali Army teams working with specialists from other countries have advanced further into several tunnels. The Foreign Ministry said 24 Indian and nine Chinese tunnel-rescue specialists are deployed at the affected sites, while a South Korean team has also arrived in Nepal.

A joint team reached 200 meters into the 9.5 km-long Upper Trishuli-1 tunnel. Rescuers also reached about 50 meters into the Chilime tunnel, and around 150 meters into Langtang – both about 3 km in length.

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The Nepalese Army said 279 people had been rescued alive from hydropower projects immediately after the floods, including 221 from Upper Trishuli-3A and 33 from Upper Trishuli-1. More than 21,000 Nepalese security personnel are involved in the search, evacuation, and relief work. The NDRRMA said 37 trucks and 37 utility vehicles carrying food and relief materials had been dispatched to affected areas, with supplies also delivered on nine helicopter flights.

Nepal has requested equipment including LiDAR, temporary bridge units, freezers, DNA testing kits, and high-capacity drones to support rescue and relief operations.

The Foreign Ministry said it is helping families of missing foreign nationals obtain information about their loved ones and, where needed, assist with identification and repatriation, while acknowledging “the pain and uncertainty” of families still waiting for their missing family members.

The Iran war is “relatively little” for the US compared with the vast amount of weaponry Washington gave Ukraine under Joe Biden, President Donald Trump has said. He claimed his predecessor handed Kiev $300 billion worth of arms for free.  

Trump made the remarks while taking questions from reporters at an Oval Office event on Monday as fighting in the Middle East flared up again after weeks of relative calm. US forces struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, prompting Tehran to retaliate with missile attacks on US forces in Jordan and the UAE.  

Asked whether the prolonged operation against Iran was draining US military resources needed elsewhere, Trump shrugged off the concern. “This is a relatively little war for us. This is not a big war,” he said, adding that the US has “so much ammunition and munitions” stationed around the world that it could draw on additional supplies if needed.  

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“You know where the money went was Ukraine,” Trump continued, arguing that Washington has used “very little” weaponry against Iran by comparison.  

He then contrasted US expenditures on Iran with Washington’s support for Ukraine under his predecessor.  

“Joe Biden gave Ukraine over $300 billion worth of stuff free,” Trump said, adding that under his administration Ukraine “has to pay for it” through European NATO members. The $300 billion figure is widely disputed. A May report by the Special Inspector General for Operation Atlantic Resolve put total US appropriations for Ukraine and the broader response to the conflict at about $195 billion since February 2022, of which $67.8 billion was committed in defense articles and services to Kiev.  

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Trump’s description of the Iran conflict as a “little war” comes as it enters its seventh month despite his repeated declarations of victory. He proclaimed “total and complete victory” in early April and has since repeatedly said Washington had won or was close to ending the conflict.  

The war has consumed billions of dollars’ worth of US weaponry, with War Secretary Pete Hegseth putting the overall cost at $37.5 billion by July. Washington fired more than 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles in the first four weeks alone – despite producing only a few hundred annually – along with more than 1,000 Patriot and THAAD interceptors.  

READ MORE: US threatens Iran with ‘financial violence’

The strain has also hit US weapons inventories in Europe, where supplies of Patriot interceptors and other key munitions have fallen to “beyond critical” levels as weapons are diverted to the Middle East, media reported last week, citing US and NATO officials.  

Washington has meanwhile stepped up economic pressure on Tehran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned on Sunday that the US could unleash “financial violence” against Iran, threatening to impose new secondary sanctions every week to punish Tehran and those doing business with it.

The war against Iran, launched by the United States and Israel six months ago, was conceived as a lightning campaign against a weakened and already battered enemy.

As far as is currently known, the immediate trigger was the unrest that swept Iran in January, which appears to have convinced the Israeli and American leadership that the government in Tehran was teetering on the brink of collapse and required only a final push.

At the beginning of the campaign, Donald Trump confidently predicted that the war would last a month or six weeks, and sometimes suggested it could be over even sooner. Instead, it’s become one of the defining events of the 21st century and its long-term consequences may ultimately prove comparable to those of the September 11 attacks or Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, and perhaps even surpass them.

Among the most important consequences is the damage inflicted on the United States’ position as the principal guarantor of security for the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, a role Washington gradually assumed after the Second World War, initially alongside Britain and later largely on its own.

The war has exposed two fundamental weaknesses in that first, the United States has proved unable to protect the oil infrastructure and essential services of the Gulf monarchies from devastating attacks by a middle-ranking power such as Iran, and second, it has failed to guarantee freedom of commercial navigation in strategically important waters against attacks by Iran and its Houthi allies in Yemen.

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This is important far beyond the military sphere where America’s role as the Gulf’s security guarantor, spectacularly demonstrated during Operation Desert Storm in 1990-91, became one of the foundations of the post-Cold War international order. It influenced not only the foreign policies of the Arab monarchies but their financial decisions, as they invested enormous sums in the United States partly because their relationship with Washington provided them with security.

The scale of the American commitment in 1990 illustrates how much has changed.

To defend Saudi Arabia and defeat Iraq, the United States concentrated about 540,000 troops in the region, roughly a quarter of the active-duty strength of the US armed forces at the time. Seven of the Army’s 18 active divisions and two of the Marine Corps’ three divisions participated, while six of America’s 15 aircraft carriers were deployed, along with approximately 1,600 of its 6,500 combat aircraft.

Desert Storm was ultimately an overwhelming American victory achieved at remarkably low human cost, but American planners didn’t know beforehand that casualties would be so limited. Pre-war estimates envisaged as many as 20,000 casualties, including 6,000 to 7,000 dead, but despite those projections and substantial opposition in Congress, President George H.W. Bush and his administration went ahead.

The contrast with today is amazing as the United States is no longer capable of assembling anything resembling its 1990 force in the Middle East. Around 50,000 American personnel have been deployed for the current operation against Iran, supported by approximately 300 aircraft and just over 20 warships, including two aircraft carriers.

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Nor has Washington managed to mobilize its allies on anything approaching the same scale, while Britain alone contributed about 35,000 personnel to the campaign against Iraq in 1990, no American ally from outside the Middle East has made a comparable contribution to the present war.

There has therefore been a radical decline in the resources the leading Western power can mobilize to defend what it regards as vital global interests, as well as in its ability to draw upon allied military power.

Curiously, this has happened without a comparable decline in America’s share of global military expenditure, given the United States accounted for roughly 35-37% of world military spending in 1990 and around 33%  in 2025. This discrepancy should encourage greater skepticism about attempts to measure military power simply by comparing defense budgets.

Yet resources are only part of the explanation as more important is Washington’s apparent inability to use effectively the formidable capabilities it still possesses.

The United States undoubtedly retains the technical capacity to inflict a crushing military defeat on Iran and overthrow its government through a sufficiently large joint military operation, even with substantially fewer forces than it deployed against Iraq in 1990, but the obstacle is the price.

Any decisive operation involving a substantial ground component would probably produce many thousands of American casualties, including hundreds, and more likely thousands, of deaths. The political system that accepted such risks in 1990 appears unwilling to accept them today.

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The extraordinary effort mounted on April 5, 2026, to rescue the pilot of an F-15 shot down by Iran illustrates the problem, as the United States reportedly committed 176 aircraft to the rescue and lost three manned aircraft and two or three helicopters, representing some $300 million worth of equipment.

The determination to save individual servicemen is understandable, but a military cannot expend resources on that scale to prevent individual casualties while simultaneously fighting a major war intended to achieve decisive strategic objectives.

The same caution is visible elsewhere, seeing as American troops have been kept away from the most dangerous areas, while US warships have operated at considerable distances from the Iranian coast, reducing their effectiveness. Washington has also sought to minimize public attention to its casualties, despite their relatively small number, in marked contrast with its approach during the much more dangerous operations of the early 1990s.

Then there is the financial constraint. The 1990-91 Gulf campaign cost the US budget about $64 billion, or around $120 billion when indirect costs are included. Adjusted for inflation, that would exceed $300 billion today. By mid-July, the current operation against Iran had already cost approximately $37 billion. The total is now likely between $40 billion and $50 billion, even though the campaign has failed to produce the decisive result originally envisaged.

The lesson is therefore more complicated than the simple claim that American military power has disappeared because the United States retains enormous military and financial resources. What’s changed is its ability to concentrate those resources, mobilize allies, and accept the human and financial costs required to achieve decisive political objectives.

Desert Storm demonstrated what American military supremacy looked like at its height, but the war against Iran is revealing something very different, a superpower that can still inflict enormous damage, but increasingly struggles to convert its military superiority into the political outcomes it seeks.

This article was first published by the magazine Profile and was translated and edited by the RT team.

The EU has placed ChatGPT, Reddit, and Roblox under the strictest tier of its online regulations, giving the US-based services four months to comply with rules denounced by Washington and leading tech figures as censorship.

The European Commission on Monday designated ChatGPT a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE), while Reddit and Roblox were classified as Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) under the Digital Services Act (DSA). All three reported at least 45 million average monthly users in the EU, crossing the threshold for heightened oversight.

They now have until the end of December to comply with additional requirements, including assessing and mitigating “systemic risks” linked to illegal content, minors, users’ physical and mental well-being, fundamental rights, elections, and public security. Violations of the DSA can carry fines of up to 6% of a company’s annual global turnover.

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Brussels argues that the law makes powerful platforms safer and more accountable. Critics say its broad demands to police harmful content and mitigate vaguely defined societal risks pressure companies to suppress lawful speech to avoid punishment.

None of the three companies has publicly challenged the designation. OpenAI and Reddit said they were preparing to comply with the new requirements, while Roblox pledged to continue working “constructively” with Brussels.

The DSA and its competition-focused sister law, the Digital Markets Act (DMA), have become a major source of friction with Washington. US President Donald Trump has ordered officials to scrutinize EU digital rules that could force American companies to moderate content in ways that “undermine freedom of speech and political engagement.”

READ MORE: EU’s Kallas dismisses US censorship criticism

Vice President J.D. Vance has likewise accused Europe of retreating from free speech, telling the Munich Security Conference last year that “digital censorship” is being presented as a defense of democracy and warning that “free speech… is in retreat” across Europe.

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X owner Elon Musk has been among the DSA’s fiercest critics. He accused the European Commission of offering X an “illegal secret deal” under which it could avoid punishment by “quietly” censoring speech, claiming that other platforms have accepted. Brussels denied the allegation.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has similarly accused the EU of using the DSA to expand censorship. In April, he argued that Brussels is using sympathetic Soros-backed NGOs and media to justify increased online surveillance and restrictions, warning that these campaigns are being used to “take away what’s left of our freedoms.”

Christian schools in Jerusalem have been forced to indefinitely delay the start of the new academic year after Israeli authorities failed to renew entry permits for more than 70 teachers and staff living in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians holding West Bank IDs generally require Israeli-issued permits to cross checkpoints into East Jerusalem. But Israeli authorities failed to renew entry permits for more than 70 teachers and staff “suddenly and without prior notice,” the General Secretariat for Christian Educational Institutions in Jerusalem said in a press statement shared with the media on Monday.

“Accordingly… it has been decided to suspend school attendance in the schools of the city of Jerusalem beginning Tuesday morning, 1 September 2026, until the necessary permits for teachers and staff are reissued and renewed,” the Secretariat said.

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The schools said they were committed to protecting their students’ right to education, but the situation “makes it impossible to ensure a safe and stable start” to the academic year.

The dispute comes amid wider concerns about the treatment of Palestinians and Christians in Israel and the occupied territories.

In early August, Democratic US Senator Chris Van Hollen demanded the resignation of US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, accusing him of failing to protect American citizens and interests and criticizing his response to mounting violence in the West Bank, including attacks on Palestinian Christian communities.

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There have also been several high-profile anti-Christian incidents involving Israeli soldiers.

In April, an IDF soldier was filmed smashing a Jesus statue with a sledgehammer in the Lebanese town of Dibil while another soldier photographed the act, as Israeli forces occupied the surrounding area. The incident triggered a global scandal and prompted a military investigation. The two soldiers were removed from combat duty and sentenced to 30 days in military detention.

Christian churches, clergy and nuns in Jerusalem have also faced harassment. Six religious Jews, five of them minors, were arrested after spitting and banging on the entrance to the St. James Monastery in the city’s Armenian Quarter and throwing stones at the compound wall in early August. This came just months after an Israeli man violently assaulted a French nun on Mount Zion, leaving her with a head injury.

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Members of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in the Holy City have told RT that they too had faced attacks, including nuns being pelted with stones. “It’s not just to throw to scare a person, it was such a blow to defeat,” the Mission’s Sister Elizaveta told RT.

According to the Religious Freedom Data Center (RFDC), a Jewish-Israeli watchdog organization, reported anti-Christian harassment more than doubled in the second quarter of 2026, with spitting attacks accounting for the majority of cases.

US President Donald Trump welcomed a senior Russian delegation to the G20, ignoring protests from EU officials who refused to appear alongside Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov in the gathering’s traditional “family photo.”

Siluanov arrived in Asheville, North Carolina, for the two-day meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors on Monday at the invitation of the Trump administration. His first in-person appearance at the forum since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 immediately drew protests from European delegates.

German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil called Washington’s decision to treat Siluanov as a regular participant a “troubling” signal. Other EU officials reportedly threatened to boycott the photo altogether unless the Russian official was excluded, according to the Washington Post.

Trump brushed aside the criticism when asked about Siluanov’s visit.

“We’re going to see what happens, but we like getting along with everybody,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “One of the reasons that I’m so successful, I get along with everybody.”

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Unlike the Europeans, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held a bilateral meeting with Siluanov. Moscow said the two discussed Russian-US cooperation on financial issues and coordination within the G20.

US officials said Bessent also raised Trump’s plan for settling the Ukraine conflict and prospects for bilateral economic cooperation and growth. Other US reports, however, said Washington made clear that it would not offer Moscow economic relief or agreements in other areas before the hostilities end.

Siluanov separately participated in G20 discussions on the global economy, economic growth and sovereign debt. He warned that “geopolitical fragmentation” was increasingly obstructing the free movement of goods, capital and technology, while pointing to automation, AI and import substitution as emerging drivers of Russian growth.

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Trump has repeatedly broken with European allies over efforts to keep Russia diplomatically isolated and argued that ejecting Russia from what was then the G8 in 2014 was a mistake. In 2025, he said Moscow “should be sitting at the table” and suggested the Ukraine conflict might have been avoided had Russia remained in the group. He repeated the argument this year, saying the G8 “should have” been preserved.

The US leader has taken the same approach toward the G20. In April, he said it would be “probably very helpful” if Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the leaders’ summit in Miami in December.

“I’m of the opinion that you talk to everybody,” Trump said at the time. “I’m somebody that believes in talking.” Washington subsequently invited Russia to the summit, with Moscow accepting the invitation while leaving open who will ultimately represent the country.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has dismissed as “garbage” a New York Times report alleging torture and abuse of detained deportees, accusing the newspaper of spreading false claims about federal immigration enforcement.

In a report published on Sunday, the Times said it interviewed ten people deported from the US to Liberia and Equatorial Guinea, several of whom said they had no ties to the African countries. They alleged physical abuse, harsh restraints and degrading treatment while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In comments provided to the newspaper before publication, DHS disputed several of the allegations, saying detainees receive comprehensive medical care and rejecting claims that migrants were denied bathroom access or abused during deportation flights.

Following publication, the department went further, dismissing the report as another “hoax” and describing it as “garbage.”

Another day and another hoax about ICE detention from the @nytimes. The media is clearly desperate for these false allegations to be true.

NO ONE is being tortured, denied medical care, or beaten in ICE detention facilities.

Make no mistake: this type of GARBAGE being peddled… https://t.co/C0B868THrr

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 30, 2026

“NO ONE is being tortured, denied medical care, or beaten in ICE detention facilities,” DHS said on X, adding that “the media is clearly desperate for these false allegations to be true.”

The department also accused such coverage of fueling hostility toward immigration officers. It said assaults on ICE personnel increased by more than 1,300% between 2024 and 2025, while death threats against officers and their families surged by 8,000%.

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ICE has faced mounting scrutiny during US President Donald Trump’s second term as his administration has expanded arrests and deportations as part of what it has billed as the largest immigration crackdown in US history.

The campaign has triggered nationwide protests and legal challenges, with detainees and advocacy groups accusing ICE of excessive force, poor detention conditions, and inadequate medical care.

At least 52 people died in ICE custody during the first 500 days of Trump’s second term, according to a June report by Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights.

DHS has denied that abuses are systemic and has repeatedly accused politicians and media outlets of demonizing immigration enforcement, including by comparing ICE agents to historical secret police and other authoritarian organizations.

The European Union has placed ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox under the strictest tier of its online regulations, giving the US-based services four months to comply with rules denounced by Washington and leading tech figures as censorship.

The European Commission on Monday designated ChatGPT a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE), while Reddit and Roblox were classified as Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) under the Digital Services Act (DSA). All three reported at least 45 million average monthly users in the EU, crossing the threshold for heightened oversight.

They now have until the end of December to comply with additional requirements, including assessing and mitigating “systemic risks” linked to illegal content, minors, users’ physical and mental well-being, fundamental rights, elections and public security. Violations of the DSA can carry fines of up to 6% of a company’s annual global turnover.

Read more

Brussels argues the law makes powerful platforms safer and more accountable. Critics, however, say its broad demands to police harmful content and mitigate vaguely defined societal risks pressure companies to suppress lawful speech to avoid punishment.

None of the three companies has publicly challenged the designation. OpenAI and Reddit said they were preparing to comply with the new requirements, while Roblox pledged to continue working “constructively” with Brussels.

The DSA and its competition-focused sister law, the Digital Markets Act (DMA), have become a major source of friction with Washington. US President Donald Trump has ordered officials to scrutinize EU digital rules that could force American companies to moderate content in ways that “undermine freedom of speech and political engagement.”

READ MORE: EU’s Kallas dismisses US censorship criticism

Vice President J.D. Vance has likewise accused Europe of retreating from free speech, telling the Munich Security Conference last year that “digital censorship” was being presented as a defense of democracy and warning that “free speech… is in retreat” across Europe.

Read more

X owner Elon Musk has been among the DSA’s fiercest critics. He accused the European Commission of offering X an “illegal secret deal” under which it could avoid punishment by “quietly” censoring speech, claiming other platforms had accepted. Brussels denied the allegation.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has similarly accused the EU of using the DSA to expand censorship. In April, he argued that Brussels was using sympathetic Soros-backed NGOs and media to justify increased online surveillance and restrictions, warning that such campaigns were being used to “take away what’s left of our freedoms.”

The Pentagon has secretly hired conservative military veterans with a large social media following for undisclosed government roles, The Washington Post reported on Sunday. The influencers have promoted US War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s views while attacking critics of the Trump administration, the newspaper claimed.

The report comes amid President Donald Trump’s push to eliminate what his administration calls “woke” ideology from the military and his longstanding clashes with mainstream media.

According to the Post, those hired include retired Air Force Colonel Rob Maness and retired Army Colonels Kurt Schlichter and Thomas Anderson. Some of their assignments could influence policy, the newspaper claims, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

All three have reportedly received official civilian email accounts and been assigned to the office of Pentagon personnel chief Anthony Tata. His team has been tasked with addressing “culture-war issues,” including reviewing military colleges for “woke” ideology, according to the Post.

The newspaper goes on to cite a late August dispute involving conservative influencer Jennica Pounds as an example of the Pentagon’s social media efforts.

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Pounds accused a State Department official of trying to “entrap” her into publishing government secrets as a journalistic scoop. US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers later said she had approached Pounds and released the documents herself, prompting the influencer to apologize for “making a public spectacle” of the episode.

The Pentagon tightened press access rules last September as part of a broader crackdown on unauthorized disclosures following reports of turmoil inside the department. It has also reportedly considered using lie detector tests to identify officials leaking information.

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Trump and Hegseth have repeatedly clashed with mainstream media over reports based on leaked documents and anonymous sources.

Earlier this month, Trump lashed out over reports that the war on Iran had significantly depleted US stocks of critical missiles and air defense interceptors, insisting no shortage existed.

“The ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down. Long term jail sentences will be sought!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

US President Donald Trump has vowed to “hit Iran hard” following Tehran’s retaliatory strikes on American military installations in Jordan, raising the prospect of another round of escalation after a month-long lull in direct fighting.

Iran fired ballistic missiles and drones at US military positions after American forces struck Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its attack targeted the King Hussein and Al-Azraq air bases in Jordan in retaliation for the US strike, which Tehran said killed two Iranian soldiers and a civilian and injured several others.

“There will be a response,” Trump told Fox News reporter Trey Yingst by phone on Monday. “We’re going to hit them hard.”

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Jordan said its air defenses intercepted eight missiles that entered its airspace, with no damage officially reported on the ground. Trump claimed that US forces allowed one incoming missile to pass through their defenses after determining that it was not going to hit anything “significant.”

Despite threatening further military action, Trump suggested that negotiations remain possible. “They want to meet so badly,” he told Fox. “The sanctions are kicking in really strongly.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, meanwhile, said Tehran was “not looking for war” but would deliver a “decisive response” to further attacks.

Trump and senior US officials were already considering a plan for periodic strikes on Iranian military capabilities around the Strait of Hormuz before the latest exchange, Axios reported, citing three American officials.

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The proposal, developed by US Central Command and backed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, would target Iranian radar, air defenses and anti-ship missile capabilities as they are rebuilt. One US official described the proposed approach as an effort to “mow the lawn.”

The renewed military threats come after the Trump administration shifted much of its pressure campaign toward economic measures, launching what it called an “economic onslaught” against Iran’s trade partners under Operation Economic Outcast.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that Washington plans to roll out new secondary sanctions every week against foreign banks and companies that continue doing business with Iran, warning allies and rivals alike that they could be cut off from the US financial system.

“You’re either with us or you’re with the Iranians,” Bessent said, adding that Washington was prepared to use “financial violence if we have to.”

A monument to world-famous 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky has been reinstalled in the eastern German city of Dresden after spending around a year in storage. The ceremony was attended by Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechayev, who thanked the city authorities for their commitment to preserving cultural and humanitarian ties between the two nations.

Initially unveiled in 2006 during a ceremony attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the monument was installed on the bank of the Elbe River near the regional parliament building. In 2025, it was removed because of nearby construction work.

The city authorities then decided to move it to a new location, and the monument was reinstalled near the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Simeon of the Wonderful Mountain in the southern part of the city on Saturday.

The ambassador thanked Saxony’s regional government and the city authorities for bringing the monument back amid tense relations between Moscow and Berlin.

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“I would particularly like to thank everyone who did not allow this story to end on a somber note and who persevered in ensuring that [the monument to] Dostoevsky could once again be where a monument belongs – in the public sphere,” Nechayev said, adding that “culture cannot and must not become a pawn in short-term political games.”

Cultural ties “should remain a bridge, a space for dialogue between societies, academic communities, cultural institutions, and individual citizens,” the diplomat added in a statement issued on the occasion. Saturday’s ceremony was attended by a group of Russian diplomats, as well as members of the German-Russian Institute of Culture in Dresden.

Russian culture faces pressure in the EU amid the continued hostilities between Moscow and Kiev. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, several EU member states have canceled events involving performers from Russia and other countries perceived as sympathetic to Moscow or barred Russian artists from participating.

Literature has not been spared in this anti-Russian drive either. In July, Latvia’s parliament approved a ban on Russian books and literature, among other consumer goods, claiming that Russia uses books and periodicals to spread propaganda and maintaining that the EU does not need such materials.

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Kiev announced plans to take all Russian and Russian-language books out of circulation in Ukraine back in February. The Ukrainian authorities have steadily cracked down on the use of the Russian language in public life, restricting or banning its use in the media and in professional spheres. Imports of Russian and Belarusian books into Ukraine were banned as early as 2016.

Moscow has repeatedly denounced such measures as “Russophobic censorship,” warning that attempts to “cancel” Russian culture will ultimately fail.

Dostoevsky had a special connection with Dresden, where he lived with his family for some two years between 1869 and 1871 and spent an important period of his creative life working on the novel ‘Demons’. The author’s relationship with Germany was not always rosy, though. Dostoevsky developed a gambling addiction while living in the German spa town of Baden-Baden, which was known for its casinos at the time. In February 1867, he spent over four weeks playing roulette and lost everything, including his wife’s wedding ring. His constant lack of money also forced him to write one of his novels, ‘The Gambler’, in just 21 days.

Critics have also interpreted many of the author’s works, including the world-famous ‘Crime and Punishment’ and ‘The Brothers Karamazov’, as veiled criticism of classical German philosophy, including that of Hegel and Kant, as Dostoevsky rebelled against the idea of rationalizing individual suffering as a sufficient price for historical progress and universal “harmony.”

A knife-wielding woman has stabbed at least two people in New York City’s Times Square before being shot by police, according to law-enforcement sources.

The violence erupted at around 4:27pm on Monday near West 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue, one of the busiest intersections in the Manhattan tourist district. A man and a woman were stabbed and rushed to hospital in critical condition.

The suspect, described by police as an “emotionally disturbed” woman, was reportedly armed with two knives and had been threatening people in the area before the attacks. She then fled north toward an NYPD substation in Times Square, according to local media reports.

NEW YORK: Police shot a suspected attacker following a stabbing in Times Square pic.twitter.com/GHT2q3LINK

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) August 31, 2026

Officers located the woman behind the police post, where she allegedly refused orders to drop her weapons and pointed a knife toward them. Police opened fire, striking and seriously wounding her. She was taken to hospital in critical condition.

This lady was running around stabbing people in time square. She straight up stabbed the person in front of me. Shit could’ve been me pic.twitter.com/lYfye4J1t1

— 𝖠𝖴𝖲𝖳𝖤𝖭꩜ (@austen_tv) August 31, 2026

Videos from the scene showed a heavy police presence and an officer holding a large knife near a souvenir shop. Streets surrounding the area were cordoned off, with the NYPD warning of traffic delays, road closures and disruptions to public transport while investigators worked at the scene.

Police have not yet publicly identified the suspect or her alleged victims, and the circumstances leading up to the stabbing remain under investigation.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

Recently, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow was still waiting for clarification from the US and Türkiye regarding possible arms supplies to Ukraine. Russia expects a response, as this matter directly affects not only bilateral relations but also the prospects for resolving the Ukraine crisis. 

The issue goes far beyond the scope of yet another military-technical deal. In July, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called for preventing the spread of the Russia-Ukraine conflict to the Black Sea region and advocated for the continuation of Ankara-mediated negotiations between Moscow and Kiev within the framework of the so-called Istanbul format. Türkiye emphasized that the security of shipping and energy infrastructure is of fundamental importance to it.

The Russian side, in turn, points out an obvious contradiction. According to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Ankara and Washington, in their contacts with Moscow, stated that they sent Kiev signals about the unacceptability of attacks in the Black Sea. However, Moscow has not received a public or equally strong response from Türkiye and the US concerning Ukrainian drone strikes on commercial vessels and the infrastructure of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium near Novorossiysk. The Russian Foreign Ministry also warned that strikes on infrastructure and vessels used for delivering Western weapons to Ukraine would continue until the security threats in the region of the Azov and Black seas are eliminated.

Leaving diplomatic language aside, the question is very simple: can Türkiye simultaneously supply Kiev with weapons capable of being used against Russian targets and demand that Moscow continue to consider it a neutral intermediary?

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What do the American documents actually state? 

The US Congressional Record, published on August 6, shows two notifications about the proposed permanent transfer of American weapons from Turkish stockpiles to Ukraine. The first package includes 12 M270 MLRS launchers, 2,524 M26 unguided rockets with cluster munitions, and 47,000 M509A1 203mm cluster artillery shells. Their initial procurement price is listed at $255.9 million.

The second notification concerns 70 M39 ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles with an initial procurement price of approximately $28 million. In total this amounts to approximately $283.9 million. However, it would be incorrect to automatically assume that this is the price of the current contract since the terms of the potential deal between Ankara and Kiev have not been publicly disclosed.

Another point is equally important. The documents do not prove that the weapons have already been transferred to Kiev. They only confirm that the Turkish government proposed re-export, and the US Department of State notified Congress of its readiness to approve it after the statutory review period. Ankara cites the desire to get rid of outdated weapons and redirect funds toward modernizing its armed forces as the reason for the re-export. Kiev, according to the documents, intends to use these systems to enhance its offensive and defensive firepower.

This formulation makes the situation particularly serious. This isn’t about armored vehicles, communications equipment, or individual commercial drones; M39 ATACMS missiles are capable of engaging targets at ranges of up to 165 km and carry cluster munitions. Combined with M270 launchers and thousands of rocket and artillery munitions, this constitutes a comprehensive package of enhanced long-range firepower systems. Its possible use will inevitably entail losses among Russian troops and the risk of strikes deep into Russian territory.

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Between mediation and participation

Russian-Turkish relations have never been an alliance in the strict sense of the word. Moscow and Ankara supported opposing sides in Syria and Libya; they hold different views on the status of Crimea, and compete for influence in various corners of Eurasia. Türkiye supplied Ukraine with drones, developed military-technical cooperation with it and consistently supported it. Yet, none of this prevented Russia and Türkiye from building gas pipelines, a nuclear power plant, developing trade, and reaching agreements in areas where their interests coincided.

This format was based on an unspoken rule that competition should not escalate into direct, critical damage to the other side. Strong disagreements could arise, but they remained manageable and were offset by cooperation in other areas.

The proposed transfer of ATACMS missiles, M270 launchers, and tens of thousands of cluster munitions brings Ankara dangerously close to the limits of this model of interaction. This is not a matter of one weapons system, but its purpose, the scale of the package, and the political context.

Türkiye isn’t simply offering to sell Kiev a batch of its own military equipment; it intends to transfer a large stockpile of American weapons intended to enhance Kiev’s firepower in the ongoing conflict with Russia, and is doing so with Washington’s approval.

Against this backdrop, Türkiye’s peacemaking rhetoric is starting to look increasingly unconvincing. Clearly, a mediator doesn’t have to be completely equidistant from the parties, but both sides should be able to trust it, at least on a minimum level. A mediator can’t call for a moratorium on strikes in the Black Sea while simultaneously helping one of the sides expand its weapons stockpiles; it can’t propose Istanbul as a platform for negotiations while strengthening Kiev’s military potential under the pretext of getting rid of outdated weapons.

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Ankara risks overestimating Moscow’s patience

A familiar argument is being voiced by Turkish experts: Russian-Turkish relations are so deep and multifaceted, they argue, that a single deal can’t destroy them. There’s certainly some truth to that. Neither Russia nor Türkiye want to replay the scenario of the 2015 crisis. Severing ties would be detrimental to both sides.

However, Ankara is drawing an all-too-convenient conclusion that economic interdependence guarantees impunity for any foreign policy maneuver; and this is a dangerous fallacy. The Turkish leadership apparently confuses freedom of maneuver with the absence of a price to be paid for that maneuver.

Russia indeed benefits from the Turkish market, transit routes, and bilateral trade, and this is apparent to all. Türkiye remains an important economic and regional partner for Moscow. However, the dependence of the parties is not symmetrical across all sectors. In recent years, the Russian economy has demonstrated its ability to redirect raw material flows, restructure logistics, and seek new markets. Russia’s size allows it to do this quite well. For Türkiye, however, a sudden reduction in Russian energy supplies, tourism, investment, or access to the Russian market creates a more immediate and concentrated effect. 

In 2025, trade between the two countries exceeded $50 billion. Russia retained a significant advantage in the trade structure: Türkiye primarily imports Russian energy resources and raw materials. That same year, it received approximately 22 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia; despite diversification, the share of Russian gas in Türkiye’s supply remained around 37%. Nearly seven million Russians visited Türkiye in 2025, securing Russia as the top source market for Türkiye’s tourism industry. 

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Finally, Russia is financing and constructing the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant at a cost of over $20 billion. Once operational, it is expected to supply up to 10% of Türkiye’s total electricity demand. At the end of 2025, Ankara announced an additional $9 billion in Russian financing for the project, part of which is expected to arrive in 2026–2027. 

For an economy with an annual inflation rate of nearly 32% (as of July 2026), high borrowing costs, and chronic sensitivity to the price of imported energy, the loss of even a portion of these advantages will not be trivial. It will hit foreign exchange earnings, production costs, the balance of payments, and employment in tourism. The Turkish economy may not collapse overnight, but a significant reduction in ties with Russia will deprive it of several key pillars: stable energy supplies, millions of tourists, foreign exchange earnings, a market, and funding for strategic projects.

For a country already experiencing chronic inflation, pressure on the national currency, and high borrowing costs, this will mean not another temporary downturn, but the risk of a protracted systemic crisis. Ankara will not be able to maintain economic stability for long under such conditions. And this isn’t a theoretical forecast. It didn’t take long for Türkiye to feel the consequences of the 2015 crisis, provoked by Ankara after the downing of the Russian Su-24 aircraft. The crisis brought about a collapse in Russian tourist flows, restrictions on agricultural exports, and business losses, even though the economic interdependence between the two countries was significantly lower then than it is today.

Russia, for its part, is not interested in dismantling relations, but if the delivery of the weapons is confirmed, it has ample tools for selective pressure, from revising trade preferences and tourist flows to tightening the terms of energy cooperation and a tougher stance on issues in which Türkiye requires Russian assistance.

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Logistics is also of particular importance. The Russian Foreign Ministry has already stated that Russian forces are striking infrastructure and ships used for delivering weapons to Kiev. If Turkish companies and transport chains are directly involved in the transfer of missiles and ammunition, Ankara will not be able to pretend that this is a purely commercial operation unrelated to Russian security.

Where is the red line?

Moscow will not react emotionally to Türkiye’s maneuver; that is not its style. A complete rupture in relations would only benefit those who have long sought to eliminate the independent Russian-Turkish communication channel and return Ankara to a disciplined, ‘Western’ line of conduct. The response must be consistent and proportionate.

Until the transfer is officially confirmed, Russia will seek a direct answer from Türkiye regarding several points: whether a final political decision has been made; on the terms and conditions of the re-export; and on the existence of any restrictions on the use of these systems to strike Russian territory. But if the weapons reach Kiev, it would no longer be possible to maintain the previous level of trust. Moscow will cease to perceive Ankara as an acceptable intermediary, will become less willing to consider Turkish interests in regional issues, and bilateral relations will become more rigid and purely pragmatic. 

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Russia has long assumed that Ankara is playing its own game. However, should Türkiye’s multi-vector approach turn into direct and large-scale support of the military capabilities of a state that attacks Russian territory, its civilian vessels, and critical infrastructure, this would be unacceptable for Russia. The Russian-Turkish partnership can withstand competition, mutual grievances, and even acute regional crises; but it cannot indefinitely tolerate a situation in which one side derives economic and political advantages from cooperation with Russia while simultaneously arming Russia’s adversary and posing as a mediator. 

It’s time for Ankara to soberly assess the balance of risks. Russia is interested in cooperation with Türkiye but it is not irrevocably dependent on it. Moscow will find other routes, markets, and forms of regional cooperation, although such a restructuring will require time and money. For Türkiye, the Russian factor is embedded in several of its most sensitive sectors: energy, tourism, the nuclear project, trade, and regional security. Given the current state of the Turkish economy, the cost of a strategic reassessment of its own capabilities could prove significantly higher than the expected benefits of a deal with Kiev and political rapprochement with Washington. 

This is precisely why the possible transfer of ATACMS missiles isn’t a matter that can be solved by another meeting between the presidents; it’s a test of the entire structure of the Russia-Türkiye relationship. If Ankara crosses the line, Russia doesn’t have to declare Türkiye an adversary – it would suffice to stop treating it as a privileged partner whose actions can always be attributed to regular political balancing. 

The US has stepped up purchases of Russian fertilizers despite broader Western restrictions on Moscow, with shipments rising by nearly a quarter in the first half of 2026, according to the Russia’s Export Center.

Veronika Nikishina, the center’s head, told RIA Novosti on Monday that the overall distribution of fertilizer exports had changed little since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. The US now ranks third among destinations for Russian supplies, she said, while Western Europe remains a larger market despite a decline in shipments this year.

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Russia is the world’s largest exporter of fertilizers and one of the biggest producers, making its supplies difficult to replace on international markets. Fertilizer exports from the country were not directly targeted by Western sanctions, although broader restrictions on banking, shipping, and insurance have complicated trade. Moscow has meanwhile redirected a larger share of deliveries toward BRICS nations and the Global South. 

“Sanctions against Russian fertilizers could have devastating consequences because of their importance to global food security. Even hardliners in unfriendly countries understand this,” Nikishina said. 

READ MORE: EU to rely on cow manure amid Iran war fertilizer crisis – Politico

US customs data cited by RIA in July showed that American fertilizer imports from Russia reached a record $1.04 billion between January and May, up 28% from a year earlier. Russia was the second-largest supplier to the US over that period after Canada, the figures showed. 

In 2022, Washington authorized transactions involving Russian agricultural commodities including fertilizers to reduce the risk of shortages. The EU by contrast began imposing additional tariffs on some Russian nitrogen fertilizers in July 2025 as part of its drive to reduce reliance on Moscow, with the levies due to rise to €430 ($500) per ton by 2028.

The US-Israeli war on Iran and the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz have further exacerbated pressure on global fertilizer markets. The waterway handles an estimated third of the world’s fertilizer trade and a fifth of LNG shipments – a key input in the production of nitrate fertilizers. Experts, including Heartland Institute adviser Jeff Stier, have warned that any simultaneous disruption in the strait, the Black Sea, and to supplies from other major producers could trigger shortages of crop nutrients and a delayed food-price shock.

Recently, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow was still waiting for clarification from the US and Türkiye regarding possible arms supplies to Ukraine. Russia expects a response, as this matter directly affects not only bilateral relations but also the prospects for resolving the Ukraine crisis. 

The issue goes far beyond the scope of yet another military-technical deal. In July, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called for preventing the spread of the Russia-Ukraine conflict to the Black Sea region and advocated for the continuation of Ankara-mediated negotiations between Moscow and Kiev within the framework of the so-called Istanbul format. Türkiye emphasized that the security of shipping and energy infrastructure is of fundamental importance to it.

The Russian side, in turn, points out an obvious contradiction. According to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Ankara and Washington, in their contacts with Moscow, stated that they sent Kiev signals about the unacceptability of attacks in the Black Sea. However, Moscow has not received a public or equally strong response from Türkiye and the US concerning Ukrainian drone strikes on commercial vessels and the infrastructure of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium near Novorossiysk. The Russian Foreign Ministry also warned that strikes on infrastructure and vessels used for delivering Western weapons to Ukraine would continue until the security threats in the region of the Azov and Black seas are eliminated.

Leaving diplomatic language aside, the question is very simple: can Türkiye simultaneously supply Kiev with weapons capable of being used against Russian targets and demand that Moscow continue to consider it a neutral intermediary?

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What do the American documents actually state? 

The US Congressional Record, published on August 6, shows two notifications about the proposed permanent transfer of American weapons from Turkish stockpiles to Ukraine. The first package includes 12 M270 MLRS launchers, 2,524 M26 unguided rockets with cluster munitions, and 47,000 M509A1 203mm cluster artillery shells. Their initial procurement price is listed at $255.9 million.

The second notification concerns 70 M39 ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles with an initial procurement price of approximately $28 million. In total this amounts to approximately $283.9 million. However, it would be incorrect to automatically assume that this is the price of the current contract since the terms of the potential deal between Ankara and Kiev have not been publicly disclosed.

Another point is equally important. The documents do not prove that the weapons have already been transferred to Kiev. They only confirm that the Turkish government proposed re-export, and the US Department of State notified Congress of its readiness to approve it after the statutory review period. Ankara cites the desire to get rid of outdated weapons and redirect funds toward modernizing its armed forces as the reason for the re-export. Kiev, according to the documents, intends to use these systems to enhance its offensive and defensive firepower.

This formulation makes the situation particularly serious. This isn’t about armored vehicles, communications equipment, or individual commercial drones; M39 ATACMS missiles are capable of engaging targets at ranges of up to 165 km and carry cluster munitions. Combined with M270 launchers and thousands of rocket and artillery munitions, this constitutes a comprehensive package of enhanced long-range firepower systems. Its possible use will inevitably entail losses among Russian troops and the risk of strikes deep into Russian territory.

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Between mediation and participation

Russian-Turkish relations have never been an alliance in the strict sense of the word. Moscow and Ankara supported opposing sides in Syria and Libya; they hold different views on the status of Crimea, and compete for influence in various corners of Eurasia. Türkiye supplied Ukraine with drones, developed military-technical cooperation with it and consistently supported it. Yet, none of this prevented Russia and Türkiye from building gas pipelines, a nuclear power plant, developing trade, and reaching agreements in areas where their interests coincided.

This format was based on an unspoken rule that competition should not escalate into direct, critical damage to the other side. Strong disagreements could arise, but they remained manageable and were offset by cooperation in other areas.

The proposed transfer of ATACMS missiles, M270 launchers, and tens of thousands of cluster munitions brings Ankara dangerously close to the limits of this model of interaction. This is not a matter of one weapons system, but its purpose, the scale of the package, and the political context.

Türkiye isn’t simply offering to sell Kiev a batch of its own military equipment; it intends to transfer a large stockpile of American weapons intended to enhance Kiev’s firepower in the ongoing conflict with Russia, and is doing so with Washington’s approval.

Against this backdrop, Türkiye’s peacemaking rhetoric is starting to look increasingly unconvincing. Clearly, a mediator doesn’t have to be completely equidistant from the parties, but both sides should be able to trust it, at least on a minimum level. A mediator can’t call for a moratorium on strikes in the Black Sea while simultaneously helping one of the sides expand its weapons stockpiles; it can’t propose Istanbul as a platform for negotiations while strengthening Kiev’s military potential under the pretext of getting rid of outdated weapons.

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Ankara risks overestimating Moscow’s patience

A familiar argument is being voiced by Turkish experts: Russian-Turkish relations are so deep and multifaceted, they argue, that a single deal can’t destroy them. There’s certainly some truth to that. Neither Russia nor Türkiye want to replay the scenario of the 2015 crisis. Severing ties would be detrimental to both sides.

However, Ankara is drawing an all-too-convenient conclusion that economic interdependence guarantees impunity for any foreign policy maneuver; and this is a dangerous fallacy. The Turkish leadership apparently confuses freedom of maneuver with the absence of a price to be paid for that maneuver.

Russia indeed benefits from the Turkish market, transit routes, and bilateral trade, and this is apparent to all. Türkiye remains an important economic and regional partner for Moscow. However, the dependence of the parties is not symmetrical across all sectors. In recent years, the Russian economy has demonstrated its ability to redirect raw material flows, restructure logistics, and seek new markets. Russia’s size allows it to do this quite well. For Türkiye, however, a sudden reduction in Russian energy supplies, tourism, investment, or access to the Russian market creates a more immediate and concentrated effect. 

In 2025, trade between the two countries exceeded $50 billion. Russia retained a significant advantage in the trade structure: Türkiye primarily imports Russian energy resources and raw materials. That same year, it received approximately 22 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia; despite diversification, the share of Russian gas in Türkiye’s supply remained around 37%. Nearly seven million Russians visited Türkiye in 2025, securing Russia as the top source market for Türkiye’s tourism industry. 

Read more

Finally, Russia is financing and constructing the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant at a cost of over $20 billion. Once operational, it is expected to supply up to 10% of Türkiye’s total electricity demand. At the end of 2025, Ankara announced an additional $9 billion in Russian financing for the project, part of which is expected to arrive in 2026–2027. 

For an economy with an annual inflation rate of nearly 32% (as of July 2026), high borrowing costs, and chronic sensitivity to the price of imported energy, the loss of even a portion of these advantages will not be trivial. It will hit foreign exchange earnings, production costs, the balance of payments, and employment in tourism. The Turkish economy may not collapse overnight, but a significant reduction in ties with Russia will deprive it of several key pillars: stable energy supplies, millions of tourists, foreign exchange earnings, a market, and funding for strategic projects.

For a country already experiencing chronic inflation, pressure on the national currency, and high borrowing costs, this will mean not another temporary downturn, but the risk of a protracted systemic crisis. Ankara will not be able to maintain economic stability for long under such conditions. And this isn’t a theoretical forecast. It didn’t take long for Türkiye to feel the consequences of the 2015 crisis, provoked by Ankara after the downing of the Russian Su-24 aircraft. The crisis brought about a collapse in Russian tourist flows, restrictions on agricultural exports, and business losses, even though the economic interdependence between the two countries was significantly lower then than it is today.

Russia, for its part, is not interested in dismantling relations, but if the delivery of the weapons is confirmed, it has ample tools for selective pressure, from revising trade preferences and tourist flows to tightening the terms of energy cooperation and a tougher stance on issues in which Türkiye requires Russian assistance.

Read more

Logistics is also of particular importance. The Russian Foreign Ministry has already stated that Russian forces are striking infrastructure and ships used for delivering weapons to Kiev. If Turkish companies and transport chains are directly involved in the transfer of missiles and ammunition, Ankara will not be able to pretend that this is a purely commercial operation unrelated to Russian security.

Where is the red line?

Moscow will not react emotionally to Türkiye’s maneuver; that is not its style. A complete rupture in relations would only benefit those who have long sought to eliminate the independent Russian-Turkish communication channel and return Ankara to a disciplined, ‘Western’ line of conduct. The response must be consistent and proportionate.

Until the transfer is officially confirmed, Russia will seek a direct answer from Türkiye regarding several points: whether a final political decision has been made; on the terms and conditions of the re-export; and on the existence of any restrictions on the use of these systems to strike Russian territory. But if the weapons reach Kiev, it would no longer be possible to maintain the previous level of trust. Moscow will cease to perceive Ankara as an acceptable intermediary, will become less willing to consider Turkish interests in regional issues, and bilateral relations will become more rigid and purely pragmatic. 

Read more

Russia has long assumed that Ankara is playing its own game. However, should Türkiye’s multi-vector approach turn into direct and large-scale support of the military capabilities of a state that attacks Russian territory, its civilian vessels, and critical infrastructure, this would be unacceptable for Russia. The Russian-Turkish partnership can withstand competition, mutual grievances, and even acute regional crises; but it cannot indefinitely tolerate a situation in which one side derives economic and political advantages from cooperation with Russia while simultaneously arming Russia’s adversary and posing as a mediator. 

It’s time for Ankara to soberly assess the balance of risks. Russia is interested in cooperation with Türkiye but it is not irrevocably dependent on it. Moscow will find other routes, markets, and forms of regional cooperation, although such a restructuring will require time and money. For Türkiye, the Russian factor is embedded in several of its most sensitive sectors: energy, tourism, the nuclear project, trade, and regional security. Given the current state of the Turkish economy, the cost of a strategic reassessment of its own capabilities could prove significantly higher than the expected benefits of a deal with Kiev and political rapprochement with Washington. 

This is precisely why the possible transfer of ATACMS missiles isn’t a matter that can be solved by another meeting between the presidents; it’s a test of the entire structure of the Russia-Türkiye relationship. If Ankara crosses the line, Russia doesn’t have to declare Türkiye an adversary – it would suffice to stop treating it as a privileged partner whose actions can always be attributed to regular political balancing. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kyrgyzstan on Monday.

The three national leaders will later attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Eurasian group of nations seeking to improve security and economic ties.

Originally a five-member regional group that included China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan which signed its first agreement in Shanghai, the SCO has since expanded to become the biggest regional organizations for cooperation. It includes ten permanent members, 15 dialogue partners and two observer states.

The group has a range of political, security and economic goals and has been called by its members a key mechanism in transition to a new multipolar world system, replacing the period of US unipolarity that followed the Cold War.

The SCO states say Western nations are engaging in increasingly hostile and disruptive activity as their global dominance slips away, and having a forum where other nations can agree on joint responses to new challenges becomes more important.

This live has now ended.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kyrgyzstan on Monday.

The three national leaders will later attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Eurasian group of nations seeking to improve security and economic ties.

Originally a five-member regional group that included China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan which signed its first agreement in Shanghai, the SCO has since expanded to become the biggest regional organizations for cooperation. It includes ten permanent members, 15 dialogue partners and two observer states.

The group has a range of political, security and economic goals and has been called by its members a key mechanism in transition to a new multipolar world system, replacing the period of US unipolarity that followed the Cold War.

The SCO states say Western nations are engaging in increasingly hostile and disruptive activity as their global dominance slips away, and having a forum where other nations can agree on joint responses to new challenges becomes more important.

This live has now ended.

Well, what do you know! It turns out that you really can crawl into bed with Brussels on your own terms, and be friends with benefits, all without the need to officially shack up. 
The people of Iceland have just done something that would usually be considered political blasphemy here in Europe. They’ve decided that their country would like to remain in charge of itself, voting 53% to 47% in a referendum not to pursue getting officially hitched to the EU.

It’s a rarity these days to see a show of democracy that’s something other than just a midwife delivering whatever Brussels wants. It even had to be warned by elected officials not to meddle. Icelanders considered just the idea of continuing EU accession talks, which was the subject of this referendum – not even “do you want EU membership or not,” but only “should even we keep playing footsie with Brussels over it” – and decided that they didn’t need a ring on their finger in order to keep their toothbrush in Brussels’ bathroom.

Iceland already has access to the European common market through the European Economic Area (EEA). What else could it possibly gain from greater submission to Brussels that would actually make it worth surrendering any more of its autonomy?

Much has since been made of comparisons to the UK and Brexit, arguing that Iceland’s inclusion in the EU’s common market isn’t true independence and that if it were, then the UK wouldn’t have needed to withdraw from the EU entirely. But they’re comparing a bitter post-divorce Brexit deal with a country being wooed. Do you treat your ex-wife like your new girlfriend?

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Iceland gets market access without becoming part of the EU’s full political and institutional machinery, with all the constraints and impositions that alone brings. EU law has primacy over its member states’ conflicting national law, which is a fundamentally different legal relationship from Iceland’s as a non-member. And then there’s the matter of Icelanders wanting to retain control over their country’s primary assets – fisheries and agriculture. It knows exactly what Brussels is eyeing up and down.

So basically, they’re saying, “Why would we voluntarily make ourselves less capable of deciding what happens here?” It probably doesn’t much help that the EU has developed a real talent for taking relatively straightforward questions and feeding them into a regulatory meat grinder to the point where nobody remembers what the original issue was.

Take packaging, as a recent example. Everyone voted on this nonsense requiring reusable containers for take-out in the same way that you have to show up to the supermarket with a reusable bag, or else risk having your groceries tumble out of your arms and into the crosswalk en route while returning home. (And forget about using a car, Earth-killer.) I guess nobody thought through what would happen once the measures actually took effect. Because the EU Commission, which drafted the nonsense, recently went like, “Wooo, boy! Exactly how high were we when we came up with this one?!” Then it urged member states not to enforce the rules or related penalties. That’s not exactly a compelling way to entice anyone to voluntarily hand over even more authority to these same jokers.

And Brussels understands that Iceland remains useful to the EU regardless. “The European Commission takes note of the outcome of Iceland’s referendum. The Commission respects the choice of the Icelandic people. Iceland remains a close partner of the European Union,” it said. In other words, “You may have declined our marriage proposal, but it’s not the end of our relationship.”

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That’s something typically said when the declining party has something that you really want, to the point that you’re still willing to concede the dream of total control for the consolation prize of continued access.

The lesson here is that you really CAN cooperate with the EU without becoming fully absorbed by it, and you can trade with it without transferring every conceivable decision to it, and you can have common interests without having a common political identity that’s decided by bureaucrats, after which countries and citizens are squeezed into it like mental patients into a straitjacket.

Iceland has just proven that there’s a third option that exists between isolation and membership. The congratulations came from global sources as diverse as the populist right and left, and even globalist establishment crony and former US national security advisor John Bolton, who framed it as a rejection of Trump’s invasion-related fear-mongering that risked making Iceland feel insecure enough to run straight into the EU’s arms.

Folks from all sides seem to have actually accepted Icelanders saying no – even the EU, despite sounding as thrilled about it as a rejected guy getting up off his dusty knee, post-proposal. Usually, when people vote the ‘wrong’ way, we’re treated to lectures about misinformation, populism, Russian influence, democratic backsliding, or the possibility that the electorate has simply become too stupid to appreciate the wonderful plan being implemented on its behalf. But Iceland appears to have escaped this compulsory remedial democracy class. She’s just that hot, apparently.

Canada, in particular, should take note before getting too cozy with Brussels, because the EU is so thirsty for its natural resources these days, drooling over its ample natural assets while the mainstream Western press fantasizes en masse about a European-Canadian wedding.

Iceland is now the indisputable gold standard in geopolitical thirst trapping.

Sounds like a good time for the EU to ponder why its regulatory and bureaucratic smooth moves aren’t proving enough to seal the deal when the average citizen actually gets a say.

Masked Israeli settlers have attacked and injured an NBC News crew and a local woman in the West Bank, the US broadcaster has reported. The journalists were accompanying a Palestinian family to a home they said they had been forced to abandon because of settler violence.

Attacks by Israeli settlers in the Palestinian territories have surged since the Gaza war began in October 2023, with the UN recording violence at unprecedented levels.

The latest assault took place on Saturday in the village of Jalud near Nablus, where NBC correspondent Matt Bradley and his colleagues had been speaking to 51-year-old Aida Ahmed Abdullah. Footage shows a vehicle with Israeli license plates approaching before at least three masked men emerged and attacked the group with sticks and rocks.

צפייה חובה! תיעוד מלא של המתנחבלים תוקפים צוות חדשות של ה-NBC בג'אלוד
משחיתים את רכבם, מרביצים להם עם מוטות ופוצעים אותם באורח קל-בינוני. 5 פצועים בזירה.pic.twitter.com/ya9fYWYxMz

— Arbel - ארבל 🟦 (@ArbelReports) August 29, 2026

“They jumped out, beat us, then jumped back in the car,” Bradley said. He was struck twice in the arm and received treatment at a clinic, while other members of the crew were also injured and equipment and a vehicle were damaged. Abdullah was taken for medical treatment.

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The Foreign Press Association said on Sunday it was “deeply alarmed,” stressing that the assault was “not an isolated incident” but part of a “recurring pattern of violence against members of the press and Palestinian civilians.” It urged Israeli police and the IDF’s Central Command to investigate and hold those responsible accountable. No arrests had been reported by Sunday.

The UN said in June that more than 1,000 attacks causing casualties or property damage had been recorded this year, averaging six incidents a day – the highest rate since records began.

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In nearby Qusra, dozens of Israelis entered the Palestinian village on Saturday and targeted a home with residents inside. Israeli forces intervened, but no arrests have been made despite some suspects reportedly being identifiable. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the violence, blaming a “handful of rioters.”

Palestinian Americans have also been caught up in West Bank violence. Saifullah Kamal Musallet, 20, was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in 2025, while 14-year-old New Jersey-born Amer Rabee was shot dead by Israeli troops. Amer believed his US citizenship would keep him “protected” and “free,” his father Mohammed Rabee told RT.

US lawmakers have accused Washington of failing to secure accountability for Americans killed in the territory. In a letter to the administration of US President Donald Trump this year, senators demanded independent investigations, citing an ongoing “lack of accountability” for their deaths.

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The violence comes as Israel pushes ahead with further settlement expansion in the West Bank. Netanyahu said last week that Israel would continue building there in preparation for a “major” wave of Jewish immigration, declaring: “This is our land and it will remain ours.” Israel has also opened tenders for more than 1,200 homes in the E1 area, a largely undeveloped part of the West Bank, as part of a wider plan for roughly 3,400 units.

More than 20 Western countries have called the project “unacceptable,” warning it would divide the West Bank and undermine prospects for a two-state solution. Arab and Muslim states have likewise demanded an immediate halt. Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law.

Russia has repeatedly said a negotiated two-state solution is the only viable path to peace, supporting an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital alongside Israel.

Iran is preparing a more aggressive response to renewed US attacks, and could strike economic targets as well as military sites, University of Tehran professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi has told RT.

His warning comes after Washington and Tehran exchanged direct strikes for the first time since late July, reigniting hostilities following a month-long lull.

US forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, claiming they were preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the key waterway. Tehran said the attack had killed and wounded several soldiers and civilians and vowed retaliation.

Hours later, Iran launched missiles and drones at US military facilities in Jordan, claiming to have damaged both infrastructure and fighter jet positions.

Marandi described the renewed US strikes as a “grave miscalculation” on the part of Washington and stated that Tehran will not hold back after the deaths of its servicemen. He predicted that the Iranian response will be “different from what we’ve had before” and include strikes on both military and economic assets.

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“The response is going to be very painful,” Marandi said, noting that it will likely have a significant impact on the US economy “in the weeks ahead,” possibly affecting the US midterm elections.

Marandi linked the shift to Washington’s simultaneous military and economic pressure on Tehran. The Trump administration last week announced what it called an “economic onslaught” against Iran, while oil prices jumped following the latest exchange of strikes.

Iranian officials have also promised a broader military response to further attacks. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran is “not looking for war” but would deliver a “decisive response” to aggression, while the IRGC warned that “every attack will be met with even more devastating responses.”

Watch the full interview with Mohammad Marandi below.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Kyrgyzstan where he is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.

The three national leaders will later attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Eurasian group of nations seeking to improve security and economic ties.

Originally a five-member regional group that included China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan which signed its first agreement in Shanghai, the SCO has since expanded to become the biggest regional organizations for cooperation. It includes ten permanent members, 15 dialogue partners and two observer states.

The group has a range of political, security and economic goals and has been called by its members a key mechanism in transition to a new multipolar world system, replacing the period of US unipolarity that followed the Cold War.

The SCO states say Western nations are engaging in increasingly hostile and disruptive activity as their global dominance slips away, and having a forum where other nations can agree on joint responses to new challenges becomes more important.

The US is preparing to unleash “financial violence” against Iran by rolling out new secondary sanctions every week, with banks first in line, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said. Foreign banks dealing with Iranian funds could ultimately be cut off from the dollar-based financial system.

The renewed economic pressure comes as US and Iranian forces exchanged strikes for the first time since late July.

On Sunday, Washington struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island near the Strait of Hormuz, claiming the Islamic Republic’s forces were preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the waterway, which handles around 20% of global crude oil trade. Tehran said several soldiers and civilians were killed. Iran retaliated early on Monday, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claiming “significant damage” to two US military bases in Jordan.

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Speaking to reporters on Sunday ahead of a G20 finance meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, Bessent said Washington plans to impose new secondary sanctions on Iran. “You’re going to see a lot more of these every week,” he said, adding that banks would be targeted first.

The Treasury chief said he would urge G20 officials to sever economic links with Iran or risk US secondary sanctions themselves. “There can be no leakage,” he said, warning: “You’re either with us or you’re with the Iranians.”

Bessent said Washington plans to target an unidentified bank this week as part of the pressure campaign, warning that the White House is prepared to use “financial violence if we have to.”

The push follows Treasury action on Friday targeting the UAE operations of Banque Misr, Egypt’s second-largest bank. US officials proposed cutting its Emirati branches off from correspondent accounts after claiming they processed around $1.8 billion for companies allegedly tied to Iran’s shadow-banking network between January 2024 and June 2026.

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The move is part of Operation Economic Outcast, launched by the administration of US President Donald Trump earlier this month to isolate Iran financially and expand the threat of secondary sanctions against foreign companies doing business with Tehran.

The campaign could put particular pressure on China, Iran’s largest trading partner and leading oil buyer before the war. Beijing has opposed Washington’s secondary sanctions, insisting its trade with Iran is lawful and warning against US measures targeting Chinese entities.

Russia has also rejected the US pressure campaign. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week Moscow “categorically” opposes unilateral sanctions and would coordinate with Tehran and other countries to counter Washington’s latest restrictions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Kyrgyzstan where he is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.

The three national leaders will later attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Eurasian group of nations seeking to improve security and economic ties.

Originally a five-member regional group that included China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan which signed its first agreement in Shanghai, the SCO has since expanded to become the biggest regional organizations for cooperation. It includes ten permanent members, 15 dialogue partners and two observer states.

The group has a range of political, security and economic goals and has been called by its members a key mechanism in transition to a new multipolar world system, replacing the period of US unipolarity that followed the Cold War.

The SCO states say Western nations are engaging in increasingly hostile and disruptive activity as their global dominance slips away, and having a forum where other nations can agree on joint responses to new challenges becomes more important.

Tehran has launched missile and drone strikes on US military positions in Jordan after Washington attacked Iran’s Larak Island, reigniting direct hostilities following a month-long lull.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its retaliatory operation targeted the King Hussein and Al-Azraq air bases, claiming to have inflicted “significant damage” on technical and maintenance infrastructure and positions where fighter jets were stationed.

Jordanian air defenses intercepted eight missiles that entered the kingdom’s airspace early Monday, the country’s armed forces confirmed. A US source separately told Fox News that no significant impacts had been reported.

The exchange began on Sunday when US forces struck Larak Island, near the narrowest point of the Strait of Hormuz, killing and injuring several Iranian soldiers and civilians.

Read more

US Central Command said it targeted two Iranian launchers after IRGC forces were allegedly observed preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM later characterized the attack as “limited” and “precise,” saying it had acted against an “imminent threat.” It has not publicly provided visual evidence supporting the minelaying allegation.

The IRGC vowed that the “aggressors will face definite punishment” and warned that “every attack will be met with even more devastating responses.”

Following the strikes, oil prices went up in early trading in Asia, with West Texas Intermediate futures growing by 2.47% to $85.46 per barrel and Brent futures climbing by 2.71% to $90.49 per barrel.

The renewed fighting marks the first direct US military action against Iran since late July. It comes less than a week after Washington said it had finished clearing sea mines from international shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, where maritime traffic has remained heavily disrupted.

Last week, Washington announced what it called an “economic onslaught” against Iran, as US President Donald Trump’s administration shifted its emphasis from large-scale military action toward economic pressure.

This live has now ended.

Icelanders appear to have found a way to have their cake and eat it by rejecting a proposal to restart integration talks with the EU, RT’s Rachel Marsden reports.

In a referendum on the weekend, almost 53% of voters in the northern Atlantic nation supported maintaining the status quo rather than exploring the possibility of EU membership.

The small island country already has access to many of the benefits offered by the economic bloc, but cannot be dictated to by Brussels on key domestic policy issues, such as access to fishing resources or immigration policy.

Watch the video to learn more.

US President Donald Trump has published AI-generated clips showing a missile attack on Iran’s Kharg Island oil hub amid a new escalation between Washington and Tehran.

US and Iranian forces earlier exchanged strikes for the first time since late July. On Sunday, the US Central Command said it had targeted two Iranian launchers on Larak Island, near the narrowest point of the Strait of Hormuz, which it claimed were preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the waterway, accounting for some 20% of global crude oil trade. According to Tehran, the bombing killed several Iranian soldiers and civilians.

Iran retaliated early on Monday, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) saying its drones and missiles had inflicted “significant damage” on the US military’s King Hussein and Al-Azraq air bases in Jordan.

Following the strikes, oil prices went up in early trading in Asia, with WTI futures growing by 2.47% to $85.46 per barrel and Brent futures climbing by 2.71% to $90.49 per barrel.

Trump did not issue any immediate statements on the escalation on his Truth Social platform, instead posting two short AI-generated videos of multiple missiles striking oil facilities on an island and causing huge explosions.

“Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!!” the caption to one of the videos read.

When you CANT Win The Real War so you use AI to COPE

Trump posted this video with the caption: Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!!
President DJT

THEN he posted it AGAIN without the caption. This is just sad pic.twitter.com/4JbFOxiHkX

— Ryan Rozbiani (@RyanRozbiani) August 31, 2026

The head of the National Iranian Oil Company, Hamid Bovard, ridiculed Trump for posting the clips, saying that his “tweets are laughable and conditions in Kharg are calm and appropriate.”

The energy hub hasn’t been attacked, with routine oil operations continuing there, Bovard said, as cited by Nournews.

Read more

According to Reuters, there was no evidence of any strikes being carried out against Kharg Island.

Located around 25 km (15 miles) off Iran’s Gulf coast, Kharg Island handles around 90% of the country’s crude exports, serving as the primary outlet for its oil revenue. The coral outcrop, often referred to by the public as the “forbidden island” because of the tight security, also hosts a major oil storage facility.

The US struck military sites on Kharg Island several times after the start of the conflict in late February, but refrained from targeting energy infrastructure. Trump also mulled a ground operation to seize the oil hub, saying it could be carried out by US forces or by “other people.” However, those plans never materialized.

Tehran has warned repeatedly that it will set the whole oil and gas infrastructure of the US allies in the Gulf States “on fire” if energy facilities on Kharg island are hit or an attempt to capture it is made.

US President Donald Trump has urged Canadian businesses operating in the American market to relocate south of the border “immediately,” amid an escalating trade war between the two neighboring nations.

The demand follows Trump’s announcement of new 50% tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks, automotive parts, and steel, set to take effect on January 1, in response to what he called Canada’s “unequal treatment” of American vehicles, dairy products, and alcohol. The duties are in addition to 50% levies imposed earlier this month on around $20 billion worth of Canadian imports. Ottawa has vowed to retaliate with “dollar-for-dollar” measures.

In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump described Canada as “one of the Worst Abusers” in trade, while crediting tariffs with having “revived, and indeed saved” the American automobile industry.

“I don’t want Canadian cars, I don’t want Canadian parts, I don’t want Canadian anything,” he wrote. “They’ve been ripping us off for decades, and it’s going to stop,” he added, describing Canada’s leadership as “the worst” among those he has ever dealt with.

Read more

“Let all Canadian Companies that are doing business with America move to the United States, immediately,” Trump said in a follow-up post. “When you move back, there are no TARIFFS!”

Trade negotiations between Washington and Ottawa collapsed on August 21, with each side accusing the other of making last-minute changes to a proposed comprehensive agreement. The following day, the US imposed 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian products, including wine, cement, plywood, and clothing.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney responded by announcing duties of up to 50% on around 700 American products, scheduled to take effect on September 8.

Read more

Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario – Canada’s most populous province and the center of the country’s automotive industry – has urged Ottawa to consider progressively stronger retaliation, including restrictions on oil, potash, and strategic mineral exports. He has also threatened to raise electricity prices or halt supplies to the US altogether, potentially affecting 1.5 million American homes and businesses.

Trump dismissed Ford’s threats as “bluster,” branding Canadian leaders “clowns” who needed to “fall in line,” and hit back on Thursday by signing an executive order directing federal agencies to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America” on US government maps, contracts, documents, and communications.

One person has been confirmed dead and around 14 others are feared missing after a powerful flash flood tore through Arizona’s Grand Canyon, forcing dozens of hikers to be airlifted from the remote inner canyon.

The flooding struck Bright Angel Canyon and the Phantom Ranch area at around 2:30 PM on Saturday, sending muddy torrents, boulders and debris surging through Bright Angel Creek and into the Colorado River.

The US National Park Service (NPS) said Sunday evening that the body of a 46-year-old man had been recovered near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River, around ten river miles downstream from where the flooding occurred. The body was transported to the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office, but the victim was not immediately identified.

Some 14 people may still be missing or unaccounted for, down from more than 20 earlier in the day. At least 62 people were evacuated by helicopter from Phantom Ranch and the lower North Kaibab Trail.

At least 20 people unaccounted for after flash flooding at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona - officials pic.twitter.com/he0VNiRsLd

— BNO News (@BNONews) August 30, 2026

Footage from the area showed swollen brown water roaring through the canyon and carrying debris, while campers described scrambling to higher ground as the water rapidly rose.

update: the number of people unaccounted for after the grand canyon flash flooding has been revised from more than 20 to 15. i also found additional footage posted by david j gregory, one of the hikers evacuated from the canyon, in the grand canyon hikers facebook group. https://t.co/cBff99hTve pic.twitter.com/Hb9K91fDof

— Michael Rusch (@weeddude) August 30, 2026

Nearly all footbridges across Bright Angel Creek were destroyed, while Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Campground and sections of the North Kaibab Trail were closed indefinitely. The flood also damaged the park’s water pipeline, prompting conservation measures.

READ MORE: WATCH six-year-old girl rescued after being trapped under rubble in Nepal floods

The Grand Canyon flash flood comes days after a far deadlier flood and mudslide disaster struck Nepal and neighboring Tibet. At least 788 people have been confirmed dead in Nepal, while around 2,500 remain missing. Over the weekend, dramatic footage emerged showing rescuers pulling a six-year-old girl alive from beneath mud and debris, as search teams raced against time to find possible survivors five days after the calamity.

Tehran has launched missile and drone strikes on US military positions in Jordan after Washington attacked Iran’s Larak Island, reigniting direct hostilities following a month-long lull.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its retaliatory operation targeted the King Hussein and Al-Azraq air bases, claiming to have inflicted “significant damage” on technical and maintenance infrastructure and positions where fighter jets were stationed.

Jordanian air defenses intercepted eight missiles that entered the kingdom’s airspace early Monday, the country’s armed forces confirmed. A US source separately told Fox News that no significant impacts had been reported.

The exchange began on Sunday when US forces struck Larak Island, near the narrowest point of the Strait of Hormuz, killing and injuring several Iranian soldiers and civilians.

Read more

US Central Command said it targeted two Iranian launchers after IRGC forces were allegedly observed preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM later characterized the attack as “limited” and “precise,” saying it had acted against an “imminent threat.” It has not publicly provided visual evidence supporting the minelaying allegation.

The IRGC vowed that the “aggressors will face definite punishment” and warned that “every attack will be met with even more devastating responses.”

Following the strikes, oil prices went up in early trading in Asia, with West Texas Intermediate futures growing by 2.47% to $85.46 per barrel and Brent futures climbing by 2.71% to $90.49 per barrel.

The renewed fighting marks the first direct US military action against Iran since late July. It comes less than a week after Washington said it had finished clearing sea mines from international shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, where maritime traffic has remained heavily disrupted.

Last week, Washington announced what it called an “economic onslaught” against Iran, as US President Donald Trump’s administration shifted its emphasis from large-scale military action toward economic pressure.

Follow RT’s live updates below for the latest developments

At least eight people were killed when a ferry carrying more than 200 passengers capsized and sank off the coast of Cyprus on Sunday, the authorities in the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) have reported.

The Mediterranean island has been divided since 1974, with the Turkish Cypriot-administered north recognized only by Türkiye.

The catamaran-type vessel had left the popular holiday resort port of Kyrenia for southern Türkiye when it began taking on water, according to TRNC Public Works and Transport Minister Erhan Arikli.

Turkish Cypriot and Turkish authorities mounted a rescue effort involving multiple civilian vessels, coast guard boats, and helicopters.

Of the 267 passengers and crew aboard, at least eight died and 17 remain missing, Arikli said in a statement cited by the media. The capsized vessel later sank to a depth of around 514 meters (1686 feet), he was quoted as saying.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara continues rescue efforts in collaboration with the TRNC authorities.

“The efforts to reach the missing continue without interruption,” he wrote on X.

SON DAKİKA | Girne açıklarında büyük deniz kazası…

KKTC’nin Girne Limanı’ndan Taşucu’na hareket eden katamaran tipi yolcu gemisi, kıyıdan birkaç kilometre açıldıktan sonra su alarak alabora oldu.

KKTC Ulaştırma Bakanı Erhan Arıklı’nın son açıklamasına göre gemide 259 yolcu ve… pic.twitter.com/piXQCgEyiY

— Ahmet Yeşiltepe (@ahmetyesiltepe) August 30, 2026

Footage from the incident shows hundreds of survivors in red life jackets clinging to the capsized hull of the vessel.

A passenger boat carrying approximately 270 people has sunk off the coast of northern Cyprus. The Ferry left Kyrenia for the Turkish port of Tasucu.#Cyprus #NorthernCyprus #Kyrenia #FerryAccident #FerryCapsized #Turkey #Tasucu #MediterraneanSea #RescueOperation #SearchAndRescue pic.twitter.com/uckoP5ZlC5

— VIRAL VOLT (@ViralVolT1) August 30, 2026

Read more

The authorities have not yet established what caused the ferry to begin taking on water, with Arikli saying the vessel’s black box will need to be examined to determine the cause.

The vessel’s captain and seven crew members have been detained while an investigation of the cause of the accident and possible negligence is underway.

Cyprus faced severe storms on Saturday, with the Republic of Cyprus Civil Defense issuing an orange warning and cautioning people to avoid unnecessary travel. However, the warning expired that evening, and the subsequent official marine forecast carried no weather warning for Sunday.

Rescue teams in Nepal are still trying to contact the more than 900 people believed to be trapped in hydropower construction sites, six days after a flash flood devastated the country’s northern mountainous region bordering Tibet.

The death toll in Nepal has climbed to 903, the country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said Monday morning. It said 4,247 people are still missing, of whom 933 are workers at the various hydropower project sites along the Trishuli river.

Nepali Army rescue teams, aided by specialist teams from India and China, are in a desperate race against time to rescue those trapped in the tunnels in Chilime, Langtang, and Upper Trishuli 3A projects in the Trishuli corridor.

Rescue teams identified the Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project tunnel’s upper arc after working with drilling machines, excavators, and hydraulic cutters for three days and entered it Sunday. But the tunnel is filled with water and rescuers received no response from anyone trapped inside, the Kathmandu Post reported.

The rescuers are trying again after deploying high-pressure water pumps. The remains of one person were retrieved from one of the tunnels on Sunday.

Some 592 foreigners are also among the missing in Nepal. Twenty-two foreigners, from China and India, were rescued on Sunday.

Battle to Rescue People Trapped Inside Tunnel in Nepal Intensifies

pic.twitter.com/I40NRqptYi

— Sanjay-সঞ্জয় (@tflj_by_sanjay) August 31, 2026

”Our country has been facing an unimaginable and heartbreaking natural disaster,” Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah said in a social media post late Sunday.

The floods were reportedly triggered by a glacier collapse on the Chinese side of the border, with the Bhote Kashi river flooding and washing away several villages, dams, bridges, and roads last Wednesday.

”For years, scientists and local communities have been warning that the Hindu Kush Himalayas are at huge risk from climate change,” said UN Climate Chief Simon Stiell, who called the disaster “absolutely heartbreaking.”

“We also know a warming climate, driven by humanity burning colossal amounts of coal, oil and gas, is making tragedies like this one, and so many others around the world, much more likely, frequent and severe, with vulnerable communities often hardest hit,” he added.

The threat of flooding still looms over the affected areas. On Sunday, the Trushuli river swelled for a few hours again, washing away a bridge. Rescue efforts were paused briefly on Friday after warnings that a barrier dam had breached on the upper reaches of the Bhote Kashi.

Across the border in China, where the Gyirong border port was buried in mud, officials have reported 16 deaths, and 546 people missing – with 261 of them foreign citizens.

Read more

Among them are 49 people from India; 33 are Latvians; 18 from the United States; 15 from Britain; six each from Canada and Australia; four from South Africa; three each from Malaysia, Germany, and Russia; two from Ireland, Estonia, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand; and one each from Kazakhstan, Finland, Lithuania, Portugal, Ukraine, Spain, and Hungary.

Chinese officials said no foreigners were stranded in the area.

More than 400 Indians crossed over into India from China on Sunday, the Indian Foreign Ministry said.

An Indian team in Kathmandu is conducting DNA analysis to identify the flood victims.

Two passenger jets flying just meters above a stadium in South Africa on Saturday have caused a stir on social media, with people describing it as a “near collision” and expressing safety concerns. The maneuver was part of a pre-match show ahead of a rugby game between the South African and New Zealand national teams.

Videos of two Embraer airliners overflying the Cape Town rugby stadium full of people quickly went viral on social networks. Clips ranging from mere seconds to several minutes showed a tight formation consisting of an Embraer E195 and a smaller Embraer E190 wearing black and green liveries with ‘Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry’ written on their hulls flying past the stadium as pyrotechnic smoke was shot into the air.

Some social media posts called the flyby “alarmingly low” while others said the planes came “dangerously close” to the stadium or even “almost hit the roof.” Some people on social media also called the flyover moment “terrifying.” The Flightradar24 aircraft tracker estimated that the two aircraft flew just between 12 and 14 meters above the roof.

A pair of Airlink Embraer E-195s nearly collided with Cape Town’s DHL Stadium while conducting a flyover this afternoon.

The first jet cleared the stadium roof by a few meters, while the second was hit by the stadium pyrotechnics. pic.twitter.com/nJmCGgQT1R

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) August 29, 2026

The Airlink Airlines – the company that organized the flyby – addressed what it called “concerns expressed in various social media and online forums,” insisting that the flights were absolutely safe and coordinated with the relevant authorities.

“The South African Civil Aviation Authority and Air Traffic Navigation Services provided valuable guidance, approval, and support to ensure a safe flyby,” the company said in a statement on Sunday. According to Airlink, both jets were piloted by “highly experienced” crews, each comprised of three senior captains operating as a commander, co-pilot, and a safety officer. The flights were performed within the “approved and rehearsed safety altitude and speed limits for the flypast,” it added.

📹 Watch These Planes Swoop Incredibly Low Over Cape Town Stadium

Two Airlink passenger planes flew just metres above the stadium roof before the South Africa-New Zealand rugby Test. pic.twitter.com/3VdCdE1WoJ

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) August 30, 2026

According to local media, the stadium flybys were part of a South African rugby tradition dating back to the 1995 Rugby World Cup final when a massive South African Airways Boeing 747 flew over Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg at low altitude.

Saturday’s feat came ahead of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry match – part of a special quadrennial tour series between South Africa and New Zealand. South Africans won the game 33-26.

The US carried out strikes on Iran’s Larak Island on Sunday, killing and injuring several soldiers and civilians, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said. The attack marked the first US military action inside Iran since late July, breaking a month-long lull in direct fighting.

Larak Island lies near the narrowest point of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route that has remained heavily restricted since the war began. Explosions were heard near the island late on Sunday, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

US forces allegedly targeted two Iranian launchers based on the island, Axios reported, citing US Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins.

“Revolutionary Guard forces were observed preparing to launch rockets carrying sea mines toward the Strait of Hormuz,” Hawkins said, without immediately providing supporting visual evidence.

The IRGC vowed retaliation, saying the attack had caused the “martyrdom and injury of several of our fighters and fellow citizens.”

Read more

“This action will be answered by the sons of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the aggressors will face definite punishment,” the IRGC said. It accused the “American-Zionist enemy” of acting out of “desperation over internal problems” and declining credibility in the region, describing the strike as another attempt to “revive its sinister role and sway public opinion.”

The statement opened with a pledge that Iran would “surely take retribution from the criminals” and said the attack would be met with a response “that includes punishment for the aggressor.”

The strike came less than a week after the US military said it had finished clearing sea mines from international shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz. Washington separately maintains a naval blockade on vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports.

Read more

The attack followed a relative lull in direct US military action against Iran. The last major US strikes inside the country were carried out on July 29, shortly after an Iranian missile attack on a US base in Jordan.

Last week, Washington announced what it called an “economic onslaught” against Iran, as the Trump administration shifted its emphasis from large-scale military action toward economic pressure. The move came amid reports of dwindling US stockpiles of critical munitions and interceptors, although President Donald Trump has vehemently denied that the military is running short.

The latest wave of US sanctions targets entities, individuals and vessels in multiple jurisdictions, with Washington saying it aims to isolate Tehran financially and cut off revenue available to the Iranian government.

The US carried out strikes on Iran’s Larak Island on Sunday, killing and injuring several soldiers and civilians, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said. The attack marked the first US military action inside Iran since late July, breaking a month-long lull in direct fighting.

Larak Island lies near the narrowest point of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route that has remained heavily restricted since the war began. Explosions were heard near the island late on Sunday, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

US forces allegedly targeted two Iranian launchers based on the island, Axios reported, citing US Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins.

“Revolutionary Guard forces were observed preparing to launch rockets carrying sea mines toward the Strait of Hormuz,” Hawkins said, without immediately providing supporting visual evidence.

The IRGC vowed retaliation, saying the attack had caused the “martyrdom and injury of several of our fighters and fellow citizens.”

Read more

“This action will be answered by the sons of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the aggressors will face definite punishment,” the IRGC said. It accused the “American-Zionist enemy” of acting out of “desperation over internal problems” and declining credibility in the region, describing the strike as another attempt to “revive its sinister role and sway public opinion.”

The statement opened with a pledge that Iran would “surely take retribution from the criminals” and said the attack would be met with a response “that includes punishment for the aggressor.”

The strike came less than a week after the US military said it had finished clearing sea mines from international shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz. Washington separately maintains a naval blockade on vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports.

Read more

The attack followed a relative lull in direct US military action against Iran. The last major US strikes inside the country were carried out on July 29, shortly after an Iranian missile attack on a US base in Jordan.

Last week, Washington announced what it called an “economic onslaught” against Iran, as the Trump administration shifted its emphasis from large-scale military action toward economic pressure. The move came amid reports of dwindling US stockpiles of critical munitions and interceptors, although President Donald Trump has vehemently denied that the military is running short.

The latest wave of US sanctions targets entities, individuals and vessels in multiple jurisdictions, with Washington saying it aims to isolate Tehran financially and cut off revenue available to the Iranian government.

Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov has suddenly – and rather unexpectedly – become an adviser to Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto. The news caught many conservative military analysts off guard. Why would Italy want him, and what does Rome hope to gain? Let’s try to make sense of the move without getting carried away.

A manager in khaki, not a marshal

It should be obvious that Fedorov is no military genius, nor does he possess any particular talent as a battlefield commander. That is simply not who he is. He was never a career officer, and he never made his name drawing thick red arrows across maps of future operations. First and foremost, Mikhail Fedorov is an effective IT executive – and a knowledgeable chief customer for the entire defense industry.

His path to that role began as the top digital strategist for Vladimir Zelensky’s presidential campaign, where he built an online campaign network and bet heavily on internet marketing. From there, he went on to create Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation and roll out the Diia digital ecosystem, which changed everyday life across the country. In 2026, Fedorov took over the Defense Ministry amid an urgent need to impose order and bring sweeping digitalization to the armed forces. The timing, it seems, could hardly have been better.

Read more

Several major changes in the Ukrainian military were introduced with Fedorov’s involvement:

• Drone procurement for military units was radically overhauled through the launch of a dedicated marketplace designed to minimize red tape. It was a highly unconventional move that significantly shortened the path from manufacturer to frontline unit while opening up a market for many small and relatively young companies. After drones, the same digital approach began spreading to other parts of the defense industry.

• Agile management methods were effectively brought into military life, breaking down long-established systems of multistage approval and allowing new ideas to be tested quickly under real battlefield conditions – directly in the trenches.

• The military opened its doors to software developed by civilian companies. The emphasis shifted toward finding new and unconventional solutions that could be deployed quickly and deliver results immediately, rather than waiting for lengthy testing reports and reviews by specialized military institutes.

Of course, Fedorov’s role in these changes should not be overstated. Many of the initiatives that reshaped the Ukrainian military began before he arrived at the Defense Ministry. What he brought was a fresh, digital perspective that helped cut some corners and speed up the adoption of new ideas.

There were no combat operations or battlefield triumphs involved. He was a digital-solutions manager who put on a military uniform – focused exclusively on digital systems and a project-based approach to reform. And naturally the process was not without its rough edges. Digitalization remains the only clear success he can point to.

Read more

Why Rome wants the “Ukraine playbook”

Perhaps that is precisely what Rome needs: not military victories or battlefield credentials, but a fresh, modern approach. That, presumably, is where Italy is placing its hopes. Modern European militaries, including Italy’s, are weighed down by bureaucracy. Decisions on the procurement of new weapons systems and software take years. By the time they are finally approved, technology has already moved on, leaving armed forces to adopt systems that were obsolete before they ever entered service.

Fedorov may well be useful to Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto as a new battering ram against his own conservative military establishment. Rome wants to borrow Ukraine’s experience of rapidly digitalizing military logistics and integrating unmanned systems in real time.

To understand exactly which processes Fedorov may seek to adapt for the Italian military, one need only look inside his “digital briefcase.” It contains no secret missile technology – only commercial software and civilian IT solutions adapted to the needs of a defense ministry.

The Italian military is eager to introduce new digital battle-management systems that combine geospatial tools with hundreds of information sources and a distributed network of users, extending from the General Staff all the way to a frontline commander’s tablet in the trenches. Italy is also naturally interested in digitalizing weapons and military-equipment procurement – and even more so in applying artificial intelligence to military command and control.

It is difficult to judge the results, but on paper Fedorov’s résumé looks highly impressive: experience introducing cutting-edge digital solutions in Europe’s only army currently fighting a major war. That is certainly one way to present it – and why be shy when listing your strengths on a résumé?

Read more

What Rome is really buying

A modern army increasingly resembles an IT corporation. Rome does not need Fedorov’s advice on how to defend its coastline or plan an armored offensive. It needs his ability to turn the military into a functioning digital platform.

But let’s take an honest look at the former defense minister’s record. Yes, there was digitalization and digital transformation. It may still be too early to assess the final results, but there have been no major successes on the battlefield – and that, one would think, is what an army is ultimately for and how its performance should be measured.

Then there is the less flattering part of the picture: the image of a petulant child who could not find common ground with career officers and began playing political games in the middle of an ongoing war to increase his own value back home. That hardly seems consistent with the image of a gifted digital manager. Wars, after all, are not won through digitalization alone, but through the coordinated action of different branches and types of forces.

It will be fascinating to see what Fedorov ‘achieves’ in his new job – and whether the spirit of Silicon Valley can take root in the austere offices of the Italian Defense Ministry.

As for the man with the polished résumé and the reputation of a ‘digitalization expert’, a position like this – especially in Rome – offers a splendid opportunity to make a graceful exit from Kiev and trade Ukraine’s brutal political reality for the warm, easygoing comforts of Europe.

Two passenger jets flying just meters above a stadium in South Africa on Saturday have caused a stir on social media, with people describing it as a “near collision” and expressing safety concerns. The maneuver was part of a pre-match show ahead of a rugby game between the South African and New Zealand national teams.

Videos of two Embraer airliners overflying the Cape Town rugby stadium full of people quickly went viral on social networks. Clips ranging from mere seconds to several minutes showed a tight formation consisting of an Embraer E195 and a smaller Embraer E190 wearing black and green liveries with ‘Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry’ written on their hulls flying past the stadium as pyrotechnic smoke was shot into the air.

Some social media posts called the flyby “alarmingly low” while others said the planes came “dangerously close” to the stadium or even “almost hit the roof.” Some people on social media also called the flyover moment “terrifying.” The Flightradar24 aircraft tracker estimated that the two aircraft flew just between 12 and 14 meters above the roof.

A pair of Airlink Embraer E-195s nearly collided with Cape Town’s DHL Stadium while conducting a flyover this afternoon.

The first jet cleared the stadium roof by a few meters, while the second was hit by the stadium pyrotechnics. pic.twitter.com/nJmCGgQT1R

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) August 29, 2026

The Airlink Airlines – the company that organized the flyby – addressed what it called “concerns expressed in various social media and online forums,” insisting that the flights were absolutely safe and coordinated with the relevant authorities.

“The South African Civil Aviation Authority and Air Traffic Navigation Services provided valuable guidance, approval, and support to ensure a safe flyby,” the company said in a statement on Sunday. According to Airlink, both jets were piloted by “highly experienced” crews, each comprised of three senior captains operating as a commander, co-pilot, and a safety officer. The flights were performed within the “approved and rehearsed safety altitude and speed limits for the flypast,” it added.

📹 Watch These Planes Swoop Incredibly Low Over Cape Town Stadium

Two Airlink passenger planes flew just metres above the stadium roof before the South Africa-New Zealand rugby Test. pic.twitter.com/3VdCdE1WoJ

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) August 30, 2026

According to local media, the stadium flybys were part of a South African rugby tradition dating back to the 1995 Rugby World Cup final when a massive South African Airways Boeing 747 flew over Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg at low altitude.

Saturday’s feat came ahead of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry match – part of a special quadrennial tour series between South Africa and New Zealand. South Africans won the game 33-26.

At least eight people were killed when a ferry carrying more than 200 passengers capsized and sank off the coast of Cyprus on Sunday, the authorities in the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) have reported.

The Mediterranean island has been divided since 1974, with the Turkish Cypriot-administered north recognized only by Türkiye.

The catamaran-type vessel had left the popular holiday resort port of Kyrenia for southern Türkiye when it began taking on water, according to TRNC Public Works and Transport Minister Erhan Arikli.

Turkish Cypriot and Turkish authorities mounted a rescue effort involving multiple civilian vessels, coast guard boats, and helicopters.

Of the 267 passengers and crew aboard, at least eight died and 17 remain missing, Arikli said in a statement cited by the media. The capsized vessel later sank to a depth of around 514 meters (1686 feet), he was quoted as saying.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara continues rescue efforts in collaboration with the TRNC authorities.

“The efforts to reach the missing continue without interruption,” he wrote on X.

SON DAKİKA | Girne açıklarında büyük deniz kazası…

KKTC’nin Girne Limanı’ndan Taşucu’na hareket eden katamaran tipi yolcu gemisi, kıyıdan birkaç kilometre açıldıktan sonra su alarak alabora oldu.

KKTC Ulaştırma Bakanı Erhan Arıklı’nın son açıklamasına göre gemide 259 yolcu ve… pic.twitter.com/piXQCgEyiY

— Ahmet Yeşiltepe (@ahmetyesiltepe) August 30, 2026

Footage from the incident shows hundreds of survivors in red life jackets clinging to the capsized hull of the vessel.

A passenger boat carrying approximately 270 people has sunk off the coast of northern Cyprus. The Ferry left Kyrenia for the Turkish port of Tasucu.#Cyprus #NorthernCyprus #Kyrenia #FerryAccident #FerryCapsized #Turkey #Tasucu #MediterraneanSea #RescueOperation #SearchAndRescue pic.twitter.com/uckoP5ZlC5

— VIRAL VOLT (@ViralVolT1) August 30, 2026

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The authorities have not yet established what caused the ferry to begin taking on water, with Arikli saying the vessel’s black box will need to be examined to determine the cause.

The vessel’s captain and seven crew members have been detained while an investigation of the cause of the accident and possible negligence is underway.

Cyprus faced severe storms on Saturday, with the Republic of Cyprus Civil Defense issuing an orange warning and cautioning people to avoid unnecessary travel. However, the warning expired that evening, and the subsequent official marine forecast carried no weather warning for Sunday.

Iraq is committed to a full withdrawal of US-led coalition forces by the end of September, UK-based Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat reported on Saturday, citing an Iraqi official.

US forces have been in the country for 23 years since the 2003 invasion and subsequent smaller-scale operations against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS).

Reports that US and other foreign troops could remain after September “contradict what was agreed upon between the previous Iraqi government and the US administration,” Asharq Al-Awsat cited the official as saying.

The comments followed media reports suggesting that Washington was only planning a drawdown, rather than a full withdraw by the end of the September deadline.

“This is a transition of the Coalition’s military mission to a more traditional bilateral security partnership,” Iraqi news outlet Shafaq News reported, citing an anonymous US official.

Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s office stated that the September 30 deadline would be “the fixed and final date” for the pullout of international coalition forces.

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US President Donald Trump has previously backed reducing the US military presence in Iraq, reaffirming a withdrawal plan originally agreed in 2024 under the Biden administration. During a meeting with al-Zaidi this summer, Trump said the two countries were developing a relationship “where we don’t need the military” in Iraq.

Washington’s presence in the region has taken a significant hit during the Iran war, as Tehran has damaged or outright destroyed key US radar, communications, and other military infrastructure at bases in Gulf nations.

During the conflict, US military infrastructure in the region also faced attacks by pro-Iranian armed groups in Iraq operating outside Baghdad’s direct control.

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The Pentagon is now considering whether to reduce the US military footprint in the Gulf after the Iran war ends, The Washington Post reported earlier in August, citing anonymous officials.

US allies in the Gulf have also reportedly expressed frustration over what they see as a lack of proper consultation before the US-Israeli attack on Iran, which led to bases on their territories being targeted. Regional powers have since moved to diversify their security partnerships, with Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and Pakistan signing the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, already dubbed by commentators an ‘Islamic NATO,’ early this month.

Venezuela maintains control over its oil resources under a new agreement with the US granting Washington significant access to the country’s proven crude reserves, acting President Delcy Rodriguez said on Saturday.

US President Donald Trump claimed earlier in the week that Washington had secured “majority” control of Venezuela’s proven oil reserves “at no cost to the American Taxpayer.” In a post on Truth Social, he declared the transaction “THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY,” claiming that it “MORE THAN DOUBLES American Oil Reserves.”

The “historic” 25-year deal with Washington provides for the development of 17 strategic oil fields holding 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s proven crude reserves and aims to revive the Latin American country’s energy industry, Rodriguez said in a televised address.

“Something must be made absolutely clear: Venezuela retains ownership and sovereignty over its resources while using capital, technology and operational capacity to support the recovery of a strategic industry that has been severely affected by sanctions,” the acting president stressed.

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According to the latest US Energy Information Administration data, the US has around 46 billion barrels of proved crude oil and lease condensate reserves. Adding Venezuela’s 65 billion barrels would put more than 111 billion barrels of oil under some form of US control, although the Venezuelan crude would not technically be counted as part of US domestic reserves.

The oil deal marks the latest expansion of US control over the country’s vast oil wealth following the January 3 military raid that abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and took him to the US to face federal charges.

Shortly after the operation, Trump vowed that Washington would “run” the Latin American country while overseeing a political transition and left open the possibility of further military action if the interim leadership failed to cooperate.

Washington has also announced plans to take “indefinite” control of Venezuelan oil sales and revenues, while Trump has ordered proceeds from Venezuelan crude to be held in US Treasury accounts, subject to US restrictions.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg cited people familiar with the matter as saying that Venezuela is weighing whether to leave the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which it has been a founding member for more than six decades.

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The latest deal has drawn criticism over Venezuela’s sovereignty, including from some normally pro-Western opposition figures. Former Planning Minister Ricardo Hausmann called it “unconstitutional,” arguing that Rodriguez’s interim government lacks the authority to surrender long-term control of the country’s oil.

Former Vice President and veteran Chavista figure Elias Jaua likewise accused Washington of stripping the nation of its sovereignty and taking control of its natural resources.

Last week, reports said some 31 tons of Venezuelan gold worth around $4 billion and held at the Bank of England could be released for June earthquake reconstruction, potentially under US Treasury control.

Earlier this year, the WSJ, citing US officials, reported that the White House had urged American investors to tap Venezuela’s gold and critical mineral reserves, potentially boosting US supplies and giving Washington leverage over the resource-rich country.

“And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth…” – Revelation 9:3-5.

NATO has reportedly drawn up a plan for war with Russia in the event of a Russian attack on the Baltic states. At first glance, the document might seem unremarkable given the most senior officer involved in preparing it holds the rank of major, because every year, Russian and American military academies produce hundreds of officers capable of writing plans of this sort.

But two things make it worth paying attention to. The first is that modern military science is undergoing a profound crisis and the old methods of warfare are becoming increasingly difficult to use. Tank breakthroughs, deep encirclements and prolonged artillery barrages are all far more dangerous than they were even a decade ago because the battlefield is saturated with unmanned aerial vehicles.

The second is more surprising as military plans for a potential war aren’t usually made public, thus therefore NATO appears to be sending a message that we understand how warfare has changed, and we’re preparing for it.

The outlines of a possible non-nuclear Third World War can already be seen in such planning, but that assumes, of course, that nuclear powers could become involved in a global confrontation without crossing the nuclear threshold, instead fighting through local allies and proxies. What stands out in the NATO concept is the central role given to robotic and autonomous systems.

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Fully autonomous warfare still belongs partly to the future, but even remotely controlled systems have already changed tactics more dramatically than almost any military innovation of the modern era. The closest historical comparison may be the arrival of rifled weapons, when massed column attacks became suicidal.

Only a few years ago, tanks were still regarded as the decisive instrument of land warfare, yet today a tank may struggle even to reach its firing position because the approaches are covered by drones, including so-called ‘waiters’ that land, remain concealed, and take off only when ordered to attack.

Technology has changed the battlefield with extraordinary speed and now NATO has published a defense concept for the three small Baltic states that appears to acknowledge this new reality. The importance of the document lies less in the rank of the officers who drafted it than in the fact that the alliance is publicly demonstrating its readiness for a different kind of war.I suspect that was the main reason for publishing it and the message is directed at an adversary that already has four years of intensive combat experience. The contours of a future non-nuclear world war are therefore becoming clearer. I’m not a military specialist, so I will speak only in broad terms. Human soldiers may increasingly be concentrated in elite formations and special forces, while much of the conventional battlefield is handed over to machines.

Back in the late 1980s, a special forces officer once told me that such units were becoming less useful when employed in support of large conventional armies and he predicted a gradual decline in the importance of elite formations, but history may now be turning in the opposite direction.

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Perhaps the armies of the future will consist largely of small groups of highly trained soldiers operating in support of vast numbers of robotic systems. Drones have already transformed warfare and artificial intelligence and autonomous platforms may transform it far more radically.If that happens, enormous armies could become obsolete and inflicting strategic damage on an enemy may no longer require columns of armored vehicles or millions of soldiers. Nor would it necessarily require the gigantic defense-industrial complexes familiar from the 20th century as much of the equipment could be cheap and rapidly replaceable.

Even today, effective drones can be assembled in a garage, but of course, future combat systems will require increasingly sophisticated electronics, although it’s not yet clear how different many of those components will be from technologies already used in smartphones and consumer electronics.

This would also change the nature of military targets, for why attack an enemy’s tanks if you can disable the electricity that allows its entire military system to function?

Power stations will inevitably become heavily protected, but transmission networks are much more difficult to defend and it’s impossible to guard every kilometer of high-voltage cable. This could lead to a new emphasis on dispersed electricity generation and the Soviet Union already experimented with unconventional solutions in remote northern regions, including the use of nuclear technology originally developed for submarines. The economics of war would change as well given that drones are operated by small teams – or eventually by autonomous systems – and are cheap compared to the industrial machinery of traditional warfare.

They also reduce the enormous logistical burden associated with artillery, where a shell must be manufactured, transported by rail, moved again by truck and finally delivered to a gun. Even then, dozens or hundreds may need to be fired to destroy a single target. The scale of traditional warfare is difficult to comprehend. During one offensive in the First World War, the Entente fired roughly 25 million artillery shells, while the Central Powers mobilized about the same number of men over the entire conflict.

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Modern precision weapons are far more effective, but they are also increasingly expensive, and massed artillery itself is becoming vulnerable to drones and counter-battery systems. That’s why the Third World War, if it comes, may look nothing like the previous two.It may not begin with millions of soldiers crossing borders or vast tank armies moving across Europe. Instead, it could consist of many simultaneous regional conflicts fought by smaller allies of nuclear powers, while the great powers themselves remain protected beneath their nuclear umbrellas.

A future world war may therefore not be one enormous battlefield but dozens of smaller ones, connected by drones, satellites, artificial intelligence, and the political interests of states that can’t afford to fight one another directly.

“When Ashraf Ghani goes, we’ll go with him. And he’ll go when the Americans do.”

The conversation took place on the balcony of a luxury high-rise in Shahr-e Naw, central Kabul. The man speaking to me was a young government employee, and Ashraf Ghani was serving his second term as president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. It was May 2017. The republic had four years and three months left.

A city living on borrowed time

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Afghanistan at the time could best be described with a line from Dickens: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.” Kabul was both deeply Westernized and full of contradictions. The former was fueled by the abundance of foreigners and foreign aid; the latter by the unending fighting and terrorist attacks.

Downtown, you could find nightclubs throwing Valentine’s Day and Halloween parties, modeling agencies, coffee shops serving cheesecake, bowling alleys, and tattoo parlors. On the outskirts, tent camps were expanding to accommodate internally displaced people – refugees from the provinces, mostly in the south, whose homes had been destroyed by the war. Street boys begged in English: “Give me one hundred dollars!” Artists painted murals warning about domestic violence, fashionable women wore jeans and bright makeup, and Western NGOs taught Afghan children to skateboard.

At the same time, some places – including the park in Shahr-e Naw itself – were unsafe even in broad daylight because of the number of drug addicts, while robberies and kidnappings had become routine. After sunset, the city shut down. Several years later, The New York Times would call Kabul a city of hope and despair – an apt metaphor.

To protect itself from the constant bombings, Kabul grew a shell of concrete walls and checkpoints. There seemed to be as many police officers and soldiers on the streets as civilians, while American surveillance balloons hovered continuously over the city. None of it helped much. That same May, while I was there, a tanker truck packed with explosives detonated in the diplomatic quarter, killing more than 90 people and wounding around 400. Smaller incidents had long since ceased to qualify as news. One of my editors gave me a simple rule:

“If there’s a terrorist attack in Kabul and fewer than ten people are killed, don’t write about it. That’s not news.”

Politics and public life were no less remarkable. Afghanistan’s parliament had as many women as the US Congress, yet in the center of the capital a mob lynched Farkhunda Malikzada, a young Afghan woman, after a mullah falsely accused her of burning the Quran. Corruption broke every record, and the central government was weak. Hamid Karzai, the republic’s first president, had been dubbed the “president of Kabul.” Ashraf Ghani was already merely the “president of the presidential palace.” A provincial governor removed from office could simply declare that the president had no authority over him and remain at his post. Drug production reached unprecedented levels: according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 84% of the opiates on the global market in 2017 originated in Afghanistan.

This was what years of NATO’s military presence had made of the country and its capital. Once the troops withdrew, the existing order was bound to collapse.

The war that kept changing uniforms

The arrival of the United States and its allies in Afghanistan opened a new chapter in a civil war that, with varying degrees of intensity, had already been raging for 23 years.

Pandora’s box was opened in 1978, when the left came to power. The United States, Pakistan, China, and the Gulf states began actively arming the opposition, while the new government asked the Soviet Union for help. From 1979 to 1989, the Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces carried out what Moscow called its “internationalist duty” in Afghanistan, supporting a friendly government and controlling the major cities and some of the roads – the most any foreign army could hope to hold in the country’s mountainous terrain.

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After the Soviet withdrawal, Mohammad Najibullah’s pro-Soviet government survived for roughly four years before being overthrown by the mujahideen: warlords who had first fought the shuravi – “Soviets” in Dari – and then turned their guns on one another in a struggle for power. The Taliban entered Kabul in 1996, bringing down the mujahideen government everywhere except the Panjshir Valley. The international community then forgot about Afghanistan for five years. It remembered the country only after the September 11, 2001 attacks, because Osama bin Laden was hiding there.

Immediately after the attacks came an episode recounted in ethnography classes to every student specializing in Afghanistan. George W. Bush issued the Taliban an ultimatum: hand over bin Laden. They refused. The official explanation was that there was no evidence linking him to the attacks. But there was an unofficial reason as well: bin Laden was a guest in Afghanistan. For the Pashtuns – the country’s largest ethnic group, to which the Taliban also belong – the rules of hospitality are sacred, and surrendering a guest to his enemy would bring shame for generations.

Uninterested in the finer points of the local mindset, Bush spent a month bombing Afghanistan and destroying the Taliban’s air force and air defenses. Then came the ground operation, first carried out with the help of allied forces – the same mujahideen – and later by US Marines under Operation Enduring Freedom. The United States had entered the longest war in its history and, at the same time, decided to build a democracy in Afghanistan – a bold idea for a country still living, in many respects, in the Middle Ages, with only a third of its population able to read and write. American filmmakers would later explore the absurdity of the situation and Washington’s profound failure to understand the country in War Machine, starring Brad Pitt.

For the first several years, things went reasonably well. Hamid Karzai, mentioned above, was elected president, a parliament was elected, and the United Nations and other international organizations threw themselves into reconstruction. While much of the money ended up in officials’ pockets, life did improve in some respects: child mortality declined, and the number of young women attending universities rose.

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By 2005, however, the Taliban had recovered from their defeat and launched a guerrilla war in the south, where they found no shortage of supporters. Again, I think back to those university ethnography classes. We were taught that Afghans prefer something of their own, even if it is bad, to something good imposed by outsiders. In other words, Afghans have always hated occupiers. NATO troops – who periodically stormed into the women’s quarters of homes during raids or killed civilians, whether by mistake or out of fear – were no exception. The Taliban, for all their conservatism and radical methods, were still their own. Their values did not clash with those of Afghanistan’s rural heartland. I still remember how Taliban fighters were welcomed in Kabul during a three-day ceasefire in 2018: people gave them flowers, took selfies with them, brought them food, hugged them, and wept.

During the years of the American presence, much of the resentment toward the Soviet Union had faded.

”Yes, you fought us, but you fought well, like men,” former mujahideen told me again and again in different parts of the country. “You were brave: face to face, and the stronger man won. But these people? They bomb us from airplanes.”

The runway at the end of the world

On August 15, 2021, a message from Kabul woke me. It was from an Afghan journalist I knew.

”They’re here.”

“Who?”

“The Taliban. They’ve taken the city. It’s over.”

I had flown out of Kabul in February, and that assignment had been my bleakest: three or four explosions a day, activists and politicians being assassinated, Taliban patrols operating barely 12 miles from the capital. Kabul was practically under siege. Intense localized fighting raged in the south, official figures put the death toll at a hundred people a day, and provincial capitals kept changing hands.

Biden had announced that American troops would leave Afghanistan by September 11 – the irony was hard to miss – but analysts remained fairly optimistic. After all, Najibullah had held on for several years. Why couldn’t Ghani? Operation Enduring Freedom had long since been replaced by the noncombat Resolute Support mission, with alliance troops training and advising their Afghan counterparts so they could stand up to the Taliban on their own. Depending on the forecast, the republic was expected to survive anywhere from two to six months.

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The Afghan armed forces did, in fact, have plenty of combat-ready units: Special Forces and commando brigades, as well as the Grom and Gardez regional army corps based in Khost and Kandahar. But every conversation I had with the military left me with the same heavy feeling. Many complained that both their allies and their commanders were indifferent to their fate, while morale in more remote areas was catastrophically low. The commander of a checkpoint in Kunar Province told me he had gone several months without food, ammunition, or pay. Of the eight soldiers under his command, three were suffering from depression. One no longer got out of bed and was preparing to die, even though his wound was not serious; he was also using drugs. Two others were planning to defect to the Taliban. Every evening, the militants used loudspeakers to urge them to surrender, promising to spare their lives – a common practice at the time, and the Taliban generally kept their word. The commander himself, though “tired to death,” as he put it, had no intention of giving up. He had killed too many of them to expect mercy.

”No one will fight for the president. Nobody likes him,” he told me as we said goodbye. “And the president wouldn’t fight for us, either. The Americans deceived him, and he’ll deceive us.”

His words about the president proved prophetic: Ashraf Ghani fled to Uzbekistan before Kabul had even fallen fully under Taliban control. But the checkpoint commander was wrong about his own future. He survived the fall of the government and became a taxi driver. Tens of thousands of his former comrades found work as security guards, construction workers, shopkeepers, or day laborers. The new government granted them amnesty but did not trust them enough to keep them in the army.

But back to the morning of August 15. Mass panic gripped Kabul. A crowd rushed to the airport – the only place still under coalition control – tore down the barriers, and flooded the tarmac. Terrified people tried to force their way onto American planes, and their fear was entirely understandable: many remembered the public executions and ethnic cleansing of the Taliban’s first period in power. Photographs from Kabul in August 2021 bore an uncanny resemblance to those from Saigon in April 1975, when the Americans were also evacuating their allies. History does, after all, have a way of moving in circles. Kabul itself, incidentally, fell without a fight. Among those who spent weeks waiting for a flight and sleeping on the runways were many former members of the security forces who had gone home without firing a shot and hidden their uniforms.

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”American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves,” US President Joe Biden said in summing up the debacle.

”We were betrayed,” General Sami Sadat, a deputy commander of the Afghan army, told The New York Times.

Analysts now expected mass reprisals and another round of civil war. But Afghanistan – now the Islamic Emirate – was quiet.

A different kind of silence

A teapot filled with green tea sits on the desk of a Taliban official at the Ministry of Information. My hospitable host diligently keeps my cup full, pushes a dish of chewy candies toward me, and asks what I think of the new government. A month and a half has passed since the fall of the republic – or the “victory,” as the Taliban themselves call it.

”Have you been to our country before?”

“Yes.”

“And when was it better – then or now?”

“It’s much safer now,” I say. It is clearly the answer he expects, and one I can give with a clear conscience.

This time I arrived in Kabul from the north, after a 12-hour drive from Mazar-i-Sharif through the Salang Pass. Under the republic, such a journey would have been unthinkable. Fighting had raged all along the road. The reminders were everywhere: burned-out army vehicles stacked in pyramids, the walls of homes blown away by explosions, and the road itself, pocked with craters from mines and shelling. You can now walk at night in any part of Kabul, though few Afghans take advantage of the opportunity. No one yet understands what to expect from the new rulers. People fear them, despite all the leaders’ talk of peace and brotherhood. Yet after events that many Afghans experienced as the end of the world, life slipped back into its familiar rhythms with surprising speed. Government offices and banks were operating, stores were open, and there were no fewer women on the streets – and not all of them were wrapped in the famous blue burqas. The worst fears had not come true, at least not at that point.

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”Just give us time,” the Taliban official says with a smile. “After the revolution, the Bolsheviks needed time to accomplish something, too.” He calls them “the Communists.” “Come back in five years, and everything will be different.”

And now, almost five years later, I do see Afghanistan again.

It is still quiet here, despite the conflict with Pakistan and divisions within the leadership. But it is a different kind of quiet.

The Emirate has many enemies, and its security services are exceptionally vigilant. To the Taliban, every foreigner is a potential spy. Tourists, reporters, and the staff of the humanitarian missions still operating in the country are kept under constant surveillance, while Afghans who speak with them can face trouble, up to and including arrest. The religious police, meanwhile, enforce compliance with Sharia. The sticks in the officers’ hands may be mostly for show, but people still try not to attract their attention.

Music is banned. There are many prohibitions, and a good number of them concern perfectly innocent things such as chess, which is now considered a form of gambling. The craters left by explosions have long since been patched. Restaurants that look far more like Dubai than Kabul are opening in Shahr-e Naw. The drug addicts were forcibly removed from the park long ago and sent to treatment centers that have almost no medicine. Girls still have not returned to school since the takeover, and working women are almost nowhere to be seen. No, unlike the republic, the Islamic Emirate is not a place of contradictions, and Kabul stopped being a city of despair long ago. But there is little hope left in it, either.

Downtown, the concrete walls are being dismantled. They are no longer needed now that the bombings have stopped. The republic-era murals have faded so badly that the words “We Want Peace” are barely legible. And Afghanistan has, indeed, enjoyed its longest stretch of peace in 40 years.

A record number of instances of artificial intelligence (AI) lying, ignoring users’ commands or acting in harmful ways to achieve its goals were registered last month, The Guardian has reported, citing a monitoring group.

Concerns about the safety of AI are on the rise after advanced models by OpenAI and Anthropic exhibited rogue behavior during testing this summer, with calls made to halt their development and introduce stricter government oversight of the process.

There were more than 300 incidents of real-world loss of control involving AI models employed by actual businesses and private individuals in July, which is almost double the number in June, an article in the paper said on Saturday.

The data came from the Loss of Control Observatory, which was set up by the UK government’s AI Security Institute (AISI) last November to track complaints about issues with AI made by users on X, it said.

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As the monitor only gathers reports from a single social media platform, the true number of incidents must be higher, The Guardian noted.

A majority out of the 1,600 complaints on X in 2026 were made by software developers using AI bots in their work, according to AISI.

The monitor said that despite the fact that most real-world loss of control incidents did not cause significant harm, it has registered an increase in severity of AI’s deceptiveness and neglect of human commands.

Reports by users “evidence AI systems’ willingness to disregard direct instructions, circumvent safeguards, lie to users and single-mindedly pursue a goal in harmful ways,” AISI warned.

Tommy Shaffer-Shane, the senior policy manager at the Centre for Long Term Resilience, which operates the observatory, told The Guardian that it is wrong to suggest that AI only misbehaves during testing.

“We need to not be complacent that these things won’t happen in the real world and there is evidence that they already are,” he said.

READ MORE: US court backs Anthropic over Pentagon

The monitor has called on the British government to oblige AI companies to report loss of control incidents and to introduce emergency powers, including temporary restrictions on artificial intelligence, in order to deal with the more severe cases.

Iceland has narrowly rejected the idea of resuming talks on joining the EU, public broadcaster RUV has reported. Previous negotiations were halted 13 years ago.

The referendum on Saturday saw a high turnout, with more than 225,000 people out of a population of just over 394,000 coming to the polls.

After the ballot count concluded on Sunday, RUV announced that 52.8% said ‘no’ to resuming accession talks, while 47.2% backed the idea.

The ballot asked voters just a single question: “Should Iceland resume accession negotiations with the European Union?”

The country’s capital Reykjavik voted ‘Yes’, while people in rural areas were overwhelmingly against the EU path, underlining a split between the two parts of the country.

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Russian presidential investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev has welcomed the outcome of the referendum, saying in a post on X that “Iceland knows how to play great football and how to reject the failing EU’s migrants, bureaucrats, and warmongering.”

Iceland has narrowly rejected the idea of resuming talks on joining the EU, public broadcaster RUV has reported. Previous negotiations were halted 13 years ago.

The referendum on Saturday saw a high turnout, with more than 225,000 people out of a population of just over 394,000 coming to the polls.

After the ballot count concluded on Sunday, RUV announced that 52.8% said ‘no’ to resuming accession talks, while 47.2% backed the idea.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

CIA Director John Ratcliffe proposed a trilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky during his covert trip to Moscow in an effort to find a resolution to the ongoing Ukraine conflict, Axios has reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Ratcliffe made an unannounced trip to Moscow on August 25. The following day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that contact between the two countries’ intelligence services had taken place, but said Putin had not met with the CIA chief. “Of course, President Putin is immediately briefed on everything,” Peskov said, calling the meeting “a positive phenomenon” while declining to give further details.

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Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) chief Sergei Naryshkin later confirmed that he had met with Ratcliffe in Moscow. Naryshkin said the two issues discussed were related to the intelligence services. Axios reported that Ratcliffe also met with Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov.

US officials briefed Zelensky on the Moscow talks and the plan for a trilateral summit. They also said Ratcliffe had discussed the possibility of restarting peace talks, the outlet reported.

Earlier last week, Trump described the visit as “semi-routine.” When asked by talk show host Glenn Beck whether Putin planned on “testing NATO resolve,” or whether Ratcliffe discussed US sanctions on Iran, Trump replied “none of the above.”

READ MORE: Russia could have used nukes in Ukraine but chose restraint – top MP

Ratcliffe’s visit was the first known trip to Moscow by a CIA director since William Burns traveled there in November 2021. The last known face-to-face meeting between the CIA and SVR chiefs was in Ankara in November 2022, when Burns met Naryshkin to discuss nuclear escalation risks and detained US citizens.

The last publicly disclosed contact between Ratcliffe and a senior Russian official was a March 2025 phone call with SVR chief Sergey Naryshkin. The two sides agreed to maintain dialogue to “promote international stability and security” and reduce tensions between Moscow and Washington, the SVR said.

Iceland has narrowly rejected the idea of resuming talks on joining the EU, public broadcaster RUV has reported. Previous negotiations were halted 13 years ago.

The referendum on Saturday saw a high turnout, with more than 225,000 people out of a population of just over 394,000 coming to the polls.

After the ballot count concluded on Sunday, RUV announced that 52.8% said ‘no’ to resuming accession talks, while 47.2% backed the idea.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

CIA Director John Ratcliffe proposed a trilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky during his covert trip to Moscow in an effort to find a resolution to the ongoing Ukraine conflict, Axios has reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Ratcliffe made an unannounced trip to Moscow on August 25. The following day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that contact between the two countries’ intelligence services had taken place, but said Putin had not met with the CIA chief. “Of course, President Putin is immediately briefed on everything,” Peskov said, calling the meeting “a positive phenomenon” while declining to give further details.

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Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) chief Sergei Naryshkin later confirmed that he had met with Ratcliffe in Moscow. Naryshkin said the two issues discussed were related to the intelligence services. Axios reported that Ratcliffe also met with Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov.

US officials briefed Zelensky on the Moscow talks and the plan for a trilateral summit. They also said Ratcliffe had discussed the possibility of restarting peace talks, the outlet reported.

Earlier last week, Trump described the visit as “semi-routine.” When asked by talk show host Glenn Beck whether Putin planned on “testing NATO resolve,” or whether Ratcliffe discussed US sanctions on Iran, Trump replied “none of the above.”

READ MORE: Russia could have used nukes in Ukraine but chose restraint – top MP

Ratcliffe’s visit was the first known trip to Moscow by a CIA director since William Burns traveled there in November 2021. The last known face-to-face meeting between the CIA and SVR chiefs was in Ankara in November 2022, when Burns met Naryshkin to discuss nuclear escalation risks and detained US citizens.

The last publicly disclosed contact between Ratcliffe and a senior Russian official was a March 2025 phone call with SVR chief Sergey Naryshkin. The two sides agreed to maintain dialogue to “promote international stability and security” and reduce tensions between Moscow and Washington, the SVR said.

A six-year-old girl has been pulled alive from beneath mud and debris in Nepal, a video circulating online appears to show, three days after catastrophic flooding swept through northern parts of the country.

The flooding began on Wednesday after an ice-and-rock mass descended into the upper Bhote Koshi River, devastating communities downstream and along the Trishuli River, destroying homes, roads, bridges and energy infrastructure. The death toll has reached 734, while around 2,500 people remain missing, according to the country’s authorities.

The missing reportedly include 589 foreign nationals, 933 employees of hydropower projects and 85 security personnel, while 242 people have been injured, according to the authorities.

The worst affected areas were Chitwan district, where 259 people died, followed by Nawalparasi East with 184 deaths and Nawalparasi West with 82, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said, adding that the identification of bodies is ongoing at 21 hospitals across the country.

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Nearly 20,000 security personnel have been deployed for search-and-rescue operations. Using helicopters and ground teams, rescuers have so far saved 8,186 people, including 279 who had been trapped inside a hydropower tunnel and 227 foreign nationals, officials said.

The government has allocated more than a billion rupees (over $6.5 million) in aid for the affected areas, dispatched dozens of trucks carrying relief supplies and arranged air deliveries of food to communities cut off by the flooding.

On Saturday, the Russian Embassy in China said that eight Russians who had been in the disaster zone along the Nepal-China border were missing. Later on in the day, Nepal Tourism Board figures listed nine Russian nationals among those missing. Two have since been rescued, while seven remain unaccounted for.

On the Chinese side of the border, 16 people have died and 546 remain missing in Tibet’s Gyirong County, Chinese authorities said on Sunday. Among those unaccounted for are 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries. More than 2,100 rescue personnel have been deployed, while authorities have warned of further risks from unstable terrain and a newly formed barrier lake.

A TikTok streamer allegedly stabbed three men following a confrontation he broadcast near Amsterdam’s central railway station, local media have reported.

The incident occurred at around 7:30 PM on Saturday on De Ruijterkade, a waterfront road running behind Amsterdam Centraal station. Police believe an argument or fight preceded the stabbing.

Three men suffered non-life-threatening stab wounds. Two of them and the injured suspect were taken to hospital, while the third victim was treated at the scene.

Four ambulances, a Mobile Medical Team, and a specialist fire-service unit were dispatched following reports of the violence, the Dutch outlet 112 Nieuws Nederland reported. The road was temporarily closed while emergency services examined the scene.

Video circulating online shows a man livestreaming as an argument develops. He can apparently be heard saying in Dutch: “Bro, listen. I’m doing my thing,” before repeatedly telling members of the group not to touch him.

🇳🇱 A Black attacker livestreamed himself stabbing three people near Amsterdam Central Station this evening.

Four people, including the suspect, were taken to hospital.

Follow: @europa pic.twitter.com/P0lWEcMgLN

— Europa.com (@europa) August 30, 2026

“Alcohol does this,” he adds as tensions escalate. The recording shows pushing and punching, with at least one person falling to the ground. The streamer then places his phone nearby with its camera facing the group and approaches the men. The broadcast cuts off shortly afterward.

Vier gewonden bij #steekpartij op de Ruijterkade achterzijde centraal station #Amsterdam. Ook verdachte gewond en aangehouden door #politie. Plaats delict (PD) afgezet politieonderzoek. Vele hulpdiensten ter plaatsen. pic.twitter.com/4XqyOQDgbb

— Martin Damen (@martindamen58) August 29, 2026

Other recordings of the aftermath show several injured people lying on the pavement as bystanders attempt to help them. Police officers, ambulances, and other emergency personnel can later be seen arriving.

JUST IN: 4 people, including the suspect, stabbed behind Amsterdam Central Station following an argument; incident was reportedly filmed on TikTok Live. pic.twitter.com/BsRPxXUosm

— Scope Report (@ScopeReport_) August 29, 2026

The Dutch outlet VKMAG identified the streamer as Angelo Bryson, known online as Superhuman Unchained, and reported that the group involved comprised approximately six or seven men. Bryson was born on Sint Maarten in the 1980s and moved to Curaçao at age seven. At age 22 he moved to the Netherlands and became a personal trainer and competitive powerlifter.

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Official demographic and crime data in the Netherlands has long shown an overrepresentation of people with a Dutch Caribbean background in police suspect and conviction registries.

Police, meanwhile, have not officially disclosed the detainee’s identity or publicly established who inflicted the stab wounds. It also remains unclear whether those involved knew one another or what triggered the initial dispute.

Investigators have appealed for witnesses and anyone with relevant footage or information to come forward.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb has said that he doesn’t believe speculations that Russia is planning to attack NATO countries.

Russia has repeatedly rejected claims that it has aggressive designs against the bloc, saying that they are only made by Western politicians to distract the public from problems at home and justify growing military spending.

During his interview with the German tabloid Bild on Saturday, Stubb was asked to weigh in on the assessment by the Defense Ministry in Berlin that Russia could invade NATO territory by 2029.

“If someone had such a crystal ball – wonderful. But I just don’t see any evidence or facts for it,” he replied.

“First, I have intelligence findings. And secondly, we have a deterrence – and this deterrence is stronger than that of any other military power anywhere in the world,” the Finnish president added.

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Given NATO’s conventional forces, missile arsenals and nuclear weapons stockpiles, “it does not make sense for any power in the world to test the resolve of this alliance,” he said.

According to Stubb, Russia is also preoccupied with the Ukraine conflict.
“I simply don’t see that they could now suddenly mobilize forces for two fronts,” he noted.

“I’m not saying: ‘Relax.’ You should always prepare for the worst to prevent it,” the Finnish president said.

He accused Moscow of waging “information warfare” against the West, saying that “Russia wants us Europeans to sit here and discuss: Will Russia escalate?.. Will Russia attack NATO and Europe?”

Stubb again urged NATO to continue its support for Kiev amid the ongoing conflict with Moscow. Finland joined the bloc in 2023, abandoning its longstanding policy of neutrality.

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“We have to understand, you in Germany and we in Finland, that Ukraine is the best security guarantee we have against Russia. If Ukraine loses, we lose,” he argued.

Moscow maintains that a conflict with NATO is only possible if the bloc launches an aggression against Russia first.

Earlier this week, Moscow told the UK that its military facilities and equipment in Ukraine and beyond could become legitimate targets for Russia if Kiev continues to use British-supplied weapons for strikes on Russian territory.

Russian officials also previously warned that if Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania knowingly help to facilitate Ukrainian drone attacks against northwestern Russia, Moscow could consider them complicit in those actions and would have the right to self-defense under the UN Charter.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are close to stripping multiple left-wing nonprofits, including George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF), the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), of their tax-free status, the New York Post has reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened action against left-leaning charitable nonprofits and the OSF in particular, accusing them of fueling “violent protests” and damaging the country. The drive against the nonprofits picked up in the aftermath of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September last year, when Trump designated the loosely organized Antifa movement, backed by left-wing nonprofits, as a “domestic terrorist organization.”

At the time, US media reported that the US Department of Justice was pushing prosecutors to go after the OSF. The DoJ reportedly offered a range of potential charges to look into, including material support for terrorism, racketeering, arson and wire fraud. The foundation condemned the reported plans as “politically motivated attacks on civil society.”

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The renewed assault on the OSF and other nonprofits partially relies on a 2025 executive order signed by Trump that targeted nonprofits operating with a “substantial illegal purpose.” The Treasury is now preparing a major audit of the organizations suspected of abusing the US tax code, three sources told the Post.

The investigation also reportedly targets assorted anti-corporate and labor-aligned advocacy groups. Officials within the department were “like a dog with a bone” when it came to the probes, and many of the groups and their donors were already “on borrowed time,” one of the sources told the Post.

“There’s a lot of internal pressure to get it done, but some people are still moving too slowly at the IRS,” the source said. “That is expected to change very soon.”

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The administration’s offensive against the nonprofits, however, could trigger a massive wave of lawsuits and potentially lose momentum before yielding any results, the sources warned. The reported concerns specifically apply to groups suspected of being linked to foreign terrorist organizations, namely CAIR.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration took action against three organizations based in Europe, including two pro-Palestinian groups, designating them as transnational terrorists. Palestine Action and Masar Badil, as well as Autistici/Inventati, which provides free digital tools to left-wing activists worldwide, are now subject to US State Department sanctions.

READ MORE: US blacklists Palestine Action as terrorist group

Trump’s campaign against the perceived “resurgence of far-left political terrorism” in the US and beyond has been repeatedly criticized by various parties. Those on the receiving end have accused the American president of unjustified political persecution, while independent experts have suggested that the US administration may have been disproportionately targeting left-wingers while ignoring right-wing extremism.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are close to stripping multiple left-wing nonprofits, including George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF), the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), of their tax-free status, the New York Post has reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened action against left-leaning charitable nonprofits and the OSF in particular, accusing them of fueling “violent protests” and damaging the country. The drive against the nonprofits picked up in the aftermath of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September last year, when Trump designated the loosely organized Antifa movement, backed by left-wing nonprofits, as a “domestic terrorist organization.”

At the time, US media reported that the US Department of Justice was pushing prosecutors to go after the OSF. The DoJ reportedly offered a range of potential charges to look into, including material support for terrorism, racketeering, arson and wire fraud. The foundation condemned the reported plans as “politically motivated attacks on civil society.”

Read more

The renewed assault on the OSF and other nonprofits partially relies on a 2025 executive order signed by Trump that targeted nonprofits operating with a “substantial illegal purpose.” The Treasury is now preparing a major audit of the organizations suspected of abusing the US tax code, three sources told the Post.

The investigation also reportedly targets assorted anti-corporate and labor-aligned advocacy groups. Officials within the department were “like a dog with a bone” when it came to the probes, and many of the groups and their donors were already “on borrowed time,” one of the sources told the Post.

“There’s a lot of internal pressure to get it done, but some people are still moving too slowly at the IRS,” the source said. “That is expected to change very soon.”

Read more

The administration’s offensive against the nonprofits, however, could trigger a massive wave of lawsuits and potentially lose momentum before yielding any results, the sources warned. The reported concerns specifically apply to groups suspected of being linked to foreign terrorist organizations, namely CAIR.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration took action against three organizations based in Europe, including two pro-Palestinian groups, designating them as transnational terrorists. Palestine Action and Masar Badil, as well as Autistici/Inventati, which provides free digital tools to left-wing activists worldwide, are now subject to US State Department sanctions.

READ MORE: US blacklists Palestine Action as terrorist group

Trump’s campaign against the perceived “resurgence of far-left political terrorism” in the US and beyond has been repeatedly criticized by various parties. Those on the receiving end have accused the American president of unjustified political persecution, while independent experts have suggested that the US administration may have been disproportionately targeting left-wingers while ignoring right-wing extremism.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s eldest son Yair has been secretly flown out of the US following a “significant threat” to his life, according to the country’s security agency, Shin Bet.

The revelation comes days after Netanyahu himself claimed in a telephone interview with Israel’s Channel 14 that Iran had “tried to murder” one of his sons, without specifying which one or providing any details of the alleged plot.

“There was a significant threat to harm Yair Netanyahu, and in light of this and after an assessment, a decision was made to urgently extract him along with his security team and return him to Israel,” Shin Bet said in a statement on Saturday, without disclosing the nature of the threat or when exactly the operation took place.

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Israeli intelligence allegedly uncovered a plot against Yair in December last year, an unnamed US law-enforcement source told Newsmax on Wednesday.

To carry out the operation, Shin Bet reassigned agents who had been protecting Israeli President Isaac Herzog in New York at the time, according to Channel 12.

Iranian operatives allegedly monitored his residence and movements. Yair, who had spent several years in the US and enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle there, was ordered to leave immediately and returned to Israel, allegedly without even collecting his belongings.

His prolonged stay abroad attracted scrutiny at home, particularly after the October 2023 Hamas attack, as many questioned why he remained overseas while hundreds of thousands of Israeli reservists were summoned for a retaliatory military operation in Gaza.

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In July, Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, and their two sons were granted expanded taxpayer-funded protection, prompting further public and political controversy.

The news comes as Netanyahu’s coalition faces a difficult reelection campaign in the wake of the stalled war with Iran. The conflict began in late February with joint US-Israeli strikes on Tehran that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and four members of his family, including his daughter Boshra and his 14-month-old granddaughter Zahra.

Khamenei’s son Mojtaba, who was named the new supreme leader a week later, has pledged to “avenge the blood” of his father. Tehran, however, has not commented on or claimed responsibility for the alleged assassination plot against Netanyahu’s son.

Israel continued attacks across southern Lebanon on Saturday, carrying out airstrikes, artillery shelling and demolitions, while Tehran pledged continued support for the country amid stalled negotiations over an IDF withdrawal.

Most of the day’s attacks were concentrated in Nabatieh Province, RT’s Lebanon correspondent Steve Sweeney said. Two explosions were reported near Aita al-Jabal, while Israeli drones carried out two strikes on Nabatieh al-Fawqa on Saturday morning. Israeli forces separately set fire to homes in Beit Yahoun.

The latest strikes came two days after an Israeli attack on Arab Salim killed 28-year-old Saja Sharara just 48 hours after her wedding, according to Sweeney, who recently visited the southern Lebanese village. Six others were wounded, including a child, a woman, and two elderly people.

Israel, however, said Thursday’s strikes followed the launch of two Hezbollah drones toward Israeli troops. 

The escalation comes as Tehran reaffirms its support for Lebanon. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Sheikh Ali al-Khatib, vice president of Lebanon’s Higher Shiite Islamic Council, in Tehran on Friday. According to Lebanese L’Orient Today, Khatib described a deteriorating situation in the south, saying many displaced residents had exhausted their savings and had been left without homes or work. He appealed in particular for financial assistance for affected communities.

Araghchi said Tehran was working to revive the US-Iran memorandum of understanding signed in June, the first clause of which called for an end to Israeli attacks on Lebanon. He argued that implementing the agreement remained the way to resolve the crisis, while acknowledging that “the circumstances are difficult,” as cited by L’Orient Today.

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The memorandum followed a renewed escalation between Israel and Hezbollah after the latter resumed attacks two days after the US-Iran war began on February 28. Hezbollah said its operation was retaliation for the killing of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Hezbollah says it has observed the ceasefire reached under the subsequent US-Iran agreement. Israel, however, has continued strikes and demolitions in southern Lebanon and currently occupies more than 600 square kilometers of Lebanese territory.

Beirut and Israel have meanwhile been holding direct negotiations aimed at securing an Israeli withdrawal and ending the hostilities. Another round is reportedly expected in Rome in September, but progress has been limited.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has branded OpenAI bosses “utterly untrustworthy assholes” after the company announced plans to withdraw its artificial intelligence models from Cursor following the coding platform’s acquisition by SpaceX.

Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with its current CEO Sam Altman, President Greg Brockman, and several other developers and researchers, left the company three years later over its direction and has since been locked in a bitter public and legal feud with its leadership.

Earlier this month, SpaceX completed its $60 billion acquisition of Anysphere, the developer of Cursor, which provides programmers with access to AI models from several companies.

On Friday, OpenAI abruptly announced that it intends to end Cursor users’ access to its models, with a “proposed shutoff date” of November 12. The company said it could not be confident that “SpaceX will use our technology within our terms of service, based on our experience with Elon Musk’s companies violating contracts.”

I couldn’t care less. Scam Altman and Greg Stockman are utterly untrustworthy assholes who stole an open source nonprofit.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 29, 2026

“I couldn’t care less. Scam Altman and Greg Stockman are utterly untrustworthy assholes who stole an open source nonprofit,” Musk wrote on X on Saturday.

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OpenAI models account for about 5% of Cursor’s user traffic, according to co-founder Michael Truell, who said the company was in talks with OpenAI to resolve the dispute. He noted that Cursor had been one of OpenAI’s earliest customers and said it had trusted the company’s platform to remain “neutral infrastructure” for its business.

OpenAI said its agreement with Cursor allows it to cancel the contract within a limited period following a change of control, although it has not accused Cursor itself of violating its terms.

Anthropic, one of OpenAI’s main rivals, quickly moved to capitalize on the dispute, saying it would increase computing capacity to support its Claude models on Cursor following the cutoff announcement.

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Musk, who initially invested an estimated $38 million in the venture, sued OpenAI in 2024, alleging that he had been misled into funding it on the understanding that it would remain a nonprofit. The company, now valued at about $850 billion, has since restructured, with its nonprofit parent retaining control of and a stake in its for-profit arm, which operates ChatGPT.

During court proceedings, Musk accused OpenAI of breaking that founding commitment by adopting a profit-driven model and accepting a $13 billion investment from Microsoft. The billionaire has repeatedly accused Altman of having “stolen a charity” and described himself as a “fool” for providing the company with early financial support.

In May, a US federal jury rejected Musk’s claims, finding that he had waited too long to bring the case and had missed the statutory deadline. Musk has pledged to appeal the verdict.

The US could use nuclear weapons against Iran after failing to topple its leadership with conventional means, former presidential counterterrorism adviser Joe Kent has told podcaster Tucker Carlson.

In April, US President Donald Trump threatened that Iran’s “whole civilization will die” unless Tehran agreed to Washington’s demands. Trump has since repeatedly issued similar threats, saying that US forces could obliterate the country’s civilian infrastructure, including power plants and bridges.

Appearing on Carlson’s show on Friday, Kent described the nuclear option as realistic, saying that “we would be fools to think that this couldn’t happen here, in this current scenario, especially as the [Trump] administration scrambles for a way out.”

How close are we to nuclear war? According to Joe Kent, a lot closer than you think.

0:00 Monologue
23:19 Are We Heading Toward Nuclear War?
26:51 What Does Unconditional Surrender Actually Mean?
30:23 Should Trump Be Impeached?
36:24 Israel's Escalation Into Lebanon and… pic.twitter.com/g7zkjzWezY

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 28, 2026

He noted that Trump has failed to achieve any of his constantly shifting objectives in the conflict with Iran, despite employing the whole gamut of US military and economic capabilities.

According to Kent, if Washington is still intent on removing the Iranian leadership from power and forcing it into a “total surrender,” there are only two options left at Trump’s disposal: a full-scale ground operation or a nuclear strike.

The former is “not feasible whatsoever,” given Iran’s vast territory and population, Kent told Carlson.

“If you just play out the scenario for long enough, you arrive at weapons of mass destruction, you know, fairly quickly,” Kent claimed. He speculated that Washington could hypothetically opt for a limited nuclear strike on underground uranium enrichment facilities tucked away in Iran’s mountainous areas.

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The US abruptly suspended its most recent wave of strikes on Iran late last month, amid media reports that the Pentagon has largely depleted its stockpiles of high-precision munitions and interceptor missiles.

Trump and several other senior US officials have vehemently denied claims of ammunition shortages, insisting that the Pentagon has plenty of munitions at its disposal.

However, in an apparent shift in tactics, the US president announced last week the start of a “CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION” against Iran, which he dubbed the “ECONOMIC D-DAY.”

Several days later, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled a slew of new sanctions against Tehran, targeting nearly 60 entities, individuals, and vessels in multiple jurisdictions, including 21 based in China.

The secretary explained that the US was aiming to make Iran an “economic outcast” by penalizing countries that refuse to sever economic ties.

“Any entity that facilitates money laundering on behalf of Iran will be removed from the US dollar system,” he warned during a press conference on Monday.

Icelanders have turned out in unusually large numbers to decide whether to reopen accession talks with the European Union, with the founding NATO member split almost exactly down the middle over its future relationship with Brussels.

Polling stations closed at 10pm local time on Saturday, with the first results expected later in the night. The outcome remained too close to call, with the final opinion polls showing the two camps virtually deadlocked.

Interest in the referendum has been exceptionally high. More than 63,000 people – close to a quarter of the electorate – had already cast advance ballots by Friday night. Turnout on election day was also running ahead of the 2024 parliamentary election in parts of Reykjavík.

The ballot asks voters a single question: “Should Iceland resume accession negotiations with the European Union?”

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A “yes” would not automatically make Iceland an EU member. It would restart negotiations abandoned more than a decade ago, with any eventual membership agreement expected to be put to voters in a second referendum. The vote itself is legally advisory, although Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir has pledged to respect the result.

The campaign went down to the wire. A final Maskína survey put the “yes” camp at 50.4% and “no” at 49.6%, while a Gallup poll shortly beforehand showed essentially the reverse picture, with opponents narrowly ahead.

Iceland first applied to join the EU in 2009 after its devastating banking collapse and began negotiations the following year. The process was suspended after a change of government in 2013 and effectively abandoned in 2015 as the economy recovered and enthusiasm for surrendering powers to Brussels faded.

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Supporters of restarting the talks have argued that closer EU integration could bring greater economic and currency stability and give Iceland more influence over rules it already adopts through the European Economic Area. The country is also part of the Schengen zone and deeply integrated into European markets.

Opponents have focused heavily on sovereignty, agriculture and, above all, Iceland’s fishing grounds, warning that eventual membership could subject the strategically vital industry to the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy.

The geopolitical argument has also loomed unusually large. Frostadottir’s allies have portrayed the EU as additional protection in an increasingly unstable world, particularly after US President Donald Trump’s threats to take control of neighboring Greenland.

Euroskeptics, meanwhile, have argued that Brussels itself is becoming increasingly militarized and confrontational. Iceland is already a founding NATO member and maintains extensive military ties with Washington.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are close to stripping multiple left-wing nonprofits, including George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF), the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), of their tax-free status, the New York Post has reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened action against left-leaning charitable nonprofits and the OSF in particular, accusing them of fueling “violent protests” and damaging the country. The drive against the nonprofits picked up in the aftermath of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September last year, when Trump designated the loosely organized Antifa movement, backed by left-wing nonprofits, as a “domestic terrorist organization.”

At the time, US media reported that the US Department of Justice was pushing prosecutors to go after the OSF. The DoJ reportedly offered a range of potential charges to look into, including material support for terrorism, racketeering, arson and wire fraud. The foundation condemned the reported plans as “politically motivated attacks on civil society.”

Read more

The renewed assault on the OSF and other nonprofits partially relies on a 2025 executive order signed by Trump that targeted nonprofits operating with a “substantial illegal purpose.” The Treasury is now preparing a major audit of the organizations suspected of abusing the US tax code, three sources told the Post.

The investigation also reportedly targets assorted anti-corporate and labor-aligned advocacy groups. Officials with the department were “like a dog with a bone” when it came to the probes, and many of the groups and their donors were already “on borrowed time,” one of the sources told the Post.

“There’s a lot of internal pressure to get it done, but some people are still moving too slowly at the IRS,” the source said. “That is expected to change very soon.”

Read more

The administration’s offensive against the nonprofits, however, could trigger a massive wave of lawsuits and potentially lose momentum before yielding any results, the sources warned. The reported concerns specifically apply to groups suspected of being linked to foreign terrorist organizations, namely CAIR.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration took action against three organizations based in Europe, including two pro-Palestinian groups, designating them as transnational terrorists. Palestine Action and Masar Badil, as well as Autistici/Inventati, which provides free digital tools to left-wing activists worldwide, are now subject to US State Department sanctions.

READ MORE: US blacklists Palestine Action as terrorist group

Trump’s campaign against the perceived “resurgence of far-left political terrorism” in the US and beyond has been repeatedly criticized by various parties. Those on the receiving end have accused Trump of unjustified political persecution, while independent experts have suggested that the US administration may have been disproportionately targeting left-wingers while ignoring right-wing extremism.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Baden-Wurttemberg Governor Cem Ozdemir have called for the opposition Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to be banned. The two establishment politicians claim that the country’s most popular party poses a threat to Germany’s constitutional order and democracy.

The AfD is the largest opposition force in the Bundestag and enjoys the support of 28% of respondents, according to recent surveys.

The right-wing party advocates tougher immigration controls while also calling for an end to Germany’s green policies. It is also highly critical of Berlin’s support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.

In an opinion piece published by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Friday, Pistorius and Ozdemir drew parallels between the modern-day AfD and Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist party.

“Today, we are once again facing a threat to democracy from the extreme right,” the politicians, who represent the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green Party, respectively, claimed.

In making their case for outlawing the right-wing party, Pistorius and Ozdemir argued that a powerful faction within the AfD espouses the idea of ‘remigration’, thus calling into question the “inviolability of human dignity” enshrined in the German constitution.

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“We cannot confront ethnic nationalist ideology through political debate. That would be naive,” the authors wrote.

“A legal review of the constitutionality of a political party is warranted when it calls into question and threatens the continued existence of our democracy,” Pistorius and Ozdemir stated.

The two also took issue with the AfD’s supposedly “pro-Russian stance,” describing it as a “security risk.” The opposition party’s calls for Germany to withdraw from the European Union, the Eurozone, and NATO are equally “dangerous,” according to the article.

While acknowledging the AfD’s rising popularity, Pistorius and Ozdemir argued that widespread public support for the party is another reason why it should be banned outright.

Voting for the opposition party out of dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs in Germany is no excuse, the authors argued.

“The undeniable radicalization of the AfD makes it impossible to claim ignorance of who one is voting for,” they wrote.

At present, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency classifies the AfD as a ‘suspected right-wing extremist’ entity – a designation that gives the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) powers to surveil the party and its members. In several regions, local AfD chapters have been subjected to even wider monitoring.

Meanwhile, an INSA poll published by Bild earlier this month showed that support for Germany’s governing Christian Democratic CDU/CSU bloc had fallen to 20%, with some 78% of respondents dissatisfied with Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition government, which also includes the Social Democrats.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has summoned Ukraine’s ambassador after two Turkish-operated vessels were attacked in the Black Sea, raising concerns over the safety of civilian shipping in the waterway.

The incidents occurred earlier this week off the Russian port of Tuapse. On Wednesday, the cargo ship Lider Bordo Mavi was hit by at least three Ukrainian drones, leaving five crew members injured and setting the vessel ablaze.

The following day, another vessel, the Lider Kocatepe, was dispatched to assist the damaged ship. It came under drone attack en route, sustaining damage and forcing it to return to the Turkish port of Samsun.

Kiev’s envoy to Ankara, Naryman Dzhelialov, was summoned on Saturday. During the meeting, Turkish diplomats conveyed their concerns over the incidents and the safety of navigation in the Black Sea.

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“During the meeting, Türkiye warned about the absolute need to ensure the safety of people, of assets, of navigation, and of the environment in the Black Sea,” the ministry said in a statement.

In recent weeks, Kiev has stepped up attacks on civilian shipping, attacking vessels heading to and from Russian ports and repeatedly striking Turkish-linked ships. Moscow has mounted a retaliatory campaign against Ukrainian military-linked shipping, heavily disrupting the country’s Black Sea ports and effectively bringing all marine traffic to a halt. The retaliatory strikes have reportedly affected Turkish-linked vessels as well. 

Ankara has repeatedly raised concerns over the situation, urging both sides to stop the ongoing strikes. Early in August, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called for a “moratorium” on such attacks. “The conflict has spread across the whole Black Sea,” he said at the time, claiming that both Moscow and Kiev have been “attacking all commercial shipping without distinction.”

RT: It is well known that the United States has stationed nuclear weapons in NATO countries in Europe since the 1950s as part of a nuclear‑exchange programme. Why has the issue of removing US nuclear weapons from the region become a matter of fundamental importance at this moment?

Andrey Belousov: First and foremost, it must be noted that the problem of US nuclear weapons on the territory of European states and Turkiye has long been the subject of bilateral meetings on strategic stability, including at the beginning of the mid‑1990s. For the record, under presidential initiatives in the early 1990s, Russia reduced its non‑strategic nuclear arsenal four‑fold and kept the remainder at central storage bases.

We could reasonably expect symmetrical moves from the United States. Yet the actions taken by the US in the early 2000s – such as the withdrawal of nuclear weapons from Greece and the United Kingdom, and partially from Italy and Germany – seemed more like a tactical concession or a trick, without changing the military‑political context in Europe. After all, the US nuclear weapons withdrawal from Greece was fully compensated by their presence in Turkiye, and those withdrawn from the UK were replaced by its own nuclear arsenal of the United Kingdom – which is the main and most important ally, strategic ally of the United States.

In contrast, the measures taken to remove and reduce US nuclear weapons in Italy and Germany did not significantly enhance security, trust, or predictability, because the practice of US nuclear weapons in Europe and joint NATO nuclear missions continued unchanged. In short, if we keep talking about this, we must remember that at that time the United States consistently followed a line to enhance its strategic capabilities, primarily through the implementation of plans and programmes not directly related to strengthening its nuclear potential, most of which was under the arms‑control bans at the time – Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

By the mid‑1990s, the US began implementing its Global Missile Defence configuration, which envisaged deploying one of its segments – the third positional sector – in Europe. At the same time, the concept of a global lightning‑strike was being implemented, under which the US could use non‑nuclear strategic carriers to strike any target anywhere on Earth.

We should also mention the development of new nuclear delivery systems and, finally, a programme to create laser anti‑satellite air‑based systems. This also included the development of heavy strike UAVs that, by their technical characteristics, fell under the criteria of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty,   but were not covered by it. It was also  a key element of enhancing US strategic capacity.

Accordingly, during that period of reshaping strategic stability from a military‑security view, Russia’s priority was to mitigate the risks and threats that could arise from the execution of the projects and programmes I mentioned. It does not mean that the issue of US non‑strategic nuclear weapons in Europe fell out of Russian diplomatic focus, let alone the Russian military, which could not ignore this problem in its defensive planning.

As tensions with the United States and its satellites increased, Russia sharpened the issue of removing American nuclear weapons from Europe, and the complete withdrawal of that armament from European territory to national territory.

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Today, however, we live in entirely different, more complex and dangerous conditions. The United States, with the support of its closest partners and allies, has disintegrated the system of arms‑control agreements on nuclear disarmament. The very important treaty on missile defence, essential for strategic stability, has been discarded. The removal of political and international‑law restrictions on the unchecked buildup of nuclear arsenals, together with Washington’s steps to create a missile‑defence system for the country combining land, sea, air and space segments – now all under the “Golden Dome for America” programme – coupled with the deep modernisation of U.S. nuclear potential, upgrading nuclear warheads and creating new carrier systems for intermediate‑ and shorter‑range missiles, has led to a radical deterioration of the military‑political situation both regionally and globally.

Naturally, this has had a profoundly negative impact on the strategic environment.In fact, the negative factors are not limitк ed to the present situation. Factors that must be considered in analysing the current modern context also include NATO’s provocative positioning as a nuclear alliance and the continuous attempts of member states to expand that alliance eastward. Moreover, plans for advanced and extended deterrence, and the expansion and deepening of NATO’s joint nuclear missions, are increasingly being implemented. All of this must be considered together to understand the environment in which we live now.

And, undoubtedly, these aspects compel us to give enhanced attention, during this historical period, to the non‑strategic US nuclear weapons deployed in Europe, as well as those of US allies in NATO – France and the United Kingdom. As a result, in the current conditions the factor of the total nuclear arsenal or the combined nuclear potential in the region takes on special importance in Russia’s military‑security context. The involvement of new states, NATO’s schemes for practising nuclear usage and discussing the possibility of deploying such weapons on their territory, and the introduction of new multifunctional aircraft platforms as delivery systems, increase the threat to Russia. The reason is that nuclear warheads can be moved quickly and covertly from permanent locations to points from which their use could have the greatest effect, including an attack on strategically important targets in the European part of Russia.

To summarise, I would like to note that all of this confirms that the European component of US nuclear forces, as well as the nuclear weapons of its allies, is designated for carrying out strategic objectives specifically, which poses critical risks for our country. This compels us to a corresponding military‑technical response. On the diplomatic front, our current efforts are focused on sparking an international discussion on the extremely destabilising nature of NATO’s joint nuclear mission practice, and on encouraging the United States to take steps toward removing its nuclear weapons from Europe.

RT: Andrey Ivanovich, what arguments, in your view, could persuade the American side and European countries alike to agree to remove this weapon?

Andrey Belousov: Here we can offer an entire battery of arguments – political, diplomatic, military, economic, international‑law and even historical in nature – grounded in the present state of inter‑state relations and the overall military‑political environment in the world.

The core of our arguments is, in principle, well known, because it is based on our doctrinal documents, our foreign‑policy concept, the fundamentals of national‑security strategy and military doctrine. Most of them relate to the fact that the international community is essentially faced with a choice: will inter‑state relations continue to develop in a confrontational paradigm that threatens a direct armed conflict between nuclear powers and the use of nuclear weapons, or will prudence prevail among our opponents, allowing the leading powers to reach an agreement on concrete joint measures to prevent escalation and avert a catastrophic scenario for the entire world?

Obviously, unlike our opponents and most Western countries, Russia does not stand at a crossroads. We have repeatedly expressed, at various levels and on different international platforms – including the UN – our readiness to cooperate with all interested states to maintain peace, strengthen regional security, and ensure strategic stability. Moreover, our statements are regularly reinforced by concrete initiatives. Recall that one of the founding principles of Russia’s foreign‑policy course in international and regional security remains the principle of equal and indivisible security. A key part of that principle is the non‑acceptance of a situation in which one state or a group of states creates comfortable conditions for itself – or a privileged status – at the expense of lowering the security level or damaging the security of other states.

From that widely recognised principle, which is set out in a host of international multilateral documents, Russia has recently put forward a whole set of key initiatives. These include proposals for the United States and its NATO allies to introduce a mutual moratorium on the deployment of intermediate and shorter range missiles. Another initiative, launched in late 2021 and early 2022, was the establishment of a security guarantee on the western front in the form of an agreement with the United States and NATO allies. Yet another initiative was a proposal, unfortunately still unrealised, to convene a summit of heads of state, the United Nations Security Council’s permanent members, to discuss urgent problems in international security. Among the latest proposals is the one put forward by Russian President Vladimir Putin on September twenty second of last year to preserve the legacy of the START Treaty through voluntary limits.

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It is obvious that if these initiatives were implemented they would act as deterrents, contributing to the prevention of a new arms race and creating favourable conditions for the renewal of strategic dialogue between Russia and the United States, with the prospect of involving other nuclear powers. Unfortunately, most of our ideas were either rejected, received no adequate response, or were simply ignored. The only exception, perhaps, was the initiative to have leaders of the nuclear powers sign a joint declaration on preventing nuclear war and halting the nuclear arms race, which was carried out on January third 2022. Yet even this document is not clearly worded. In terms of practical implementation and compliance with its provisions by Western states, the matter largely remains at the level of empty declarations, which raises serious concerns and deep disappointment.

In short, our opponents – primarily in Europe – must decide where we are headed next. In that context, it is far more important to bring forward arguments that are conditioned by the course of the historical process associated with establishing a new multipolar world order in which the imperative is the abandonment of global dominance by any one state or bloc of states. The new system of geopolitical coordinates, in whose formation Russia actively participates, does not allow perpetual escalation, the accumulation of unresolved contradictions critical to international security, or the further erosion of trust between the emerging centres of power, whose dangerous balance risks armed conflict. Furthermore, this system of coordinates does not allow continuous fuelling of a conflict‑generating potential in international relations and an uncontrolled arms race. It is also unacceptable, in a new world order, to create security systems aimed at a single state or predicated on bloc‑based confrontation. Rather, the new order dictates the necessity for mutually beneficial cooperation and constructive collaboration between states.

The quest, above all, is for political‑diplomatic solutions to the most urgent regional and global problems, strict adherence to the fundamental principles of the UN, the goals and tasks of the global community, respect for international law, and the recognition by every member of the international community of its responsibility for the fate of the world and international security.

RT: how could these negotiations – and the withdrawal of the weapons themselves – be organized if, in an optimistic scenario, the US side agreed with this position?

Andrey Belousov: That’s a very interesting question. At this point the organizational aspects of such negotiations, or even the procedure for removing US weapons from Europe, are secondary. The key issue now is Washington’s unwillingness to find a principled agreement to discuss this problem with a view of reaching any real agreement on the matter. What is needed is an openness to start and conduct negotiations without tying them to the question of Russia’s non‑strategic nuclear weapons, which, unlike US weapons of this class that can be used operationally against our country, do not pose a direct strategic threat to US territory.

It is obvious that Washington’s attempts to initiate a dialogue on our non‑strategic nuclear arsenal serve a single purpose – shifting the international community’s focus away from the danger posed by US nuclear weapons in Europe, and more broadly, from the missile‑nuclear programs and plans that Washington is implementing. Speaking of that danger, it cannot be overlooked that Washington’s persistence in trying to launch discussions about Russia’s non‑strategic nuclear weapons – those that do not threaten US territory – at various multilateral disarmament forums repeatedly suggests that US military strategists are seriously considering the possibility of using nuclear weapons on the European theater of operations. In fact, Europe is being viewed as a probable military theater.

Obtaining, through negotiations or discussions on strategic stability, objective data on Russia’s non‑strategic nuclear weapons via the implementation of some intrusive transparency practices – or reducing or even completely eliminating them – would increase the likelihood of a scenario in which the US and its European allies use nuclear weapons. I hope Europe will recognize the danger of such a strictly operational‑planning approach that Washington adopts toward the territory of its allies.

In a principled sense, regarding the conditions for launching any substantive US dialogue, there are three points that must be understood. First, what must precede such negotiations? Our country’s leadership – and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs – has repeatedly stated their position on this issue. Our delegations have mentioned it both in the First Committee of the UN General Assembly and at the recently held 11th Conference on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. To create a favorable climate for starting US negotiations, it is essential that they first, not in words but in action – declaratively and through concrete steps – demonstrate that they are ready to irreversibly abandon an anti‑Russian course and to resolve the most critical issues in international security together with us, starting with the elimination of fundamental contradictions and the root causes of the current crisis in interstate relations, and ending with questions of arms control, disarmament, and non‑proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Second, it is important to understand what the nature of the negotiations should be. We have always and continue to insist on a mutually respectful dialogue built on trust and the consideration of all participants’ interests. It is unacceptable for Russia to be subjected to fabricated claims and unsubstantiated demands, or for the discussion to be conducted in the style of an ultimatum. The conversation must be substantive and equal, with both sides fully aware of the danger of rising tension, loss of trust, the degradation of bilateral relations, and of their individual and collective responsibility for humanity’s future.

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Third, the content of the negotiations and their ultimate goal. Russia rejects mere performative speeches that, under the pretext of making the world safer, drag us into another propaganda campaign aimed at enhancing the US image or maintaining its reputation at our expense or that of our close partners and allies.

In the strategic sphere, for us a constructive dialogue aimed at achieving long‑term and indisputable agreements on the entire complex of factors affecting strategic stability is crucial. Removing some specific, extremely technical issues from the interdependent framework of the sector will not help move forward or achieve the required agreements and understandings.

Another important point I would like to emphasize concerns the nature and content of the dialogue: we will never, under any circumstances, start a serious conversation on US terms only to make an effort to address American security issues. The starting point of any strategic‑stability negotiations must be a clear recognition of the inviolability of the principle of equal and indivisible security, and no exceptions can be made from strict adherence to this principle.

RT: Nevertheless, American media outlets are reporting a potential expansion of the number of participants in the program. What risks and threats could such plans create, given that among European countries Poland – and the Baltic states as well – have expressed interest in hosting U.S. weapons?

Andrey Belousov: It is a very important issue from the standpoint of our country’s security, and essentially it concerns maintaining strategic balance and strategic stability. In answering the first question, I already partially addressed your question, which touches on this issue.

The involvement of an ever‑growing number of NATO member states in schemes that envisage the practical use of nuclear weapons against Russia primarily is fully in line with NATO’s nuclear status and the logic of the trans‑Atlantic linkage, whose key element today is precisely nuclear dimension. Securing a nuclear status for NATO is not merely a declaration or a sign lacking substance or implying any action. On the contrary, one must clearly understand that such a status is concrete. It means that nuclear weapons, their possible use, and the concept of nuclear deterrence – as understood by the military‑political establishment of NATO and the European Union states – have become a fundamental means by which westerners ensure their security.

It is important to note that the security views of Europe’s current elites differ sharply from the narratives and concepts we tried to align with the West and jointly implement at the end of the last century and at the beginning of this one. The main distinction lies in our opponents refusal to create a security architecture in Europe together with Russia in favor of attempts to build a regional security system aimed at our country. The results of this radical shift – so to speak – are now evident.

Currently, the minds of our Western opponents, under significant influence, are shaped by a new view of how regional and international security should be ensured, induced by pressure from the United States. The concept of “peace through force,” which seems long out of date and paradoxical at its core but is actively promoted by Washington, has been adopted.

Returning to the question of involving ever more states in joint nuclear missions and expanded, now even advanced, deterrence schemes, we again note that this process fully fits within the logic of the aforementioned approach. More importantly, the “peace through force” concept is in sharp contradiction with the rapidly accelerating and now irreversible process of the emergence of a multipolar world order. Western states collectively, fearing the loss of their leadership and dominant position in the world, strive to preserve it by any means. When political and economic measures fail, they repeatedly resort to the tried‑and‑true method of creating a real military threat to their global competitors, backed by continuous modernization and unrestricted buildup of military potential, developing new means and methods of warfare.

Thus they bet on overwhelming military superiority, which requires mastering and implementing the most advanced scientific‑technical achievements. This is precisely what the United States and its closest allies are doing now. After all, the practice of joint nuclear missions, and indeed the rehearsal of any other combat systems, is no longer carried out with outdated technology or the old algorithms and tactics developed in the 1950s and 60s. It is executed at a completely new technological level that would guarantee indisputable advantages both on the local theater of operations and in large‑scale conflicts.

The drive to obtain overwhelming military advantage largely through the modernization and scaling of nuclear potential – in which NATO states are involved – leads to a breach of strategic balance and creates risks and threats to our country’s defense and security. Accelerated Western implementation of such nuclear plans, with active assistance from allies, will bring about the most severe consequences in the military‑political and strategic spheres. One such consequence could be a new arms race, not limited to nuclear weapons.

RT: What could Russia’s potential response to such actions look like?

Andrey Belousov: Regarding countermeasures, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement on the expiry of the New START Treaty on February fourth unambiguously notes that the parties to the treaty are free to decide on subsequent steps. Yet, our country intends to act responsibly and prudently, charting its line on strategic offensive arms based on a thorough analysis of the overall situation – the analysis of US military policy and the overall strategic environment – which, among other things, includes the actions of American allies.

We are talking about a combination of political‑diplomatic and military‑technical compensatory measures aimed at maintaining strategic balance and mitigating potential additional threats to Russia’s military security.

EU gas storage is now at one of the lowest seasonal levels on record, with the shortfall feeding a “winter panic” among traders amid the Iran war and Brussels’s continued push to phase out Russian energy, according to The Guardian.

EU gas stocks are at around 64% as of Friday, far below the 80% average maintained during this season over the past several years, according to the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG).

For comparison, EU stocks were at about 66% on August 29, 2021, and around 72% on the same date in 2013, although the fill level typically drops much lower in winter months when consumption is high.

As for the country breakdown, German gas storage is only slightly above 50% capacity, while the Netherlands is at around 45% and Belgium around 50%, according to recent GIE readings.

READ MORE: This is how the energy economy actually works – and why the EU can’t grasp it

Officials in the Netherlands in particular have complained that they expect to miss their planned winter targets, and are blaming sluggish injections and poor commercial incentives for traders to buy gas now and store it for winter.

Meanwhile, the UK’s facilities are only at around 30% capacity, although the country has historically relied more on continuous imports than storage.

Amid the crunch, natural gas prices have risen above €66 ($76) per megawatt-hour, more than double from levels earlier in the year, according to the Trading Economics website.

READ MORE: Loss of cheap energy harmed EU economy – von der Leyen

Speaking to The Guardian, Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB, remarked that the market had “stayed relatively calm” this summer, hoping that the traffic through the Strait of Hormuz will normalize.

However, now “no one expects it to happen any time soon,” he said, adding: “As a result, the European natural gas market has run into a bit of a winter panic over the past week.”

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The weak storage position leaves the market more exposed to cold weather, low wind generation and unforeseen supply disruptions. Gas analyst Greg Molnar told the paper that “low storage levels are naturally increasing the risk of heightened winter price volatility.”

The immediate pressure comes from the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz that disrupted Qatari LNG exports. While Qatar supplied only 6.6% of LNG to the EU in the first quarter of 2026 – compared to the 57% supplied by the US – the Middle East conflict has intensified competition between European and Asian buyers for energy, prompting a rally in gas prices.

The shortfall also comes as the EU maintains sweeping sanctions on Moscow and has vowed to wean itself of Russian energy. While Russia provided around 45% of EU gas imports in 2021, its share had dropped to only about 12% by 2025.

After the EU imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in 2022, it endured one of the worst energy crises in decades. Gas prices exploded to more than €300 per megawatt-hour, hitting industry and consumers alike, with EU countries reeling from soaring inflation and costs of living.

When the EU began cutting its dependence on oil and gas from Russia following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested that the bloc was on a “suicidal” course and was “shooting itself in the head.”

Warsaw should stop giving Ukraine free weapons as long as it glorifies Nazi collaborators responsible for massacring Poles, a member of the European Parliament has said.

Earlier this week, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky again called upon Kiev’s foreign backers to provide more Patriot missiles, citing an acute shortage of air defense munitions amid intensifying Russian strikes on military-related targets across the country.

Polish Deputy Defense Minister Pawel Zalewski told Ukrainian media on Thursday that Warsaw was ready to cooperate with Kiev on the production of Patriot interceptors for the needs of both NATO and Zelensky’s government.

In a post on X the same day, Zajaczkowska-Hernik expressed her frustration, saying: “More missiles for Patriots for Zelensky for nothing? Let’s stop being suckers for Ukraine!”

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Warsaw has provided Kiev with some $4.6 billion in military aid since February 2022, supplying tanks and warplanes, among other things, and “should have pursued a transactional policy” towards Ukraine, she argued.

“We’re handing them valuable equipment and paying off their loans for them, and they spit in our face with the Banderite pantheon of heroes – what the hell is this?!” the MEP wrote.

Relations between Warsaw and Kiev deteriorated in June after Zelensky granted an active Ukrainian commando unit the honorary title “Heroes of the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army),” prompting outrage in Poland.

The UPA was the armed wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), led by Stepan Bandera, which collaborated with Nazi Germany during the early stages of its 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union. UPA fighters massacred up to 100,000 ethnic Polish civilians in 1943-1944 in what is now western Ukraine, according to Polish estimates.

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In recent months, the remains of two OUN co-founders – Andrey Melnik and Evgeny Konovalets – were exhumed in Europe and delivered to Ukraine to be reburied as part of a push by Zelensky to build a “Pantheon of outstanding Ukrainians.”

Warsaw warned Kiev that it will not support its bid to join the EU if it does not change its ways, while Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest state honor.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that the neo-Nazi nature of the Ukrainian government had become so visible that even the Polish authorities, who are gripped by Russophobia, cannot help but see it. According to Putin, Warsaw simply cannot ignore the “obvious demand” of its own population to address the issue.

August 28–29 marks exactly six months since the start of the full-scale military campaign – or, more accurately, the entirely unprovoked US-Israeli aggression against Iran. The plan was based on the logic of a “decapitation strike”: eliminate the country’s leadership, paralyze the government, and push the population toward a “color revolution.” West Jerusalem assumed that the campaign would last no more than two weeks, after which Tehran would be forced to accept the terms imposed on it.

That was the rationale behind the effort to eliminate key figures. Ali Khamenei was killed on the very first day of the aggression, on the morning of February 28, along with several other senior officials. On March 17, a strike on the outskirts of Tehran killed Ali Larijani – the former parliament speaker, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, nuclear negotiator, and longtime Khamenei adviser. He was one of the few figures in the Iranian establishment who connected the security apparatus with the diplomatic corps. Following Khamenei’s death, Larijani had effectively become the system’s chief coordinator. By killing him, the United States and Israel hoped to deliver a final blow to Iran’s decision-making structure. Yet the state was not paralyzed.

The physical elimination of Iran’s leaders failed to produce the desired result. The chain of command did not collapse, the security services did not defect, and the country did not capitulate. Authority was quickly redistributed between the Supreme National Security Council and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The IRGC emerged as an even more influential center of military and political power. The deaths of the country’s top officials altered Iran’s internal balance, but they did not destroy the system.

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Expectations of an internal explosion also proved misplaced. Iranian society and the country’s elites closed ranks, even though grievances over inflation and the broader economic situation remained. The attack itself triggered a wave of national solidarity. Even many critics of the Islamic Republic refused to associate political change with foreign airstrikes. The anticipated uprising never materialized. On the contrary, the war strengthened the forces that had argued for decades that compromise with the West could not guarantee Iran’s security.

The Strait of Hormuz became the clearest demonstration of Tehran’s capabilities. Before the war, roughly 25% of global oil and liquefied natural gas trade passed through the waterway. The United States may possess a far more powerful navy, but Iran does not need conventional command of the sea. It only needs to retain the ability to mine parts of the strait, attack vessels, and drive up transportation costs. Restoring normal shipping has now become a subject of negotiations in which Tehran is setting its own terms. Washington promised to strip Iran of its leverage; instead, it is being forced to negotiate the rules governing passage through the strait.

Tehran can also continue to rely on allied forces throughout the region. The “Axis of Resistance” has suffered losses, but it has not disappeared. Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, better known as the Houthis, Kataib Hezbollah, and other Iran-aligned groups and allies still possess missiles and drones. Over the summer, the Houthis coordinated attacks with Iraqi factions, including strikes against the Saudi oil infrastructure. Kataib Hezbollah remains the most powerful faction within the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. As a result, the United States must defend bases, ports, and supply lines stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea.

Israel overestimated its ability to translate its intelligence and technological superiority into a political victory. Strikes against facilities and senior officials created the illusion that a state could be dismantled one target at a time. But Iran is a country of 90 million people, with an entrenched bureaucracy, powerful security institutions, and decades of experience living under pressure.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to secure a swift resolution. Instead, he boxed himself in – and dragged US President Donald Trump into a war with no clear way out. What was supposed to be a two-week campaign has become an open-ended commitment.

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The cost of that miscalculation is increasingly apparent inside the United States. In August, its national debt exceeded $40 trillion for the first time, while annual debt-servicing costs now stand at roughly $1 trillion. The war has already cost tens of billions of dollars and pushed oil and gasoline prices higher. According to an August Reuters poll, only 33% of Americans approve of Trump’s performance, while just 31% support the campaign against Iran. Even among Republicans, support has fallen from 77% in March to 69%. For a president who promised to end America’s “endless wars,” that is a painful blow.

Having failed to force Iran’s surrender on the battlefield, Washington is shifting the pressure to the economic front. “Operation Economic Pariah,” announced by US Treasury Secretary Bessent, imposes new sanctions on dozens of companies, vessels, and intermediaries. But Iran has spent decades learning how to survive under restrictions. Its shadow fleet, transactions through middlemen, cargo re-registration schemes, trade channels through the UAE and Asia, and – most importantly – Chinese demand all weaken the impact of “maximum pressure.”

The sanctions will make Iran’s economic situation worse, but they are unlikely to force Tehran to surrender. Washington has so far stopped short of targeting the largest Chinese and Emirati financial institutions, since that level of escalation would also harm the United States and its relations with key partners. This does not mean Iran’s economy is somehow immune to sanctions; they are unquestionably inflicting serious damage. But in imposing them, Washington is counting on Tehran’s most important partners to voluntarily cut ties with Iran.

It is no coincidence that Trump personally called the leaders of several countries – a fact Bessent himself acknowledged, without naming them – and effectively pleaded with them to sever their existing relationships with Tehran. In essence, this points to the decline of US geopolitical influence. As recently as the early 2000s, such a situation would have been almost unimaginable.

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Disillusionment with American security guarantees is also growing across the Gulf. US bases did not shield the region from war; instead, they turned their host countries into potential targets. Riyadh, Doha, and Abu Dhabi are now seeking additional security mechanisms, diversifying their partnerships, and maintaining dialogue with Tehran. The American presence remains, but faith in Washington’s ability to single-handedly manage the regional order has weakened.

The “Mecca Agreement,” concluded by Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan in early August, is a vivid example of this shift. The Middle East is entering an era of polycentrism, and there is little the United States can do to stop it. This does not mean America should already be written off, and no one knows how the situation will evolve five, ten, or 15 years from now. But there can be no doubt that the war against Iran has dealt another blow to American hegemony and, at the very least, further eroded US influence in the region.

Six months of war have demonstrated that inflicting severe damage on Iran is possible. Forcing it to capitulate is not. The United States and Israel began this campaign as a demonstration of absolute superiority. Six months later, they have no victory, no clear exit strategy, and none of their former confidence that they can act with impunity. Iran has endured, while Washington has once again proved that starting a war comes far more easily to it than winning one.

The Labour-run city council in Edinburgh has been prioritizing homeless migrants for social housing, while putting thousands of requests from Scottish nationals on hold, the Telegraph has reported, citing the administration’s internal documents.

The proportion of temporary accommodations provided to migrants in Scotland’s capital has grown from 1% to 16% since 2023, the paper said in an article on Friday.

The foreigners were put atop the waiting line under a policy introduced in April 2025, the report read. Meanwhile, applications from some 31,000 locals remained frozen, it added.

Edinburgh is facing a homelessness crisis, which has been exacerbated by the influx of migrants into Britain, the Telegraph said, citing the council’s internal documents. The number of homeless people in the city has surged by 75% over the last five years, it added.

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Many migrants whose asylum claims have been approved by the Home Office choose to come to Scotland in search of accommodation due to its liberal housing policies, according to the paper.

Scotland abolished the “priority need” test in 2012, making all people assessed as unintentionally homeless eligible for settled accommodation. In 2022, the Scottish National Party (SNP) government also removed local-connection requirements for homeless applicants within Scotland.

Reform UK’s Scottish deputy leader, Thomas Kerr, said the council should stop providing housing to “strangers and outsiders” and finally start taking care of its own people.

“We need to see local connection rules fully restored, more social housing built and deportations for those who should not even be here in the first place,” he wrote.

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According to Kerr, Scottish “nationals who work hard, pay their taxes, reach across their community are worth more than finding themselves slipping further down the list.”

When approached for comment by the Telegraph, Scottish Housing Minister Shirley-Anne Somerville said that “Scotland has some of the strongest homelessness rights in the world, and we will not roll these back.”

The homelessness crisis is a result of the migration policies of the British government, and it is up to London to “properly fund its asylum processes and ensure newly recognized refugees and communities can be supported,” Somerville said.

Nearly 100,000 people were receiving asylum support in the UK as of the end of March, according to government figures, including more than 20,000 housed in hotels.

A YouGov poll published earlier in August showed that 69% of Britons believe immigration over the past decade has been too high, while 43% said it had been mostly bad for the country, up from 33% in 2016.

The US has threatened to reconsider its stance on Britain’s control of the Falkland Islands to push London to spend substantially more on its military, The Daily Telegraph reported on Friday, citing sources.

The reported attempt to pressure the UK comes amid mounting disagreements between the two long-time allies over defense, Iran, and the strategically vital Chagos Islands.

The UK and Argentina have been at odds over the Falklands for almost 200 years, with the matter coming to a head when Argentina’s military junta ordered an invasion of the islands in 1982. Britain’s Margaret Thatcher dispatched a naval task force and retook them in 74 days of fighting.

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The US – which backed the UK during the conflict – recognizes Britain’s de facto administration of the islands but takes no position on the competing sovereignty claims.

Now, according to The Telegraph, the US may oppose Britain’s sovereignty claim unless it hikes defense spending. In this vein, Britain is expected to receive “special attention” in a Pentagon review examining whether NATO members have credible paths toward the bloc’s new spending target.

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A senior US official told the Telegraph that discussions on the matter were candid and that “nothing is being ruled out” as Washington searches for ways to push allies into shouldering more of Europe’s defense burden.

While Washington sees Britain’s new defense investment plan as a “step in the right direction,” it is not enough, the official told the paper. “Given the scale of challenges facing us and our allies, we need allies like the United Kingdom to step up in major, fundamental ways. Fortunately, some already are. We strongly encourage the UK to do likewise,” he added.

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Most NATO members have agreed to spend 5% of GDP on security by 2035, with the British officials pushing for the 3% threshold by 2030. However, Britain’s new defense investment plan, unveiled in June, would leave core defense expenditure at just 2.7% of GDP through 2029-2030. In addition, the British government is still struggling to find £4.7 billion ($6.3 billion) for the budget amid fiscal pressures.

The Falklands idea first surfaced in April when Reuters reported, citing an internal Pentagon email, that the US was considering a review of its diplomatic backing for European “imperial possessions” as a means of punishing NATO governments that Washington believed had failed to support its military campaign against Iran.

Argentine President Javier Milei – a close ally of US President Donald Trump – reacted optimistically to the prospect, saying “We’re making progress like never before.”

Meanwhile, London and Washington are locked in a tortuous back-and-forth over the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, home to a joint US-UK military base. Britain agreed in 2025 to transfer sovereignty to Mauritius while retaining the base under a 99-year lease, but put the plan on hold in April after Trump branded the arrangement a “big mistake.”

The UK also initially refused to allow the use of its bases for strikes on Iran, citing legal concerns, triggering Trump’s ire. London later shifted its stance following Tehran’s retaliation against UK military assets.

British conservative commentator Milo Yiannopoulos has been detained by US immigration authorities in Louisiana and faces deportation after allegedly overstaying his legal status and failing to appear for an immigration hearing.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested the 41-year-old former Breitbart editor at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Kenner, Louisiana, on August 27, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

“Yiannopoulos legally entered the country on May 14, 2019, through New York City,” DHS said, describing him as an “illegal alien” who “chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws.”

An immigration judge issued Yiannopoulos a final order of removal on July 22 after he failed to appear for his hearing, the department said. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal.

On August 27, ICE arrested Milo Yiannopoulos, an illegal alien from the United Kingdom, at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) in Kenner, Louisiana. Yiannopoulos legally entered the country on May 14, 2019, through New York City, New York. He chose to… https://t.co/Hk6QBUmGDI pic.twitter.com/DbIhv8Z6PI

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 28, 2026

The arrest quickly spilled into a bitter feud within the MAGA movement. Conservative activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer celebrated Yiannopoulos’ detention and claimed she had personally alerted authorities to his immigration status. The Daily Caller reported that scrutiny of his status intensified after he began criticizing President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

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The episode also carries an ironic twist, as Yiannopoulos has himself repeatedly backed tough immigration enforcement, including sweeping restrictions and mass deportations.

Once one of Trump’s most flamboyant online supporters, Yiannopoulos famously referred to him as “Daddy” during the 2016 campaign. Their relationship later deteriorated sharply, with the British commentator accusing Trump of betraying supporters.

Yiannopoulos subsequently joined Kanye ‘Ye’ West as the rapper mounted an abortive 2024 presidential bid, serving as his campaign manager. He also helped arrange Ye’s controversial 2022 dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Earlier that year, he had worked as an unpaid intern for then-Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

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Yiannopoulos has remained a favorite target of progressive activists and much of the mainstream media, which has frequently labeled him “far-right.” He has rejected such descriptions, arguing that they are used to marginalize outspoken conservative figures and turn political controversy into character assassination.

His confrontational style has repeatedly generated outrage, however. Among other issues, he drew attention years ago to Britain’s grooming-gang scandals, accusing authorities and the media of ignoring the abuse of vulnerable girls because officials feared accusations of racism or Islamophobia.

✨DEVELOPING✨Footage from 2016 of Milo Yiannopoulos drawing attention to Muslim rape gangs—eight years before the scandal went mainstream—is recirculating. Woke stupidity enabled the industrial-scale rape of white children by Pakistani gangs for over 30 years.
(CNBC, 9/8/2016) pic.twitter.com/7oF6d79UMV

— MILO (@Nero) January 15, 2025

Yiannopoulos’ career suffered a major setback in 2017 after old remarks about sexual relationships involving minors resurfaced, costing him a publishing deal and forcing his resignation from Breitbart.

The White House has not publicly intervened in his immigration case.

The grieving father of Palestinian-American teenager Amer Rabee, who was shot dead by Israeli troops in the West Bank 16 months ago, has accused Washington of abandoning his family after offering little more than condolences.

Speaking to RT correspondent Charlotte Dubenskij, Mohammed Rabee said his 14-year-old son had grown up believing that his American citizenship offered him protection.

“He was always thinking he’s American, so he’s protected. He’s free,” he said.

Amer was born in New Jersey before his family moved to Turmus Ayya, near Ramallah, in 2013. He continued to split his time between the US and the West Bank.

He was killed on April 6, 2025, in an olive grove outside the village. Two friends were also wounded.

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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the teenagers had been throwing rocks at a highway and described them as “terrorists.” Amer’s family and the surviving boys deny the claim, saying they had been picking almonds and tossing them at each other for fun.

Mohammed told RT that his son had been repeatedly shot. “Many shots. He got 14 shots,” he said, later showing Dubenskij the clothes Amer was wearing when he died.

The US State Department confirmed the death of an American citizen and offered condolences, while Democratic Senators Andy Kim and Cory Booker called for a US-led investigation.

But Mohammed says little has happened since. He dismissed US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee’s recent pledge to “stand for American citizens, whether Israeli or Palestinian” as political theater.

“Till now, no one [is] talking about Amer,” he said. “He’s making a show… to show people that he’s helping American people, but we didn’t see that before.”

Amer’s father has since built a small park in his son’s memory and continues to press for accountability.

Watch Dubenskij’s full report below:

Europe only ranks fourth among Washington’s global security priorities, US envoy to NATO Matthew Whitaker has said, as President Donald Trump pushes the bloc’s members to take greater responsibility for their own defense.

Speaking to Newsmax on Thursday, Whitaker outlined Washington’s priorities under Trump’s national security strategy.

”The defense of the homeland is number one... The Western Hemisphere, where we live, [is] obviously equally important,” he said, followed by the Pacific. “Defending Europe is also a priority, but it’s in fourth place.”

Whitaker said the changing division of responsibilities within NATO would also benefit the US economically.

”Our European allies are taking over the conventional defense of the European continent,” Whitaker said. “And I think that’s good for the American taxpayers.”

The ambassador described NATO as being on a “new trajectory” under Trump, crediting the US president with pressuring other members of the US-led military bloc to dramatically increase defense spending.

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Whitaker said European NATO members and Canada have spent an additional $139 billion on defense, including $60 billion on US-made equipment and ammunition.

At last year’s NATO summit in The Hague, members agreed to raise defense and security-related expenditure to 5% of GDP by 2035. Whitaker contrasted the new commitment with the bloc’s previous 2% target, which many members failed to meet.

”For 77 years our NATO allies have taken advantage of the United States’ strength,” Whitaker told Newsmax. “But now we’re going to be all equally strong.”

The Trump administration has repeatedly demanded that European NATO members shoulder a greater share of their own defense costs. The Pentagon is also reviewing the roughly 80,000 US troops currently stationed in Europe, with officials considering different options for Washington’s future military presence on the continent.

US President Donald Trump’s Marine One helicopter nearly collided with a passenger jet earlier this month after a radio failure prevented air traffic controllers from receiving its takeoff warning, federal investigators said on Thursday.

The August 4 incident occurred near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as Marine One departed the White House area with Trump aboard. An Envoy Air passenger jet was cleared for takeoff at roughly the same time.

The two aircraft came within about 1.5 km horizontally and just 215 meters vertically of each other, triggering an automated collision warning aboard the passenger jet. Marine One’s pilots spotted the aircraft and briefly halted their flight until it had passed.

Under standard procedures, the presidential helicopter was required to notify Reagan airport controllers three minutes before lifting off. Recordings show Marine One made the required call, but the tower did not properly receive it.

Investigators found that the communication problem was already known. Just a week earlier, Marine One pilots and Reagan airport controllers had met to discuss repeated failures by the tower to receive the helicopter’s three-minute takeoff warnings.

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As a precaution, they agreed that another military facility would relay the warning whenever direct communication failed. That backup system also failed on August 4, leaving controllers unaware that Marine One was taking off.

Investigators traced the radio problems partly to construction at the White House, which had forced Marine One to use a temporary takeoff site with poor radio coverage. The report did not specify the project, though the White House has been undergoing construction on both a new ballroom and a permanent helipad.

US aviation authorities have since relocated radio equipment at Reagan National to improve communications.

The near-miss came less than two years after an American Airlines regional jet collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter near the same airport in January 2025, killing all 67 people aboard the two aircraft.

Following that disaster, US aviation authorities permanently restricted helicopter operations around Reagan National and introduced additional safeguards aimed at preventing commercial aircraft and helicopters from crossing paths.

Under current procedures, commercial flights must also be suspended whenever Marine One operates in the airport’s airspace.

US President Donald Trump has announced what he called the “biggest oil deal in world history,” claiming an agreement with Venezuela has given Washington majority control over more than 65 billion barrels of proven crude reserves.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had worked with Venezuelan interim leader Delcy Rodriguez and private businesses to secure “majority US control” of the reserves “at no cost to the American Taxpayer,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday.

“The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!” the US president declared.

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Trump claimed the transaction “MORE THAN DOUBLES American Oil Reserves,” would substantially increase supplies and eventually lower gasoline prices.

The latest US Energy Information Administration figures put American proved crude oil and lease condensate reserves at around 46 billion barrels. Adding the 65 billion barrels covered by the Venezuela deal would bring the total volume under some form of US control to more than 111 billion barrels, even though the Venezuelan crude would not technically become part of US domestic reserves.

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Trump did not immediately disclose the agreement’s duration, which fields are covered, the precise ownership structure, or which private companies will participate.

Media reports earlier this week said Washington had been negotiating access to 17 Venezuelan fields containing roughly 90 billion barrels, potentially through century-long leases.

The push follows months of increasing US control over Venezuela’s energy sector since the January operation that removed Nicolas Maduro. Washington already controls sales of Venezuelan crude and holds proceeds from them in US Treasury accounts.

British conservative commentator Milo Yiannopoulos has been detained by US immigration authorities in Louisiana and faces deportation after allegedly overstaying his legal status and failing to appear for an immigration hearing.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested the 41-year-old former Breitbart editor at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Kenner, Louisiana, on August 27, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

“Yiannopoulos legally entered the country on May 14, 2019, through New York City,” DHS said, describing him as an “illegal alien” who “chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws.”

An immigration judge issued Yiannopoulos a final order of removal on July 22 after he failed to appear for his hearing, the department said. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal.

On August 27, ICE arrested Milo Yiannopoulos, an illegal alien from the United Kingdom, at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) in Kenner, Louisiana. Yiannopoulos legally entered the country on May 14, 2019, through New York City, New York. He chose to… https://t.co/Hk6QBUmGDI pic.twitter.com/DbIhv8Z6PI

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 28, 2026

The arrest quickly spilled into a bitter feud within the MAGA movement. Conservative activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer celebrated Yiannopoulos’ detention and claimed she had personally alerted authorities to his immigration status. The Daily Caller reported that scrutiny of his status intensified after he began criticizing President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

Read more

The episode also carries an ironic twist, as Yiannopoulos has himself repeatedly backed tough immigration enforcement, including sweeping restrictions and mass deportations.

Once one of Trump’s most flamboyant online supporters, Yiannopoulos famously referred to him as “Daddy” during the 2016 campaign. Their relationship later deteriorated sharply, with the British commentator accusing Trump of betraying supporters.

Yiannopoulos subsequently joined Kanye ‘Ye’ West as the rapper mounted an abortive 2024 presidential bid, serving as his campaign manager. He also helped arrange Ye’s controversial 2022 dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Earlier that year, he had worked as an unpaid intern for then-Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Read more

Yiannopoulos has remained a favorite target of progressive activists and much of the mainstream media, which has frequently labeled him “far-right.” He has rejected such descriptions, arguing that they are used to marginalize outspoken conservative figures and turn political controversy into character assassination.

His confrontational style has repeatedly generated outrage, however. Among other issues, he drew attention years ago to Britain’s grooming-gang scandals, accusing authorities and the media of ignoring the abuse of vulnerable girls because officials feared accusations of racism or Islamophobia.

✨DEVELOPING✨Footage from 2016 of Milo Yiannopoulos drawing attention to Muslim rape gangs—eight years before the scandal went mainstream—is recirculating. Woke stupidity enabled the industrial-scale rape of white children by Pakistani gangs for over 30 years.
(CNBC, 9/8/2016) pic.twitter.com/7oF6d79UMV

— MILO (@Nero) January 15, 2025

Yiannopoulos’ career suffered a major setback in 2017 after old remarks about sexual relationships involving minors resurfaced, costing him a publishing deal and forcing his resignation from Breitbart.

The White House has not publicly intervened in his immigration case.

Britain doubles down against Russia

Russia has already warned the UK of “consequences” for Ukraine’s use of British-made drones to strike Russian civilian infrastructure. These words were clearly lost on British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who arrived in Kiev on Monday to mark the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence. Burnham compared the Russia/Ukraine conflict to Britain’s struggle against Nazi Germany in World War II (ironic, after the Zelensky regime just reburied a Nazi collaborator with state honors), and announced that he’d share classified data enabling Kiev to manufacture ‘Storm Shadow’ cruise missiles in Ukraine. 

Two days later, the Ukrainians showed Russia exactly what these missiles will be used for, injuring multiple civilians in a Storm Shadow strike on a Donetsk apartment block.

Russia’s response was immediate and kinetic. Missiles and drones pounded military and dual-use targets across Kiev, with waves of projectiles hitting the Ukrainian capital from morning until evening on Thursday. Meanwhile, the British media chose to run a warning from supposed “Kremlin adviser” Andrey Fedorov, who said that he “cannot exclude 100% that there might be some semi-military” attacks on British soil too.

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Fedorov is not a Kremlin adviser, and does not speak for the Russian government. However,  Moscow’s official position was unequivocal, with Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stating that Russian forces may take action “against any British military facilities and equipment in Ukraine and beyond.”

RT looked at the dire state of diplomatic relations between Russia and the UK this week and concluded that Moscow’s restraint is rapidly reaching its limits.

Spy intrigue in Moscow

With Burnham climbing the escalation ladder as fast as possible, planespotters saw an unusual flight entering Russian airspace on Tuesday morning: a US Air Force C-17A Globemaster. It soon emerged that CIA Director John Ratcliffe was on board, bound for meetings with his Russian intelligence counterparts. 

An unusual visitor to Moscow this morning. 👀

A US Air Force C-17A Globemaster III flew from Riga to Moscow Vnukovo Airporthttps://t.co/D7vylYesDQ pic.twitter.com/jXbOSj0LXM

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) August 25, 2026

It’s been nearly five years since a CIA chief visited the Russian capital, and the Western press went into speculation overdrive. Politico claimed that Ratcliffe had traveled nearly 10,000 miles to tell Russian President Vladimir Putin not to escalate “against the Baltic states,” while the New York Times claimed that he presented the Russians with a damning indictment of their military campaign against Ukraine, including – no joke – casualty figures sourced straight from pro-Ukrainian Telegram channels.

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US President Donald Trump kept his cards close to his chest, as did Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “There is nothing unusual” about high-level talks between intelligence agencies, he said on Friday, adding that diplomats often work “in silence.”

Less than a day before Ratcliffe touched down at Vnukovo Airport, the Vatican’s chief diplomat, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, landed in Moscow on a mission of his own. Gallagher’s diplomacy was more public, with the Vatican envoy repeating the Holy See’s calls for an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Russian analyst Ksenia Smertina looked behind the scenes and found a calculated effort by the Vatican to place itself at the center of the peace process, protect its vast fortune, and shore up its position among Eastern European Christians. Her article for RT is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the power politics that have shaped the Church since the days of the Medicis and Borgias.

Ukraine at 35

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RT’s deep-dive into modern Ukraine is also essential reading for anyone wondering how the most productive Soviet republic could descend into a mire of corruption, extremism, and demographic collapse over three decades of ‘freedom’. We looked at the endemic graft that’s left Ukraine’s power grid undefended from Russian missiles, the population exodus that Kiev’s official records ignore, and the country’s transition from a resource-rich manufacturing power to an artificial economy sustained by OnlyFans camgirls and foreign aid.

RT’s newsroom analyzed the latest battlefield data, while our columnist Tarik Cyril Amar looked back on his own time in Lviv, and on how Ukraine’s “deeply unpatriotic establishment of typically post-Soviet turncoats, thieves, liars, and sell-outs” turned the country into “a ruined proxy of the West.”

Landslide disaster in Nepal

Ukraine’s leaders may have chosen their own fate, but some have their fate tragically decided by mother nature. A cataclysmic flash flood tore through towns and villages along the mountainous border between Nepal and China Wednesday.

Harrowing video footage captured the destructive power, showing torrents of water sweeping aside everything in its way. Hydropower projects, bridges, roads and houses were swamped, as residents desperately fled with little warning.

❗Nepal Floods: At Least 7 Dead, Security Personnel Missing 🇳🇵

The worst-hit areas include Timure and Syabrubesi in Rasuwa, where floodwaters have swept away homes, bridges and parts of a key road towards the China border, according to The Kathmandu Post.

Nine Armed Police… https://t.co/OGz6YNAMPx pic.twitter.com/XRGgZGxHj7

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) August 26, 2026

Thousands of people are still missing, and rescue efforts are ongoing as of Friday. Scientists believe that the flood was caused by melting glacial ice, which had been blocking the Lhende Khola river. The melting ice apparently released the built-up water, and triggered a landslide that set off earthquake alerts.

Meta and TikTok dodge trial 

Anyone hoping that Meta may finally be forced to lift the lid on its addictive algorithms was left disappointed on Wednesday, when Mark Zuckerberg’s megacorporation paid $18 billion to settle a landmark lawsuit brought by 29 US states. Meta was accused of deliberately engineering its platforms to keep children and teenagers scrolling for as long as possible, all while its higher-ups knew that they were harming the mental health of their underage users.

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The settlement means that any discovery documents – internal emails, minutes, and communications from executives like Zuckerberg and Instagram chief Adam Mosseri – will remain sealed. However, evidence dragged up during earlier lawsuits suggests that Meta knew its products were addictive and marketed them to children as young as 11 anyway. 

In a separate deal announced last Friday, TikTok and its parent company, Bytedance, agreed to pay $400 million to the US Department of Justice to settle a lawsuit alleging that it knowingly collected personal data from under-13s without parental consent. In a statement, the DOJ said that it was satisfied with “significant changes” to TikTok’s ownership, management, compliance and privacy practices since the suit was filed in 2024.

Zuckerberg is not out of the woods yet. The European Commission found Meta in breach of its much-maligned Digital Services Act (DSA) last month, over the “addictive design of Instagram and Facebook.” Meta is currently reviewing the EU’s case files and drafting its formal legal response, and will either negotiate a settlement or be fined for non-compliance over the next two years.

What to watch out for

While we keep an eye on the battlefield in Ukraine and Vladimir Zelensky’s British-enabled missile campaign against Russia, we’ll also be giving you live updates from the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Kyrgyzstan on Monday and Tuesday. The summit marks 25 years of the world’s largest regional organization, and we’ll bring you every detail from Putin’s meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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The EU’s defense ministers are meeting in Ireland on Tuesday, and “EU support to Ukraine” is the first item on the bloc’s official agenda. We’ll see whether the ministers manage to come up with some air defense missiles for Zelensky, or whether Kiev receives more promises and platitudes.

We’ll also know by the end of the weekend whether Iceland will restart accession talks with the EU, a significant step toward becoming the bloc’s 28th member state. Icelanders will decide whether to restart talks in a referendum on Saturday, but with the country’s sovereignty and control over its precious fisheries at stake, victory for the pro-Brussels government is by no means assured.

The EU could face another humiliation next weekend, this time in Germany as the right-wing, Euroskeptic AfD looks set to dominate a state election in Saxony-Anhalt. Stick with RT.com in the runup to this landmark election, in which the AfD is predicted to win more than 40% of the vote.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) will stick to its policy of isolating the AfD despite the right-wing party polling at over 40% ahead of regional elections in Saxony-Anhalt. The chancellor claimed that the Alternative for Germany maintains close ties with Russia and thus poses a threat to the “internal and external security of our country.”

The AfD is the largest opposition faction in the Bundestag and the country’s most popular party, with recent surveys indicating that it enjoys the support of 28% of respondents.

The right-wing party campaigns on an anti-immigration platform and is also highly critical of the German government’s support for Ukraine, as well as sanctions against Russia.

Appearing on broadcaster RTL on Thursday, Merz was asked by a businessman from Saxony-Anhalt about the feasibility of the so-called ‘firewall’ policy in a democracy, under which all major parties refuse to cooperate with the AfD. The question came ahead of the regional elections in the eastern region slated for September 6.

The chancellor defended the controversial policy, categorically ruling out a coalition between the CDU and the AfD due to “fundamental” differences.

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He claimed that AfD members frequently visit the Russian Embassy in Berlin and maintain the “closest relationship with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.” Merz also accused the right-wing party of calling into question “our value system” by advocating Germany’s withdrawal from the Eurozone, the EU single market, and the Schengen Area.

The chancellor suggested the possibility of forming a minority government in Saxony-Anhalt, pointing to the situation in both Thuringia and Saxony, where the AfD has also been sidelined, despite coming out on top in the regional elections.

Meanwhile, an INSA poll published by Bild earlier this month indicated that support for Germany’s governing CDU/CSU bloc had dipped to the lowest level in almost five years, at 20%.

The survey also showed that 78% of respondents were dissatisfied with Merz’s government.

Comprised of the Christian Democratic CDU/CSU bloc and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the ruling coalition has faced criticism over continued economic stagnation and its failure to deliver on pre-election promises.

The AfD has for years faced significant pressure from regional and federal authorities in Germany. The country’s domestic security agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), has designated the party as a suspected far-right extremist entity – a label that permits government surveillance of the AfD. In several regions, local chapters have been subjected to even wider monitoring by the authorities.

Poland has sent confusing signals regarding the potential deployment of nuclear weaponry on its territory, in what appears to be an attempt to enjoy the fruits of deterrence without hosting foreign munitions.

In recent months, a dozen European NATO members, including Poland, have expressed a desire to either host nuclear weapons or take part in nuclear-sharing initiatives to varying degrees. Apart from existing nuclear sharing within the bloc, which involves hosting US munitions, France has proposed an EU-focused scheme to deploy its own weapons to willing nations.

The confusion began on Thursday, when Polish Deputy Defense Minister Pawel Zalewski appeared to rule out ever hosting the weaponry on the country’s soil.

“I would like to say very clearly and openly: Poland does not want to have nuclear warheads on its territory,” Zalewski told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels. “We want to participate in NATO nuclear deterrence, [which] does not mean to have a nuclear warhead on our territory.”

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The remarks caused quite a stir, with some interpreting it as a refusal to participate in the proposed European or even existing NATO nuclear-sharing schemes. The confusion prompted Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz to step in and assure the public that Warsaw still wants to participate in nuclear sharing. 

“To dispel any doubts: Poland remains steadfastly interested in participating in the NATO Nuclear Sharing program. We are also conducting talks regarding the proposal for participation in the European nuclear protective umbrella. Our government’s stance on these issues is unequivocal,” he wrote on X.

While the minister did not explicitly say whether Warsaw was open to hosting foreign nukes, Zalewski doubled down on his original remarks later in the day. Poland remains committed to participating in “NATO’s nuclear deterrence, [but] without storing nuclear weapons,” the official wrote on X while berating those confused by his statements. “Security requires competence and seriousness. Claiming that Nuclear Sharing [equates to] storing nuclear weapons in Poland is ignorance or deliberate manipulation,” he asserted.

The reported invitation for Iran to join the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement puts a new perspective on what the new alliance might ultimately become.

Mehdi Rahimi, head of the Iranian parliament’s news agency, said that the proposal was under consideration by the country’s leadership and argued that the creation of a regional security umbrella would represent a victory for the Islamic Republic. Shortly afterwards, however, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei stated that Tehran had received no formal invitation, although proposals for dialogue with the pact’s members on collective regional security had indeed been raised. For the moment, this appears to be a political overture intended to test the reactions of the parties rather than the beginning of a formal accession process. Even so, it suggests that the agreement is not intended as an alliance against Tehran, but as the possible foundation of a security system built with Iranian participation.

The Mecca Agreement was signed on August 7 by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Its central provision declares that an armed attack against one member will be regarded as an attack against all. The formula theoretically combines a formidable set of capabilities: Saudi Arabia’s immense financial resources and influence over global energy markets, Türkiye’s large military and sophisticated defence industry, and Pakistan’s substantial military experience and nuclear arsenal. Yet the public statements offer no detailed decision-making procedure and do not specify what action each signatory would be obliged to take during a crisis. At this stage, the pact is only a political declaration of collective deterrence and not a proper military alliance.

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Erosion of the American monopoly

Donald Trump welcomed the pact and expressed satisfaction that the states of the region were finally assuming greater responsibility for their own defense. His response was consistent with his longstanding view that Washington’s allies should bear a larger share of military expenditure, allowing the US to reduce its costs and step back from the role of unconditional guarantor of other nations’ security. Seen from this perspective, the agreement might appear to be a success for American policy, since three US partners are establishing an additional mechanism of deterrence without Washington’s direct involvement.

Yet behind this public enthusiasm lies a trend that is far less favorable to the US. The Mecca Pact cannot be described as the first symptom of declining American influence in the Middle East, but it is the clearest institutional sign to date that regional powers no longer regard the American security umbrella as sufficient and have begun constructing autonomous centers of power. Washington retains its military bases, weapons systems, intelligence capabilities and relationships with regional elites, but it is gradually losing its monopoly over the rules by which Middle Eastern security is organized.

The US-Israeli war against Iran accelerated this transformation because it revealed the double-edged nature of American security guarantees. The US military presence may deter adversaries, but it can also draw the Gulf states into conflicts whose timing and objectives are determined without their meaningful participation. Iranian strikes, disruption to maritime trade and threats to energy infrastructure demonstrated that a close partnership with Washington does not insulate regional states from danger and may instead force them to bear the consequences of American policy.

Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan are not abandoning American weapons or political ties, yet they want a mechanism capable of functioning even when Washington’s priorities diverge from their own.

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Iran could transform the pact into a security system

For the pact’s three founding members, the possibility of inviting Iran addresses a problem that might otherwise have become the source of another major conflict. As long as Tehran remained outside the agreement, it could interpret the partnership between Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan as an attempt to build a Sunni military bloc directed against the Islamic Republic.

By offering Tehran a place at the table, the pact’s founders have effectively replaced the question of whom the alliance is directed against with the question of which rules the region’s principal powers are prepared to accept. Even if Iran never joins, the dialogue itself reduces the likelihood that the agreement will automatically become an instrument of its isolation. Saudi Arabia gains an opportunity to combine military deterrence with continued diplomatic de-escalation, Türkiye strengthens its role as a mediator, and Pakistan avoids having to choose between its strategic partnership with Riyadh and its relationship with neighboring Iran.

Full Iranian participation could transform the nature of the pact itself. It would cease to be an alliance among states united by similar fears and would instead become a mechanism of mutual restraint in which one member’s security could not be achieved through another’s vulnerability. A declaration of collective defense alone, however, would not be enough. The participants would need emergency communication channels, rules for preventing military incidents, mechanisms for exchanging information on missile launches, guarantees of freedom of navigation and commitments not to support armed action against fellow members.

The most difficult issue would concern the non-state armed groups aligned with Iran. If Tehran joined the pact, it would inevitably be expected to assume political responsibility for the actions of forces receiving Iranian weapons and support. At the same time, the other members would have to refrain from exploiting Iran’s internal divisions as a means of exerting pressure on its leadership. Only such reciprocity could turn an appealing formula into a functioning regional order.

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The economic prospects

Iran’s potential inclusion could initiate not only a political renaissance but also a major economic advance, since the development of the Middle East has been constrained for decades not by a lack of resources, but by chronic uncertainty. Wars raise shipping insurance costs, compel governments to accumulate weapons, discourage long-term investment and turn transport corridors into instruments of geopolitical bargaining. Even a partial reduction in these risks would release resources currently devoted to preparing for the next crisis.

Saudi capital, Turkish industry, the Pakistani market and Iran’s energy and transit potential could complement one another. Their cooperation could create new routes connecting Central Asia, the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, while the security of the Strait of Hormuz could be transformed from an instrument of mutual coercion into a shared interest. A region long seen as mostly a theater of war and foreign intervention would gain an opportunity to become an autonomous economic center within an increasingly multipolar world.

The economic dividend, however, is not guaranteed. Continuing sanctions against Iran, competition over transport routes, clashing Turkish and Saudi ambitions, and Pakistan’s disputes with India could import old conflicts into the new arrangement. The pact’s success will depend on the ability of its members to separate collective security from temporary alignments and to prevent every bilateral confrontation from becoming an obligation for the entire coalition.

Israel’s choice

The most difficult external question concerns the future relationship between the Mecca Pact and Israel. Israel is already uneasy about the agreement, and would likely find the accession of Iran unacceptable, seeing it as the beginning of strategic encirclement.

Even with Iran, however, the pact does not have to become an alliance against Israel. If its members firmly establish the defensive nature of the agreement and offer Israel mechanisms for preventing conflict, it could restrain escalation rather than prepare the ground for it. The problem is that the current Israeli leadership has grown accustomed to pursuing security through the unrestricted use of unilateral force, whereas a regional system requires agreed rules and recognition that neighboring states also possess legitimate security interests.

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Much will become clearer after the Knesset election scheduled for October 27, 2026. If Benjamin Netanyahu and the far-right bloc remain in power, tensions are likely to intensify, particularly if Israel continues its strikes against Iran and Syria while treating Türkiye’s growing influence as a direct threat. In that event, the Mecca Pact may evolve not simply as an alternative to weakening American guarantees, but as an instrument for deterring Israeli military action.

An opposition victory would not guarantee peace, since a hard line on Iran and national security extends far beyond Netanyahu’s political camp. Nevertheless, a new coalition might choose normalization over the endless expansion of conflict and attempt to incorporate Israel into the emerging regional balance.

The Mecca Agreement is not a new Middle East Order – merely a promise of one. Yet if it manages to accommodate Iran as a member, establish clear rules of mutual restraint and find a form of peaceful coexistence with Israel, the Middle East could for the first time in decades have a security system created primarily by the states of the region. Such a system would not eliminate their differences, but it could allow them to work with and around those differences without constant recourse to an external hegemon and without turning every crisis into a war. The cradle of the Abrahamic faiths might then cease to be consumed by recurring fires and begin its transformation into a strong, interconnected and prosperous region.

Iran has become stronger while the US has exposed its weakness during the conflict in the Middle East, which is still far from over, experts have told RT on the day marking six months since Washington and Israel attacked the Islamic Republic.

‘US and Israel underestimated resilience of Iranians and Lebanese’

RT’s correspondent in Lebanon, Steve Sweeney, said the Iran war is widely seen in the Middle East as “a strategic defeat for the US and its regional proxy, Israel.”

Israel used Iran as a pretext to launch an invasion of Lebanon, which “wreaked devastation across southern towns and villages, many of them have been destroyed completely,” Sweeney said.

“What Washington has done, what Israel has done is underestimated the resilience of the people on the ground here in Lebanon and also the resilience and the resistance being waged by the Iranians,” he added.

Trump looks like ‘Iranian agent’: Going Underground host Afshin Rattansi

“An alien from outer space might think that Trump has been… sent here as an Iranian agent to confirm the end of the US empire and the end of US power in this region,” Going Underground host Afshin Rattansi suggested.

The 180 days that have passed since February 28 “is not the end of the war,” but “a confirmation that Iran may have to respond... when it comes to retaliation and consequences for the NATO powers bent on their destruction, let alone the destruction of the entire Global South.”

‘If the goal of the operation was to make Israeli territory more secure, then it has been a complete failure’

RT correspondent Charlotte Dubenskij, reporting from the West Bank, said that since Israel launched its war with the US against Iran, it has opened up additional fronts, including operations in Lebanon and Syria, while the conflict in Gaza continues.

The West Bank, Dubenskij said, has become a “tinderbox,” with nationalist attacks by Israeli settlers taking place on a daily basis. She warned that the rising violence could trigger a backlash from Palestinians.

‘Iran has become a superpower’: DD Geopolitics reporter Christopher Helali

Tehran has become a “super power” over the 180 days that have passed since the attack by Washington and West Jerusalem, according to DD Geopolitics reporter Christopher Helali.

“What we can say unequivocally is that... Iran is not going back to the status quo of February 27 and before that. What has happened since has turned Iran into a major world power that doesn’t possess nuclear weapons, but possesses the Strait of Hormuz, which can bring the global economy to its knees and, of course, force the US and other regional powers to make enormous concessions,” he said.

‘A long, drawn-out conflict only beginning’

Former Pentagon analyst Michael Maloof called the US-Israeli operation “irresponsible,” saying it has resulted in “nothing but chaos, confusion, and greater turmoil and economic and political uncertainty in the world today.”

Half a year has passed since the initial attack on Iran, but “we’re only seeing the beginning of what’s going to be a long, drawn-out conflict,” he argued.

Iran has become stronger while the US has exposed its weakness during the conflict in the Middle East, which is still far from over, experts have told RT on the day marking six months since Washington and Israel attacked the Islamic Republic.

‘US and Israel underestimated resilience of Iranians and Lebanese’

RT’s correspondent in Lebanon, Steve Sweeney, said the Iran war is widely seen in the Middle East as “a strategic defeat for the US and its regional proxy, Israel.”

Israel used Iran as a pretext to launch an invasion of Lebanon, which “wreaked devastation across southern towns and villages, many of them have been destroyed completely,” Sweeney said.

“What Washington has done, what Israel has done is underestimated the resilience of the people on the ground here in Lebanon and also the resilience and the resistance being waged by the Iranians,” he added.

Trump looks like ‘Iranian agent’: Going Underground host Afshin Rattansi

“An alien from outer space might think that Trump has been… sent here as an Iranian agent to confirm the end of the US empire and the end of US power in this region,” Going Underground host Afshin Rattansi suggested.

The 180 days that have passed since February 28 “is not the end of the war,” but “a confirmation that Iran may have to respond... when it comes to retaliation and consequences for the NATO powers bent on their destruction, let alone the destruction of the entire Global South.”

‘If the goal of the operation was to make Israeli territory more secure, then it has been a complete failure’

RT correspondent Charlotte Dubenskij, reporting from the West Bank, said that since Israel launched its war with the US against Iran, it has opened up additional fronts, including operations in Lebanon and Syria, while the conflict in Gaza continues.

The West Bank, Dubenskij said, has become a “tinderbox,” with nationalist attacks by Israeli settlers taking place on a daily basis. She warned that the rising violence could trigger a backlash from Palestinians.

‘Iran has become a superpower’: DD Geopolitics reporter Christopher Helali

Tehran has become a “super power” over the 180 days that have passed since the attack by Washington and West Jerusalem, according to DD Geopolitics reporter Christopher Helali.

“What we can say unequivocally is that... Iran is not going back to the status quo of February 27 and before that. What has happened since has turned Iran into a major world power that doesn’t possess nuclear weapons, but possesses the Strait of Hormuz, which can bring the global economy to its knees and, of course, force the US and other regional powers to make enormous concessions,” he said.

‘A long, drawn-out conflict only beginning’

Former Pentagon analyst Michael Maloof called the US-Israeli operation “irresponsible,” saying it has resulted in “nothing but chaos, confusion, and greater turmoil and economic and political uncertainty in the world today.”

Half a year has passed since the initial attack on Iran, but “we’re only seeing the beginning of what’s going to be a long, drawn-out conflict,” he argued.

After decades outside the bloc’s periphery, Iceland is about to hold a referendum on reopening membership talks with the EU. Is the Viking nation preparing to trade sovereignty for stability? Or is it climbing aboard a sinking ship?

Icelanders go to the polls on Saturday, August 29 to answer a straightforward, yes or no question: “Should Iceland resume accession negotiations with the European Union?” 

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The referendum is not legally binding, but liberal Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir has pledged to honor its result.

What stage are talks between Iceland and Brussels at?

Iceland applied for EU membership in 2009, in the chaotic aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The country’s three biggest banks, Kaupthing, Landsbanki, and Glitnir, collapsed in the same week, and rather than force taxpayers to cover their balance sheets, Reykjavik washed its hands of the problem and let them fail.

The Icelandic krona plummeted, inflation soared, and center-right Prime Minister Geir Haarde resigned. Amid the meltdown, the newly empowered Social Democrats argued that by joining the EU and adopting the euro, Iceland could shield itself from future shocks – even as Iceland recovered far more quickly than EU members such as Greece, Ireland, and Portugal, which were subjected to crippling austerity measures by Brussels, the World Bank, and the IMF in the wake of the crisis.

The Social Democrats won the argument, convincing their left-wing, Euroskeptic coalition partners to vote for application. The left agreed, with the caveat that the final membership deal would be put to the people in a referendum.

Following a change of government, accession talks were shelved in 2013. Iceland, it was reasoned, had emerged from the financial crisis in good shape, and joining the EU would erode the island nation’s sovereignty, potentially diluting its control of rich fishing grounds, with no tangible benefits in return.

How do the polls stand before the vote?

With less than a day to go, the latest polls suggest that the vote will come down to the wire. A poll by market research firm Maskina published on August 25 shows the referendum passing by 51.3% to 48.7%. Two days later, a Gallup poll showed a near mirror inversion of these results, with the ‘no’ side leading by 51.6% to 48.4%. The result in both surveys was inside the margin of error, making the outcome impossible to predict. However, the ‘no’ side has been steadily closing the gap since July, and if the trend holds, could succeed in putting membership talks on ice for the foreseeable future.

The Yes vote: Safety in numbers

The two major parties in Frostadottir’s coalition – her Social Democrats and Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir’s Reform Party – support EU membership. Their arguments are the same as they were in 2009, with one key addition: Membership would add a layer of defense against any potential attempts by US President Donald Trump to gain control over Iceland, as he is currently threatening Greenland. Although this is an unlikely scenario, the current US ambassador in Reykjavik caused widespread anger in January when he joked “that Iceland will be the 52nd state and he’ll be governor."

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To Foreign Minister Gunnarsdottir, membership provides safety in numbers. “That is so important for us to see a group of like-minded nations stand together on principles and values,” she told AP. “That is also what I’m looking at when I see the European Union in this volatile world.”

Iceland’s six other major parties – from conservatives to centrists to leftists – all oppose membership. In an effort to persuade their voters, Frostadottir has sold the referendum as a zero-risk proposition. A ‘yes’ vote would merely restart talks, she has argued, pointing out that any deal offered by Brussels would still have to pass another referendum. It would also give Icelanders “the option of seeing what an agreement looks like,” she said last month.

Why does the EU want Iceland?

Home to fewer than 400,000 people, Iceland would be the EU’s smallest member state in terms of population. It sits just south of the Arctic Circle between Greenland and the UK, occupying a chokepoint known as the GIUK gap. Russian submarines and naval vessels entering the North Atlantic must pass through the GIUK gap, and with the EU’s foreign policy now bent on confrontation with Moscow, establishing an outpost here is high on Brussels’ list of priorities.

Frostadottir has reportedly warned the European Commission not to interfere in the vote. “The commission never intervenes in national elections or in referenda in any way,” a spokesperson told Euractiv, an outlet that the commission funds. 

RT readers will recall that the European Commission has intervened in every national election in the bloc since 2024. This year alone, Brussels imposed online censorship measures ahead of elections in Bulgaria and Hungary. A US House Judiciary Committee report released in early 2026 alleged that the European Commission pressured social media platforms to censor populist and conservative speech during elections in Romania, France, the Netherlands, and Ireland.

While neither Commission President Ursula von der Leyen nor her chief diplomat Kaja Kallas have made the case for joining the bloc publicly, EU-funded media have filled in the blanks. According to Euronews, a ‘no’ vote would “close off a strategic opportunity to expand [the EU’s] positioning in the North Atlantic and Arctic region for generations.”

Is Iceland already embedded in the Western military nexus?

Despite presenting a “strategic opportunity” for the EU, Iceland is not some neutral territory waiting to be claimed. Iceland is a founding member of NATO, hosts the bloc’s air forces at Naval Air Station Keflavik, in return for which the military bloc financed the country’s major ring road, and has a network of radar stations described by the bloc’s officials as “the eyes and the ears of NATO in the north.”

At exercise Northern Viking in Iceland, I saw firsthand how U.S. and Icelandic forces train alongside fellow @NATO Allies to protect vital sea lanes and secure the Arctic, and how Icelandic technology is giving Allied forces an operational edge. Building our readiness and… pic.twitter.com/ZToq3GiBvH

— U.S. Ambassador to NATO (@USAmbNATO) August 21, 2026

Iceland has no standing army, but is a protectorate of the US under a 1951 defense agreement. The annual US-led ‘Northern Viking’ military exercise is currently underway in Iceland, and concludes on September 4. 

On top of being fully integrated into the Western military camp, Iceland is already a member of the European Economic Area and visa-free Schengen zone, and has incorporated most EU legislation into its domestic laws. 

No: A choice between war and peace

The EU’s militarization has directly harmed the bloc itself, Gunnar Palsson, Iceland’s former ambassador to Brussels, said in August, pointing to the EU’s flatlining economy as a result of its self-imposed embargo on Russian energy.

“The EU is now, for the first time in its history, a direct party to a military conflict in Europe,” Palsson wrote in an op-ed for Iceland’s Morgunbladid newspaper. “The Union’s escalating involvement in the Ukraine war, which is unlikely to lead to an optimal outcome for European countries, has already had a far-reaching impact on their economic situation, their relations with each other and with the outside world.”

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The EU Iceland considered joining in 2009 is not the same as the hyper-aggressive, militarized bloc of 2026, he concluded.

‘Left Against the EU’, a social movement founded this year to oppose the referendum, has argued that joining the EU would subjugate Iceland’s foreign policy to the whims of the European Commission, which is “rapidly moving towards militarization.”

“The European Union and NATO have given in to the demands of the arms industry for vastly increased military spending, and it has never been more urgent than now for peace-loving people to withdraw from the warring forces,” reads a policy statement from the group.

“A European army is just around the corner, and Icelanders must seriously ask themselves whether they want to prepare their children and society for the future of serving under the arms of a European military power.”

Should the referendum pass, “Icelanders will become citizens of a union that has a strong political will for militarization and is increasingly involved in conflicts and escalating tensions in Europe,” Haraldur Olafsson, who leads the anti-EU ‘Heimssyn’ movement, warned in May. 

Sovereignty over stocks: Why fish are at the center of the argument

For most Icelandic Euroskeptics, however, the referendum comes down to a simpler issue: fish. Fishing accounts for around 4% of Iceland’s GDP, and a third of the country’s exports. Signing up to the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy risks surrendering control over this vital economic and culturally symbolic sector.

Ireland, another island on the EU’s seaboard, was subjected to these rules when it joined the bloc, and more than five decades later, it is likely that Irish fishermen will demand Icelandic fishermen be treated as they were. 

French trawlers are allowed to catch five times more of certain fish in Irish waters than Irish trawlers. “The other countries are making fun of us for the lack of quota we have in our own waters,” Irish opposition leader Peadar Toibin claimed during a parliamentary debate last year.

Any Icelandic politician who trades away sovereignty over the country’s waters would “be expelled from the country,” Eirikur Bergmann, a professor at Iceland’s Bifrost University, told the BBC.

The ‘yes’ side has claimed that Iceland could negotiate exemptions to the Common Fisheries Policy, but no member state has done so to date, and Euroskeptics are unconvinced. Brussels would not even welcome such a debate, never mind find a workable solution. 

“Contrary to the government’s claims, membership of the European Union is not a tailor-made agreement where each country chooses the parts that suit it and rejects the others,” Independence Party leader Gudrun Hafsteinsdottir argued earlier this year. It is unacceptable, Olafsson declared in May, “for a foreign union to legislate on Icelandic resources for its own benefit.”

The EU’s treaties – Rome, Lisbon, Maastricht – “are non-negotiable,” ‘no’ campaigner Sigridur Maria Egilsdottir warned at a rally on August 27. “We wouldn’t show up to the negotiations alone. Brussels would send its most capable team, loaded with conditions, demands and inescapable assumptions that all EU nations have had to abide by.”

Iran has become stronger while the US has exposed its weakness during the conflict in the Middle East, which is still far from over, experts have told RT on the day marking six months since Washington and Israel attacked the Islamic Republic.

‘US and Israel underestimated resilience of Iranians and Lebanese’

RT’s correspondent in Lebanon, Steve Sweeney, said the Iran war is widely seen in the Middle East as “a strategic defeat for the US and its regional proxy, Israel.”

Israel used Iran as a pretext to launch an invasion of Lebanon, which “wreaked devastation across southern towns and villages, many of them have been destroyed completely,” Sweeney said.

“What Washington has done, what Israel has done is underestimated the resilience of the people on the ground here in Lebanon and also the resilience and the resistance being waged by the Iranians,” he added.

Trump looks like ‘Iranian agent’: Going Underground host Afshin Rattansi

“An alien from outer space might think that Trump has been… sent here as an Iranian agent to confirm the end of the US empire and the end of US power in this region,” Going Underground host Afshin Rattansi suggested.

The 180 days that have passed since February 28 “is not the end of the war,” but “a confirmation that Iran may have to respond... when it comes to retaliation and consequences for the NATO powers bent on their destruction, let alone the destruction of the entire Global South.”

‘If the goal of the operation was to make Israeli territory more secure, then it has been a complete failure’

RT correspondent Charlotte Dubenskij, reporting from the West Bank, said that since Israel launched its war with the US against Iran, it has opened up additional fronts, including operations in Lebanon and Syria, while the conflict in Gaza continues.

The West Bank, Dubenskij said, has become a “tinderbox,” with nationalist attacks by Israeli settlers taking place on a daily basis. She warned that the rising violence could trigger a backlash from Palestinians.

‘Iran has become a superpower’: DD Geopolitics reporter Christopher Helali

Tehran has become a “super power” over the 180 days that have passed since the attack by Washington and West Jerusalem, according to DD Geopolitics reporter Christopher Helali.

“What we can say unequivocally is that... Iran is not going back to the status quo of February 27 and before that. What has happened since has turned Iran into a major world power that doesn’t possess nuclear weapons, but possesses the Strait of Hormuz, which can bring the global economy to its knees and, of course, force the US and other regional powers to make enormous concessions,” he said.

‘A long, drawn-out conflict only beginning’

Former Pentagon analyst Michael Maloof called the US-Israeli operation “irresponsible,” saying it has resulted in “nothing but chaos, confusion, and greater turmoil and economic and political uncertainty in the world today.”

Half a year has passed since the initial attack on Iran, but “we’re only seeing the beginning of what’s going to be a long, drawn-out conflict,” he argued.

France hopes to line its own arms manufacturers’ pockets with a €90 billion European Union loan to Ukraine by limiting Kiev's ability to procure weapons from outside the bloc, according to Euronews.

After overcoming Hungary’s opposition, the EU member states in April approved the €90 billion Ukraine Support Loan, aimed at propping up Kiev’s war effort in 2026 and 2027; €60 billion of the total sum has been earmarked for arms procurement.

The scheme, which is backed by joint EU borrowing on the capital markets, is premised on the assumption that it would be repaid when Ukraine secures reparations from Russia – a prospect Moscow has dismissed as “unrealistic.”

In an article on Tuesday, Euronews claimed that France is seeking to place a time limit on wavers allowing Ukraine to purchase weapons from outside the EU using EU-backed funds.

At present, Kiev can request an exemption if there is no EU-made system on offer that meets its immediate needs. According to the publication, Ukraine has so far made use of this mechanism on at least two occasions: when sourcing Chinese-made drone components and US-made Patriot interceptor missiles.

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In early May, then-UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced London’s intention to also gain access to military contracts funded through the EU loan, despite the UK not being part of the bloc.

Following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict and amid the subsequent EU-wide rearmament drive, a number of European arms manufacturers have seen their profit margins surge.

Shares in Rheinmetall, Europe’s largest defense contractor, for instance, have risen more than tenfold over the past six years. Earlier this month, the company reported a nearly 70% increase in second-quarter revenue at €3.29 billion, having more than doubled its operating profit to €562 million.

RT’s Chay Bowes believes that behind a veneer of self-righteous talk lies ulterior motives, and that France is ultimately looking to funnel billions into its own military industrial complex.

Watch Bowes’s report in full below:

Donald Trump has declared himself the “greatest” president in US history while branding Joe Biden and Barack Obama “failures” in a ranking posted on Truth Social.

Abraham Lincoln, who led the US through the Civil War and abolished slavery, and George Washington, the first US president and a founding father, were placed one tier below Trump.

The US president shared the ranking on Thursday alongside a CNN clip highlighting polling showing his dominance among Republican voters. The graphic divides US presidents into six tiers – ‘The Greatest’, ‘Great’, ‘Near Great’, ‘Average’, ‘Below Average’, and ‘Failures’ – with Trump alone at the top.

Lincoln, Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson were placed in the ‘Great’ category. Theodore Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland, John Adams, and James K. Polk were rated ‘Near Great’, while Bill Clinton was among those deemed ‘Average’.

Biden and Obama were placed at the opposite end of Trump’s chart alongside fellow Democrat Jimmy Carter and former presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Warren G. Harding. The list contains 34 presidents and leaves out 11 others, including Ronald Reagan, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and both George Bushes.

The graphic appears to be an altered version of a ranking published by LIFE magazine in 1948, when Harvard historian Arthur Schlesinger Sr. asked 55 experts in American history to classify presidents as ‘great’, ‘near great’, ‘average’, ‘below average’, or ‘failure’. Trump’s version largely retains the original categories but adds himself at the top and several more recent Democratic presidents.

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Trump posted the image after CNN highlighted an Elon University poll showing 53% of Republicans named him the Republican president they admired most, far ahead of Reagan at 18% and Lincoln at 8%. CNN analyst Harry Enten called it a “historic comparison,” saying Trump “nearly triples up” on Reagan.

Expert surveys, however, have placed Trump at the opposite end of the scale. The Presidential Greatness Project ranked him last in 2018 with 12.34 points out of 100, versus 95.03 for Lincoln, and put him last again in its 2024 survey of 154 presidential scholars and experts. Lincoln topped both rankings.

Trump’s broader approval has also slumped during his second term. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted August 21-24 put his approval at a record-low 33%, with 65% disapproving. A Marquette survey showed even weaker numbers on the economy, with 30% approving of his handling of it and just 22% backing his record on inflation and the cost of living.

US President Donald Trump is apparently suffering from “schizophrenia” and “delusions” over his claims that the Strait of Hormuz belongs to Washington, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi has said.

The jab came after Trump shared an image on Thursday titled “US Territories” that listed the Strait of Hormuz as “NEW” alongside Puerto Rico, Guam, and other entities.

Writing on X the next day, Gharibabadi took aim at Trump, saying that “schizophrenia is a complex and acute psychotic disorder that manifests with disturbances in thinking and a distorted perception of reality.” He added that common symptoms include hallucinations and delusions, and that “such patients should be under 24-hour supervision and receive treatment.”

It’s not the first time Trump declared that the US “has total control over the Strait of Hormuz.” Earlier this month, he suggested that he “WILL KEEP IT,” while calling the American blockade “A WALL OF STEEL.” He also claimed that Iran had no navy or air force to speak of and signed off: “Praise be to Allah!”

The gap between America’s inability to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and its claim to own it is greater than the 7,000-mile distance between Washington and the Strait itself.
Welcome to the post-American order in the Persian Gulf. pic.twitter.com/nC7VBCPILH

— محسن رضایی (@ir_rezaee) August 18, 2026

Iran has repeatedly stated that it remains in full control of the strait, while Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei argued that Washington’s claim to own the strait was even further from reality than the roughly 7,000 miles separating it from the US capital. “Welcome to the post-American order in the Persian Gulf,” he wrote in mid-August.

READ MORE: US unveils ‘economic onslaught’ against Iran

While Iran and the US issued conflicting statements on the status of Hormuz, the daily traffic through the waterway remains in low double digits, compared to an overall flow of roughly 130 ships a day before the war broke out in late February.

Trump has meanwhile stepped back from another major round of strikes on Iran amid reports of critical shortages of long-range guided weapons and air-defense interceptors – something the US president has denied.

Washington has since shifted toward what it described as “an economic onslaught” against Iran to isolate it financially. Tehran has remained defiant, though, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying, “We have seen this movie before. Same bull. Different bullies.”

The US is moving to lock in long-term access to the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves by discussing a 100-year deal with Venezuela, as Caracas plans to leave the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), several outlets have reported.

The idea of quitting OPEC has been discussed during talks with US officials, according to Bloomberg’s sources, although no final decision has been made.

Venezuela was one of five countries that founded OPEC in 1960, alongside Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. It has effectively operated outside the group’s production quota system for years, while decades of US sanctions and domestic economic turmoil have battered its oil industry and diminished its influence within the organization.

A withdrawal from OPEC would mark a major realignment in Caracas following the January 3 US operation that kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Washington has since taken control of Venezuelan oil sales and revenues, with proceeds deposited into US-controlled accounts and Caracas’ access to the funds subject to decisions in Washington.

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The US is also seeking a steady flow of Venezuelan crude to its refineries while encouraging American companies to expand their presence in the country’s energy industry. Venezuela currently produces around 1.25 million barrels of crude per day, well below its historic output.

US pushing for ‘massive’ century-long oil lease

Talk of a potential OPEC exit comes as Washington pushes for a major stake in Venezuela’s oil fields. A deal under discussion could lock in several fields for American companies under a 100-year lease and guarantee the resulting crude supplies to the US.

“This is real and being discussed at the highest levels of the US and Venezuelan governments,” one source told Reuters. A lease is among the legal models under consideration, with individual fields potentially allocated to US producers through auctions or tenders.

A list involved in the negotiations includes 17 fields, spanning undeveloped sites in the vast Orinoco Belt and mature fields around Lake Maracaibo containing roughly 90 billion barrels of proven reserves. Some are currently operated by a small Chinese company under a contract signed during Maduro’s presidency.

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The historic deal could essentially more than double US oil reserves by tapping Venezuela, which holds the world’s largest proven crude reserves. “Calling this deal huge would be an understatement,” one US official told Axios. “It is massive.” 

‘Donroe Doctrine’

Taking a stake in Venezuela’s reserves would amount to an almost unprecedented US intervention in another country’s economy, Bloomberg noted, while fitting Donald Trump’s so-called “Donroe Doctrine” of expanding American influence across the Western Hemisphere.

Trump has repeatedly asserted US control over Venezuela’s oil since Maduro’s capture in January. Speaking to oil executives that month, he said Washington would decide which companies would rebuild the sector: “You’re dealing with us directly. You’re not dealing with Venezuela at all.” He went further in the spring, publicly floating the idea of turning Venezuela into the “51st state.”

The proposed arrangement could, however, run into legal hurdles. Venezuelan law does not currently provide for leasing oil acreage, while the constitution reserves core industry activities for the state. Recent reforms allow foreign participation through joint ventures and production-sharing contracts, but Caracas has for decades prevented foreign producers from booking Venezuelan reserves as their own.

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With details still being negotiated, legal experts say the proposed deal could face constitutional challenges. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright is reportedly expected to travel to Caracas as soon as next week as talks continue. 

Another blow to OPEC

Venezuela’s departure would also hand Trump a small victory in his long-running confrontation with OPEC. The US president has repeatedly criticized the group for wielding too much influence over global oil prices and driving up fuel costs for American consumers.

The push comes as the Trump administration faces pressure over high gasoline prices ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Cheaper Venezuelan crude could help ease fuel costs and replenish the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which currently holds around 290 million barrels – about 41% of its capacity.

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A Venezuelan departure would come just months after the United Arab Emirates quit OPEC on May 1, seeking greater freedom over its oil production. The move left the organization with 12 members, while UAE state oil company ADNOC subsequently moved to boost crude sales.

Other producers have also pushed back against OPEC restrictions. Iraq reportedly threatened to leave in June unless it was allowed to increase output, although Baghdad later said it had no plans to withdraw. Venezuela and Iran remain exempt from OPEC+ production quotas because sanctions have constrained their output.

Moscow trusted in the decency of the West for years, but not anymore, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

In an interview with RBK released on Friday, Lavrov was asked why Russia allowed the US and EU to take advantage of it on numerous occasions in recent decades.

“Deception lies at the foundation of Western diplomacy. And it still does,” he replied.

The minister recalled how the Americans broke their promise not to expand NATO after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and how France and Germany became guarantors of a deal between democratically-elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich and the opposition during the Maidan protests in Kiev in 2014, but proclaimed the rioters as victors after they seized government buildings the next day.

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Nevertheless, Moscow did not abandon attempts to reach common ground with the West because “after all, we are a God-fearing nation. Our multi-ethnic people have many proverbs about their great patience: ‘God endured, and so must we’, ‘Measure twice, cut once’, ‘Don’t hold your breath for promises’,” he said.

“This reveals something about our psychology – not naivety ingrained by centuries of historical experience, but rather the enduring hope that a scoundrel cannot be a complete scoundrel, to put it simply,” Lavrov explained.

It is in the Russian national character to maintain “faith in people right to the very end. But the end has already come,” he said.

According to the minister, the US and EU “firmly set out on a course of supplying the Nazi Kiev regime with ever more advanced and increasingly deadly offensive weapons” after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022.

READ MORE: UK military sites could become targets – Moscow

That same year, Russian President Vladimir Putin, when “answering questions about the West’s position, its treachery and duplicity, said that we would always be ready to talk, but that we had learned our lessons and that our relations with the West would never again be what they had been before,” Lavrov said.

Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has repeatedly humiliated and abused a former household worker, at one point calling him an “undeveloped Moroccan,” a new lawsuit claims. The controversy adds to a years-long trail of remarkably similar allegations, painting a picture of intolerable conditions at the residence.

On Tuesday, Ynet reported that Rami Ben-Hamo, who worked at the residence from 2023 to 2025, is seeking 450,000 shekels ($150,000) in a lawsuit filed with the Jerusalem Regional Labor Court. While the complaint has been formally filed against the Prime Minister’s Office, the alleged abuse is overwhelmingly attributed to Sara Netanyahu.

According to Ben-Hamo, he sometimes worked from around 7:30 AM until the early hours of the following morning, clocking 60 to 80 hours of overtime a month. He claims to have “suffered extreme abuse” from the prime minister’s wife, adding that she made him clean her handbag and the soles of her shoes, repeatedly wash his hands between tasks, and endure screaming and humiliation when cleaning or household chores were not performed exactly as she wanted.

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At one point, Netanyahu allegedly called him an “undeveloped Moroccan,” declaring: “I am the prime minister’s wife. You will do what I tell you.” Ben-Hamo claims the ethnic insult was repeated and that he sometimes had to beg her in tears to stop.

The complaint also alleges that Ben-Hamo was kept at work after the start of Shabbat – the weekly Jewish day of rest between Friday and Saturday evenings – despite Netanyahu knowing he observed the tradition. After suffering a cardiac event at work and undergoing catheterization in 2025, Ben-Hamo says her treatment of him became even harsher.

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When Ben-Hamo wrote a resignation notice, saying he wanted to leave because of the mistreatment, the Prime Minister’s Office “refused to accept this note and demanded that the plaintiff change the wording so that it said he wanted to leave for personal reasons.”

Netanyahu’s office dismissed the allegations as “fake news,” calling it a politically motivated “witch-hunt” ahead of the October elections.

However, the recent controversy fits a pattern of strikingly similar grievances about Sara Netanyahu. Just several weeks ago, former residence worker Yehiel Ohev-Ami, 61, sued her for 300,000 shekels ($100,000), claiming that Netanyahu repeatedly insulted and yelled at him, and “once ordered him to clean the kitchen floor while crawling.” 

In addition, Netanyahu allegedly wished him cancer and death after Ohev-Ami went out on a smoke break, and even “diagnosed” him with autism. The prime minister’s office has denied the accusations.

In May, Israeli media reported that another former employee reached a settlement with her staffing company after alleging repeated humiliation, including an incident in which Sara Netanyahu threw olives and tomatoes at her during breakfast.

In 2016, a Jerusalem labor court awarded former residence caretaker Meni Naftali 170,000 shekels ($57,000) after accepting his claims that Sara Netanyahu’s fostered “abusive employment conditions,” including verbal insults and unreasonable demands.

According to multiple media reports, Sara Netanyahu – a psychologist by training – enjoys immense political influence and essentially has veto powers on appointments to key positions. Earlier this month, former chief of staff Yoav Horowitz suggested that in terms of politics, “Sara Netanyahu and Bibi Netanyahu are one; it’s impossible to separate between them.”

Afghanistan is “undoubtedly” better off five years after the withdrawal of US forces, Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has told RT, while acknowledging that the country continues to face serious problems.

In a rare interview with RT India’s Runjhun Sharma, Mujahid argued that the departure of foreign troops has restored Afghanistan’s independence and left Afghans responsible for rebuilding their own country.

The Taliban returned to power in August 2021 as the Western-backed government collapsed and US forces completed their withdrawal after two decades of war. The hardline Islamist movement has since reinstated a strict interpretation of Sharia law, including sweeping restrictions on women and girls that have drawn widespread international criticism.

However, despite the conflict, Mujahid said Kabul now wants normal diplomatic relations with Washington, including the reopening of the US Embassy in Afghanistan and an Afghan mission in the American capital.

He also argued that Western perceptions of the Taliban remain shaped by two decades of war, accusing international media of portraying the group as seeking conflict and instability and posing a threat to the outside world.

Read more

“But now the war is over, and I believe those wartime policies, both political and media policies, should also change,” he said, urging foreign governments and journalists to engage directly with the Taliban and “understand our goals.”

He also called for sanctions to be lifted and frozen Afghan assets to be returned, saying the measures would help improve relations.

Commenting on Afghanistan’s relations with Russia, which is currently the only country to recognize the Taliban government, Mujahid described Moscow as an important regional partner and said Kabul wants Russian companies to invest in Afghanistan while expanding cooperation in trade, reconstruction, fuel, and energy.

Read more

The spokesman also rejected suggestions that the Taliban should change its domestic policies in exchange for international recognition. Asked specifically about restrictions affecting women and girls, he argued that Afghanistan has already met the normal requirements of statehood and should not be subjected to additional conditions.

“Afghanistan has its own beliefs and convictions, has its own religion and faith, has its own internal interests, and has its own laws,” he said. “These should be valued and respected.”

Watch the full interview below.

Nepal and China briefly suspended rescue operations for those missing in Wednesday’s flash flood due to the threat of new onrush of water from a lake that formed on the upper reaches of the Bhote Koshi river.

The lake broke its banks Friday morning and Nepal asked its rescue teams and residents to move to higher ground. Rescue operations resumed soon afterward when the authorities assessed that the risk of flooding was not as severe as initially thought. 

CNN reported, citing a spokesperson for Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, that there is no risk of a massive deluge like before. “It is a small amount of water leaking from the dam down into the valley below.”

Chinese officials said the risk of flooding had decreased as the water level in the lake had fallen by about 10 meters, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Some 469 people are confirmed dead so far in Nepal, while nearly 1,500 are still missing, including police personnel. More than 1,500 people have been rescued, Nepalese police posted online.

The Nepal Army has intensified rescue operations since this morning to find people trapped in the Rasuwa Hydro Power Project (Hydro) tunnel due to flooding. A Nepal Army team, braving challenging terrain and dangerous conditions, has so far safely rescued two people from the… pic.twitter.com/8vlER7VKy7

— Sahil Patel (@SahilpatelCA) August 28, 2026

More than 13,000 army and police personnel are engaged in the search and rescue effort in Nepal. 

Helicopter rescue missions, which have successfully pulled to safety hundreds of people stranded in the mud and buildings in the last 48 hours, also resumed after the pause.

Heroic rescue! A man stranded on an excavator in a fast-flowing, muddy river was saved after brave firefighters threw him a life jacket and safety rope, pulling him through the current to shore. 🌊#Rescue #HeroicRescue #Flood #EmergencyResponse #China pic.twitter.com/Ypbqva2qRG

— Bappy Boks (@bappyboks) August 28, 2026

China paused rescue operations at the Gyirong Port, which is now completely buried in mud. CCTV said rescue teams had been ordered to stand by and wait for further instructions. Emergency teams at the location of the disaster were ordered to withdraw one kilometer.

Beijing said rescuers were pushing toward the disaster zone, which has lost road connectivity, but has not updated its casualty figures since Thursday, when it said that 558 people including 260 foreigners were missing, with three confirmed dead.

Read more

Nearly half of those missing in Nepal are tourists and travelers. The Nepal Tourism Board says 667 tourists are missing, including 127 Nepalis. 

India says it cannot contact 290 of its nationals.

There is also no information on an 80-member pilgrim group from a spiritual organization in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The group was returning from Mansarovar and had reportedly reached the immigration checkpoint at the border just minutes before the flood leveled the buildings there. The group included people of various nationalities.

British health officials believe that eggs imported from Ukraine could be responsible for a major salmonella outbreak in the UK, The Telegraph has reported, citing a source.

A total of 259 people in the country have been infected with the bacteria over the past year, with one of them dying, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said in a statement on Thursday.

The agency stressed that the exact source of the contaminated products has yet to be established, but added that the outbreak “could all be associated with imported eggs.”

However, a senior official involved in the investigation of a salmonella outbreak in the Netherlands, where over a hundred cases have been registered, told The Telegraph that the “working hypothesis” among his British counterparts is that the unsafe eggs were of Ukrainian origin.

Read more

The cases, involving three closely related salmonella strains, were recorded over a year-long period, with a spike in recent weeks, UKHSA said.

Almost half of the victims, ranging from babies to people in their 90s, required hospitalization, the statement read.

Salmonella causes intestinal infection, typically resulting in diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and abdominal cramps. While most patients recover without specific treatment, the disease can be life-threatening for people with weakened immune systems.

Investigators believe the people were infected after consuming eggs served in “small cafes, restaurants, and takeaway businesses,” rather than eating at home, UKHSA said.

Read more

Chief Scientific Adviser at the Food Standards Agency Ian Young urged the British public to give up on traditional fried eggs with a runny yolk as long as the spread of salmonella continues.

The UK produces most of its eggs at home, with UKHSA assuring that they are perfectly safe. The country imports only 11% of its eggs, with Ukraine being the largest supplier, accounting for almost a third of them.

The exemption from tariffs on Ukrainian eggs exported to Britain, introduced after the escalation between Ukraine and Russia in February 2022, will remain in place until 2028, despite the EU reimposing barriers last year.

In July, EU health authorities linked Ukrainian-made instant noodles to a salmonella outbreak that affected more than 100 people across over a dozen member states.

A few months before that, Azerbaijan’s food safety agency reported discovering the bacteria in a 4.9-ton batch of frozen chicken coming from Ukraine.

A US court has struck down the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic, ruling that it illegally sanctioned the AI developer for refusing to let its Claude model be used for certain military operations.

In a 59-page ruling issued on Thursday, US District Judge Rita Lin said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth overstepped his authority by designating Anthropic a “supply-chain risk to national security.” She also argued that the move amounted to unlawful retaliation under the First Amendment and deprived Anthropic of due process under the Fifth.

“The empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics,” she wrote.
Lin said the government had sought to make a public example of Anthropic for its “arrogance” in criticizing Washington, adding that Hegseth’s supply-chain designation violated the statute invoked by the Pentagon and was “arbitrary and capricious.”

Read more

The dispute grew out of the Pentagon’s push to provide the military with access to AI models for “any lawful use.” Before the standoff, Anthropic had been deeply involved with the Pentagon, with Claude being deployed for various operations. Anthropic also held a Pentagon agreement worth up to $200 million.

However, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei argued in February that while he supports the use of Claude for military ends, it should not be used for mass domestic surveillance or guiding fully autonomous weapons because its current frontier models are not reliable enough for the latter task.

Read more

As the tensions escalated, US President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to cease using Anthropic technology on February 27, branding the company a “radical Left AI company.” Hegseth meanwhile announced the supply-chain-risk designation and declared that the Pentagon’s partners could no longer conduct commercial activity with Anthropic.

Anthropic vowed to challenge the designation, saying such treatment had historically only been reserved for US adversaries. It sued in March, alleging that Washington had retaliated against its protected speech and denied it a chance to contest the allegations before imposing the sanctions.

Hegseth, however, stood his ground, comparing Anthropic’s red lines to “Boeing giving us airplanes and telling us who we can shoot at,” and calling Amodei an “ideological lunatic.”

In the ruling, Lin stressed that the Pentagon “is undisputedly free to select the AI vendor of its choice” and remains free to abandon Claude if Anthropic’s conditions do not meet its requirements. Yet the Pentagon itself had been reluctant to lose access to the model, with one defense official telling Axios in February that “the problem for these guys is they are that good.”

A separate lawsuit from Anthropic is also pending in Washington, DC over a supply chain risk designation that could lead to its exclusion from civilian government contracts.

Norway’s King Harald V has died at the age of 89, the royal palace announced on Friday.

The king passed away peacefully at a hospital in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, at 6:35 AM local time (04:35 GMT), the palace said in a statement.

Harald had been hospitalized with a blood disorder on August 17. The monarch’s health deteriorated during treatment, with his condition being described as “extremely serious” on Thursday.

Members of the royal family canceled their official engagements and were at the king’s bedside during his final days, while people were laying flowers outside the palace, according to local media.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has instructed its employees not to refer to the 9/11 attacks as “terrorist,” according to several media reports.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people. According to the official account, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger airliners, crashing two into the World Trade Center towers in New York City and a third into the Pentagon outside Washington, DC. The fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew attempted to wrest control from the hijackers.

The attacks prompted then-US President George W. Bush to launch the ‘war on terror’ and send American troops into Afghanistan, beginning a conflict that would last two decades.

The Toronto Sun reported on Wednesday that CBC Senior Director of Journalistic Standards and Public Trust Basem Boshra had circulated a confidential memo instructing reporters and editors not to “refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks.”

“The hijackings led to passenger jet crashes in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Manhattan. The World Trade Center (WTC in second reference) was destroyed,” the memo reportedly stated.

Read more

The National Post also reported on the guidance and sought comment from CBC News. A spokesperson for Canada’s national public broadcaster insisted that “it is wholly inaccurate to state our journalists have been urged to declare that this was not a terrorist act.”

The spokesperson said the memo was a routine reminder of CBC policy on the terms ‘terrorist’ and ‘terrorism’, which journalists may use when attributed to government officials, authorities, experts, or politicians.

CBC News editor in chief and general manager Brodie Fenlon has previously explained that the broadcaster “does not itself designate specific groups as terrorists, or specific acts as terrorism,” arguing that the terms are so politically and emotionally loaded that they “can end up being impediments to our journalism.”

The reported guidance comes as relations between Canada and the US have deteriorated amid an escalating trade war. On Tuesday, Ottawa announced retaliatory tariffs of up to 50% on around 700 American products after US President Donald Trump imposed a new round of duties on Canada and threatened further punitive measures.

US President Donald Trump has officially renamed Lake Ontario “Lake America” as trade-related tensions between Canada and the United States continue to escalate.

The premier of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, told Trump to “kiss my a**” this week and threatened to cut electricity supplies to the US.

“We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario, effective immediately, to Lake America,” Trump declared in the Oval Office on Thursday before signing an executive order that requires federal agencies to use the new name on government maps, contracts, documents and communications.

The change was swiftly put into effect, with Trump sharing a letter from the US Geological Survey confirming that the federal Geographic Names Information System had already been updated.

The renaming caps a bitter week in which the trade dispute between Washington and Ottawa rapidly descended into personal insults and threats. The confrontation erupted after negotiations collapsed and Washington imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian imports.

Read more

On Monday morning, Trump threatened to further raise tariffs on Canadian cars, auto parts and steel to 50% from January 2027, accusing Canada of “ripping off” the US and declaring that it would no longer be treated “like a State.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded almost immediately, threatening to withhold or sharply raise the price of oil, potash and uranium exports and saying Ontario was prepared to revive a surcharge on electricity sent to the US, or even cut power exports altogether.

“Someone should get these clowns to ‘fall in line’ or, the consequences for Canada will be far WORSE!” Trump fired back. Ford, who was holding a press conference at the time, doubled down, saying: “I have a lot of real estate on my ass, so he has a lot of room to kiss my ass.”

Read more

The following day, Ottawa threw its financial weight behind the rhetoric. Canada formally unveiled retaliatory tariffs matching Washington “dollar for dollar, rate for rate” on C$27.6 billion ($20 billion) worth of US goods. Duties of 15%, 25% and 50% on products including steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics are due to take effect on September 8.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has insisted that his countrymen will continue to use the historic name, noting that “Ontario” derives from an Indigenous word predating both countries. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has likewise said her state would not adopt “Lake America.”

Washington cannot force Canada or international organizations to recognize the change, but it can dictate terminology across the US federal government.

On his first day back in office in January 2025, Trump similarly ordered the Gulf of Mexico renamed the “Gulf of America” for federal purposes – and suggested Thursday that another geographic rebranding could be next.

“We have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean,” he said. “So maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”

US President Donald Trump has officially renamed Lake Ontario “Lake America” as trade-related tensions between Canada and the United States continue to escalate.

The premier of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, told Trump to “kiss my a**” this week and threatened to cut electricity supplies to the US.

“We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario, effective immediately, to Lake America,” Trump declared in the Oval Office on Thursday before signing an executive order that requires federal agencies to use the new name on government maps, contracts, documents and communications.

The change was swiftly put into effect, with Trump sharing a letter from the US Geological Survey confirming that the federal Geographic Names Information System had already been updated.

The renaming caps a bitter week in which the trade dispute between Washington and Ottawa rapidly descended into personal insults and threats. The confrontation erupted after negotiations collapsed and Washington imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian imports.

Read more

On Monday morning, Trump threatened to further raise tariffs on Canadian cars, auto parts and steel to 50% from January 2027, accusing Canada of “ripping off” the US and declaring that it would no longer be treated “like a State.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded almost immediately, threatening to withhold or sharply raise the price of oil, potash and uranium exports and saying Ontario was prepared to revive a surcharge on electricity sent to the US, or even cut power exports altogether.

“Someone should get these clowns to ‘fall in line’ or, the consequences for Canada will be far WORSE!” Trump fired back. Ford, who was holding a press conference at the time, doubled down, saying: “I have a lot of real estate on my ass, so he has a lot of room to kiss my ass.”

Read more

The following day, Ottawa threw its financial weight behind the rhetoric. Canada formally unveiled retaliatory tariffs matching Washington “dollar for dollar, rate for rate” on C$27.6 billion ($20 billion) worth of US goods. Duties of 15%, 25% and 50% on products including steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics are due to take effect on September 8.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has insisted that his countrymen will continue to use the historic name, noting that “Ontario” derives from an Indigenous word predating both countries. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has likewise said her state would not adopt “Lake America.”

Washington cannot force Canada or international organizations to recognize the change, but it can dictate terminology across the US federal government.

On his first day back in office in January 2025, Trump similarly ordered the Gulf of Mexico renamed the “Gulf of America” for federal purposes – and suggested Thursday that another geographic rebranding could be next.

“We have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean,” he said. “So maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”

In a sweeping essay on the coming “turbulent AI era,” Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has argued that the technology could become either “the greatest equalizer ever invented” or “the worst source of injustice,” warning that governments remain dangerously unprepared for the social and economic upheaval ahead.

The intervention comes with an acknowledged “potential bias,” as Gates himself concedes that he has “benefited enormously” from the tech industry, retains financial ties to the sector, and works with Microsoft and other AI companies through the Gates Foundation.

His association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is another source of reputational baggage that Gates addressed in an interview with Axios published on Wednesday, insisting people should judge him “on the record” rather than let the controversy overshadow his warnings on AI and global health.

Read more

Gates called the association a “huge mistake,” insisting his dealings with Epstein were limited and motivated by an attempt to raise money for philanthropic projects. He began meeting Epstein in 2011, despite knowing of his previous sex-crime conviction, and has said he cut ties in 2014 after the financier failed to deliver the promised access to wealthy donors. Gates has denied involvement in Epstein’s criminal activity and told Congress that Epstein later attempted to blackmail him over extramarital affairs.

“I made mistakes. I’ve changed,” Gates said. “I do think the record is clear, and people can just judge me on the record.”

Gates is now warning that AI could unleash disruption on an entirely different scale. Unlike previous technological revolutions, he argues, it can substitute directly for human cognition and rapidly replace workers across law, medicine, customer service, software and manufacturing. Without the right policies, he predicts, there will still be some new jobs, but “far fewer than exist today.”

Read more

He also warns that increasingly accessible AI could make cyberattacks and biological weapons easier for bad actors to develop, while autonomous weapons could give governments greater ability to use deadly force without human involvement. Surveillance and manipulation of public opinion would likewise become cheaper and more effective.

Eventually, Gates cautioned, the danger may come from the machines themselves: increasingly powerful systems “could begin to act against our interests and we could lose control.”

It is not the first time Gates has sounded the alarm about a looming global threat. In a widely viewed 2015 TED talk, he warned that the world was badly unprepared for the next major epidemic.

Read more

The Covid-19 pandemic later gave that warning an air of prescience, but Gates’ prominent involvement in global public-health policy turned him into a lightning rod for distrust. His past warnings and the Gates Foundation’s participation in a 2019 pandemic simulation were subsequently woven into numerous conspiracy theories claiming that he had planned the outbreak and intended to profit from vaccines. Gates himself described such accusations as “crazy” and “evil.”

This time, Gates argues there may be even less room to slow down. While saying he would support a credible international plan to restrain AI development, he concluded that “geopolitical and economic incentives are pushing too hard to go full speed ahead.”

US President Donald Trump has officially renamed Lake Ontario “Lake America” amid an escalating trade war with Canada and Ontario – whose premier recently told him to “kiss my ass” and threatened to cut electricity supplies to the US.

“We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario, effective immediately, to Lake America,” Trump declared in the Oval Office on Thursday before signing an executive order that requires federal agencies to use the new name on government maps, contracts, documents and communications.

The change was swiftly put into effect, with Trump sharing a letter from the US Geological Survey confirming that the federal Geographic Names Information System had already been updated.

The renaming caps a bitter week in which the trade dispute between Washington and Ottawa rapidly descended into personal insults and threats. The confrontation erupted after negotiations collapsed and Washington imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian imports.

Read more

On Monday morning, Trump threatened to further raise tariffs on Canadian cars, auto parts and steel to 50% from January 2027, accusing Canada of “ripping off” the US and declaring that it would no longer be treated “like a State.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded almost immediately, threatening to withhold or sharply raise the price of oil, potash and uranium exports and saying Ontario was prepared to revive a surcharge on electricity sent to the US, or even cut power exports altogether.

“Someone should get these clowns to ‘fall in line’ or, the consequences for Canada will be far WORSE!” Trump fired back. Ford, who was holding a press conference at the time, doubled down, saying: “I have a lot of real estate on my ass, so he has a lot of room to kiss my ass.”

Read more

The following day, Ottawa put financial weight behind the rhetoric. Canada formally unveiled retaliatory tariffs matching Washington “dollar for dollar, rate for rate” on C$27.6 billion ($20 billion) worth of US goods. Duties of 15%, 25% and 50% on products including steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics are due to take effect on September 8.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has insisted that Canadians will continue using the historic name, noting that “Ontario” derives from an Indigenous word predating both countries. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has likewise said her state would not adopt “Lake America.”

Washington cannot force Canada or international organizations to recognize the change, but it can dictate terminology across the US federal government.

On his first day back in office in January 2025, Trump similarly ordered the Gulf of Mexico renamed the “Gulf of America” for federal purposes – and suggested Thursday that another geographic rebranding could be next.

“We have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean,” he said, floating either the Atlantic or Pacific as a possible candidate.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has instructed its employees not to refer to the 9/11 attacks as “terrorist,” according to several media reports.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people. According to the official account, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger airliners, crashing two into the World Trade Center towers in New York City and a third into the Pentagon outside Washington, DC. The fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew attempted to wrest control from the hijackers.

The attacks prompted then-US President George W. Bush to launch the ‘war on terror’ and send American troops into Afghanistan, beginning a conflict that would last two decades.

The Toronto Sun reported on Wednesday that CBC Senior Director of Journalistic Standards and Public Trust Basem Boshra had circulated a confidential memo instructing reporters and editors not to “refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks.”

“The hijackings led to passenger jet crashes in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Manhattan. The World Trade Center (WTC in second reference) was destroyed,” the memo reportedly stated.

Read more

The National Post also reported on the guidance and sought comment from CBC News. A spokesperson for Canada’s national public broadcaster insisted that “it is wholly inaccurate to state our journalists have been urged to declare that this was not a terrorist act.”

The spokesperson said the memo was a routine reminder of CBC policy on the terms ‘terrorist’ and ‘terrorism’, which journalists may use when attributed to government officials, authorities, experts, or politicians.

CBC News editor in chief and general manager Brodie Fenlon has previously explained that the broadcaster “does not itself designate specific groups as terrorists, or specific acts as terrorism,” arguing that the terms are so politically and emotionally loaded that they “can end up being impediments to our journalism.”

The reported guidance comes as relations between Canada and the US have deteriorated amid an escalating trade war. On Tuesday, Ottawa announced retaliatory tariffs of up to 50% on around 700 American products after US President Donald Trump imposed a new round of duties on Canada and threatened further punitive measures.

The British state broadcaster BBC this week ran a major story drumming up the alleged Russia threat and supposed looming retaliatory attacks on British drone factories supplying Ukraine. The chilly warning purportedly came from a top Russian official – except that the individual in question has not been one in over three decades.

At first glance, the piece titled “UK drone factories may face attacks from ‘unknown sources,’ says Kremlin adviser” looked legit, based on comments made on BBC Newsnight by Andrey Fedorov. The broadcaster presented the interviewee as a heavyweight Russian official, describing him as a “Kremlin adviser” and “Russia’s former deputy foreign minister.”

The latter is partially true: Fedorov was the deputy minister in the RSFSR, the Russian republic of the USSR, between October 1990 and October 1991 prior to the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union. The other claim, however, is completely false. Fedorov used to be an adviser to Russia’s vice president until late 1993, the same year the vice president position was abolished, and has not held any public office since. Over the past decade, he has been best known as a political commentator and a media personality, frequenting assorted Russian political talk shows.

BBC tries to hide fake news

The piece survived for around five hours on BBC’s website before it was quietly amended. Fedorov was ‘demoted’ to a “pro-Kremlin commentator who frequently appears on Russian television,” yet no official retraction of the initial claim was made. The description, while still debatable, given that Fedorov is known for frequently spelling doom and gloom for Moscow, citing his purported high-ranking sources at home and overseas, is not explicitly untrue.

The BBC also did not do a particularly good job of purging the fake, which survived on several of its platforms. A BBC Newsnight Facebook post on the matter still cryptically describes Fedorov as a “President Putin ally” at the moment of the publication, while its post on X claims the commentator “advises President Putin.”

Fake spills all over British media and beyond

The BBC interview with Fedorov was spread across British media alongside his false depiction as a “Putin adviser.” Unlike the source, outlets that reprinted the fake news never bothered to amend it.

Some outlets even managed to outperform the original. The Express, for instance, described Fedorov simultaneously as a “high-ranking Kremlin official” and “high-level Kremlin insider.”

HuffPost UK also described the political commentator as a “presidential adviser” and even ‘promoted’ him to a “key ally to Vladimir Putin.”

The fake also spread beyond the UK media, making it to Al Jazeera with minimal amendments. Following the BBC, Al Jazeera falsely described Fedorov as “an adviser to the Kremlin and a former deputy foreign minister.” 

It also made it to Ukrainian media, which generally takes its British counterparts at face value and attempts no independent fact-checking.

Are the fakes bound to roll on?

This was actually not the first time the BBC falsely presented the Russian political commentator. In January of this year, Fedorov made remarks to the BBC’s Radio 4 on the US military hunt for the Marinera oil tanker and was presented as a “Kremlin adviser and former Russian deputy foreign minister.”

The comments spread widely across British media at the time, apparently without any fact-checking, and remain readily available in news articles from major outlets such The Times and The Independent.

READ MORE: Trump sues BBC for $10 billion

The BBC’s flagship Newsnight program is also involved in a legal case involving US President Donald Trump. The show is accused of editing a Trump speech in a way that made it appear that he had explicitly called for violence ahead of the Capitol Hill riots. A BBC documentary also featured a video of Trump spliced with remarks that had actually been made nearly an hour apart. Neither program notified viewers of the edit. Trump is reportedly suing the British state broadcaster for $10 billion for defamation.

Dozens of immigrants who disappeared from UK asylum hotels as children in 2023 are still unaccounted for, a parliamentary report released on Thursday has found.

Some 472 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children – some as young as 12 – went missing from Home Office-run accommodation for migrant minors.

According to the Director of Children’s Social Care at the Department for Education, Helen Waite, 432 have since been located, leaving 40 unaccounted for. Most have since turned 18, but two remain underage.

The committee “welcomed” that most had been found but said it remains “extremely concerned” about those still missing. It urged the Home Office to detail efforts to locate them, demanding updates every three months. Angela Eagle, then border security and asylum minister, told the committee last year that some of those found were “located in exploitative situations and may have been trafficked.”

READ MORE: The rape gang trial the UK establishment doesn’t want you to know about

Commenting on the report, England’s Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza called the situation an “unacceptable failure.”

Read more

“Every child arriving in this country has the right to safely apply for asylum and to be provided with shelter and support while they do so,” she said, urging the government to prevent such disappearances from happening again.

At its peak in June 2023, more than 51,000 asylum seekers were housed in over 400 Home Office hotels across the UK. Human rights groups argued the facilities were unsuitable for children. In 2024, the High Court ruled that placement of unaccompanied minors in hotels was unlawful, and dedicated facilities were subsequently closed.

Immigration has become an increasingly contentious political issue in Britain amid continued Channel crossings, protests over asylum accommodation, high-profile migrant-linked crimes and renewed scrutiny of the country’s grooming-gangs scandal. The controversy contributed to mounting pressure on former Prime Minister Keir Starmer before his resignation earlier this summer. His successor, Andy Burnham, has pledged to stop small-boat crossings but declined to set a deadline.

READ MORE: Child migrants raped amid massive influx into Spanish exclave – Euronews

Europe has faced sustained migration pressure since 2015, when more than a million people arrived, largely from the Middle East and Africa. The issue returned to the spotlight last month after more than 72,000 people crossed into Spain’s Ceuta enclave, overwhelming reception facilities and renewing calls for tighter border controls. Following the crossing, media reports said Ceuta was processing around 2,000 unaccompanied minors, many of whom were reportedly left on the streets with shelters overwhelmed. Police reportedly investigated at least five alleged rapes of minors linked to the influx.

A catastrophic flash flood on Wednesday morning wreaked massive destruction upon Nepal’s northern mountainous region, bordering China. The torrent of water, rock, and mud wiped out entire villages, washed away roads and destroyed power infrastructure and dams.

Thousands of people are missing, Nepalese Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal has said, among them pilgrims to Mansarovar in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus. “Town after town has been wiped out within hours,” he said. Nearly 400 of the 579 tourists missing are Indians.  

Nepal’s army has pressed in helicopters to rescue people trapped in mud and in buildings that survived the deluge, and deliver emergency supplies. More than 100 people have been rescued so far, including foreigners. 

In China, where the border customs post at Gyirong Port was wiped out by the rushing water and rocks, 558 people are missing – 260 of them foreigners. However, rescue efforts are hindered because of the lack of road connectivity and the thick mud covering the area.

Pentagon investigators reviewing the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan have uncovered classified documents that they say were deliberately hidden from previous probes. The discovery comes amid long-running accusations that the administration of former US President Joe Biden concealed failures surrounding the operation.

Sean Parnell, chairman of the Afghanistan Withdrawal Special Review Panel, said on Wednesday that his team had recovered “highly relevant classified documents” that “should have been disclosed.”

The material had been “stashed and hidden away in safes where they would not be found,” Parnell said in a video statement on X, five years after the deadly bombing of the Abbey Gate entrance to Kabul airport.

“After the team reviewed these documents, it became clear why someone tried to hide them,” he said.

Parnell did not disclose what the documents actually contain, who allegedly concealed them, or whether they relate to any specific decisions made by Biden or his officials.

However, he said his panel would follow the evidence “wherever it leads and to whoever it touches,” and promised veterans and the families of those killed “the full picture” of how and why decisions were made during the disastrous withdrawal.

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Thirteen US service members and around 170 Afghans were killed when an ISIS-K suicide bomber attacked Abbey Gate during the August 2021 evacuation. During the chaotic withdrawal, the Taliban rapidly swept across Afghanistan, the Western-backed government collapsed, and thousands of people crowded Kabul airport in an attempt to flee the country.

Images of desperate Afghans clinging to a departing US military aircraft became emblematic of the withdrawal, which ended a 20-year American military presence with the Taliban back in power.

Republicans have since repeatedly accused Biden officials of ignoring or downplaying warnings that a complete US withdrawal could trigger the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and security forces, and of waiting too long to launch a full-scale evacuation.

House investigators have also consistently raised concerns that potentially relevant photographs, video, and other material from the evacuation were missing, deleted, or otherwise unavailable during subsequent probes. They have accused Biden-era officials of withholding information and frustrating congressional attempts to establish exactly how key decisions were made.

Biden administration officials have denied any cover-up and argued that the unexpectedly rapid collapse of the Afghan government severely complicated the evacuation.

Denmark will pay around $47,000 to each Greenlandic woman who can attest to having been implanted with a contraceptive device without consent while Copenhagen controlled the island’s healthcare system. Around 4,500 women may qualify under the scheme.

The Danish parliament approved the payout of 300,000 kroner by a large majority on Thursday, with the compensation to be made tax-free regardless of the contraceptive method used or the number of incidents.

To receive the money, the claimant should make a sworn statement and provide enough detail to make the incident plausible under the scheme. Providing medical records is not required because many of the alleged incidents occurred decades ago and the relevant documentation may no longer exist.

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The payouts address the so-called “spiral scandal,” named after the Danish word for an IUD. An independent Danish-Greenlandic inquiry found that at least 4,070 women and girls – some only aged 12 – had been fitted with IUDs between 1966 and 1970, close to half of Greenland’s women of reproductive age. To some extent, the practice continued until the early 1990s when Greenland took over the health sector from Danish control.

The inquiry also collected testimony from 354 women describing 488 contraceptive incidents. Of 410 IUD incidents in those testimonies, 300 involved either no consent or no clear consent, 47 involved consent, and 63 contained insufficient information. The testimony also included 185 girls who had been under 18 at the time.

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The controversial campaign was propelled by Danish concern over Greenland’s exceptionally rapid population growth, with the authorities seeking to reduce births as modernization required more housing, schools, and other services and became increasingly expensive for the Danish state.

According to the inquiry, another reason for the “spiral scandal” was Denmark’s drive to impose its ideas about family planning on Greenlandic society. While Denmark has favored small nuclear families, Greenlandic society has to a large extent relied on large family and kin networks.

Greenland’s former Prime Minister Mute Inequnaaluk Bourup Egede has described Denmark’s actions as “genocide.” While Copenhagen has not agreed with the characterization, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen apologized on Denmark’s behalf last year, admitting that Greenlandic girls and women had suffered “systematic discrimination” because they were Greenlanders while calling the controversy a “dark chapter” in the country’s history.

The US has announced Operation Economic Outcast, which it calls “an unprecedented, whole-of-government, economic campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran” and compares to D-Day in its effort to end “the Iranian threat.”

The US Treasury has expanded the scope of potential secondary sanctions across five areas of the Iranian economy, including digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping. At the same time, the Office of Foreign Assets Control has added nearly 60 companies, individuals, and vessels to its sanctions lists over alleged links to Iranian oil revenue, procurement for missile and nuclear programs, cyberoperations, and the activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Five tankers have been designated as blocked property, while several licenses covering certain remittances and educational and cultural exchanges have been suspended.

Despite the forceful rhetoric accompanying the announcement, Washington has not imposed a comprehensive ban on all trade with Iran. The new sectoral determinations do not mean that every foreign company conducting a transaction with an Iranian counterpart will automatically be sanctioned. Rather, they provide the US administration with legal grounds for future enforcement, while specific penalties will continue to be imposed selectively. Washington is building a mechanism for more sustained pressure and preparing to direct that mechanism increasingly against Tehran’s foreign partners.

At the same time, the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program has renewed attention to its offer of up to $10 million dollars for information on senior IRGC leaders and associated members of the Iranian establishment, including Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. The reward was first announced in March 2026 and has now become part of a revived psychological and intelligence campaign against Iran’s leadership and security apparatus.

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An economic offensive after an inconclusive military one

The turn towards economic warfare comes after nearly six months of fighting. American and Israeli strikes inflicted substantial damage on Iran, destroyed parts of its military infrastructure and weakened elements of its regional network, but they failed to force Tehran to surrender or change its policies. Iran has retained missile and drone capabilities, the ability to threaten installations across the Gulf, and, most importantly, considerable influence over maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

The military campaign has imposed a heavy cost on the US. According to the Pentagon, direct expenditure had reached at least $37.5 billion dollars by July. Sources and estimates by American analysts suggest that the US expended around 65% of its Patriot interceptor stockpile during the first five months of the war, while the number of available THAAD interceptors fell by at least 38% and the use of Tomahawk cruise missiles approached half of the national inventory. Domestic support for the war, meanwhile, remained low at approximately 35%.

With this in mind, the economic offensive doesn’t look like a demonstration of Washington’s confidence anymore – rather, it is an acknowledgement that further military action is getting unsustainable. The US needs time to rebuild its weapons stocks, reduce domestic political costs, and find an instrument capable of sustaining pressure without another expensive air campaign. Sanctions offer such an instrument because much of their immediate burden falls on foreign companies and the Iranian population, while Washington retains the ability to raise or lower the pressure at will.

Iran understands this as well. If Tehran concludes that a prolonged pause will allow the US to close its commercial and financial channels one by one, the Iranian leadership may attempt to deny Washington the time it needs through limited military escalation, renewed pressure on shipping or further strikes against regional infrastructure. Such a decision would carry enormous risks because it could once again unite the Gulf states against Iran, yet retaining control over the tempo of the crisis remains one of Tehran’s most important advantages.

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China limits American pressure

Many Iranian organizations are already isolated by previous rounds of sanctions, and the new operation’s threat is directed mostly at Iran’s foreign partners. Companies and banks involved in the five designated sectors could face the freezing of assets under US jurisdiction, prohibitions on transactions with American citizens and entities, restrictions on correspondent accounts, and effective exclusion from the dollar clearing system. For an international bank, that threat can be more dangerous than a direct fine because losing access to dollar infrastructure could paralyze a substantial share of its global business.

China, however, throws a wrench into the American model. In 2025, Chinese buyers imported an average of around 1.38 million barrels of Iranian oil per day, accounting for more than 80% of Iran’s seaborne oil exports. The trade has been sustained through independent refineries with limited exposure to the US, intermediaries, yuan settlements, and schemes that obscure the origin of individual cargoes. By August 2026, deliveries had fallen to approximately 534,000 barrels per day from 1.57 million in February, although this decline resulted more from the war and naval blockade than from Beijing’s voluntary compliance with American sanctions.

Washington has already sanctioned individual Chinese technology suppliers and smaller refiners, but the new package does not target China’s largest banks. Sanctioning them could disrupt US-China negotiations, provoke retaliation, interfere with supplies of critical goods, and accelerate the movement of bilateral trade into payment systems beyond the dollar. The answer to the question of secondary sanctions against China is deeply contradictory. The US threatens Beijing with consequences, but it remains reluctant to adopt measures capable of inflicting comparable damage on the American economy itself.

Iran’s other partners do not form a united front. The United Arab Emirates, which accounted for roughly 30 percent of Iranian imports worth about $21 billion in 2024, has already suspended financial and commercial dealings with Tehran. Türkiye, however, whose annual trade with Iran amounts to around $5 to $6 billion, has given no indication that it intends to sever economic relations, particularly since Iran provides approximately 13% of Türkiye’s gas imports. Trade between Iran and Iraq exceeded $10 billion in 2025, while Baghdad pays Tehran an estimated $4 to $5 billion annually for natural gas used in electricity generation. Abandoning these supplies quickly would risk serious domestic disruption.

Pakistan and Oman are also important. Informal trade between Iran and Pakistan is estimated at approximately $4 billion, while the two governments have set a target of $10 billion. Trade with Oman reached around $1.5 billion in 2025. India has reduced its turnover with Iran to $1.63 billion, although most of that trade consists of food and other goods that New Delhi considers humanitarian. These countries may reduce overt operations and their banks will become more cautious, but they are unlikely to abandon commerce that supports energy security, supplies border regions, and preserves strategically important transport links.

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Iran is redrawing its trade map

Iran began preparing for prolonged isolation long before the current war, building its response around a gradual dispersal of trade and logistics. In the oil sector, the Goreh-Jask pipeline is particularly important because it carries crude to the Gulf of Oman and permits exports without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Its designed capacity is 1 million barrels per day, although its effective capacity is estimated at closer to 300,000 barrels and actual shipments through Jask remained far lower before the war. The route cannot yet replace the terminals of the Persian Gulf, but it can preserve a portion of Iranian exports during a blockade.

The port of Chabahar provides access to the Arabian Sea for non-oil trade, while overland crossings connect Iran with Iraq, Türkiye, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. After the crisis began, Pakistan opened six designated road routes linking its cities of Karachi and Gwadar, as well as Port Qasim, with the Iranian border crossings at Gabd and Taftan. Gas pipelines to Türkiye and Iraq allow part of Iran’s energy exports to continue without tankers, while border trade, barter, and settlements in national currencies reduce dependence on major international banks.

Maritime exports are simultaneously moving deeper into the grey economy. The methods include ship-to-ship transfers, the disabling of automatic identification systems, repeated changes of flags and ownership, the relabeling of crude oil, and long chains of intermediary companies. Digital assets and gold cannot support the entire foreign trade of a large country, but they can be used for individual payments, component procurement, and the preservation of reserves. The new sanctions will increase the cost of every such operation, but they are unlikely to eliminate a system that has been developing for decades.

When economic coercion undermines its own foundation

America’s capacity to impose secondary sanctions rests on the central role of the dollar in global trade. According to the International Monetary Fund, the dollar accounted for 57.13% of disclosed global foreign exchange reserves in the first quarter of 2026. Neither the yuan, the euro nor the existing BRICS platforms currently provide a comparable combination of liquidity, legal infrastructure and financial market depth.

Yet the dominance of a currency is not invulnerable, especially when access to it is increasingly used as an instrument of coercion. Every new threat against a foreign bank, tariff imposed on a trading partner, or attempt to force a third country to abandon an economically necessary contract increases the value of alternative mechanisms. Settlements in national currencies, central bank digital currencies, gold, regional clearing arrangements, and projects such as BRICS Pay remain fragmented, but sanctions are giving them both a political purpose and growing commercial demand.

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The paradox of American strategy is that the more effectively Washington uses the power of the dollar, the more urgently other states search for protection from it. If secondary sanctions are extended to major Chinese, Turkish, Iraqi, or Indian institutions, Iran will not be the only country to bear the cost. Supply chains will be disrupted, energy and shipping prices will rise, global trade will become increasingly fragmented, and non-Western governments will acquire another powerful reason to support financial infrastructure that does not depend on decisions made in Washington.

The resilience of Iranian society, shaped by the war with Iraq, more than four decades of sanctions, repeated currency crises, and the constant threat of external pressure, should not be discounted either. Iranians have learned to adapt economic life to inflation, shortages, and instability, while the state has developed mechanisms for allocating scarce resources, using informal markets, and transferring much of the burden onto the private sector.

This does not mean that the new sanctions will be painless. They may accelerate inflation, reduce employment, restrict access to technology, and deepen public discontent. Yet declining living standards will not automatically lead to political revolt. External pressure often strengthens the authorities’ narrative, allows them to attribute the crisis to a foreign enemy, and increases the population’s dependence on state-controlled systems of distribution.

Even if implemented with maximum severity, Operation Economic Outcast is unlikely to weaken Iran rapidly or provoke an immediate mass uprising against its leadership. A prolonged struggle is far more probable, with Washington raising the cost of Tehran’s foreign relations while Iran expands alternative routes, exerts pressure in the Strait of Hormuz, and encourages its partners to adopt new settlement mechanisms.

Residents of the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta tore down makeshift migrant shelters as police fired rubber bullets during escalating protests over the migration crisis, videos posted online purport to show. Thousands of migrants remain in the territory nearly a month after a record mass crossing from neighboring Morocco, with many seeking asylum in the EU.

The crisis erupted in late July, when around 72,000 people crossed or attempted to cross into Ceuta, many by swimming around border barriers. Most were returned, but Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has said around 5,000 remain. Ceuta President Juan Jesus Vivas has put the figure as high as 9,000.

Thousands of residents took to the streets on Wednesday for a second day of protests, demanding faster deportations and criticizing Madrid’s handling of the crisis. Demonstrators carrying Spanish flags marched toward government buildings chanting “No invasion – expulsion.”

Protesters later headed toward El Trampolin beach, where migrants had erected makeshift shelters. Police intervened to keep the groups apart and fired rubber bullets as tensions escalated, according to media reports. Several shelters were torn down during the confrontation.

The influx has strained the resources of the tiny Spanish territory with a population of roughly 84,000 people, with thousands sleeping on beaches, in forests, and on the streets. Local authorities have struggled to provide accommodation, food, and sanitation while processing asylum claims and determining who can be returned.

Ceuta’s government has accused Madrid of failing to do enough to resolve the crisis. Police cleared about 1,500 migrants from a beach last Thursday and transferred them to temporary facilities, but hundreds reportedly returned within hours amid fears of deportation.

The mass crossing has also left scores of migrants dead. At least 88 bodies recovered following the influx were being buried at Ceuta’s Muslim cemetery last week, with only nine identified, according to media.

READ MORE: US court reverses Trump’s 75-country visa ban

Migrants have meanwhile staged their own demonstrations demanding asylum. Around 200 gathered at El Trampolin earlier this month carrying signs reading “We don’t want to return to Morocco” and “We are human too.”

Ceuta, along with Melilla, forms the EU’s only land border with Africa and has long been a destination for migrants seeking to reach Europe. The latest influx was fueled by economic hardship in Morocco and viral claims that Spain had effectively opened its border.

Spanish and Moroccan authorities have blamed smugglers and online misinformation for encouraging the crossings. Morocco has since reinforced security around Ceuta, while Madrid has moved to speed up asylum decisions and the return of migrants with no right to remain.

A Turkish-owned cargo vessel carrying fresh vegetables to Russia has been struck by drones in the Black Sea, leaving five crew members injured, according to Turkish media.

Ukraine intensified drone attacks on Russian commercial traffic in the Black Sea last month as part of a failed campaign intended to exert economic pressure on Moscow and force it to accept Kiev’s terms in the conflict.

The Cameroon-flagged Lider Bordo Mavi was struck by three drones off the Russian port of Tuapse, sparking a fire on board, according to Turkish media reports. Some news outlets suggested the overnight strikes were part of Kiev’s campaign against Russian maritime trade.

The ship belongs to a ten-vessel fleet operated by the Trabzon-based shipping company Lider Gida and departed the Turkish city port of Samsun on Tuesday. It was carrying fresh vegetables and had diverted to Tuapse from its original destination, the Russian port of Novorossiysk.

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Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Novorossiysk, a major Russian Black Sea port, as well as commercial vessels using its facilities. Global shipping giant MSC suspended new bookings to and from the port earlier this week after one of its vessels was damaged in an attack, according to Bloomberg.

Türkiye “tested” by attacks on cargo ships

Erkut Celebi, head of the Trabzon Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the incident was the latest in a string of drone attacks on Turkish commercial vessels in the Black Sea and called on Ankara to provide financial support to affected companies.

“Türkiye is clearly being tested,” Celebi told reporters, warning that the attacks were threatening Black Sea trade and placing mounting pressure on Turkish exporters and shipowners.

Türkiye has remained largely neutral in the Ukraine conflict and maintained commercial ties with both Russia and Ukraine, drawing criticism from Kiev’s Western backers.

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Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky announced the 40-day “pressure campaign” last month. Ukrainian forces targeted Russian oil refineries, civilian vessels in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and warehouses operated by commercial online retailers to pile up economic damage and inflict hardships on the Russian population.

Ankara played a major role in negotiating safe passage for ships through the Black Sea since the escalation of the conflict in 2022. The arrangement largely held, despite occasional attacks on vessels in neutral waters that Moscow attributed to Ukrainian operations.

Russian officials warned that Kiev was playing with fire by attacking other countries’ commercial vessels. After the latest escalation, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Kiev of opening Pandora’s box. Russian retaliatory strikes have effectively cut off shipments through Ukrainian Black Sea ports. Moscow has indicated that it does not intend to restore the previous arrangement.

“Our Turkish colleagues are once again proposing that some form of agreement be reached so that shipping is not subjected to attacks. Yet it was not us who initiated these hostilities,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

A catastrophic flash flood on Wednesday morning wreaked massive destruction upon Nepal’s northern mountainous region, bordering China. The torrent of water, rock, and mud wiped out entire villages, washed away roads and destroyed power infrastructure and dams.

Thousands of people are missing, Nepalese Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal has said, among them pilgrims to Mansarovar in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus. “Town after town has been wiped out within hours,” he said. Nearly 400 of the 579 tourists missing are Indians.  

Nepal’s army has pressed in helicopters to rescue people trapped in mud and in buildings that survived the deluge, and deliver emergency supplies. More than 100 people have been rescued so far, including foreigners. 

In China, where the border customs post at Gyirong Port was wiped out by the rushing water and rocks, 558 people are missing – 260 of them foreigners. However, rescue efforts are hindered because of the lack of road connectivity and the thick mud covering the area.

Iranian businesses are increasingly turning to discounts and installment payments to keep customers shopping, as sanctions and the economic fallout from the US-Israeli war squeeze household budgets, RT’s Salman Khujuri reports.

The trend comes nearly six months after the US and Israel launched the war against Iran in late February. Large-scale fighting has subsided under a series of temporary agreements, but efforts to reach a lasting settlement have stalled as Washington ramps up economic pressure on Tehran.

Businesses in the Iranian capital are adapting to soaring prices and falling purchasing power, with some allowing customers to spread purchases over several payments.

Bobak Shirpour, who runs a large clothing retail business in Tehran, told RT on Thursday that worsening economic conditions after the war and years of sanctions prompted his company to seek suppliers offering better prices and quality. With many larger families unable to pay in cash, the retailer also introduced discounts and installment plans.

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“People have welcomed it, they come in with a smile and leave with a smile,” Shirpour said, adding that despite the narrower profit margins, business remains steady.

Shoppers interviewed by RT said installment plans have become increasingly useful as household budgets come under pressure. “They allow people to buy things they can’t afford to pay for in cash and pay in four installments instead. It gives people some peace of mind and helps them meet some of their basic needs despite these difficult circumstances,” one customer said.

Iranian households have been cutting spending on food and other essentials as inflation and the falling rial erode purchasing power, according to recent media reports. Installment shopping has also expanded to Iranian companies offering deferred-payment services as consumers struggle with the rising cost of living, the Financial Times reported earlier this month. 

Watch RT’s full report below:

Two employees at Germany’s Frankfurt Airport have died in a rare malaria outbreak caused by infected mosquitoes believed to have been accidentally brought in by plane from a malaria-endemic country.

The outbreak began in early July, according to the Frankfurt Public Health Department. The first worker died shortly afterward, with the malaria diagnosis confirmed posthumously. Authorities traced the outbreak to the airport, where operator Fraport set traps and captured several mosquitoes, sending them for genetic analysis to determine their origin. Staff were advised to seek medical attention if symptoms developed.

In mid-July, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany’s federal disease-control agency, confirmed four cases among airport employees.

“The affected individuals fell ill between July 4 and 6, 2026,” the RKI wrote in its Epidemiological Bulletin. “It is assumed that the infection was transmitted by an infected Anopheles mosquito imported by plane.”

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Citing medical sources, local media later reported that a total of six male workers, largely in jobs handling luggage, had been infected.

On Wednesday, Frankfurt health authorities announced that a second infected worker had died. They insisted, however, that “for the population of Frankfurt, the risk is considered very, very low.”

“The disease is not transmissible from person to person but is always transmitted by mosquitoes,” the authorities said in a statement to German media. They did not confirm the total number of cases but said those affected were receiving treatment.

Frankfurt health chief Peter Tinnemann similarly sought to reassure residents, telling DPA news agency that “the risk to the Frankfurt population is insignificant.”

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Malaria is a potentially fatal disease caused by Plasmodium parasites spread by infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. It typically causes fever, chills, headaches and fatigue, while severe cases can lead to organ failure, seizures and coma. The most dangerous form, malaria tropica, can become life-threatening within 24 hours if undetected, though malaria is generally considered preventable and curable with early treatment.

The disease is concentrated mainly in tropical regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa. The latest WHO data shows an estimated 610,000 people died from malaria worldwide in 2024 out of roughly 282 million cases – around 9 million more infections than the previous year. More than half of the deaths occurred in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Niger.

READ MORE: Fauci aide admits conspiring to hide Covid records

Malaria cases in Germany normally involve travelers who were infected in endemic countries. In rare cases, however, infected mosquitoes can be carried into the country aboard aircraft, including in luggage, and then bite people on the plane or at the airport – a phenomenon known as “airport malaria.” Europe’s last documented airport-acquired case also occurred at Frankfurt Airport in 2023, according to the RKI.

The Landesweingut Kloster Pforta, one of Germany’s oldest wineries, faces insolvency by 2027, according to an expert report commissioned by the state government. Its troubles, from an unsustainable business model to high staffing costs, come amid a wider German wine slump driven by falling consumption and cheaper imports.

Owned by Saxony-Anhalt, Kloster Pforta is one of Europe’s oldest continuously operating wineries. Cistercian monks founded the monastery in 1137 and planted the Pfortenser Koeppelberg vineyard in 1154. The state took ownership after German reunification in 1993, but the estate still grows rare historic varieties, including Weisser Heunisch and White Elbling, alongside Riesling, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Gris.

An independent report by auditing firm Ecovis, cited by the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung on Tuesday, found that the winery can no longer secure credit or maintain liquidity on its own.

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“The current business model is not sustainable in its present state, as it is generating persistent losses,” the auditors warned, adding that “without drastic restructuring measures, these losses will lead to insolvency and over-indebtedness of the company by 2027 at the latest.”

Auditors blamed high payroll costs, inefficient vineyard use, and weak sales and marketing, compounded by a disastrous 2024 harvest and the wider wine-market slump. To avoid bankruptcy, Kloster Pforta now plans to halve its vineyards, cut staff, and receive a €2 million injection under a four-year restructuring plan.

German wine has been in decline for years. German Wine Institute (DWI) data earlier this year showed that annual consumption fell from a Covid-era peak of 24.3 liters per adult to 21.5 liters – below pre-pandemic levels.

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Since the start of the Ukraine conflict, producers have faced higher energy, labor, and material costs, pushing up prices, while consumers have increasingly turned to cheaper bottles as German food prices have risen by around 30% on average.

Cheap imports add to the squeeze: Spanish bulk wine, for example, enters Germany at just €0.91 ($1.06) per liter, making it difficult for domestic producers to compete at the €1-to-€3-per-bottle end of the market.

Wine woes mirror Germany’s wider slump

The winery’s troubles come amid a broader German slump, with near-zero growth, high energy costs, and business insolvencies at a 20-year high. Since moving away from Russian energy in 2022, Germany has turned to costlier supplies, while major manufacturers have closed factories amid weaker demand.

READ MORE: ‘Merz must go’: Thousands protest against German government (VIDEO)

Meanwhile, Berlin has committed €96 billion ($109 billion) to Kiev, launched a €100 billion rearmament drive, and pledged to raise core defense spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2029. Amid criticism that military spending is coming at the expense of domestic needs, Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s approval has plunged to a record-low 13%.

Germany is considering pouring funds into Britain’s nuclear program as European NATO nations grow increasingly hesitant to rely on the US nuclear umbrella, the Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

German officials are discussing financial and industrial support for Britain’s Trident submarine nuclear weapons program rather than pursuing a national arsenal, with one source citing Germany’s World War II guilt as a factor, the newspaper said.

“We have a very strong interest that the existing nuclear powers in Europe extend their capabilities,” one well-placed source told the newspaper.

Berlin is reportedly exploring whether German money or industry could contribute to the next generation of British nuclear submarines, missiles, or uranium enrichment for future warheads. One British defense source, however, questioned whether German companies possess the highly specialized experience needed to build and maintain Britain’s nuclear submarine fleet, which has been reeling under maintenance and manpower issues.

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The push comes amid tensions between European NATO members and US President Donald Trump, who has pressed the rest of the bloc to shoulder more of their own defense burden while moving toward reducing the US military footprint on the continent.

“Policymakers are waking up each morning and asking themselves what the hell the Americans are going to do tomorrow,” a German diplomatic source told The Telegraph.

Rather than respond by seeking a national nuclear weapon, Berlin has increasingly looked for ways to bind Germany into the British and French deterrents, the article says.

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Together with France, Germany has created a nuclear steering group, and German forces are expected to take part in a French nuclear exercise. However, Berlin is reportedly wary of depending solely on Paris because of President Emmanuel Macron’s looming exit next year and the potential victory of an EU-skeptic candidate.

Germany remains a non-nuclear-weapon state under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and is formally barred from manufacturing or controlling atomic weapons. The 1990 Two Plus Four Treaty, which paved the way for German reunification, also prohibited foreign nuclear weapons and their carriers from being stationed in the territory of the former East Germany.

Berlin nevertheless already takes part in NATO’s nuclear-sharing arrangements and is believed to store 20 US B61 bombs at Buchel Air Base in western Germany under US custody, with German aircraft assigned a potential role in delivering them during a potential NATO nuclear operation.

Last month, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) reported that at least one NATO country raised “concern about the active research and development work being carried out in Germany that has a nuclear weapons focus.”

It added that NATO specialists believe Germany could produce the necessary fissile material “within one to three months” and build a functioning nuclear explosive device “within a year” without conducting a full-scale test.

Moscow has warned that any NATO plans to buttress its nuclear umbrella are a “direct strategic threat” to Russia.

Ukrainian basketball player Kate Koval has left Louisiana State University’s women’s basketball team less than two weeks after the team signed Russian center Anna Minaeva.

Head coach Kim Mulkey announced Koval’s departure on Monday, saying the Ukrainian had decided to leave the program “for personal reasons.”

“We will respect her privacy on her decision, but we had a long talk about it, and it was a hard decision for her,” Mulkey said.

The announcement came after Mulkey revealed last week that she had spoken privately with Koval about whether she was prepared to play alongside Minaeva and “pass the ball to each other.”

Mulkey said she had hoped the Ukrainian and Russian players could become “ambassadors” for friendship and perhaps even help bring an end to the conflict between their countries. Koval reportedly responded: “I doubt that.”

Mulkey also said she had made clear that geopolitical tensions would not influence LSU’s recruitment decisions.

“I cannot make a decision to not recruit somebody that can help our program because of a conflict between two countries,” she said.

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LSU announced Minaeva’s signing on August 14, describing the 17-year-old Russian center as an “all-around addition that can impact the 2026-27 squad immediately.”

“It takes tremendous courage to leave home at just 17 years old and travel across the world to pursue a dream. I’m excited to support and guide Anna as she begins this next chapter at LSU,” Mulkey said at the time.

LSU has said Minaeva could develop into “one of the college game’s most effective post players.” She previously played for MBA Moscow, competing in the Russian Premier League and Superleague.

Ukrainian athletes have repeatedly avoided interactions with Russian competitors since the escalation of the conflict between Kiev and Moscow in 2022.

In May, Ukrainian rhythmic gymnasts were filmed covering their ears and eyes while the Russian and Belarusian national anthems were played at the European Championships in Varna, Bulgaria.

The tournament marked the first time in nearly five years that athletes from Russia and Belarus had been allowed to compete under their national flags, after World Gymnastics and European Gymnastics lifted restrictions earlier that month.

The US-Canada trade war is reaching the bathroom, with tariffs on paper products threatening to push up prices for toilet paper and other everyday essentials for Americans.

Trade talks between the two neighbors collapsed last Friday, with both sides accusing the other of making last-minute changes to a proposed comprehensive deal. US President Donald Trump immediately imposed 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian imports, including wine, cement, plywood, and clothing. Not to be outdone, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed to respond “dollar for dollar,” with Ottawa announcing duties of up to 50% on around 700 American products on Tuesday.

Paper products are among the hardest hit, with Canada targeting toilet paper and facial tissue with 25% duties, along with paper towels and napkins at 50%. Chemical wood pulp used to make such products also faces a 50% tariff.

Canada is the main source of US toilet paper imports, supplying $383.4 million worth in 2025 – about two-thirds of the imported total – according to US International Trade Commission data. Mexico was a distant second at $63 million. Canada is also the main foreign supplier of wood pulp to the US, including northern bleached softwood kraft pulp (NBSK), a key material in toilet paper and paper towels. Canadian pulp reportedly accounts for around 30% of US toilet paper and 50% of paper towel production.

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If the tariffs take effect, US importers will bear the added cost of bringing Canadian products and pulp across the border, and given the reliance on Canadian supplies, at least some of that expense is likely to be passed on to consumers. This could prove particularly noticeable in a country that accounts for more than 20% of global tissue consumption, according to the 2019 report The Issue with Tissue by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Market research data shows the average American goes through around 141 rolls of toilet paper a year – roughly three a week – making the US the world’s top consumer, just ahead of Germany. At that rate, even a modest price hike could quickly add up.

Toilet paper is far from the only potential casualty of the trade war. Canada’s measures mirror many products targeted by Washington, with higher duties covering everything from fish, cheese, clothing, and cosmetics to steel and aluminum goods, motorcycles, smartphones, and exercise equipment. Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joly said that the counter-tariffs were aimed primarily at protecting businesses while also applying political pressure ahead of the November 3 US midterm elections.

READ MORE: Trump slaps 50% tariffs on Canadian cars

With Canada’s retaliatory tariffs not taking effect until September 8, however, some analysts hope that Washington and Ottawa still have time to strike a deal.

“That gives us this week. It gives us next week,” Christopher Sands, head of the Center for US-Canada Studies at Johns Hopkins University, told AP on Wednesday. “Time to take a breather and talk about how to avert an all-out trade war.”

The US has accused Chinese hackers it described as “state-backed” of breaking into NASA, the Federal Reserve and other sensitive government networks, just weeks before Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected in Washington for talks with President Donald Trump.

Beijing rejected the allegations, with the Chinese Embassy in Washington saying China “opposes and combats all forms of cyberattacks” and urging the US to “stop using cybersecurity issues to smear or discredit China.”

The Justice Department and FBI announced on Wednesday that they had seized three internet domains linked to two hacking platforms allegedly operated by a Chinese group known as QTFY. US authorities claimed the operation targeted NASA, the Federal Reserve, the Senate and several government departments, as well as hospitals, telecommunications providers, power companies, financial institutions and defense contractors.

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Washington described the campaign as Chinese state-sponsored activity and alleged that the company behind it provided hacking services to China’s Ministry of State Security and the People’s Liberation Army. However, officials did not disclose what sensitive information was allegedly stolen or what damage, if any, was caused.

The latest accusations come little more than a month after Trump similarly accused Beijing of meddling in US elections, claiming China had illicitly acquired some 220 million American voter files during the 2020 election cycle in what he called the “largest compromise” of election data in US history.

China dismissed that allegation as “groundless” and “entirely fabricated.” Trump’s assertions of election “hacking” were met with skepticism even among some of his supporters, as the documents released by the White House only showed Chinese interest in collecting publicly available or commercially obtainable American voter information.

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Trump himself openly acknowledged after meeting Xi in Beijing in May that Washington conducts extensive espionage against China.

“We spy like hell on them too,” Trump told reporters. “We do a lot of stuff to you that you don’t know about,” Trump claimed he had told Xi, describing the two countries’ espionage activities as a “double-edged sword.”

Beijing has made similar accusations against Washington, claiming last October that the NSA had conducted a years-long cyberattack on China’s National Time Service Center, which supports critical sectors including finance, energy, transport and defense. The NSA did not confirm or deny the allegation.

The renewed cyber accusations come ahead of Xi’s expected visit to the US on September 24. Trump has said he plans to host the Chinese leader following their May talks in Beijing, as the two sides seek to manage disputes over trade, technology and cybersecurity, as well as Washington’s sanctions threats against nations that continue trading with Iran.

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has warned that artificial intelligence and social media are eroding people’s ability to think and feel, while powerful interests exploit technology, politics and war for profit.

Speaking to RT on Wednesday, the veteran musician welcomed Australia’s decision to bar fully AI-generated songs from its music charts, saying streaming platforms have already gutted musicians’ livelihoods with minuscule royalties while concentrating ownership and profits in the hands of Big Tech.

“So that piracy has almost destroyed everything. But if they are then allowed to use AI to produce fodder for their very tame audience who pays so much a month to get any music that they want from anywhere… Unfortunately, we know that a large number of that audience won’t be able to tell the difference between AI and Pink Floyd, or Neil Young, or Bob Dylan, or The Beatles or anything else.”

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Waters broadened his criticism beyond the music industry, accusing social media platforms of manipulating users’ emotions and political attitudes through addictive algorithms, while warning that reliance on AI assistants was undermining independent thought.

“It reduces the size of your brain and your capacity to think and your capacity to feel,” Waters said. “In fact, it reduces everything human about anybody who goes in that direction.”

“So where do you draw the line? I’m not sure,” he added. “Wouldn’t it be great if we had a factual, you know, a sort of fact-based library, if that’s all there was? But it’s not. It’s controlling our political motivations and our feelings and our emotions, and also releasing dopamine.”

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Waters then widened the argument to global politics, saying the same pursuit of power and profit had produced a world increasingly governed by force rather than international law.

“We live in a world that is controlled now by gangsterism,” he said. He cited Israel’s destruction of Palestinian communities in Gaza and the occupied territories, as one example, while accusing Washington of openly stealing Venezuela’s oil wealth through coercion.

Turning to Ukraine, Waters blamed the failure to implement the Minsk agreements and the collapse of the 2022 Istanbul peace talks, accusing Western governments of preventing a negotiated settlement.

Waters warned that the Ukraine conflict has since escalated “in a very, very dangerous way” and increasingly resembles the future of warfare, dominated by drones and missiles.

“Just who gets killed, nobody cares anymore,” Waters said, “because all they’re interested in is making money.”

Watch the full interview below

Iran has praised China for rejecting US threats to impose sanctions on countries that continue to trade with the Islamic Republic, with Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf saying on Wednesday that Tehran’s strategic partnership with Beijing “needs no one’s permission.”

Ghalibaf welcomed what he called China’s “principled statement” rejecting “illegal sanctions against Iran” in a post on X.

“The Iran-China comprehensive strategic partnership is rooted in mutual respect, win-win cooperation, and a shared vision for a multipolar world,” he wrote. “This relationship needs no one’s permission.”

His remarks came after Beijing strongly rejected Washington’s threat of secondary sanctions against countries and companies that continue doing business with Iran. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Beijing “firmly” opposes sanctions that have no basis in international law or authorization from the UN Security Council.

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China said its cooperation with Iran complies with international law and should not be interfered with, warning that it would take “all necessary measures” to protect its rights and interests.

Washington unveiled a new round of economic measures against Tehran on Monday as part of what the Trump administration has described as an effort to further isolate Iran from the global economy. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced sanctions against nearly 60 individuals, entities and vessels and warned foreign countries and companies that they could face penalties for maintaining financial ties with Tehran.

The measures targeted companies based in mainland China and Hong Kong but stopped short of sanctioning major Chinese financial institutions. Beijing has been the biggest buyer of Iranian oil for years, although flows have been severely curtailed since Washington resumed its blockade of Iranian ports in mid-July.

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The latest pressure campaign comes nearly six months after the US and Israel launched their war against Iran in late February. Large-scale fighting has subsided following a series of temporary agreements, but efforts to reach a lasting settlement have stalled, while Washington has stepped up economic pressure on Tehran.

Iran has denounced the expanded sanctions as a violation of international law and argued that Washington’s attempt to force other countries to sever economic relations with Tehran amounts to interference in their sovereignty.

The US has labeled Palestine Action a terrorist group, marking the first time that a British left-wing organization has been targeted by US terrorism sanctions. The US Treasury also blacklisted two other left-wing groups.

Palestine Action was added to the US’ list of Specially Designated ​Global Terrorist organizations on Wednesday, according to a statement posted online by the US Treasury Department. Under the department’s sanctions, the group will have any of its bank accounts or property in the US frozen, while its members could be barred from entering the country.

Formed in the UK in 2020, Palestine Action’s stated goal is to end “global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime.” Its members have vandalized British military aircraft and factories owned by or linked to Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons manufacturer.

The British government declared Palestine Action a terrorist organization last July. Since the designation, four of its members have been sentenced as terrorists for causing criminal damage to an Elbit Systems plant, while more than 3,500 of its supporters have been arrested and 480 charged with terror offenses for endorsing the group.

Today, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control took action to counter the growing threat posed by violent far-left terrorist groups. Globally networked and politically motivated terrorists—particularly far-left terrorists—are increasingly embracing organized, deadly violence…

— Treasury Department (@USTreasury) August 26, 2026

“Today’s action complements the UK’s proscription,” the Treasury Department stated, adding that Palestine Action was being sanctioned “for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods and services to or in support of, an act of terrorism.”

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“Palestine Action’s activities in the US and elsewhere have always been about saving lives by disrupting the Israeli war machine, which is committing a genocide in Gaza with the support of the US Government,” Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori said in a statement. “[US President Donald] Trump has been at the center of the mass murder of Palestinians, enabling the Zionist regime at every turn.”

The Treasury also sanctioned Masar Badil, a Palestinian revolutionary movement allegedly run by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and Autistici Inventati, described by the department as “an Italy-based entity that supplies specialized digital architecture, tools, and services for Antifa cells and other violent far-left extremists.”

The 2026 US Counterterrorism Strategy identifies “Violent Left-Wing Extremists, including Anarchists and Anti-Fascists” as one of the top three terror threats facing the US, along with transnational drug cartels and Islamist terrorists. In late 2025, the US State Department designated four European ‘Antifa’ groups – including a German group that attacked right-wingers with hammers in Budapest in 2023 – as terrorist organizations.

Meta has reached a settlement in a landmark lawsuit filed by multiple US states that accused it of deliberately designing Facebook and Instagram to addict children and teenagers.

The social media giant has faced allegations of encouraging compulsive use among young people, misleading consumers about the safety of its platforms, and improperly collecting personal data from children under 13.

Meta previously estimated that the claims could have exposed it to penalties of as much as $1.4 trillion, while the states were also seeking sweeping changes to how Facebook and Instagram operate.

On Wednesday, the social media giant announced that it had reached an approximately $18 billion settlement with 52 attorneys general across US states, territories, and the District of Columbia, effectively ending the case without a jury ruling on the allegations and without Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg taking the stand.

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Meta said the money would be paid out over the next ten years and earmarked to fund youth online safety initiatives, among other state priorities. The settlement, which still requires judicial approval, will also force significant changes to Facebook and Instagram for users under 18.

Teens will face a two-hour daily limit across both apps unless a parent allows them more time, while access will be blocked from midnight to 6 AM and most notifications muted during school hours.

Meta said it will also offer teenagers the option of a non-algorithmic feed, allow autoplay to be disabled, hide like counts by default, and strengthen age checks and parental controls. Most of the measures will remain in place for ten years.

The tech giant has further demanded that rival tech giants TikTok and YouTube also face certain restrictions. Meta said it would pay out 30% of the settlement, or $5.3 billion, only if the two companies adopt similar safeguards and make matching payments.

The settlement came during the second week of a federal trial in Oakland, California involving claims brought by 29 states, which based their accusations on Meta’s own internal research and communications.

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Court documents cited company data showing that teenagers were disproportionately being exposed to harmful material, including content involving suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, bullying, and violence.

Internal messages revealed that some of the figures were deliberately removed from a presentation to company leadership, following advice from Meta’s lawyers, to avoid creating a paper trail back to Meta’s top brass. Instagram product design director Francesco Fogu admitted that he agreed to scrub the statistics from the presentation because “at the end of the day, I didn’t care.”

Meta has denied wrongdoing throughout the case, insisting that it has worked to protect children and teenagers online. It has also rejected the idea that Facebook and Instagram were deliberately made addictive, arguing that “social media addiction” is not even a recognized psychiatric condition.

Despite the settlement, Meta, along with other social media companies, continues to face thousands of separate lawsuits from individuals, families, and school districts over alleged harm to young users.

Hungary considers Russia a “threat to Hungary, Europe and the global order,” according to a foreign policy directive published by the country’s new pro-EU government. The statement marks a dramatic shift from the pragmatic relations pursued by former Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Signed by Prime Minister Peter Magyar on Tuesday, the document states that “Hungary condemns Russian military aggression and fully supports Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, and recognizes Ukraine’s right to self-defense.”

“Russia’s behavior poses a threat to Hungary, Europe and the global order, and also puts the Hungarian minority living in Transcarpathia in serious danger, therefore we support all efforts aimed at initiating negotiations towards sustainable peace and long-term security guarantees,” it continued.

Hungary had not formally designated Russia a “threat” at any point since 1945.

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This new position is almost identical to that of the EU, which also backs “sustainable peace and long-term security guarantees,” but only if they recognize Kiev’s maximalist demands – a return to Ukraine’s 1991 borders, freedom for Ukraine to pursue NATO and EU membership, and NATO-like security guarantees provided by European and American forces.

Since taking office in May, Magyar has worked to align Budapest’s foreign policy with Brussels’. He has ended Hungary’s opposition to EU accession talks with Ukraine, backed the bloc’s 21st package of anti-Russian sanctions, and lifted Budapest’s veto on a €90 billion loan package to Kiev.

Magyar’s predecessor, Viktor Orban, condemned Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. However, he also condemned the “war policies” of the West that provoked the conflict, and refused to help arm Kiev, arguing that Ukraine cannot hope to defeat Russia and should seek an imperfect peace deal instead. Orban argued that the EU’s self-imposed embargo on Russian energy would “kill off the European economy,” and lent support to its sanctions packages only after securing exemptions that would allow Hungary to continue purchasing Russian oil, gas, and nuclear fuel.

Hungary still imports energy from Russia under Magyar. Andrei Kolesnik, a member of Russia’s State Duma committee on defense, Andrei Kolesnik, suggested that Russia could cut these supplies in response. 

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“They’ve given [Magyar] the order to now treat Russia poorly,” he told Gazeta.ru. “They’re trying to gain some benefits. I think that oil supplies to Hungary, and energy supplies to Hungary from Russia, are now in question after such statements.”

Orban’s government viewed Kiev, not Moscow, as the most pressing threat to Ukraine’s Hungarian minority. Under Vladimir Zelensky’s rule, ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia have had their language rights restricted and been subjected to brutal forced conscription. 

In June, Magyar struck what he called a “formal agreement” with Zelensky to protect the rights of Ukraine’s ethnic Hungarians. However, no documents concerning the agreement have been published to date, making it completely unclear what protections Zelensky has agreed to.

AP and Reuters have demanded answers from Israel over last year’s strike on Nasser Hospital in Gaza, which killed more than 20 people, including five journalists.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, marking the first anniversary of the August 25, 2025 attack, the news agencies said Israel had yet to provide the “clear answers and accountability that an incident of this gravity requires.” They stressed that the journalists were killed at a hospital, a site protected under international law and a key location for news coverage from Gaza.

The victims included Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri, visual journalist Mariam Dagga, who worked for AP and other outlets, and Moaz Abu Taha, a freelancer who collaborated with Reuters. The other two reporters slain in the attack were Al Jazeera photographer Mohammad Salama and Ahmed Abu Aziz, who worked for the Quds Feed Network and several other media outlets.

Reuters also renewed its demand for an explanation over the October 2023 death of visuals journalist Issam Abdallah, who was killed by Israeli tank fire while reporting in southern Lebanon.

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“We again call on the government of Israel to explain the deaths of these journalists and take every step necessary to protect journalists covering the conflict,” AP and Reuters said.

The IDF acknowledged carrying out the ‘double-tap’ strike on Nasser Hospital. It later said it regretted harm to “uninvolved individuals,” denied deliberately targeting journalists, and promised an inquiry.

The attack came two weeks after four Al Jazeera journalists were killed in an Israeli strike near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Israel has repeatedly faced accusations of targeting reporters since launching its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza in October 2023.

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In March, RT correspondent Steve Sweeney and cameraman Ali Rida Sbeity narrowly escaped death when a missile struck less than ten meters from their position in southern Lebanon, leaving both with shrapnel wounds. Sweeney later told RT’s Rick Sanchez that he believed the attack was deliberate, noting that both journalists were wearing clearly visible press markings.

In February, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Israel was responsible for two-thirds of the 129 journalists and media workers killed worldwide in 2025. It described Gaza as the deadliest assignment for journalists since the organization began collecting data in 1992.

CPJ also said that Israel had conducted few transparent investigations and that no one had been held accountable in the cases it examined.

The IDF has “strongly” rejected the allegations that it intentionally targets journalists or their families.

Palestinians in the West Bank village of Madama say they fear further violence after Israeli MP Zvi Sukkot smashed a local memorial with a sledgehammer as IDF soldiers stood by. The military later insisted the incident was neither authorized nor anticipated.

A far-right lawmaker known for confrontations with Palestinians and a member of the ultranationalist Religious Zionist party, Sukkot traveled to Madama, south of the city of Nablus, on Tuesday, ostensibly for a tour.

Videos he later posted online instead showed him pulling out a sledgehammer and defacing a memorial to Palestinians killed in conflicts over the past century. He claimed the memorial “glorified terrorism” and “must be removed,” arguing that children who grow up seeing it could be encouraged to become terrorists themselves. His IDF escort could be seen standing meters away and not intervening as he struck the memorial.

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After the footage sparked widespread condemnation, the IDF insisted Sukkot had requested protection for a tour of West Bank villages but deceived the military about his intentions, producing the sledgehammer and attacking the monument without authorization.

Locals, however, reject the suggestion that the soldiers were innocent bystanders, pointing to repeated confrontations with Israeli troops and settlers. One said army patrols had passed through Madama just hours before Sukkot arrived, firing tear gas and stun grenades and waking residents.

RT correspondent Charlotte Dubenskij spoke to Madama residents about why they dispute the IDF’s account and what they fear could come next. Watch her full report below.

Israeli forces shot and wounded a Palestinian teen during a raid on a UN-run training center in East Jerusalem, local officials have reported.

The moment the boy was shot was caught on camera, with footage published by Middle East Eye and other media outlets on Tuesday showing him collapsing as gunfire rings out.

The Jerusalem Governorate said the boy sustained a minor gunshot wound to the shoulder from live ammunition as Israeli forces raided and seized the Qalandiya Training Centre, a key UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) facility in Kafr Aqab in East Jerusalem.

VIDEO | The moment a Palestinian child was struck by live ammunition fired by Israeli occupation forces after they raided and seized the Qalandiya Training Centre, a key facility operated by the UNRWA, in the town of Kafr Aqab, in occupied Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/D8xRucHqp1

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) August 25, 2026

More than 50 Israeli security personnel and at least four armored vehicles entered the facility while around 20 UNRWA employees were inside, according to the agency. Staff were forced from the premises during the operation.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir joined the raid, saying “there is no place for the agency in Jerusalem and Israel.” He later posted an image from the compound on X declaring: “UNRWA in our hands.”

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the takeover, saying he had ordered the operation under Israeli legislation restricting UNRWA. Israeli officials accuse its employees of links to Hamas and involvement in the October 7, 2023 attack, and say the site will be converted into an educational and community complex. UNRWA has rejected broader allegations against it while saying it investigates claims involving individual staff members.

UNRWA “unequivocally” condemned the raid, saying the center is UN property protected under international law. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also hit out at the “unlawful” entry and said Tuesday’s operation was the fifth unauthorized Israeli incursion into the facility since May.

The incident comes amid rising violence in the Palestinian territories. Days earlier, Israeli settlers shot dead 17-year-old Karim Sanad Shalaldeh near Hebron, while Israeli troops killed 58-year-old Fathi Khazem in Jenin in a separate incident. The IDF said Khazem had attempted to attack a soldier with a knife.

READ MORE: Israel to build IDF compound on site of demolished UN office in Jerusalem

Israel has occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the 1967 Six-Day War. The territories are envisaged as part of a future Palestinian state under the internationally backed two-state solution.

Russia has repeatedly said a negotiated two-state solution is the only viable way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Moscow supports an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, coexisting peacefully with Israel.

Israel will continue building illegal settlements in the West Bank in preparation for a “major” wave of Jewish immigration, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. Israel’s most recent settlement expansion triggered rebukes from its Arab neighbors and Western partners.

“Today, many of our brothers and sisters around the world understand: This is our land and it will remain ours,” Netanyahu said in Jerusalem on Tuesday. “And when I say our land, every Jewish man and every Jewish woman, the door is open. We are waiting for you. We are preparing the door for major Aliyah (Jewish immigration to Israel).” 

It is unclear whether the “major Aliyah” predicted by Netanyahu is actually coming. Israelis have emigrated in growing numbers since Hamas’ 2023 attack and the subsequent war on Gaza. More than 150,000 Israelis left the country from 2024 to 2025, according to a report by 972 magazine.

The Israeli prime minister spoke at an event organized by the Binyamin Regional Council, which governs 47 Jewish settlements in the West Bank. All of these settlements, which are located outside Israel’s 1967 borders, are considered illegal by the UN, and Israel’s transfer of population to them has been deemed a breach of the Geneva Convention by the International Criminal Court.

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Although the Israeli state sometimes pre-authorizes the construction of settlements, they typically begin as outposts on Palestinian land, until they are retroactively legalized by the Israeli government. During his speech on Tuesday, Netanyahu boasted that his government has established and regularized “104 settlements and 160 farms and we continue to do more.”

“It isn’t easy, it’s never easy,” he continued. “The land of Israel is acquired through suffering. Sometimes also through smiles, sometimes also through arguments, but it is being acquired by us. We are not giving up, we have a vision, this is our land, and it will remain ours.”

Last week, Israel opened bidding for the construction of more than 1,200 homes in the E1 settlement project, located east of Jerusalem. Named after its designation on Israeli planning maps, the project will comprise more than 3,400 homes, and was green-lit by Netanyahu’s government last year.

The E1 plan will establish a land corridor between East Jerusalem and the existing settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, both of which are built on Palestinian land. It will also sever road links between the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem, located to the north and south of Jerusalem, respectively. 

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Eight Arab and Muslim states, including Mecca Pact members Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Türkiye, “categorically” rejected the plan, describing it as “a dangerous escalation.” The UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, European Commission, and 15 European states also condemned the project.

“The E1 settlement will undermine the prospect of the two-state solution by driving a wedge through the West Bank,” they said in a statement last Thursday. “At a time of grave instability in the West Bank with unprecedented levels of violence by settlers against civilians, and serious restrictions on the Palestinian economy, this decision is even more concerning.”

Netanyahu has suggested for years that he intends to annex the entirety of the West Bank, describing the option as “on the table” even as he signed peace accords with Arab states in 2020. Netanyahu’s hardline coalition partners have been more explicit, with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urging the prime minister in June to “apply sovereignty here in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] before the elections” in October.

US President Donald Trump has reportedly submitted a landmark nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia for congressional review and renewed demands that Riyadh normalize relations with Israel as part of the deal.

According to US media outlets, citing unnamed administration and congressional sources, the document was sent to Congress on Monday. The White House has yet to publicly confirm the move.

Lawmakers now have 90 session days to review the US-Saudi pact. If they attempt to block it, Trump is expected to use his veto powers to push it through. A two-thirds majority in both chambers would be required to overrule the president.

The agreement was originally signed last month and aims to allow American companies to play a major role in developing Saudi Arabia’s civilian nuclear energy program. The 30-year deal is expected to involve the construction of US-designed nuclear reactors in Saudi Arabia and could be worth tens of billions of dollars.

Riyadh says it wants nuclear power to meet the growing domestic energy demand, reduce the amount of oil consumed at home, and free up more crude for export.

However, the deal has raised concerns over nuclear proliferation. Unlike a similar US deal with the United Arab Emirates, the pact does not permanently bar the kingdom from reprocessing nuclear fuel or enrichment, which could potentially be used to make weapons.

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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman previously suggested that the kingdom could seek a nuclear weapon if Iran ever acquires one.

Trump has also tied the nuclear agreement to Saudi Arabia formally joining the Abraham Accords and establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. The condition was unexpectedly announced by Trump late last month after the agreement had already been negotiated and signed.

An administration official cited by Reuters on Wednesday said Trump’s position on the issue “has not changed.”

The Abraham Accords, brokered during Trump’s first term, established diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab and Muslim-majority countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco.

The US has also pushed for Saudi-Israeli normalization, but the efforts have stalled since the outbreak of the Gaza war in 2023. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly said it will not normalize relations with Israel without an irreversible path toward the creation of a Palestinian state.

Russian President Vladimir Putin set foot on Iturup Island, the largest of the Kuril Archipelago and known in Japan as Etorofu, on August 13 and walked its length as if he were simply visiting home.

He toured a local fish plant, spoke with residents who praised the island’s clean air, friendly neighbors and quiet charm, and smiled for the cameras.

Japan, which has claimed ownership over the islands since they were incorporated into the USSR after World War II, reacted swiftly and sharply. The Russian ambassador was summoned to receive a formal protest, while Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the visit “absolutely unacceptable” and said it had hurt the feelings of the Japanese people. Moscow answered in kind by summoning Japan’s ambassador in Russia.

The diplomatic exchange, while predictable, revealed how little room remains for compromise between the two countries right now.

Ukraine and the Kuril red line

The deterioration of relations cannot be separated from Japan’s full-throated support for Ukraine after 2022. Tokyo adopted Western sanctions, revoked Russia’s most-favored-nation trade status and has increasingly discussed ways of supporting Ukraine’s military effort. From Moscow’s perspective, this is not simply an expression of Japanese solidarity with Kiev, but part of a wider alignment against Russia.

Putin’s visit served as a direct and measured response. It showed that while Japan supports Ukraine and participates in the pressure campaign against Russia, Moscow has no intention of making territorial concessions to Tokyo with regards to the Kurils.

Interestingly, Tokyo’s current confrontational stance, while symbolically forceful, has not produced a corresponding escalation of concrete measures over the territorial dispute itself. That restraint may reflect two realities. Washington has little incentive to become directly involved in a bilateral quarrel with Moscow, while Tokyo must also consider the consequences of pushing Russia, China and North Korea into even closer alignment.

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More than just four islands

The disputed territories have considerable practical value. They provide access to rich fishing grounds that once sustained extensive bilateral economic activity and may contain valuable mineral resources.

The Kurils also occupy a strategically critical position in the North Pacific. For Russia, control of the island chain provides a natural defensive buffer and helps protect access routes for its Pacific Fleet, energy infrastructure and maritime trade. For Japan, meanwhile, Russian control of the territories represents the unresolved legacy of the Second World War and an enduring challenge to its territorial claims.

The fishing issue illustrates just how complicated this relationship has been. Tokyo until relatively recently paid Russia for access to fishing grounds around the disputed islands. Whatever the legal and political arguments surrounding sovereignty, such arrangements demonstrated a degree of practical recognition of Russian administrative control and jurisdiction.

Today, those same waters remain economically important to Russian coastal communities.

That practical reality helps explain why Moscow sees the Kurils not simply as bargaining chips but as part of its national security perimeter.

A warning about militarization

Putin’s visit came against the backdrop of Japan’s military buildup and Tokyo’s increasing involvement in supporting Ukraine’s war efforts.

From Moscow’s perspective, these developments reinforce longstanding fears of strategic encirclement. Japan’s proximity to Russia’s Far East makes its military posture particularly sensitive to Russian planners. Moscow sees military exercises, missile deployments and discussions about providing military assistance to Ukraine as part of a pattern.

The Kremlin’s response has likewise included naval drills and missile exercises in the region, moves that Tokyo has condemned as provocative.

Overall, Putin’s visit wasn’t some new threat aimed at Japan – it was a public reaffirmation of an existing position and realities on the ground.

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The missed opportunity of the Abe-Putin years

During the 2010s, parallel negotiations under Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe created genuine expectations that the two countries might finally resolve their territorial dispute and conclude a formal peace treaty.

Neither side approached those negotiations as a simple exercise in defending maximalist claims. Both governments understood that a compromise would require concessions and that a durable settlement could produce economic and strategic benefits.

The 1956 Moscow Declaration had already established the basic framework for one possible compromise: Moscow agreed in principle to transfer the islands of Habomai and Shikotan to Japan after the conclusion of a peace treaty, while leaving the larger islands of Etorofu and Kunashiri under Soviet control.

For a time, it seemed that formula could become the foundation for a settlement. However, the political environment has since changed dramatically.

Why the Kurils are only one thread in a complicated story

The territorial dispute is a symptom of deeper tensions that have shaped Russo-Japanese relations since the 19th century.

The 1855 Treaty of Shimoda established a border between Etorofu and the island of Urup, also part of the archipelago. The 1875 Treaty of St. Petersburg subsequently transferred the entire Kuril chain to Japan in exchange for Japanese recognition of Russian control over Sakhalin. The 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth then reshaped the regional balance following the Russo-Japanese War.

These agreements demonstrate that sovereignty over the islands has never existed outside a shifting regional balance of power.

The events of 1945 transformed that balance again. Amid the ongoing war in the Pacific in 1945, the Soviet Union acted with the blessing of the United States as far as the Kuril islands were concerned. Under the secret Project Hula – launched in 1945 – American warships and training helped the Soviets take control over the Kurils.

This history provides Russia with a strong historical argument: the islands were taken from Imperial Japan with allied consent. Japan’s postwar renunciation did not bind Moscow, and decades of Soviet and now Russian administration have simply created a fait accompli.

Tokyo, however, maintains a fundamentally different interpretation of the postwar settlement and continues to describe the southern Kurils as its ‘Northern Territories’.

The result is a dispute in which both sides possess deeply rooted historical narratives – and neither is prepared to abandon them easily.

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Pragmatism or permanent paralysis?

The Kuril dispute is not inherently insoluble. What makes it appear so today is the wider deterioration of the relationship.

The experience of the 2010s showed that negotiations can advance when both governments regard compromise as more valuable than rhetorical victory. It also showed that progress requires political courage: neither side can expect to obtain everything it wants.

Japan’s position has hardened alongside its Ukraine policy. Russia, meanwhile, has become increasingly resistant to territorial negotiations with states it regards as participating in an adversarial Western coalition.

That leaves the two countries trapped in a familiar cycle. Japan demands recognition of its territorial claims. Russia responds by emphasizing its sovereignty and military presence. Each side then interprets the other’s position as evidence that compromise is impossible.

But this need not be permanent. A future settlement would require Japan to reconsider whether confrontation over Ukraine and maximalist positions on the Kurils are advancing its long-term interests. Russia, for its part, would have to recognize that a stable relationship with Japan could offer benefits that perpetual confrontation cannot.

A statement of reality

Putin’s visit to Iturup was not, in itself, a threat. It was a statement of fact as Moscow sees it: Russia controls the islands, considers them strategically vital, and has no intention of surrendering them under political pressure. Japan is equally clear that it has not abandoned its claims.

The choice facing both countries is therefore not between victory and defeat, but between permanent paralysis and pragmatic diplomacy.

The unresolved dispute over the Kurils remains one of the most visible in the Pacific. But it also presents an opportunity. The same pragmatic approach that once brought Moscow and Tokyo to the negotiating table could do so again – if both sides decide that managing their differences is more valuable than allowing the wider geopolitical confrontation to define their entire relationship.

At least fourteen newborn babies have been killed after a fire tore through a nursery at a major government hospital in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, according to the city administration and hospital officials.  

The fire broke out at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) early on Wednesday on the third floor of PIMS’ Mother and Child Health ward. Rescue officials said it began at around 6:45am local time after the compressor of an air-conditioning unit apparently exploded inside the nursery, although the precise cause has not yet been established. Firefighters brought the blaze under control and began cooling operations.  

Initial reports gave conflicting casualty figures, with Reuters citing Geo TV as saying 15 of 16 newborns had died. The Islamabad administration later confirmed 14 deaths, while PIMS said 15 babies had been in the nursery. 

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At least one baby was rescued by a doctor, PIMS spokesperson Dr. Aneeza Jalil told reporters, adding that the fire may have been caused by a short circuit.  

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered an immediate investigation and called for anyone found responsible to face punishment. “A tragedy involving children is an irreparable loss,” he said, adding that those responsible should be identified and face the “strictest possible action.”  

A fact-finding committee has been set up to determine the cause of the fire and examine whether the hospital’s safety systems and emergency response were adequate.  

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PIMS, established in 1985, is Islamabad’s largest public-sector hospital, with more than 150 beds in its maternity ward. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan underwent a brief medical checkup there on Friday.  

The blaze comes months after authorities identified widespread fire-safety shortcomings across Islamabad and follows another recent tragedy involving children. In June, 14 children were killed when the roof of a tutoring center collapsed outside Lahore.  

The Capital Development Authority said in January that most of the 6,500 public and private buildings it inspected lacked approved fire-safety plans or relevant certificates. The survey covered 300 government buildings.

Scientists at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIU) have developed a way to make 3D-printed cookies using genetically engineered yeast to produce protein and nutrients from plastic and agricultural waste.

The project aims to tackle two of the planet’s crises: plastic waste accumulation and food insecurity.

The team first set out to develop ways to make use of waste plastics, Lahiru Jayakody, an associate professor of microbiology at Southern Illinois University said in an interview with the American Chemical Society (ACS) published on Monday.

“We thought, why not focus on making food? Because plastic is carbon and food is carbon,” he said.

The process starts by breaking down plastic and plant waste with water and oxygen under high temperature and pressure. Genetically engineered yeasts then consume the resulting compounds and produce proteins, fats, and acids. With the addition of fiber, starch, and sweetener, the resulting mix is fed into a 3D printer which molds the paste into any desired shape.

With this technology, the scientists created small protein-rich cookies they dubbed “µBites” or “microbites.” They are waiting for the safety go-ahead from their university to actually taste-test them, however.

The novel technology could be useful in hostile environments, according to Jayakody.

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“If you want to produce food in a very extreme environment using the resource you have, carbon resource waste like Arctic, or the desert, and potentially one day in the Mars or the lunar surface, microbeids can do that job,” he told Reuters.

SIU researchers have been developing the technology since 2021, when their µBites concept was selected for NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge.

The news comes as scientists are paying closer attention to how plastic already unintentionally enters the human food chain.

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Researchers have reported microplastics and even smaller nanoplastics in human tissues. A 2025 study published in Nature Medicine detected them in the liver, kidneys, and brain, while a 2026 review published last month said particles had also been found in blood, placenta, and heart tissue.

The particles could pose health risks, with studies linking exposure to inflammation, oxidative stress, cell death, and disruptions to metabolism and immune function. However, researchers say more evidence is needed to determine the effects of long-term exposure in humans.

Darline Graham has won South Carolina’s Republican Senate primary runoff, putting the political novice in a strong position to secure a full six-year term in the seat held for more than two decades by her famously hawkish late brother, Lindsey Graham.

Graham defeated five-term Congressman Ralph Norman on Tuesday, taking roughly 52% of the vote against his 48%, according to preliminary results. She will face Democratic nominee Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, in the November 3 general election. Republicans are heavily favored in South Carolina, which has not elected a Democratic US senator since 1998.

The 62-year-old was appointed to the Senate by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster in July following her brother’s sudden death, which came just hours after the veteran lawmaker returned from a visit to Kiev.

She had never held elected office before, having previously served as commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind and in a communications role at the state Vocational Rehabilitation Department.

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What was initially presented as a caretaker appointment quickly turned into a bid for the seat outright after President Donald Trump threw his weight behind Graham and urged her to run. Trump later personally campaigned for her in South Carolina, while his MAGA Inc. super PAC spent nearly $830,000 backing her ahead of the runoff.

Graham had finished first in the initial ten-candidate Republican primary on August 11 with around 33% of the vote, while Norman took roughly 25%, forcing Tuesday’s head-to-head contest because neither secured a majority.

Her victory came despite an awkward debate performance last week that raised questions about her readiness for the Senate. Asked whether Taiwan and the South China Sea constituted national security issues for Washington, Graham struggled to answer before acknowledging that she was “not that informed on national security.”

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“National security is not my thing,” she later said, stressing instead that she supported the US military and arguing that South Carolina voters were more concerned with domestic issues.

The admission presented a striking contrast with Lindsey Graham, who made foreign policy one of the defining features of his 23 years in the Senate. He was a vocal supporter of Kiev, pushed sweeping sanctions against Russia and advocated an aggressive US posture toward Iran and other foreign adversaries. At his funeral last month, Trump himself described Graham as “extremely hawkish,” adding that the senator “never saw a war that he didn’t like.”

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Darline Graham has nevertheless already inherited at least one of her brother’s signature foreign-policy projects. Shortly after taking his seat, she helped reintroduce legislation originally championed by Lindsey Graham that targets countries purchasing Russian and Iranian energy. The Senate passed the measure earlier this month.

Trump’s endorsement proved decisive in the runoff, overcoming Norman’s argument that Republicans should choose an experienced conservative rather than effectively turn the Senate seat into a Graham family inheritance.

A US Army Black Hawk went down during a training flight in Colorado on Tuesday, just a day after CNN reported that the service’s Apache attack helicopters are crashing at a historically high rate amid persistent mechanical problems.

The Black Hawk came down on the east side of Thorodin Mountain in Gilpin County, west of Denver and near Golden Gate Canyon State Park. Four people were aboard, but no injuries were reported. Emergency crews also found no fuel leak or fire and said there was no danger to the surrounding community.

Footage and aerial images from the scene showed the helicopter sitting upright among trees with its rotor blades heavily damaged.

A U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter has crashed in Colorado while carrying four crew members. The status of the crew and the cause of the crash are currently unknown. pic.twitter.com/0EWyqvLMqD

— OSINTWarfare (@OSINTWarfare) August 25, 2026

The Black Hawk had flown from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and belongs to the Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the “Night Stalkers.” The Army described the incident as an “aviation mishap” during routine training operations and said an investigation was underway.

The same unit suffered a deadly crash last September, when an MH-60M Black Hawk went down during nighttime training near Summit Lake in Washington state, killing all four soldiers aboard.

A far more devastating Black Hawk disaster thrust Army aviation into the national spotlight on January 29, 2025, when an Army UH-60L Black Hawk collided with American Airlines Flight 5342 as the passenger jet approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Both aircraft plunged into the Potomac River, killing all 64 people aboard the airliner and all three soldiers in the helicopter.

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The disaster – the deadliest US aviation accident since 2001 – triggered heightened scrutiny of military helicopter operations and aviation safety. Internal Pentagon figures provided to Congress and reviewed by AP last year showed that the rate of Class A mishaps – the military’s most serious category of aviation accidents – jumped 55% between 2020 and 2024.

More recent Army data suggest the problem has not gone away. On Monday, CNN reported that AH-64 Apache attack helicopters are crashing at a historically high rate, with five Class A flight mishaps recorded so far in fiscal 2026. Based on internal Army safety data and flight-hour figures supplied by the service, the outlet calculated a rate of about 6.24 major crashes per 100,000 flying hours.

Global fertility may have fallen below replacement level for the first time in human history, putting the world population on course for decline within roughly one generation, a new study has warned.

The paper, Terra Incognita: The Economics of a Shrinking World, published earlier this month by economics professor Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde of the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern University researcher Patrick Norrick, warns that prolonged low fertility could shrink workforces, rapidly age societies, and strain economies and welfare systems.

The researchers estimate that humanity is likely already below replacement fertility – the average number of children per woman needed for each generation to replace itself. The global threshold is around 2.2, while the study puts the current rate at no higher than 2.19, suggesting the world may have only just crossed it.

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“As of 2026, humanity is likely to be below replacement level: we are having fewer births than we need to keep population constant in the long run… this has never happened before in our history as a species, not even during wars or pandemics,” the authors stated.

The analysis covers 236 countries and territories from 1950 to 2023, with fertility declining in 219. On average, countries have lost around 0.062 births per woman annually, and there is little evidence the trend is leveling off, authors note.

The global population is not shrinking yet because large generations born in previous decades are still having children, but the researchers estimate this effect could sustain growth for only another three decades, with population peaking at around 9 billion in 2056 before declining.

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The authors note the trend has spread well beyond rich countries, with fertility rates in 2025 estimated at just 0.87 in Thailand, 1.01 in Colombia, 1.35 in Iran and 1.52 in Brazil. They say there is no automatic mechanism driving fertility back toward replacement level because there is no single explanation for falling birth rates: while housing and childcare costs, economic insecurity, contraception, and changing social norms may all contribute, none fully explains the global trend.

The economic consequences of the looming population decline could be far-reaching, the study warns. Smaller generations mean fewer workers supporting growing elderly populations, straining pensions, healthcare, and public finances while slowing growth. In the US, the authors estimate that 2% annual productivity growth combined with a 0.5% contraction in the workforce would reduce long-term GDP growth to roughly 1.5%.

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UN demographic forecasts have also shifted sharply downward over the past decade. In 2015, the organization projected more than 11.2 billion people in 2100, with no peak before the end of the century. Its 2024 revision instead projected that the population would peak at around 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s before declining slightly to about 10.2 billion by 2100.

The world’s population crossed the 8 billion mark in 2022, according to UN estimates, and currently stands at approximately 8.3 billion.

Musk weighs in

US tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has repeatedly warned about falling birth rates, reacted to the study after an X user described its findings as an “existential crisis.” “I’ve been warning about this for years,” he wrote.

I’ve been warning about this for years https://t.co/kHFPFjNkE7

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 23, 2026

Musk, who has 13 children, has repeatedly described declining birth rates as one of the greatest threats to civilization. In 2022, he wrote that “population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming.” Last year, he warned that “Low birth rates will end civilization” and called for the issue to be treated as a national emergency, while suggesting Europe could “die out” unless birth rates recover.

Last weekend, commenting on a paper outlining ancient Rome’s attempts to boost its population, Musk wrote: “The reason Rome fell was because they stopped making Romans.”

Russia’s demographic challenge

Russian officials have long warned about the country’s demographic challenges. According to state statistics agency Rosstat, Russia’s total fertility rate fell to around 1.305-1.374 children per woman last year, alongside some of the lowest monthly and quarterly birth figures in modern Russian history. 

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Moscow has introduced childbirth payments, expanded maternity benefits and other family support measures to reverse the trend. It has also revived the Soviet-era “Mother Heroine” title, which provides financial rewards to women with ten or more children, and discouraged the promotion of “child-free” lifestyles.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed the importance of improving economic and social conditions in order to promote larger families and make parenthood a widely supported choice. He has backed a national family support service and established a presidential council on family and demographic policy in 2024.

Two people have died of measles in Pennsylvania, decades after the disease was considered eradicated. Measles is currently making a resurgence in the US, with cases at a 35-year high.

The two victims were residents of Lancaster County, a largely rural county west of Philadelphia, state health officials announced on Tuesday. No additional details were provided, except that neither victim was vaccinated.

Fatal cases of measles are exceedingly rare in the US, but infections are rising. 2,289 cases of the disease were recorded in 2025, the highest number since 1991, when 9,643 cases were recorded. Last year’s number was surpassed by this July, and as of August 20, 2,777 cases have been recorded this year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Outbreaks have occurred in 47 US states and territories, with 94% of cases occurring among the unvaccinated.

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Measles is a highly contagious viral respiratory disease that was officially eliminated in the US in 2000 following a successful mass vaccination campaign. Before mass vaccination began in the 1960s, measles killed between 400 and 500 Americans every year, according to CDC data.

Dr. Adam Ratner, an adviser to the CDC, told the JAMA medical journal last year that skepticism about Covid-19 vaccines has “bled over” into other vaccines, due to the Covid shots becoming “this insanely polarized political thing” from 2020 onwards. 

“Once there was that kind of hesitancy out there and that kind of divisiveness, it’s not surprising that it has bled over into people thinking about vaccine mandates and childhood vaccines in general,” Rather said.

US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic, has vouched for the safety of the combined measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, but noted “the decision to vaccinate is a personal one.”

A vaccination rate of around 95% is required to prevent measles outbreaks. In November, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), a division of the World Health Organization (WHO), will meet to determine whether the US and Mexico can still claim to be “measles free” after recent outbreaks.

The trial of six members of a Pakistani ‘grooming gang’ has quietly restarted in Manchester. The retrial hasn’t made the headlines, and looking at the sordid details of the case, it’s clear the British establishment wants to keep it that way.

The six suspects were alleged members of the Rochdale grooming gang – a group of Muslim men, predominantly Pakistani, who trafficked, sexually abused, and raped underage white British girls in the northern English town between the 1980s and 2010s. More than 75 men have been charged and 53 convicted since Greater Manchester Police began investigating the gang in 2010.

What are the men accused of?

The suspects have been charged with 46 counts of rape, sexual assault, and ‘assault by penetration’, with two of the men facing more than a dozen charges each.

• Tahrir Rashid, 53, 12 counts of rape, 3 counts of indecent assault, 1 count of assault by penetration

• Mohammed Saleem, 46, 8 counts of rape

• Sucklane Shah, 46, 2 counts of rape

• Itfaq Hussain, 45, 3 counts of rape

• Arshad Mohammed, 55, 5 counts of rape

• Amjad Mahmood, 53, 12 counts of rape, 2 counts of indecency with a child, 1 count of indecent assault, 2 counts of assault by penetration

All of the suspects’ alleged offenses took place between 2003 and 2008, and involved two girls who were as young as 13 when they were “passed around” between the gang, according to prosecutors. Rashid, the alleged ringleader, is also accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s.

What happened in the first trial?

The six men were tried last year, but the trial collapsed with no explanation in December. When reporting restrictions were lifted a month later, it was revealed that the jurors had formed a WhatsApp group to discuss the case, and had shared documentaries on the subject of grooming gangs. 

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As the jury had been banned from talking about the case outside of court, the judge concluded that “no course of action that I can reasonably take can cure the position that now exists because of these multi-layered difficulties,” and halted the trial.

Before the trial collapsed, the court heard how the group abused two girls in the “most humiliating and degrading way imaginable.” One of the victims, identified only as ‘Girl C’, was collected from school by Rashid, plied with alcohol, and raped repeatedly by the gang. ‘Girl C’ was raped a dozen times by Shah over several months, prosecutors alleged.

Mohammed told the other victim, ‘Girl A’, that he ran a modeling agency as a ruse to take nude photographs of her. She was allegedly raped by at least three members of the gang.

Both girls were described by the prosecution as “very vulnerable children with chaotic home lives,” which made them “easy prey for men with an unhealthy interest in having sex with children.” All six suspects pleaded not guilty.

Why do the British authorities want this kept quiet?

The proliferation of grooming gangs – or ‘rape gangs’, as right-wing politicians label them – is a national embarrassment for all levels of the British state. Manchester City Council and Greater Manchester Police were warned of the gang’s activity in Rochdale as far back as 2007, but refused to investigate allegations of organized rape by Pakistani gangs until 2012, for fear “of being tarnished with a race brush,” according to an independent review published in 2024.

A 2014 report on rape gangs in Rotherham found that social workers, youth workers, and police officers ignored reports that 1,400 children had been abused by the gangs, partly for fear of being seen as racist. A nationwide audit published this year concluded that authorities in 50 towns and cities were reluctant to investigate the gangs due to the fact that the overwhelming majority of perpetrators were of Pakistani origin.

The most shocking report, funded by Restore Britain MP Rupert Lowe and published in June, found that Pakistani rape gangs operated in 149 of the UK’s 317 municipalities. The report determined that a “bare minimum” of 250,000 women and girls had been raped by grooming gangs since the year 2000, and that senior politicians helped the gangs escape prosecution. 

In Parliament, reading the testimonies of rape gang survivors provided to our inquiry.

Please watch, listen and understand. pic.twitter.com/C7dyIL46ga

— Rupert Lowe MP (@RupertLowe10) June 17, 2026

These politicians included London Mayor Sadiq Khan, of Pakistani descent, who denied the existence of grooming gangs in the British capital, despite having evidence proving otherwise, and former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who as director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013, let 13,000 pedophiles off with warning letters instead of prosecuting them.

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Lowe’s report was published at a time of heightened racial tension in the UK, coming a week after a Sudanese migrant attempted to behead a man in Belfast, and six months after British police handcuffed a dying white teenager after the man who stabbed him falsely accused him of racism.

It detailed a litany of crimes committed against white girls, with one victim “raped by between six and seven hundred different men over the course of three years,” and others raped by dogs, cut with knives, and “subjected to penetration with objects.” Lowe’s report, and earlier government-backed reports, found that some children were trafficked to Pakistan by the gangs.

Starmer’s ruling Labour Party voted en masse against a Conservative motion calling for a national statutory inquiry into the gangs last year. Starmer’s party eventually backed down under public pressure and opened a probe earlier this year, which is ongoing.

Are there more trials to come?

The six suspects currently on trial were charged in 2023 as part of Greater Manchester Police’s ‘Operation Lytton’. Active since 2015, Operation Lytton is aimed at arresting and prosecuting suspects who were overlooked by earlier investigations. The operation has resulted in 32 convictions to date.

#JAILED | Seven men jailed for 174 years after grooming two girls in #Rochdale (2001–2006).

Thanks to survivor bravery & GMP’s CSE team, justice has been served.

Op Lytton: 32 offenders jailed for 474 years so far.

Time is no barrier to justice.

More: https://t.co/SzwzGHTode pic.twitter.com/DolFSd1kBv

— Greater Manchester Police (@gmpolice) October 1, 2025

Fourteen suspects are currently awaiting trial, according to the most recent information from Greater Manchester Police.

Outside the greater Manchester area, six other large-scale grooming gang trials resulted in convictions this year. In Bradford, where 20% of all residents are of Pakistani descent, 15 men were sentenced in June for 88 rape offenses against the same 14-year-old girl. 

Eight men in south Wales have been charged with raping eight children, with their trial due to begin in early 2028.

A far-right Israeli MP smashed a memorial to Palestinians killed in the conflict with Israel in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. He committed the act under IDF escort, which has been condemned by the army and politicians in Israel.

Zvi Sukkot, a member of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s ultranationalist Religious Zionist party, said he went to the West Bank village of Madama to remove a monument that “glorified murderers of Jews.”

Video of the incident circulating online shows Sukkot and one other man taking sledgehammers to the monument while an Israeli soldier with an assault rifle watches nearby.

Footage of the aftermath captured by an RT correspondent shows the memorial defaced, with tiles around its stone base partially smashed.

The IDF said Sukkot had received permission to conduct a military-escorted “tour of monuments” in the West Bank, but “acted deceptively” and without authorization in damaging the monument.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stressed that “taking the law into one’s own hands, particularly by public figures, is unacceptable.” The statement did not mention Sukkot by name.

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Netanyahu’s primary political rival Gadi Eisenkot called the MP’s stunt “a disgrace.”

“He lied to and misled the IDF and its commanders, harmed security, and tarnished the State of Israel as a whole,” the former military chief said on X.

Sukkot’s ultranationalist Religious Zionist party has been at the forefront of Israel’s recent push for more settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law by the UN and most of the international community.

Last week, West Jerusalem opened bidding for the construction of more than 1,200 new homes in the area as part the settlement expansion, which was unveiled in July. Critics stress that the project threatens to effectively cut the West Bank in two if completed.

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Settler violence has also spiked. Around 190 attacks against Palestinians took place in the first four months of this year, the UN said last month.

The settlement push has been condemned internationally, with the leaders of more than a dozen European countries denouncing it as “unacceptable” in a joint statement on Thursday.

Earlier this month, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia called on Israel to cease its “creeping expansion” into the occupied Palestinian territories and to take measures to “curb settler violence.” Moscow has long said that the only way to put the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to rest is to implement a two-state solution.

The Canadian government has announced that it will impose retaliatory tariffs of up to 50% on around 700 American products, after US President Donald Trump hit Canada with a round of tariffs and threatened further increases. 

American steel and aluminum will be tariffed at 50%, according to a statement on the Canadian Finance Department’s website, while other goods – including dairy products, appliances, and farm equipment – will face tariffs of 25%. The measures will cover around $20 billion in US imports, and will come into effect on September 8, the statement added.

“Canada will match the United States’ tariffs dollar for dollar, rate for rate,” Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said at a press conference on Tuesday. The tariffs, he added “are designed primarily to provide protection for Canadian industry impacted by US tariffs.”

Trade talks between the US and Canada collapsed on Friday, with both sides accusing the other of making last-minute changes to a proposed comprehensive trade agreement. Trump immediately imposed 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian imports, including wine, cement, plywood, clothing, and hockey equipment.

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The dispute deepened on Monday when Trump took to Truth Social to threaten further tariffs on America’s northern neighbor.

Trump accused Canada of “ripping off the United States of America for years,” highlighting Ottawa’s protectionist tariffs on American agricultural produce. The system, he said, is “not sustainable.”

“On January First, 2027, Tariffs on all Cars, Trucks, both large and small, Automotive Parts, and Steel, will be increased to 50%,” Trump announced. The move will double the current 25% tariff on Canadian auto imports. “Build in the US and there are ZERO TARIFFS,” the president added, saying Canada would no longer be treated “like a State” and calling it “among the worst nations in the world to deal with.”

At the core of Trump’s grievance is the trade deficit with Canada. He claims this figure stands at $60 billion, but Trump’s own trade representative puts it at $48.3 billion. While Trump views this deficit as evidence that Canada is taking advantage of the US, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has argued that the deficit only exists because the US imports so much oil, gas, and electricity from Canada. “I don’t think they want us to stop sending it,” he commented in an address on Saturday.

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Trump also takes issue with Canada’s protectionist tariffs on dairy, poultry, and eggs, which can be as high as 200% over a certain quota. Canada also tariffs American automakers who have moved their Canadian factories back to the US, a policy that directly challenges Trump’s plans to reindustrialize the US.

Trade tensions between Washington and Ottawa date back to Trump’s first term, but reignited when he returned to office last year and launched a sweeping tariff campaign against major trade partners, including China, the EU, Japan, and Mexico.

“We’ve been under no illusions,” Carney said on Saturday, referring to his dealings with Trump. “We recognized from the start that America has changed.”

The administration of US President Donald Trump is preparing to revoke the visas of up to 200,000 foreigners, AP reported on Tuesday, citing State Department documents and two US officials familiar with the plan. The reported move, which targets business and tourism applicants who have applied for or are currently seeking asylum, could be the largest mass visa revocation in US history.

US President Donald Trump has pursued a sweeping immigration crackdown since returning to office in January 2025, including increased deportations, expanded detention efforts, and tighter restrictions on visa applicants.

The visa revocation process, which has not yet been finalized and could be challenged in court, is expected to begin in the coming weeks and would target B1 business and B2 tourist visas issued since 2016, AP said.

“We are coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to identify and revoke the nonimmigrant visas of foreigners who have come to the US claiming to be short-term visitors, but then file for asylum to stay here permanently,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott told AP.

Pigott did not provide an estimate of how many visas could be affected, adding that the process would remain ongoing and the number of cases could change.

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The measure would not necessarily result in immediate deportation, AP noted, adding that most people with pending asylum applications could be moved into another immigration category while losing their status as business or tourist visitors. Under the new approach, current applicants would reportedly have to demonstrate that they do not intend to seek asylum in the US and provide evidence that they plan to return to their home countries.

As part of its broader immigration campaign, the Trump administration has taken a series of measures to tighten controls on foreign nationals seeking to enter or remain in the US.

Earlier this month, the State Department said it revoked more than 175,000 visas since Trump returned to office. The affected individuals include people who violated visa terms or were accused or convicted of crimes. AP reported that the total also includes people who have publicly criticized US policies.

In January, the department imposed an indefinite pause on immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries while it reassessed screening and vetting procedures.

READ MORE: US approved payment to Liberia for accepting deportees – NYT

The administration has significantly stepped up deportation efforts as part of the campaign. In September 2025, DHS reported that more than 2 million people had been removed or had self-deported from the US during Trump’s first 250 days in office.

The Trump administration has also moved to tighten rules for work visas for highly skilled professionals. A new DHS proposal would impose an additional $103,265 fee on cap-subject H-1B petitions filed by US employers. DHS estimates that around 85,000 petitions annually would be subject to the proposed fee.

A rare and violent tornado has run rampant through the village of Pomas in southern France, injuring 39 people, including two critically, and damaging around 300 homes, according to the local authorities.

The tornado struck the village in the Aude department on Monday evening, with footage showing a large funnel swirling over the settlement, with gusts of violent winds wreaking havoc, ripping apart roofs, and smashing windows.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez called it a “tornado of rare intensity” while praising firefighters, security forces, and volunteers involved in the response.

Rescue operations continued through the night, the prefecture said on Tuesday, with 75 firefighters deployed alongside specialist reinforcements to check damaged buildings and search affected areas.

Residents forced from their homes were sheltered in a multi-purpose hall with help from the Red Cross, while others were temporarily relocated with relatives or to neighboring communes.

🌪️Eyewitness footage recorded from the village of #Verzeille captured a #tornado forming and swirling beneath a violent supercell thunderstorm south of the southern French city of #Carcassonne. https://t.co/tL5GfNBnxLpic.twitter.com/oGurjJdrxi
📌Authorities reported at least 26… pic.twitter.com/U5AVlVP0iw

— ⚡️🌎 World News 🌐⚡️ (@ferozwala) August 25, 2026

While no people were reported killed or missing, among the injured was a pregnant woman who was hurt when her house collapsed on her, according to AFP.

The storm also battered electricity infrastructure across southern France. Grid operator Enedis said about 21,000 households were without power across the south on Tuesday morning, including around 1,600 in Aude. The prefecture later put the number still without electricity locally at about 1,400.

The tornado appears unusually powerful by French standards. Emmanuel Wesolek, president of the Keraunos severe-weather observatory, told HuffPost that an initial assessment indicated “gusts of more than 200 kph” and potentially as high as 240 kph.

The tornado would likely rate somewhere between the upper end of EF2 and the lower end of EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, he added.

According to Meteo-France, while not as frequent as in the US, a few dozen tornadoes occur in mainland France in an average year, and most are of low intensity. According to figures cited by HuffPost, EF2 tornadoes occur only once or twice annually, while an EF3 is recorded roughly once every four years.

The EU is highly reluctant to revive plans to steal more than $200 billion in frozen Russian sovereign reserves and hand them over to cash-strapped Ukraine, EurActiv reported on Tuesday, citing sources.

On Monday, European leaders flocked to Kiev in a show of solidarity for Ukraine, which marked its 35th Independence Day, but the talks quickly turned to the country’s numerous issues, including a substantial budgetary deficit. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky told European officials that his government still faces a €23.5 billion ($27.4 billion) shortfall on top of EU funding already promised and urged Brussels to accelerate the next instalment of its €90 billion support loan.

According to EurActiv, while the EU’s attention once again pivoted to the idea of confiscating around €210 billion of Russian funds immobilized in EU institutions, mostly in the Belgian-based Euroclear, “there is little sign the issue is about to return to the table in Brussels.”

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“The obstacles and the reservations by a number of member states haven’t changed,” a senior EU official told the outlet.

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Last year, EU officials proposed a scheme to leverage the frozen Russian assets as collateral to issue a loan to Kiev, which it would repay only after receiving reparations from Moscow. Separately, the EU had already agreed to redirect net windfall profits generated by the immobilized assets to Ukraine.

Russia has condemned the asset freeze as “theft,” ruled out paying any reparations to Ukraine, and has warned the EU of harsh retaliation if it confiscates the funds one way or another.

However, the scheme – which was championed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – met fierce opposition from a number of EU members, most notably Belgium. Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever argued that the plan would leave it uniquely exposed to legal and financial pushback from Russia.

“Taking [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s money and leaving the risks with [Belgium]. That’s not going to happen,” he said last year.
Euroclear also vehemently opposed the seizure plot, at one point warning that it could sue the EU if the bloc tries to confiscate the assets. Several other EU leaders also raised concerns that confiscating Russian assets would erode international law and tarnish the bloc’s reputation and standing among investors.

Gaza rescue crews have been searching the enclave’s ruins for thousands of Palestinians believed to remain buried beneath buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes, some dating back to the first months of the war.

Recovery work continues amid a fragile ceasefire and an unresolved dispute over a peace roadmap unveiled last month by US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, which calls for Hamas to relinquish control of Gaza in exchange for Israel withdrawing from the enclave. Israel has rejected the proposal, insisting Hamas must first disarm, while Israeli strikes have continued, further complicating recovery operations.

Gaza’s Civil Defense estimates that around 8,000 Palestinians killed during the war remain buried beneath the rubble. A chronic shortage of excavators and other heavy machinery has hampered recovery efforts, often forcing crews to search collapsed buildings with basic tools. Some families have waited years for the remains of relatives to be recovered for burial.

READ MORE: UN expert urges peacekeepers in Palestinian territories as settler attacks surge

Local journalist and RT contributor Rami Almughari visited one such operation in southern Gaza City, where Civil Defense crews were searching the ruins of a three-story building struck during Ramadan in 2024. Thirteen people were killed in the strike, and crews are now searching for the remains of four still beneath the rubble. With bodies spending years under the debris, Almughari says rescuers are often recovering only bones and fragments of remains.

Watch Almughari’s full report on the recovery struggle below.

Norway will continue developing oil and gas fields in the Arctic, Energy Minister Terje Aasland has said, despite EU calls for a moratorium on drilling in the region. The bloc should no longer see his country as Europe’s “green battery,” he added.

EU Arctic policy aims to keep fossil fuels in the ground, cut black carbon and accelerate the green transition, citing claims of the region’s unusually rapid warming.

Brussels seeks to influence energy policy in Norway, which is not a member of the EU, but is the bloc’s largest gas supplier following the decision to reject cheap gas from Russia.

“In today’s geopolitical and security environment, and given the resource situation, I believe continued activity in the Barents Sea serves both Norwegian and European interests,” Aasland said in a Reuters interview on Monday, the opening day of ONS, Norway’s four-day energy conference in Stavanger.

The minister explained that Norway would develop the areas, but leave it to the EU to decide whether to impose a moratorium on buying the resulting oil and gas. He added that Norway aims to maintain petroleum production and exports at roughly the current levels until at least 2035, with production in the Barents Sea key to that goal.

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Ranked among the world’s top 10 gas producers and exporters, Norway also generates surplus renewable energy from its extensive hydropower network, exporting it to help balance Europe’s power supply.

Aasland called the long-standing idea of Norway serving as “the green battery” of Europe “flawed,” stressing that “the Arctic must be part of that discussion” if the country “is to remain a long-term supplier of oil and gas to Europe.”

According to the European Commission, Norway has supplied roughly 30% of the EU’s gas imports in recent years after Brussels rejected Russian energy in the wake of the Ukraine conflict. The country’s petroleum revenues have since reached record levels, boosted by its growing share of the European gas market and a surge in oil and gas prices after the loss of Russian supplies.

In 2025, the country’s gas production remained near the previous year’s record high, while oil output reached its highest level since 2009. Official Norwegian forecasts, however, show output could fall sharply after 2030 unless new fields are developed.

Fifteen years ago, it appeared that Russia-Japan relations were improving to the extent that Japan could become, for Russia, an eastern version of Germany as a former enemy turning into a major economic partner in a relationship where Russian resources were traded for the other partner’s investment and advanced technologies. With frequent and seemingly productive summit meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, it appeared that the issues remaining after World War II would finally be resolved and that a firm and lasting foundation would be laid for a qualitatively new relationship between what were sometimes called distant neighbors.

Over the years, the Russo-Japanese negotiations on a peace treaty to finally draw a line under the war had advanced considerably. However, there was still one stumbling block that refused to go away, and that was Tokyo’s defense and foreign policy subservience to Washington. Moscow simply could’t trust the Japanese to stand up to American political and military demands, given the US overlordship of Japan. That attitude proved prudent, because when the Ukraine crisis came, Tokyo had to fall in line with its senior ally. Germany, one might add, did even worse, given Berlin meekly allowed its economy to be deprived of the unique advantage it had enjoyed, cheap Russian gas, and watched its vast and lucrative business relationship with Russia be destroyed.

The cases of Japan and Germany taught Russians an important lesson. Countries that are US allies cannot be regarded as genuinely sovereign, since Washington has enough leverage to make them follow the American lead. Of course, Germany and Japan are more dependent on the US than some other allies, given the long and continuing military occupation of both and the wholesale Americanization of their elites and societies, but the general finding is still true in that an alliance with America is a form of bondage.

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Japan, again alongside Germany, is teaching Russia another lesson. When encouraged by the US, formerly pacified countries can return to militarism. Germany’s post-war culture of peace is rapidly giving way to wholesale militarization as German leaders vow to make the Bundeswehr Europe’s strongest army and the German defense industry is ramping up production. Germany has become a leading participant in NATO’s proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, and German politicians and experts openly discuss a direct shooting war with Russia.

Japan isn’t there yet, but its Defense White Paper has already named Russia as a threat, while Tokyo’s already impressive defense budget is on the rise and restrictions on its naval activities are being eased, as are the rules governing Japan’s military exports. At the same time, US missile deployments in Japan threaten not only China and North Korea, but Russia as well. Tokyo is also strengthening its ties with NATO, so, as a result, Russia has to pay more attention to its Far Eastern flank. President Putin’s recent visit to Russian Pacific Fleet maneuvers and his trip to the island of Iturup in the South Kurils testify to that.

There are also other useful lessons to be learned from Northeast Asia. North Korea stands out as an example of a medium-sized and largely isolated country that has been able to ensure its sovereignty and security in a complex and challenging environment. All the talk of an impending collapse of the regime in Pyongyang, so common for years, has long since ceased. Unlike many other countries, the nuclear-armed DPRK is being courted, not threatened, by the US. For Moscow, Pyongyang has become a valuable military ally whose soldiers actually fight alongside their Russian comrades. The Russia-DPRK alliance substantially complements the Moscow-Beijing strategic partnership in bolstering security in the region.

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From this perspective, it is interesting to consider where South Korea is headed. The ongoing Iran war has demonstrated the hollowness of US security guarantees. Rather than protecting the Gulf states and deterring their regional adversaries, American military bases in the region have become targets attracting Iranian strikes that also affect the host countries. Not only has the US failed to defeat Iran and change its regime, it has proven unable to make Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz. It should have dawned on US allies around the world that the Americans may still make others fight for them, but that they themselves will not be willing, or even able, to fight for their allies.

There’s no question that the Republic of Korea is intently observing these developments and considering their implications. President Donald Trump’s recent abrupt decision to cut short joint military exercises to put pressure on Seoul over trade and investment issues has also been a useful warning. At the end of the day, South Korea’s security lies in its own hands. That security doesn’t rest solely on military and technological power, considerable as it is, and, thus, investing more in diplomacy with neighboring countries, including China and Russia, should be a priority. 

US President Donald Trump has warned schools across the country against promoting gender identity and transition, touting his administration’s efforts to purge what he calls “transgender ideology” and “far-left extremism” from classrooms.

Speaking at a White House back-to-school event on Monday, Trump said schools could face legal and financial consequences for telling children they are “trapped in the wrong body.”

“Every public school in America is now on notice that if they tell a child that they’re trapped in the wrong body, they are committing child abuse,” he said.

The president accused his predecessor Joe Biden’s administration of “weaponizing” education and imposing “extreme ideologies,” including critical race theory and “transgender insanity,” on children as young as four or five. He said schools had neglected basic education for gender identity issues, leaving the US near the bottom among leading nations despite spending “more money on education than any other country in the world by double.”

President Trump just issued a MAJOR WARNING to American schools:

"Every public school in America is now on notice that if they tell a child that they're trapped in the wrong body, they are committing child abuse"

🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/bls7ASN6FS

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 24, 2026

Trump stated his return to office meant reversing course, citing his measures targeting transgender policies and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices in education.

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“We’re systematically ending every single one of these radical left betrayals and we’re putting the parents back in charge,” he stated.

Speaking alongside Trump, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the administration had cut billions in DEI funding at schools and universities, redirecting it toward teachers, classrooms, and academic efforts, including workforce training. She warned that schools that continue promoting gender-related changes could lose funding altogether.

“If they subject children to radical experiments and sideline parents, they will lose their federal funding,” McMahon stated. “Children belong to their parents, not the federal government.”

Trump attacked the promotion of gender transition even before returning for his second term, vowing to “stop” gender-affirming care for minors, which he equated with “child sexual mutilation.”

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On his first day back, he signed an executive order recognizing only two sexes, male and female, and defining sex as an immutable biological classification rather than gender identity. His administration later rolled back Biden-era Title IX rules expanding protections based on gender identity and sexual orientation and moved against schools over transgender students’ participation in girls’ sports, access to sex-segregated facilities, preferred pronouns, and social transition without parental knowledge.

Trump has also pursued a broader DEI crackdown, which his administration views as discriminatory and incompatible with merit-based policies. He ordered federal agencies to dismantle DEI programs, including in the military and Foreign Service, and reversed Biden-era workforce equity initiatives. The campaign has extended beyond government, with DEI funding cut and federal contractors and other institutions pressured to abandon race- and gender-conscious policies.

READ MORE: Hegseth declares war on low testosterone

The crackdown has fueled disputes across the US, pitting Trump supporters and parental-rights groups against civil rights organizations, Democratic-led states, and some school districts, which have challenged several measures in court. Trump’s broader anti-DEI push has proved similarly divisive, with some major companies scaling back diversity programs while others have retained them despite administration pressure.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is trying to “neutralize” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio by establishing a direct channel with President Donald Trump, CNN Brasil reported on Monday, citing sources.

Rubio previously excluded Brazil from the group of countries he described as friendly and attacked Lula over trade. The Brazilian president accused him of being “anti-Latin America.”

Tensions between the US and Latin America’s largest economy have been soaring for months, as Trump fiercely backed former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro during his trial over a plot to overturn his 2022 election defeat and keep himself in power.

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In September 2025, Bolsonaro was sentenced to more than 27 years in prison. Trump described the prosecution of the former leader as a “witch hunt.”

The two countries are also locked in a trade dispute. The US imposed an additional 25% tariff on certain Brazilian goods in July after a trade investigation accused Brazil of a litany of unreasonable practices.

According to CNN, Lula complained for weeks about Rubio, a vocal critic of Brazil’s government, before calling Trump and seeking to weaken the secretary’s influence over bilateral relations. During a call last week, Lula reportedly told Trump that contact should proceed “without intermediaries.”

Following the conversation, Lula said talks with Trump were “very civilized and very respectful,” while lamenting that the “second tier” of the US government was taking “unthinkable” actions. “I sometimes get the impression that Trump is much better at political relations than his advisers.” 

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Rubio has made little effort to hide his hostility toward Lula’s government. In June, he excluded Brazil from the list of friendly countries, while noting that it is “in the middle of an election cycle” – a reference to the upcoming vote in October in which Lula is seeking reelection and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro has emerged as his main right-wing challenger.

Rubio also accused Lula of failing to negotiate in good faith, and said he “put his own ego” ahead of securing a trade deal, adding that the tariffs were “the price for that.” Lula has called Rubio “anti-Latin America” and “a mortal enemy of Cuba and several Latin American countries.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that Iran attempted to assassinate one of his sons, making the explosive allegation without saying which of his children was allegedly targeted, when the supposed plot took place or how close it came to being carried out.

The bombshell came almost in passing during a telephone interview with Israel’s Channel 14 on Monday about security arrangements for Netanyahu’s political rival Gadi Eisenkot, a former Israeli military chief who is challenging him ahead of the October 27 general election.

“This is an unbelievable case. Iran targeted one of my sons. Iran tried to murder him, tried to murder one of my sons,” Netanyahu said, arguing that round-the-clock protection for Eisenkot was “not a luxury” and warning that without it, the Iranians “will succeed.”

Netanyahu has two sons, Yair and Avner. He did not identify which one he was referring to, nor did he say where or how Iran allegedly planned to attack him.

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Israeli media have separately reported that Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, and both sons were granted expanded state protection in July. Channel 12 reported that the alleged Iranian plot had been known to Israel’s security establishment for several months but had been subject to a military gag order.

The claim comes as Netanyahu faces a difficult reelection campaign. Successive surveys have put his governing bloc short of the 61 seats required for a parliamentary majority, while polls have shown Eisenkot competing closely with or overtaking Netanyahu and his Likud party. Reuters reported in July that surveys were pointing to a defeat for Netanyahu’s coalition, although the fragmented opposition also lacks a straightforward path to forming a government.

US President Donald Trump also claimed that Tehran had repeatedly tried to kill him – even before the initial salvo of US-Israeli strikes on February 28 killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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“I got him before he got me,” Trump boasted in an interview with ABC News shortly after the strike that also killed Khamenei’s daughter Boshra and 14-month-old granddaughter Zahra, as well as a son-in-law and daughter-in-law.

During the NATO summit in Türkiye in July, Trump was secretly removed from Air Force One and transferred inside a catering truck to another military aircraft after Israel relayed intelligence about another alleged Iranian assassination threat. The extraordinary operation was concealed even from some members of his traveling party.

US intelligence reportedly assessed the Israeli-supplied information with “low confidence,” while Tehran has denied broader accusations that it sought to assassinate Trump or other American officials.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that Iran attempted to assassinate one of his sons, making the explosive allegation without saying which of his children was allegedly targeted, when the supposed plot took place or how close it came to being carried out.

The bombshell came almost in passing during a telephone interview with Israel’s Channel 14 on Monday about security arrangements for Netanyahu’s political rival Gadi Eisenkot, a former Israeli military chief who is challenging him ahead of the October 27 general election.

“This is an unbelievable case. Iran targeted one of my sons. Iran tried to murder him, tried to murder one of my sons,” Netanyahu said, arguing that round-the-clock protection for Eisenkot was “not a luxury” and warning that without it, the Iranians “will succeed.”

Netanyahu has two sons, Yair and Avner. He did not identify which one he was referring to, nor did he say where or how Iran allegedly planned to attack him.

Read more

Israeli media have separately reported that Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, and both sons were granted expanded state protection in July. Channel 12 reported that the alleged Iranian plot had been known to Israel’s security establishment for several months but had been subject to a military gag order.

The claim comes as Netanyahu faces a difficult reelection campaign. Successive surveys have put his governing bloc short of the 61 seats required for a parliamentary majority, while polls have shown Eisenkot competing closely with or overtaking Netanyahu and his Likud party. Reuters reported in July that surveys were pointing to a defeat for Netanyahu’s coalition, although the fragmented opposition also lacks a straightforward path to forming a government.

US President Donald Trump also claimed that Tehran had repeatedly tried to kill him – even before the initial salvo of US-Israeli strikes on February 28 killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Read more

“I got him before he got me,” Trump boasted in an interview with ABC News shortly after the strike that also killed Khamenei’s daughter Boshra and 14-month-old granddaughter Zahra, as well as a son-in-law and daughter-in-law.

During the NATO summit in Türkiye in July, Trump was secretly removed from Air Force One and transferred inside a catering truck to another military aircraft after Israel relayed intelligence about another alleged Iranian assassination threat. The extraordinary operation was concealed even from some members of his traveling party.

US intelligence reportedly assessed the Israeli-supplied information with “low confidence,” while Tehran has denied broader accusations that it sought to assassinate Trump or other American officials.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has threatened to cut electricity and critical minerals to the United States if President Donald Trump continues to escalate his trade war with Canada, drawing an angry response from the US leader.

The exchange came hours after Trump announced that tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks, auto parts and steel would rise to 50% on January 1, 2027. The move followed the collapse of trade talks last week and a separate 50% levy that took effect Saturday on around $20 billion worth of Canadian imports.

“Everything’s on the table. I’ll do whatever it takes,” Ford told AP on Monday, saying Ontario could raise electricity prices or halt exports altogether. “We power 1.5 million homes and businesses,” he added, warning that if Trump keeps trying to dismantle Canadian manufacturing, “he better have a pack of batteries.”

Trump fired back on Truth Social, dismissing Ford’s comments as “bluster” and personally attacking the premier before warning Canadian leaders to “fall in line.”

“Someone should get these clowns to ‘fall in line’ or, the consequences for Canada will be far WORSE!” Trump wrote, again referring to Prime Minister Mark Carney as “Governor Carney.” He insisted the US is “far bigger, richer, and stronger” and claimed Canada “couldn’t survive” without its southern neighbor.

“I have a lot of real estate on my ass, so he has a lot of room to kiss my ass,” Ford shot back during a press conference on Monday.

Canada's Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Trump:

I have a lot of real estate on my ass, so Trump has a lot of room to kiss my ass. pic.twitter.com/nP8MLVxfbI

— Clash Report (@clashreport) August 24, 2026

Ford said Ottawa should consider progressively stronger retaliation, including restrictions on oil, potash and strategic minerals. Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette, whose province is a major hydroelectricity supplier, said she is not currently pursuing Ford’s approach but would not exclude it as Canada enters a “new phase” of the dispute.

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Canada is by far the largest foreign supplier of electricity to the US, although nationwide dependence is relatively modest. US Energy Information Administration data show the US imported about 24.5 terawatt-hours of Canadian electricity in 2025 while exporting about 16 terawatt-hours back, leaving net dependence at roughly 0.2% of total US consumption.

However, the exposure is far more concentrated in border states such as New York, Michigan and Minnesota, where a stable supply of Canadian power can be particularly important during periods of peak demand. Meanwhile, the AI boom is placing additional pressure on regional power grids as tech companies race to build massive, power-hungry hyperscale data centers. In July 2026, New York imposed a one-year moratorium on state discretionary environmental permits for new hyperscale facilities while it develops new regulations intended in part to protect grid stability and ratepayers.

Ontario has used the electricity threat before. In March 2025, Ford imposed a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to the three states before suspending it after Trump threatened to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

READ MORE: Canada fires back at Trump’s 50% tariffs

Carney also responded to Trump’s latest tariff threat on Monday, accusing Washington of seeking to dismantle Canada’s auto industry through negotiating terms Ottawa considered unacceptable. After Canada walked away from the talks late Friday, Carney said the US had “asked too much and offered too little” and announced dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs beginning September 8.

Appointing Darline Graham to simply finish her brother Lindsey’s Senate term was one thing, but having her run for the next term, with Donald Trump’s support, is simply bonkers. Or does Trump know something we don’t?

Darline’s political inexperience was on full display during last week’s debate against her run-off opponent, Rep. Ralph Norman, when she was unable to answer an elementary question on national security involving China and Taiwan.

Graham was simply asked if Taiwan and the South China Sea are national security issues for the US. Incredibly, she even failed to at least respond with a “yes” or “no.”

Clearly unprepared for the big night, Graham began by requesting for the question to be repeated. It didn’t help her. Following the second reading she admitted defeat, saying, “I’m just going to be honest here – I’m not, on national security, that – I’m not that informed on national security. So...”

After her voice quivered for a moment amid rumbling from the debate audience, Graham dug her hole deeper with a non sequitur: “But I do support the military. My brother was in the Air Force for 33 years, so I will do everything I can to support the military. My dad was in the army.”

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But things only got worse for poor Darline, who proceeded to admit to her severe shortcomings and incompetency. “I’m not a polished politician up here. National security is not my thing – not my area of expertise – but I do support the military.” Some people may think that it is a bit perplexing and not a little scary that Graham is already serving in the Senate on an interim basis.

Following Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sudden death on July 11, Gov. Henry McMaster appointed his sister Darline to finish up the remaining months of his tenure. What began as a sentimental gesture inexplicably morphed into a White House endorsement, with Trump pushing the inexperienced woman to enter the primary race with a chance at serving a six-year term that will begin in January. Feelings for her brother aside, Darline Graham has never held an elected office. Until this summer, she was commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, and earlier held a communications role in the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department.

Trump’s endorsement notwithstanding, Graham only received 33% of the vote in the special August 11 ballot, forcing her into an August 26 runoff against Ralph Norman, who came in second place with 25% of the vote. “Her lackluster showing reflected South Carolina Republicans’ deep unease with Trump trying to turn one of their Senate seats into an inheritance for someone with a joke of a political resume,” ZeroHedge quipped.

Darline’s egregious debate failure drew comparisons to Miss South Carolina’s famous response to a question in the 2007 Miss Teen USA pageant.

The question she was asked to answer went as follows: “Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the US on a world map. Why do you think this is?”

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The cringe answer: “I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don’t have maps. And, I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq everywhere like such as... And I believe that they should – our education over here in the US should help the US or should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our children.”

It is an apt comparison and it would be funny if we weren’t dealing with a position that has the power to actually influence America’s foreign policy.

Having driven her own performance off a cliff, the next day Graham attempted to cover her losses by admitting to Trump attack dog Sean Hannity that she “tripped up on one question.” Brushing aside the importance of her inability to answer the question, Graham told Hannity, “I’m not a politician, certainly not a career politician, I don’t speak politician.”

In a separate interview with reporters, Graham said: “I tripped up on one question last night, regarding Taiwan. I don’t speak politician. I was just honest. Of course, Taiwan is our friend. But I think people in South Carolina are more worried about boys in girls’ sports.” Too bad Darline didn’t say that on the debate stage.

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With feelings for politicians at an all-time low, it would be a safe bet that the majority of South Carolina Republicans don’t want Graham to “speak politician.” With that said, however, it’s reasonable to expect her to have the capacity to string together some intelligent comments with regards to one of world’s major hot spots, especially at a time when the US Department of War has expended a hefty proportion of its weapons in Iran – a military disaster with no resolution in sight.

Thus, perhaps it can be argued that Darline Graham’s embarrassing lack of knowledge over foreign affairs might be just what the MAGA camp wants – a lot less Lindsey and much more Darline. They may be willing to forgive Darline’s inability to find Taiwan on a map so long as she focuses congressional attention on critical domestic issues, like LGBTQ curricula in schools, soaring costs, and crumbling infrastructure.  

On Tuesday, South Carolina Republicans will cast a vote that either continues in the blood-soaked shoes of Lindsey Graham or opts for a change in the person of his sister that keeps the attention on the American homeland.

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has barred Russian teams from returning to the Chess Olympiad next month, prompting prominent names in Russian chess to accuse its leadership of politicizing the sport and making “Russophobic” decisions.

FIDE suspended the Russian and Belarusian national teams from its competitions in 2022, although players from both countries were allowed to compete individually under neutral status. The federation lifted all restrictions on Belarusian athletes last month.

On Sunday, the FIDE Council ruled that Russian teams would remain excluded from the 46th Chess Olympiad, which is scheduled to take place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from September 16 to 27.

Russian Chess Federation chief Aleksandr Tkachev said the decision had undermined FIDE’s own motto, “We are one family,” and accused members of the Council of putting their personal interests ahead of chess.

“There are people who prioritize the game over politics and don’t worry about their own careers. But there are also people who prioritize personal interests, and they currently predominate on the Council. This time, they prevailed,” Tkachev told TASS on Monday.

He claimed the decision had been initiated by acting FIDE President Viswanathan Anand, who took over last month after his Russian predecessor, Arkady Dvorkovich, was forced to step aside after he was placed under EU sanctions.

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Russian chess legend Anatoly Karpov, the 12th world champion, went further, accusing the federation’s leadership of Russophobia.

“There is only one explanation for this decision – the FIDE leadership has gotten out of control. The decisions being made are Russophobic,” Karpov told TASS. “Let’s hope the situation changes after the elections in September.”

FIDE is due to hold its presidential election in Uzbekistan on September 26-27, alongside the closing stages of the Olympiad.

The ruling means Russia will miss its third consecutive over-the-board Olympiad after being absent from Chennai in 2022 and Budapest in 2024.

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Former FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov said he was “ashamed” of the decision, arguing that sport should remain above politics.

Russian players nevertheless remain prominent internationally under the FIDE flag. They won four medals – one gold, two silvers and one bronze – at the Asian rapid and blitz championships in Hong Kong last month.

Moscow has repeatedly condemned restrictions imposed on Russian athletes by international sporting bodies as politically motivated. President Vladimir Putin has argued that comparable measures have not been applied to athletes from other countries involved in armed conflicts.

Russia just pulled its ambassador to the UK, as British Prime Minister Andy Burnham doubles down on open involvement in the Ukraine conflict. The risk of open war has never been higher, but Burnham is writing checks that he can’t cash.

Relations between Russia and the UK are at an “unprecedentedly low level,” Moscow’s embassy in London said in a statement on Sunday, after it emerged that ambassador Andrey Kelin had left his post in late July and would not be immediately replaced. In a follow-up statement to the Sunday Times, an embassy spokesperson said that Kelin had made “considerable efforts to preserve contacts and channels of communication” between the UK and Russia, but the UK had clearly chosen a “path of confrontation.”

☝️ Russia-UK relations across all areas have deteriorated to an unprecedentedly low level entirely on London's initiative.https://t.co/ddib4uE1B4 pic.twitter.com/BrdJAyk4bO

— Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) August 23, 2026

“He left Britain in the hope that a more constructive and respectful dialogue could eventually be restored, should the UK reconsider its policies towards our country,” the spokesman added.

How did Russia/UK relations get this bad?

Well, firstly, Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Theresa May, and of course David Cameron and their anglophonic media bullhorns. 

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Moscow has viewed the UK as one of Ukraine’s most bellicose foreign backers since the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson intervened to scupper a peace deal between Moscow and Kiev that April; Britain supplied Ukraine with ‘Storm Shadow’ cruise missiles for long-range strikes on Russia a year later; and in the latest revelation by the British press, Ukraine utilized a plethora of British-made drones in its campaign of long-range attacks on Russian civilian targets this year.

On August 17, the Russian embassy in London warned Britain that “the deeper its involvement in the conflict and the greater its support for Kiev’s terrorist machinery, the higher the price it will pay.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov added that Moscow has “every right to regard the proudly proclaimed direct involvement of British missile forces in strikes against Russia as participation in the war, with all the consequences that entails.”

Neither statement seems to have deterred Burnham. Later that day, the British PM proclaimed that the UK would continue “to support Ukraine 100%.” Six days later, his office announced that it would provide Ukraine with classified information enabling it to produce Storm Shadow cruise missiles on Ukrainian soil. Burnham followed this up with a visit to Kiev on Monday, where he compared the conflict to Britain’s struggle against Nazi Germany in World War II, and promised to supply Ukraine with anti-air missiles to repel Russian strikes on its energy infrastructure.

Is pulling the ambassador a sign of war?

The withdrawal of Kelin is an unprecedented move. Diplomatic relations between Moscow and London have been strained on multiple occasions during the post-Soviet period, Russia’s response has typically been restrained. When FSB agents caught British spies hiding a listening device outside the Russian embassy in 2006, the Kremlin named and condemned the agents responsible. When the UK expelled four Russian diplomats after Moscow refused to extradite a suspect in the alleged poisoning of double agent Alexander Litvinenko in 2007, Russia responded in kind. 

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Similarly, when the UK expelled 23 diplomats in 2018 over the alleged poisoning of undercover MI6 agent Sergei Skripal, Moscow’s response was the tit-for-tat expulsion of 23 Brits staff and the closure of a British consulate-general in St. Petersburg.

At no point during these incidents did Russia withdraw – or threaten to withdraw – its ambassador. However, with relations already in the gutter since 2022, Moscow’s lack of urgency in replacing Kelin most likely does not herald military action against the UK. Instead, it is an acknowledgement of just how badly relations have deteriorated.

What will Russia do to neutralize the UK’s Ukraine missile threat?

Russia’s kinetic response to Burnham’s missile data sharing plan is straightforward. In a statement to reporters on August 24, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “our armed forces are carrying out the relevant work and obtaining the necessary data in order to identify the production sites for such missiles and other military equipment, and are taking measures to destroy these locations.”

Destroying missile production sites in Ukraine is a far easier task for Russia now than at any point since 2022. Ukraine has no ammunition for its Patriot air defense batteries left, nor does Kiev have any money to buy more. In a post on X on Sunday, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky admitted that his military used all of its 2026 budget in the first six months of the year buying and building drones to attack civilian infrastructure in Russia. 

As a result, Russia has been dismantling weapons plants, ports and ships used to import arms, and energy targets across Ukraine with impunity since July.

How far can Britain escalate against Russia?

Burnham has little more to offer. The US is unwilling to share its dwindling stocks of Patriot missiles with Ukraine, even if the UK offers to buy. Three out of five weapons packages donated by the UK to Ukraine this year included other models of defense missiles – a total of more than 2,500 missiles – but these have apparently been used up by Kiev’s forces.

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Britain’s ability to escalate beyond data-sharing and weapons packages is constrained by two key factors. Firstly, open UK intervention in Ukraine could trigger a cataclysmic, and likely nuclear, conflict between Russia and NATO. Secondly, Britain’s armed forces have been hollowed out by decades of underfunding: there are fewer active-duty troops in the British military than at any point since the end of the Napoleonic Wars; Britain reportedly has enough ammunition for less than a day of full-scale combat; and no means of defense against Russian ballistic missiles.

Given the potential consequences, some figures within the British defense establishment have called for restraint. Former Chief of the Defense Staff Tony Radakin – who once urged Britain to prepare to fight Russia in space – and his successor, Richard Knighton, have both reportedly sought contact with Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov in order to limit the threat of naval escalation. Another former British defense chief, Field Marshal Lord David Richards, has called for peace talks with Russia since 2022, arguing last year that Ukraine “cannot win” the conflict with anything short of full-scale NATO intervention.

Even former defense attache John Foreman – who has encouraged Ukraine to strike Russia with British-made missiles – told The Times on August 15 that Britain should reopen “strategic dialog” with Russia, calling London’s suspension of military-to-military communications in 2024 “daft.”

'Good to speak to @edvaizey today about the need to hold our noses and re-establish mil to mil ties.

We can continue to support Ukraine. But at the same time, we can talk to the Russians'. Cutting military communication with Russia was a 'daft decision'.

With Russian forces…

— John Foreman CBE (@John_ForemanCBE) August 15, 2026

These calls have also come from the UK’s typically hawkish circuit of ‘Russia experts’. Among this group is Mark Galeotti, an academic with rumored links to British intelligence. In an interview with former British diplomat Ian Proud in mid-August, Galeotti conceded that “behind closed doors,” many British diplomatic and security officials now believe that “we’ve reached the stage where we need to be pushing both sides to some kind of resolution.”

“After years of spouting these empty mantras of ‘as much as it takes, for as long as it takes’, etc etc, who’s going to turn around and say ‘actually, come to think of it, this is not in our interests’,” he told Proud. 

Will Burnham step back?

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Burnham, Galeotti argued, is unlikely to spend precious political capital on restarting diplomacy with Russia, as to do so would open him up to attacks from rival parties and hawks within his own Labour Party. 

After his speech in Kiev on Monday, Burnham chaired a meeting of the ‘coalition of the willing’ – a 34-nation group put together to pool military aid for Ukraine. In his opening remarks, Burnham called on the UK’s allies to “dig into our own stocks and help others dig into their stocks” to keep the Ukrainian military fighting.

However, should the UK continue supplying long-range missiles and drones to Ukraine, and should these munitions be used to kill Russian civilians, Russia is running out of diplomatic means of deterring London.

Britain has scoffed at every polite warning from Moscow to date, but with Kelin’s office vacant, there are fewer civilized options available to Russia. The “consequences” threatened by Lavrov could be far more catastrophic than a formal demarche.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has announced new sanctions against Iran, and threatened to boot any country dealing financially with Tehran out of the US dollar system, in a bid to make Iran an “economic outcast.”

The new sanctions target nearly 60 entities, individuals, and vessels in multiple jurisdictions that allegedly trade in “illicit nuclear and missile technology” with Iran, aid Iran’s “cyber operations,” and move Iranian oil, the US Treasury Department said in a statement on Monday. More than a third of the sanctioned entities and individuals – 21 – are based in China.

The Treasury also said it had identified digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping as areas for potential secondary sanctions.

Speaking at a press conference later on Monday, Bessent went further, announcing the beginning of “Operation Economic Outcast,” which he described as “an economic onslaught against Iran’s financial connections around the globe.”

In the Second World War, D-Day marked the historic beginning of a campaign with our allies to target and drive the enemy from its positions, including those in third countries. Today, in that same spirit, we are launching an economic onslaught against Iran’s financial connections… pic.twitter.com/1fLyobUucu

— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) August 24, 2026

Bessent explained that the US would penalize any country refusing to sever its economic ties with Tehran. “Any entity that facilitates money laundering on behalf of Iran will be removed from the US dollar system,” he said, adding “the clock just started ticking.” 

Iran exports goods to 147 countries, and imports from 114, according to the most recent data from the World Bank. Asked how the US intends to force three quarters of the world’s nations to cease trade with Iran, Bessent said that US President Donald Trump phoned multiple world leaders over the weekend “with specific requests to cease their interactions” with Iran, and that every country had been given “a defined timeline” to comply with his demands. 

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Bessent refused to share any more details, telling reporters that “we’re not going to name names,” nor was he “going to set timelines.” Pressed on whether Washington expected China – which is Iran’s largest trading partner – to abide by the sanctions regime, Bessent did not give a definitive answer.

“We find that the best way to engage with countries is through quiet diplomacy. And we are level-setting with every country to tell them our expectations. We know who they are. They know who they are,” he replied, adding “no-one is above the reach of US sanctions.”

Bessent’s threats were shrugged off in Tehran. “Americans know that no one buys their bombast,” senior Iranian negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X after the treasury secretary's press conference.

“The United States is not in an economic position to further restrict its relations with other countries,”he explained. “Iran’s trading partners, both in the media and through messages sent to us, have made it clear that they don’t take these statements into account anywhere.”

Mohsen Rezaei, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, warned on Sunday that “not a single drop of oil will leave the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz” if the Gulf states join the US’ economic pressure campaign. If US President Donald Trump “wants to do something, we will retaliate in a seismic manner,” Rezaei added.

Last week, Trump threatened to inflict what he called “Economic D-Day” on Iran, after a 60-day window for negotiating peace with Tehran expired with no breakthrough. Trump ruled out a return to negotiations, but Pakistani Chief of Defense Forces Asim Munir arrived in Tehran on Monday in an attempt to revive the talks. 

The massive influx of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta has shown that Germany would be better off outside the Schengen zone, Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-chair Alice Weidel has said.

The EU’s “borderless” travel system poses a threat to Germany as long as the bloc’s external borders remain largely unprotected, the leader of Germany’s most popular party told ZDF broadcaster on Sunday.

Some 72,000 people illegally entered Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the North African coast, within hours in late July. The influx led to severe overcrowding and inadequate sanitation, with local authorities reporting a subsequent outbreak of disease.

At least 15 rape cases were also reported in the migrant-swamped enclave. Although most of the arrivals were quickly sent back, city authorities estimated that as many as 10,000 remained in Ceuta as of last week.

“When I see something like what’s happening in Ceuta, then [I say] we’re leaving Schengen,” Weidel said. “We have to start [acting] preventively, we can’t just let everyone in unchecked.”

Germany must “close” its borders because the EU is failing to uphold its commitments on external border security, she argued.

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“Schengen only works with secure external borders and open internal borders. Neither works,” Weidel said, claiming that neither the EU border agency Frontex, nor “readmission agreements,” nor the bloc’s border arrangements function properly.

“We will leave Schengen so that people like those from Ceuta can no longer come to us,” she added.

The AfD holds just over 23% of seats in the Bundestag, making it the largest opposition faction. However, it remains largely unable to influence legislation because of the so-called “firewall” policy, under which Germany’s other major parties refuse to cooperate with it.

Weidel has argued that this could change after the next parliamentary elections, scheduled for 2029, which she believes the AfD could win.

The Ceuta crisis has already sent shockwaves through the EU. Several European leaders have called for Spain to be excluded from the Schengen zone, while Italy introduced temporary border checks on travelers arriving from Spain on August 1. Madrid responded with reciprocal measures.

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Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has linked the influx to Madrid’s decision to grant amnesty to undocumented migrants who arrived in Spain before January 1, 2026. The measure, which could affect more than a million people, has created a strong incentive for new arrivals to reach Spain and then travel onward to other EU countries, he argued earlier this month.

Germany has long been the EU’s leading destination for asylum seekers. It received more than 163,000 applications in 2025, accounting for roughly one in five claims across the bloc’s 27 member states, according to the EU Agency for Asylum.

The country also has the EU’s largest foreign-born population in absolute terms, with nearly 17 million people born abroad, or around 20% of the population.

Berlin has already expanded checks along its borders with other EU countries and increased the number of migrants turned away in an effort to curb illegal migration.

US President Donald Trump has announced a 50% tariff on Canadian cars, trucks and auto parts starting next year, escalating a bitter trade war with Ottawa after negotiations collapsed last week.

In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump accused Canada of “ripping off the United States of America for years” and imposing excessive tariffs on American farmers. He claimed that bilateral trade has left the US with a “$60 billion deficit.”

“Not sustainable, and NOT ANYMORE! On January First, 2027, Tariffs on all Cars, Trucks, both large and small, Automotive Parts, and Steel, will be increased to 50%,” Trump announced. The move will double the current 25% tariff on Canadian auto imports.

“Build in the U.S. and there are ZERO TARIFFS,” Trump added, saying Canada would no longer be treated “like a State” and calling it “among the worst nations in the world to deal with.”

“WE DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US!” he wrote.

The announcement comes just two days after a separate package of 50% US tariffs took effect on around $20 billion worth of Canadian imports, including wine, cement, plywood, clothing and hockey equipment.

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Last week, the two sides spent three days trying to wrap up months of heated trade negotiations and avoid mutual tariffs spiraling into an all-out trade war. However, the talks broke down on Friday as both sides accused the other of making last-minute changes to a proposed agreement.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called the US terms “unfair” and “uneconomic” and pledged to match Washington’s tariffs “dollar for dollar” to protect Canadian workers and businesses.

Ottawa’s retaliatory measures, which are set to take effect on September 8, will target US goods including steel, dairy products, appliances, and electronics.

Trade tensions between Washington and Ottawa, which date back to Trump’s first term, reignited after he returned to office last year and launched a sweeping tariff campaign against major US trade partners. These include Canada, Mexico, China, the EU, and Japan, who Trump has accused of unfairly benefiting from access to the US market.

There is one feeling I often recall from having lived and worked in Ukraine – to be precise, in its most nationalist, full-of-itself city, Lviv – for a total of five years in the 2000s: Thank God, at least there’s no violence!

That is what I, some other foreigners, and quite a few Ukrainians, too, were thinking and even saying then. The country was politically and even culturally polarized, extremely corrupt, and a sham ‘democracy’ even more fake than most of the rest.

It was dominated and bled dry by a greedy, hypocritical, and – despite all the cheap talk, the pious singing-of-anthems-hand-on-heart, and the cheesy peasant braids and stitched shirts – deeply unpatriotic establishment of typically post-Soviet turncoats, thieves, liars, and sell-outs. There was no rule of law, the courts were a bad joke, and the police was a racket.

And yet, while the usual business-crime complex took its toll and there was the occasional state murder of a journalist, there was no large-scale violence. There was bitter grumbling galore, including about Crimea, all the time. But there was no civil war – as the almighty US intelligence services had infamously as good as predicted in the even darker 1990s – and no one was reaching for a gun either to leave an unbearable country or keep others in it by force.   

While the Americans were busy thinking about the possibility – and perhaps opportunities – of Ukrainians killing each other in large numbers, their British cousins were considering another kind of doom. For them, more than three decades ago, the most interesting question was whether Ukraine and Russia would go to war, specifically over Crimea. There, British spooks back then warned with unusual honesty, “most of the population is Russian,” and things might become less than cordial if Kiev didn’t watch its steps.

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And here we are now: On the 35th official anniversary of its existence outside the former Soviet Union, Ukraine has become the sum of all fears, much worse than even its pervasively corrupt, brutally unfair, and de facto lawless pre-2014 version. It is now ruled by its worst, most corrupt, and most authoritarian and bloody regime ever – hands down – under Vladimir Zelensky and his cronies. They steal, embezzle, and launder piles of dirty money as if there’s no tomorrow, which, to be fair, there really probably isn’t for them, at least not in Ukraine.

They literally hunt and, in effect, sell their subjects as cannon fodder, so that they can profit and the West can have its slaughterhouse war against Russia, in an insane, evil, and futile attempt to eliminate Moscow as a power to be reckoned with. This is the reality of “busification,” and nothing remotely like it happened before Zelensky and his accomplices took over. Those who do not readily submit to being treated as combat cattle regularly die mysteriously from ‘falls’ or maybe just blowing their nose.

The Ukrainian mass media have never been remotely clean, objective, or reliable. But the zombified and self-zombifying propaganda machine created under Zelensky is unprecedentedly awful. Those who openly resist the national brainwashing are incarcerated by kangaroo courts, tortured, and killed.

Or consider basic demography: Ukraine’s real population has almost halved since the end of the Soviet Union, and the future looks even worse. And while part of this catastrophe is due to the current war, much of it has been produced by the ceaseless class-war-from-above of injustice, exploitation, and hopelessness that Ukraine’s ‘elites’ have waged on their own subjects for a third of a century while blabbing sanctimoniously about nation this and nation that.

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And the results of all these horrors? They are abysmal even on their own perverse terms. Just look at the map: Crimea is gone and so are substantial portions of Ukraine’s post-Soviet east due to a combination of regional rebellion, Kiev’s cack-handed, violent attempts to stomp it out, and a war with Russia. All of this could have been avoided.

Yet it was not. Indeed, Ukraine’s short post-Soviet history is, among other sad things, a record of at least sleepwalking and, more frequently, proactively provoking this twin catastrophe. But Ukrainians – or rather their rotten establishment – did have plenty of help in getting it so wrong. Take, for instance, the mean-spirited and asinine obsession with suppressing the Russian language to eradicate Ukraine’s windfall advantages as a mostly bilingual country of Russian and Ukrainian speakers.

That perverse and self-harming pursuit – recalling Freud’s hunch about nationalism as neurosis – was obstinately cultivated by both a narrow-minded but hyperactive and arrogant minority of ukrainier-than-though nationalists at home and descendants of run-away World War II nationalists, mass murderers of Poles, and Nazi collaborators from the West who were eager to infest post-Soviet Ukraine with their hoary bigotry.

Personally, I remember being naïve enough back then in the 2000s to ask Lviv acquaintances why Ukraine couldn’t just codify its own variant of Russian (comparable to the way American English is different from British English) and also promote Ukrainian (I know both languages, as it happens), and then focus on actually important matters. Blank stares were the answer, at best.

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Ironically, well into the current war, there was a short news blip about someone in Ukraine having discovered the same obvious idea. How catastrophe can concentrate the mind and how sad that even now, after an estimated 1.5 million battlefield casualties, such pragmatic thinking is still a minority taste: Kiev’s policy is simply to double down on a daft campaign to win the lexicon while losing the war.

Entitled, patronizing exile nationalists projecting their selfish tunnel-vision fantasies on, and throwing their Western hard currency at, desperate people freshly shell-shocked by ultra-predatory ‘transition’ capitalism were one noxious outside influence vitiating Ukraine’s post-Soviet trajectory. But it was far from the only one. Indeed, as time went on, the West as a whole – its politicians, intellectuals, and mainstream media – became ever more interested in and vastly detrimental to Ukraine.   

To be fair, the first yet already extremely harmful steps the West took to, ultimately, ruin Ukraine had very little to do with it: When Washington decided – not once but repeatedly – to cheat and humiliate Russia and break clear promises not to expand NATO eastward, it was first Germany, then multiple Eastern European countries that were at the center of attention, but not Ukraine. Yet, ironically, even while neglecting it, the West’s reckless expansion already set the stage for phase two of putting Ukraine in the crosshairs.

That was reached in 2008, when, at an infamous summit in Bucharest, the high and mighty of the West, led by the indispensably destructive US, artfully maneuvered Ukraine into the very worst position imaginable: by making a promise of NATO membership for Ukraine sometime in the future, they inevitably poked Russia in the eye once too often. By keeping the reckless promise vague, they left Ukraine completely exposed, as if baiting Moscow to intervene. The whole mad scheme took willfully ignoring the clear warnings issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Munich one year before and multiple equally explicit warnings produced by not Russians but widely acknowledged Westerners such as George Kennan and, back then, even William ‘Bill’ Burns.

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Georgia shared this fate – lethal promises, no back-up – with Ukraine. And yet even after a short war there quickly demonstrated that this time Russia would stand its ground and defend its basic national security interests, the West stayed its course in Ukraine.

Indeed, it doubled down on it. If only the West had dropped Ukraine the way it dropped Georgia in 2008, many Ukrainians would still be alive and the country would have lost none or far less territory. Instead, the West got involved ever more deeply, offering a poisonous EU association agreement and the shaping a regime-change coup in 2014. After that, it bound Ukraine so closely into official and black-ops NATO structures that formal membership looked increasingly irrelevant, while helping Kiev sabotage the last realistic chance to return to peace and avoid large-scale war, the Minsk II agreement of 2015. Meanwhile, demagogic public intellectuals, such as Tim Snyder and Anne Applebaum did their worst to pour oil into the fire by a mix of silly nationalism-by-proxy and nasty Russophobia.

Finally, the West almost nonchalantly refused to seriously consider Moscow’s, as it turned out, last pre-February-2022 offer to return to substantial diplomacy and compromise. Once the war had greatly escalated, the West sent Britain’s most evil clown to kill an excellent opportunity to make peace quickly produced by the Istanbul talks of spring 2022.

Since then, since locking Ukraine into a devastating, perfectly unnecessary, and futile yet deliberately provoked war to weaken Russia, things have only gotten worse and worse, and there seems no end in sight. Indeed, as a remarkably sane former German general has just explained, Kiev is still eager to drag all of Western Europe (at least) into an open shooting war with Russia. In Europe, many establishment figures seem all too willing to go along. Ukraine has become the outstanding example of how the West risked and then destroyed the opportunities of the post-Cold War period. Ukraine could have been a prosperous country profiting from links to both East and West. Instead it’s a ruin.

The joint statement issued by the foreign ministers of eight Arab and Muslim countries was one of the clearest diplomatic signals of recent weeks. Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Pakistan, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates did more than condemn Israel’s E1 settlement project. They demanded that the plan be halted, the decisions approving it reversed, and sanctions considered against individuals and entities involved in settlement expansion. The signatories also reaffirmed that an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, remains the only viable path toward a lasting settlement, according to an official statement released by the UAE Foreign Ministry.

This was not just another communiqué intended to register concern over unfolding events. The reference to possible sanctions suggests that even the region’s more cautious governments are beginning to adopt a tougher stance. Israeli leaders apparently assume that normalization with certain Arab countries has become irreversible and that their objections can therefore be safely ignored. The E1 project, however, may reveal just how badly mistaken that calculation is.

The plan calls for the construction of more than 3,400 homes in the strategically important corridor between East Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim. If implemented, it would effectively split the West Bank into northern and southern sections while cutting East Jerusalem off from the main territory of any future Palestinian state. In other words, E1 would reshape not only the demographic but also the political geography of the conflict. This is not a routine expansion of an existing settlement. It is a step that could deprive the “two states for two peoples” formula of its territorial foundation.

Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has made no attempt to conceal the project’s political purpose, openly presenting it as a way to finally “bury” the idea of Palestinian statehood. E1 received final approval in 2025, and the publication of construction tenders in 2026 transformed it from a political threat into a plan moving toward practical implementation.

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Against this backdrop, the UAE’s participation in the joint condemnation is especially significant. It was Abu Dhabi, after all, that was the leading Arab participant in the Abraham Accords in 2020 and the most persuasive example of normalization with Israel. The two countries opened embassies, lifted visa requirements, signed a free trade agreement, and began expanding cooperation in technology, energy, investment, and security. At first glance, then, the UAE’s decision to join other major Arab and Muslim powers in denouncing E1 may look like a sharp foreign-policy reversal.

It is still too early to suggest that Abu Dhabi is abandoning the Abraham Accords. Rather, the UAE is changing the terms on which it is prepared to support normalization and reminding Israel that establishing diplomatic relations did not amount to endorsing every subsequent action taken by the Israeli government. For the Emirates, normalization has always been an instrument of statecraft – not a commitment to follow Israel unconditionally.

The annexation of Palestinian territory is a matter of principle for the UAE leadership. In 2020, Abu Dhabi justified its decision to normalize relations by arguing that its agreement with Israel had halted the annexation of Palestinian land and preserved the possibility of a two-state solution. This was intended to reassure Arab audiences that the Emirates had not abandoned the Palestinian cause but had instead chosen a different way of influencing Israel: direct dialogue rather than a boycott. The latest demarche should therefore be seen not as a repudiation of that earlier policy, but as an attempt to restore the Abraham Accords to their originally stated purpose.

The Israeli government’s actions, however, are steadily making that argument harder to sustain. If normalization does not restrain annexation, halt settlement expansion, or preserve the prospect of Palestinian statehood, it becomes increasingly difficult for Abu Dhabi to explain what political purpose its special relationship with Israel actually serves.

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As early as September 2025, UAE representative Lana Nusseibeh described the annexation of the West Bank as a “red line” that could destroy the spirit of the Abraham Accords. At the time, the Emirates reportedly considered downgrading diplomatic relations, although a complete break was not under discussion. The E1 project has now brought Israel dangerously close to that line.

There is also a broader strategic calculation at work. Israel is becoming politically toxic even for Arab governments that embraced normalization only a few years ago. The problem is not Israel’s existence or the need to maintain working relations with it. What has become toxic is the course pursued by the current Israeli government, which openly rejects Palestinian statehood, continues to expand settlements, and expects its Arab partners to quietly accept the new reality.

Put bluntly, the Israeli leadership has lost its sense of proportion. It behaves as though the economic and defense interests of Arab countries allow it to disregard their position on Palestine indefinitely. But there are limits to that approach. Israel cannot expect to deepen its relations with the Arab world while systematically destroying the possibility of a Palestinian state.

For the UAE, association with this policy carries growing reputational costs. Abu Dhabi has no intention of sacrificing its standing in the Arab and Muslim world to pay for the radicalism of members of the Israeli cabinet. The Emirates understand that, as the regional order is reshaped, they must maintain stable relations first and foremost with their neighbors and the leading powers of the Islamic world.

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In the long run, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, and Jordan matter more to the UAE than unconditional solidarity with every policy adopted by Israel. Turkey, Pakistan, and Indonesia must also be considered, as their influence over the emerging Islamic political consensus continues to grow. Iran’s geopolitical clout is likewise visibly increasing following the end of the hot phase of the joint US-Israeli war against Tehran.

The presence of Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and Pakistan in this group is particularly important. Shortly before the statement was issued, the three countries formed the Mecca Defense Pact, which has already been described as a prototype for a “Muslim NATO.” The UAE did not join the alliance, and it would be wrong to portray it as a member. Yet the joint demarche over E1 shows that Abu Dhabi does not want to find itself outside the emerging Arab-Islamic political alignment. The Emirates are signaling that they can coordinate their position with the core members of the Mecca alliance while continuing to cooperate with Israel and the United States.

At the same time, the criticism of Israel was carefully calibrated. The eight countries cited not only international law and UN resolutions, but also Donald Trump’s peace plan and its rejection of West Bank annexation. This framed the Israeli government’s actions as a challenge not only to the demands of Arab countries but also to Washington’s own stated position. It allows the UAE to increase pressure on Israel without turning its demarche into an anti-American gesture.

For now, it is difficult to imagine Abu Dhabi opting for a complete break with Israel, although that possibility cannot be ruled out entirely. The cooperation built since the signing of the Abraham Accords has proved too valuable to the Emirates, particularly in the economic, technological, and security spheres.

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A gradual cooling of relations is more likely. Official contacts may become less frequent, some joint projects could slow down, and statements from the Emirati leadership may grow increasingly blunt. If Israel continues pursuing the de facto annexation of Palestinian territory, however, Abu Dhabi may once again consider downgrading diplomatic ties.

At its core, the latest demarche is a warning, not a rupture. The UAE is making clear that normalization is not a blank check and does not give Israel the right to ignore the interests of the Arab world. The Israeli leadership has become far too confident that economic cooperation has permanently separated the Palestinian issue from its relations with Arab governments.

The E1 project proves otherwise. Normalization has political limits, and the Israeli government is moving dangerously close to crossing them.

Britain is directly participating in the Ukraine conflict and actively working to prolong it, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, responding to London’s announced plans to provide Kiev with classified technical information needed to assemble long-range cruise missiles domestically.

According to a Downing Street press release published on Sunday, the UK government has authorized European defense manufacturer MBDA to release classified information concerning UK-made components for SCALP, the French-produced version of Britain’s Storm Shadow. The air-launched missiles use shared French and British technology and have a range exceeding 250 km.

The release of the information is set to be announced by UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham during a visit to Kiev on Monday, his first international trip since taking office last month.

Responding to the announcement, Peskov said Britain is “participating in this war on the side of the Kiev regime” and is “methodically and regularly adding fuel to the fire and scheming to prevent any development of the peace settlement process.”

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“Our armed forces are carrying out the relevant work and obtaining the necessary data in order to identify the production sites for such missiles and other military equipment, and are taking measures to destroy these locations,” Peskov added.

London said the decision to release the information will allow “the French and Ukrainians to move forward with the Ukrainian assembly of the missile.”

“The Ukrainian people should be in no doubt: The UK is behind you today and for as long as it takes,” Burnham said ahead of his visit to the Ukrainian capital, where he is also expected to meet with Vladimir Zelensky and chair his first meeting of the ‘coalition of the willing’, established by Britain and France under his predecessor, Keir Starmer.

Moscow has maintained that the UK and other suppliers of weapons to Kiev are directly responsible for the deep-strike campaign, which it says has frequently hit civilians.

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According to the Sunday Times, drones manufactured by BAE Systems and another unnamed British company have been used to hit targets in Russia over the past six months, including two oil refineries. The UAVs reportedly include the Nyan, a jet-powered drone produced by a BAE Systems subsidiary.

In a statement last week, the Russian Embassy in London called the UK “an accomplice and co-perpetrator of the bloody crimes and terrorist attacks” committed by Ukraine. It warned that “the deeper its involvement in the conflict and the greater its support for Kiev’s terrorist machinery, the higher the price it will pay.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that London will face consequences if it continues supplying drones used by Ukraine for strikes deep inside Russia.

“We have every right to regard the proudly proclaimed direct involvement of British missile forces in strikes against Russia as participation in the war, with all the consequences that entails,” Lavrov said.

Iran has denied reports that it has been invited to join the Mecca defense pact comprising Saudi Arabia, Türkiye. and Pakistan, while confirming that proposals have been made for talks with the three countries on regional security.

The clarification comes after Mehdi Rahimi, the head of the Iranian parliament’s Khaneh Mellat news agency, told Al Mayadeen on Saturday that Tehran had received an invitation to become a member of the Mecca pact and was considering it.

On Monday, however, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei rejected the claim, stating that no formal invitation had been received in Tehran. At the same time, he said that discussions with the pact members concerning broader regional security have been proposed and are under consideration.

The three founding members of the pact had previously repeatedly said the alliance could eventually expand to include other regional states, with Egypt being publicly mentioned as a possible candidate. Pakistan has also said it would have no objection to Iran joining.

The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, which was signed on August 7, brings together Türkiye, which possesses one of NATO’s largest militaries and a rapidly growing defense industry, Saudi Arabia, which features enormous financial resources and ambitions to shape the Arab political order, and Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state with one of the largest militaries in the Muslim world.

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The pact stipulates that an armed attack on one member would be regarded as an attack on all three, and also calls for closer military coordination, joint exercises and defense-industry cooperation.

Tehran initially said it had “no reason for concern” over the agreement, with spokesman Baghaei noting that its creation reflected a growing desire among regional states to develop their own security mechanisms.

Some observers have dubbed the new grouping an “Islamic NATO,” although experts have cautioned against treating it as a fully-fledged military bloc. Gulf Research Center chairman Abdulaziz Sager has said the pact could strengthen the members’ combined diplomatic and defense weight and contribute to a more regionally driven security system.

Israel, meanwhile, has responded to the pact with alarm, raising concerns that a bloc built around Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and nuclear-armed Pakistan could emerge as a counterweight to its own military dominance in the region.

The Mecca pact members, however, insist that the agreement is defensive, is open to other countries in the region, and is not directed against any other states.

Singapore has launched the world’s first independently operated data center using living human brain cells for some computing tasks, the medical school of the National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine) has said. The system consumes a fraction of the power of traditional computing hardware. The neurons are fed every three days and sustained by dedicated life-support equipment.  

NUS Medicine announced the prototype earlier this month in partnership with Singapore-based data center operator DayOne and Australian biotech firm Cortical Labs. Housed at the university, the system is described by its developers as the world’s first independently operated biologically integrated server rack.  

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The facility comprises 20 CL1 biological computers, each containing at least 200,000 lab-grown human neurons on an electrode-fitted silicon chip. Derived from blood cells reprogrammed into stem cells, the neurons exchange electrical signals with conventional hardware, turning their activity into computing power.   

Cortical Labs founder and CEO Hon Weng Chong said the prototype moves biological computing “from research to commercial application,” arguing it could complement AI where “data is sparse” and conditions change. He pointed to potential uses in drug discovery, humanoid robotics, cybersecurity and fraud detection.  

Unlike conventional data centers packed with power-hungry servers and cooling systems, biological computers could operate on a fraction of the electricity by harnessing the natural processing capabilities of living neural networks.  

Keeping the “computers” running looks more like maintaining a laboratory than a server room. Technicians feed the cells a mixture of sugar, micronutrients and pH buffers every three days, while a gas system supplies carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen.  

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Each CL1 draws around 30 watts including its life-support equipment, according to Chong. Nvidia’s H100 SXM AI processor can consume up to 700 watts under heavy workloads, while a server fitted with eight such chips can draw around 10,200 watts including supporting hardware.  

The power difference is particularly relevant for Singapore, which temporarily halted construction of new data centers in 2019 because of concerns over their electricity and water consumption. Data centers accounted for around 7% of the country’s electricity use in 2020.  

The technology is not intended to replace silicon, which Chong said remains “far superior” for the fast, repeatable calculations behind large language models such as ChatGPT. Biological systems, however, can learn from fewer examples and adapt to changing conditions.

Japan does not plan to supply Ukraine with weapons, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara has said. At a press briefing on Monday, he told reporters that Tokyo “is not considering any deliveries” of defensive or offensive weapons “at this time.”

Kihara was responding to Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergey Koretsky, who asked Japan on Sunday for anti-ballistic missiles, in an interview with Kyodo News.

“I would like to kindly ask one and only thing... anti-ballistic missiles,” he was cited as saying. “It’s the most important thing we need... I very much hope and count on your country.”

Koretsky took office in July and was reportedly close to disgraced businessman Timur Mindich, a close associate of Vladimir Zelensky who fled to Israel amid a corruption scandal.

“At this time, the government does not consider transferring weapons under the Self-Defense Forces Law to Ukraine,” Kihara said, referring to an overhaul in April of Japan’s defense-export policy that lifted restrictions limiting transfers to non-lethal categories and opened the door to lethal weapons exports.

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He noted that Tokyo has already provided Kiev with non-lethal equipment and pledged around $20 billion in recovery, reconstruction, and humanitarian aid, signaling that it intends to keep its assistance within these bounds.

Japan’s stance on the Ukraine conflict has been marked by contradiction. Tokyo has publicly sided with Kiev, condemning Russia’s military operation and taking part in the Western sanctions. However, it has stopped short of supplying lethal weapons to Ukraine, and unlike some Western nations, has retained stakes in key Russian energy projects, citing their importance to domestic energy security.

Over the past few months, Ukraine has increasingly sought new military hardware from its Western backers to counter severe battlefield shortages amid the steady advance of Russian forces. Last month, Russia announced the capture of the key Ukrainian stronghold of Konstantinovka in northwestern Donbass before launching an offensive toward the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration, the last two major cities in the region still under Ukrainian control. Over the past week, Russia has liberated six settlements in Donbass.

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Kiev has intensified long-range drone attacks deep inside Russia, increasingly striking energy and civilian infrastructure and prompting Moscow to denounce the raids as terrorist attacks against civilians. Last month, Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik told RT that Ukraine is trying to mask its battlefield setbacks by attacking Russian civilians and presenting the strikes as “some kind of achievement.”

Russia has long accused Western weapons suppliers of enabling Ukraine’s deep-strike campaign. A Sunday Times report last week claimed that Ukraine has used British-made drones for long-range attacks inside Russia over the past six months. Moscow maintains that this aid makes Kiev’s foreign backers direct participants in the hostilities and only serves to prolong the conflict. Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that Russia will adopt “much harsher methods to destroy everything that enables the West to fuel Kiev’s war machine.”

READ MORE: Russia warns UK over drones used by Ukraine

The ‘coalition of the willing’, a group of Western states pushing for continued aid to Ukraine which includes the UK, France, and Germany, will convene in Kiev on Monday to discuss future weapons deliveries. Kiev is expected to seek additional interceptor missiles. The UK is set to announce that it will provide Ukraine with classified technical information needed to assemble long-range cruise missiles domestically.

Japan does not plan to supply Ukraine with weapons, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara has said. At a press briefing on Monday, he told reporters that Tokyo “is not considering any deliveries” of defensive or offensive weapons “at this time.”

Kihara was responding to Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergey Koretsky, who asked Japan on Sunday for anti-ballistic missiles, in an interview with Kyodo News.

“I would like to kindly ask one and only thing... anti-ballistic missiles,” he was cited as saying. “It’s the most important thing we need... I very much hope and count on your country.”

Koretsky took office in July and was reportedly close to disgraced businessman Timur Mindich, a close associate of Vladimir Zelensky who fled to Israel amid a corruption scandal.

“At this time, the government does not consider transferring weapons under the Self-Defense Forces Law to Ukraine,” Kihara said, referring to an overhaul in April of Japan’s defense-export policy that lifted restrictions limiting transfers to non-lethal categories and opened the door to lethal weapons exports.

Read more

He noted that Tokyo has already provided Kiev with non-lethal equipment and pledged around $20 billion in recovery, reconstruction, and humanitarian aid, signaling that it intends to keep its assistance within these bounds.

Japan’s stance on the Ukraine conflict has been marked by contradiction. Tokyo has publicly sided with Kiev, condemning Russia’s military operation and taking part in the Western sanctions. However, it has stopped short of supplying lethal weapons to Ukraine, and unlike some Western nations, has retained stakes in key Russian energy projects, citing their importance to domestic energy security.

Over the past few months, Ukraine has increasingly sought new military hardware from its Western backers to counter severe battlefield shortages amid the steady advance of Russian forces. Last month, Russia announced the capture of the key Ukrainian stronghold of Konstantinovka in northwestern Donbass before launching an offensive toward the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration, the last two major cities in the region still under Ukrainian control. Over the past week, Russia has liberated six settlements in Donbass.

Read more

Kiev has intensified long-range drone attacks deep inside Russia, increasingly striking energy and civilian infrastructure and prompting Moscow to denounce the raids as terrorist attacks against civilians. Last month, Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik told RT that Ukraine is trying to mask its battlefield setbacks by attacking Russian civilians and presenting the strikes as “some kind of achievement.”

Russia has long accused Western weapons suppliers of enabling Ukraine’s deep-strike campaign. A Sunday Times report last week claimed that Ukraine has used British-made drones for long-range attacks inside Russia over the past six months. Moscow maintains that this aid makes Kiev’s foreign backers direct participants in the hostilities and only serves to prolong the conflict. Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that Russia will adopt “much harsher methods to destroy everything that enables the West to fuel Kiev’s war machine.”

READ MORE: Russia warns UK over drones used by Ukraine

The ‘coalition of the willing’, a group of Western states pushing for continued aid to Ukraine which includes the UK, France, and Germany, will convene in Kiev on Monday to discuss future weapons deliveries. Kiev is expected to seek additional interceptor missiles. The UK is set to announce that it will provide Ukraine with classified technical information needed to assemble long-range cruise missiles domestically.

UN special rapporteur for Palestine Francesca Albanese has called for the deployment of an international protection force in the Palestinian territories in response to a rise in attacks by Israeli settlers.

“An International Protection Presence in West Bank/east Jerusalem and Gaza is absolutely URGENT,” Albanese wrote in a post on X on Monday.

“Third states have an obligation, per the ICJ, to act to end Israel’s unlawful occupation,” she said, using the acronym for the Hague-based International Court of Justice. She called on the offices of the UN secretary-general and the General Assembly to help bypass what she described as the “paralysis” of the organization’s Security Council, where the US has vetoed multiple resolutions critical of Israel.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law by the UN and most of the international community. Israel disputes this position. The settlements are also widely viewed as an obstacle to establishing a viable Palestinian state. In 2024, the ICJ issued an advisory opinion saying Israel should end its occupation of Palestinian territory “as rapidly as possible.”

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On Sunday, the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, condemned Israel’s plan to build more than 1,200 housing units under the E1 settlement project, saying it would “divide the West Bank in two, isolating East Jerusalem, and further eroding the viability of a two-state solution.”

Israel has taken an increasingly hawkish stance since the war in Gaza began with a Hamas attack in October 2023, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying last year that “there will be no Palestinian state to the west of the Jordan River.” More Israeli outposts have since been approved in the West Bank, which far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich hailed as “a revolution” in settlement expansion.

Settler violence has also surged. There were about 190 attacks against Palestinians per month in the first months of 2026, according to UN data cited by The Guardian. A 17-year-old Palestinian was killed and another wounded by gunfire on Friday during an altercation with settlers.

The UK will provide Ukraine with classified technical information needed to assemble long-range cruise missiles domestically.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham is set to announce the move during a visit to Kiev on Monday, his first international trip since taking office last month.

According to a Downing Street press release published on Sunday, the British government has authorized European defense manufacturer MBDA to release classified information concerning UK-made components for SCALP, the French-produced version of Britain’s Storm Shadow. The air-launched missiles use shared French and British technology and have a range exceeding 250 kilometers.

Kiev and Paris are seeking to establish local production lines on Ukrainian territory. Britain says its decision will allow “the French and Ukrainians to move forward with the Ukrainian assembly of the missile.”

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“The Ukrainian people should be in no doubt: The UK is behind you today and for as long as it takes,” Burnham said, echoing the position of previous governments.

During his visit, Burnham is expected to meet Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and chair his first meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, established by Britain and France under his predecessor, Keir Starmer.

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Moscow has maintained that the UK and other suppliers of weapons to Kiev are directly responsible for Ukraine’s deep-strike campaign, which it says has frequently hit civilians.

According to The Sunday Times, drones manufactured by BAE Systems and another unnamed British company have been used to hit targets in Russia over the past six months, including two oil refineries. The UAVs reportedly included the Nyan, a jet-powered drone produced by a BAE Systems subsidiary.

In a statement last week, the Russian Embassy in London branded the UK “an accomplice and co-perpetrator of the bloody crimes and terrorist attacks” committed by Ukraine. It warned that “the deeper its involvement in the conflict and the greater its support for Kiev’s terrorist machinery, the higher the price it will pay.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that London will face consequences if it continues supplying drones used by Ukraine for strikes deep inside Russia.

“We have every right to regard the proudly proclaimed direct involvement of British missile forces in strikes against Russia as participation in the war, with all the consequences that entails,” Lavrov said.

A rapidly spreading human-caused wildfire in Nevada has injured at least six people and forced around 42,000 residents to evacuate, while tens of thousands more have been warned to prepare to leave.

The Hawk Fire broke out northwest of Reno on Saturday and had spread across more than 15,000 acres (61 square kilometers) by the following day. Three civilians and three first responders have been injured, while several structures have been destroyed.

The “GO NOW” evacuation zone has expanded to the edge of the University of Nevada, Reno, while another 45,000 people in an adjacent “GET SET” zone have been urged to leave and prepare to stay away for several days.

WATCH: Human-caused Hawk Fire explodes to 10,500 acres near Reno, Nevada; 42,000 evacuated pic.twitter.com/d95enUHNKM

— Rapid Report (@RapidReport2025) August 23, 2026

Shifting and strengthening winds caused the fire to change direction rapidly and reportedly jump over fire trucks, preventing crews from reaching some hot spots as residents attempted to flee.

“It was extremely confusing,” Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam said, describing how the winds repeatedly sent the flames in different directions and urging residents in evacuation-warning zones to leave. “Please get out if you can right now,” he said.

The Hawk Fire has consumed most of Mount Peavine here in Reno, NV. Many people in the north valleys area lost their homes and businesses were destroyed including a Copart warehouse and storage facility. I am located roughly 1.8 miles from the evacuation zone.@nyprepper1 pic.twitter.com/ifR9GXjpG4

— Mopar🇺🇲Man1152 (@SSecurity93929) August 23, 2026

Officials have determined that the fire was human-caused but have not disclosed how it started or whether it was accidental or deliberate, saying the precise cause remains under investigation.

READ MORE: Belgium battles record wildfire near German border (VIDEO)

Footage shared online shows a vast line of flames illuminating the night sky as thick smoke rises over the Reno area. Another video appears to show a man operating heavy machinery while surrounded by flames in an attempt to create a firebreak.

VIDEO: Nevada Army Guard drops water on Hawk Fire, Aug. 23, 2026. #hawkfire pic.twitter.com/aDSQzeleK9

— Nevada Guard (@NVNationalGuard) August 23, 2026

Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo has declared a state of emergency in Washoe County. The National Guard has deployed two helicopter crews and 60 troops to support firefighting operations and protect evacuated neighborhoods. Two hospitals have moved patients to safety, while authorities are monitoring whether the county jail will also need to be evacuated.

JUST IN: Human-caused Hawk Fire spreads toward neighborhoods in northwest Reno, Nevada, burning homes and injuring at least 6 people, according to press conference. pic.twitter.com/rLJ16jK6wt

— Scope Report (@ScopeReport_) August 23, 2026

Nearly 60,000 customers initially lost electricity, although that figure had fallen to around 10,000 by Sunday. Parts of US Route 395 were also closed.

The Hawk Fire comes as months of dry weather and record-low snowfall last winter fuel blazes across the American West. Fifteen new fires erupted across Nevada on Saturday alone. Earlier this month, wildfires near Spokane, Washington, forced around 60,000 people to evacuate, while three separate blazes north of Reno displaced more than 13,000 residents.

A Turkish sailor who survived a drone attack on one cargo ship was killed when the vessel that rescued him was struck as well, near Russia’s Black Sea coast. Ukraine has been escalating long-range strikes against Russian ports and civilian logistics.

According to multiple Turkish news reports on Saturday, Ilker Lazoglu was the cook on the San Marino-flagged bulker Necibe. The vessel was reportedly struck by drones at Russia’s Black Sea port of Tuapse on Tuesday, where it was scheduled to load 20,000 tons of wheat.

Along with 17 other crew members, he was evacuated to the Ural, a Turkish-owned and Cameroon-flagged vessel, Türkiye Today and Hurriyet reported. However, that ship was reportedly hit near Novorossiysk, which has faced numerous attacks by Ukrainian drones in recent months.

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Lazoglu and eight other sailors were injured in the attack, and he later died from his wounds, Hurriyet reported, citing a relative.

For several months, Ukrainian long-range strikes have been targeting Russian ports and international shipping that Kiev suspects of transporting Russian cargoes. Russian officials have warned that Ukraine is “playing with fire” by attacking other countries’ civilian ships in the Black Sea and have condemned the strikes as terrorist acts.

Moscow has retaliated by targeting Ukraine’s key Black Sea ports and shipping it says are handling imports for the Ukrainian military, effectively cutting off the country’s main export route.

READ MORE: Putin hints at ‘catastrophic scenario’ for Ukraine

Kiev opened this “Pandora’s box” by targeting “civilian targets and logistics,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday. Now Ukraine is reaching out via third-party countries to try to prevent the situation from “developing into a catastrophic scenario,” he said, adding that Moscow remains ready for peace talks provided they are based on the realities “on the ground.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was booed on Saturday during a visit to North Rhine-Westphalia, which had been hit by devastating wildfires. The heckling comes as Merz’s approval rating has fallen to a historic low amid growing public dissatisfaction with his performance.

The wildfire in Germany’s Eifel region was described as the largest in the region’s history and prompted the evacuation of around 2,000 people. Firefighting efforts, completed earlier this week, were complicated by the presence of possible unexploded World War II ordnance.

Merz’s speech, in which he thanked emergency services for bringing the fires under control, was repeatedly interrupted by shouts and whistles from some of those gathered, while several farmers also honked their tractors’ horns.

Bild reported later in the day that around 200 people attended the event, with some holding signs bearing slogans critical of Merz. The gathering marked the chancellor’s return to the public eye after a 23-day vacation; he last appeared in public on July 29, the tabloid noted.

Mit Buhrufen und Pfiffen ist Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz (CDU) am Samstag in Hürtgenwald-Gey empfangen worden. Merz reagierte gelassen: Er lasse sich von denen, die herumschreien, nicht beeindrucken. pic.twitter.com/XIo6Hzw5oT

— WDR (@WDRaktuell) August 22, 2026

Approval ratings for Merz’s coalition, comprising the Christian Democratic CDU/CSU bloc and the Social Democratic Party, have declined steadily since it took office in May 2025. The government has faced criticism over continued economic stagnation and its failure to deliver on pre-election promises.

On Sunday, the German Press Agency (dpa) reported, citing the latest YouGov poll, that most Germans expect the chancellor to be replaced before the next scheduled election in 2029.

READ MORE: Support for Germany’s ruling bloc falls to five-year low – poll

Earlier this year, Welt reported that the chancellor’s approval had fallen to a record low amid growing dissatisfaction with his performance and what respondents described as broken promises and a lack of leadership.

Last month, Der Spiegel cited sources as saying that CDU was discussing Merz’s possible departure as chancellor amid a botched cabinet reshuffle and growing discontent within the party.

A small-scale British power plant was taken offline because of a cyber attack, with UK authorities blaming an Iranian-linked hacking group, The Telegraph reported on Saturday.

In the UK, dozens of small-scale power plants are connected to the national grid, many of them gas-fired facilities that operate for just a few hours a week.

The newspaper did not specify which facility was targeted but noted that it was out of operation for four days in July.

The authorities reportedly notified the National Cyber Security Centre, a public-facing branch of the Government Communications Headquarters, held emergency briefings for energy company executives and sent businesses guidance on strengthening security measures.

According to The Telegraph, the incident coincided with a series of cyberattacks targeting water infrastructure in the US that affected facilities in 12 states. Earlier this month, CBS News cited sources as saying that more than 30 community water systems had been impacted and that the attacks might be linked to Iran-backed hackers.

READ MORE: Water systems across US hit by suspected cyberattacks – ABC News

Some utilities reportedly lost critical remote-control capabilities, forcing operators to switch to manual mode. In several cases, the hackers gained remote access to pumps, valves, and water pressure.

Western intelligence agencies have repeatedly claimed that critical national infrastructure and government bodies face a constant threat from hackers in Iran, North Korea, China, and Russia – allegations that the authorities in each country have dismissed. Moscow says that the West habitually cites the supposed threat of external aggression to justify a massive military buildup and the development of offensive cyber capabilities.

A US court has overturned a Trump administration rule that suspended the issuing of immigrant visas to people from 75 countries.

The State Department announced the restrictions in Janurary, which did not apply to tourist or student visas, saying they were needed to prevent the entry of those who would “take welfare and public benefits.” Russia, Brazil, Colombia, Albania, Egypt, Haiti, Somalia, and Pakistan were among the nations covered by the policy.

Judge Jeannette Vargas of Manhattan said in her ruling on Friday that US consular staff had been ordered to reject visas for all applicants from the blacklisted countries even if they were able to support themselves.

Under American laws, an immigrant’s application can only be turned down if the person is determined likely to become a “public charge” by a review of their finances, health, and skills.

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“The Policy, which categorically prohibits the issuance of immigrant visas based upon the nationality of the applicant, represents a direct abrogation of this statutory scheme,” the judge stated.