A conscription officer was fatally stabbed in western Ukraine on Friday night, marking the latest violent incident linked to the country’s controversial mobilization campaign during the conflict with Russia.

The altercation took place in the city of Lviv as a group of draft officials were conducting routine document checks, the regional police department said. A 25-year-old local man allegedly “attacked and stabbed” a 55-year-old officer, who succumbed to his injuries in an ambulance, it said.

A police officer accompanying the draft officials fired two shots, wounding the assailant in the leg. The suspect was hospitalized, police said, without providing details about what provoked the attack.

Video from the scene shows an agitated man standing across from an officer, separated by a half-open gate, as three onlookers stand nearby. The man suddenly rushes through the gate at the officer, who steps out of frame. A gunshot is heard, after which the man falls to the ground, apparently clutching his leg. As he sits up and continues to move, the officer shoots him again at close range. The man, however, continues to crawl toward the officer before getting to his feet and struggling with him out of frame.

У Львові чоловік поранив ножем працівника ТЦК, після чого поліцейський вистрілив у нападника. pic.twitter.com/fsFdJHAvf9

— Олег Володарський (@volodarskijo) August 21, 2026

Police released an image of the knife allegedly used by the suspect.

Men aged 25 to 55 are subject to mobilization in Ukraine, while those aged 23 to 60 are generally barred from leaving the country.

In multiple cases, family members and bystanders have clashed with officers in an effort to prevent recruits from being sent to the front line.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

The US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is heading home from its extended deployment, multiple media outlets reported on Thursday, citing officials.

The carrier’s deployment began in late November last year and was originally scheduled to end in May, but it was repeatedly extended due to its participation in the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran. The vessel now holds a modern US Navy record for the longest consecutive, uninterrupted period at sea, with roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard and more than 260 days spent largely without port calls.

The deployment has reportedly been plagued by supply and maintenance issues, including shortages of food and basic supplies, a lack of hot and potable water, and plumbing problems. Crew members’ families have raised alarm over what they described as collapsing morale, burnout, and mental health issues. Several crew members reportedly attempted to jump overboard.

Reports about the troubled deployment have prompted calls for the dismissal of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who dismissed concerns raised in the media as “completely misrepresented.”

Last week, US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Hegseth “must be fired immediately” over the USS Abraham Lincoln situation.

”When Pete Hegseth was nominated, everyone knew he was completely incompetent. Now our brave sailors are paying the price in a horrific and unfathomable way,” the Democratic leader said.

The politics of Vladimir Zelensky’s Ukraine remain a smelly swamp, producing a ceaseless seepage of scandals occasionally percolating to the surface in big, toxic bubbles that pop with a noxious stink. Recently, for instance, the returning ambassador to the US – no less – has become the subject of a corruption case bad enough to require bail equivalent to $130,000.

The very latest Zelensky regime stink bubble to burst, however, is centered on a former double minister. Before ending up at the center of yet another big pile of dirt, compliments of Zelensky and cronies, Herman Galushchenko had served as minister of energy and then of justice. And if you know Kiev’s political culture – for want of better terms – you won’t be surprised to hear that, in the end, he ended up arrested under suspicion of very large-scale corruption.

To be precise, Galushchenko is one of the main suspects in the massive scandal featuring the Energoatom, aka Mindich-Gate after Timur Mindich, an intimate friend of Zelensky who, clearly tipped off about his impending arrest, has long fled to Israel. Galushchenko, too, tried to run, but was not fast enough, or more likely, lacked the same level of premium protection, namely from the president himself, and got caught at the border.

Yet if the story had ended there, this would not be Ukraine.  Now we are into the sequel, and it’s at least as bad as the first part. Because in essence, Galushchenko in a cell was a thought that Zelensky and his crew could not tolerate. Surely out of sheer mafia-like camaraderie! Perish the thought – they were afraid of any deals the former minister might strike and names he might name. But getting Galushchenko out was expensive: Here as well the court had set bail, and as Mindich-Gate was a $100-million case, the bail wasn’t cheap.

Central to this operation and the highest-ranking official to have lost her position at this point is Irina Mudraya, the deputy head of Zelensky’s very own office, as well as a former deputy minister of justice. But the circle of suspects is much wider, as always in Ukraine where corruption is the passionate national sport of those running and ruining the country, while its ordinary citizens are hunted by military press gangs in broad daylight.

Also officially under suspicion and investigation are Maksim Mikitas, a former parliamentary deputy; Vadim Stolar, a currently serving parliamentary deputy; Viktor Dubovik, another high official from Zelensky’s presidential office; Elena Ferens, a deputy minister of justice; Nikolay Gladishchenko, Oleg Stupak, Liudmila Snygur, all three high up in the management of state-owned Sens Bank, which served as the financial vehicle for the launder-and-pay-for-Galushchenko scheme.

Then we also have “businessman,” a “person linked to Mikitas,” the director of the Metrostroy company, a driver who also happens to run Montazh Servis (a construction company by the name of it – good for concrete foundations to bury the talkative), and a bodyguard who doubles as the director of a firm calling itself The Philosophy of Development.

These, in sum, are typical pillars of the Ukrainian establishment as it really is. Suffice it to say that, in 2018, high-flyer Irina Mudraya, trained at Lviv University, received a ‘Best Legal Adviser in Banking and Financial Law’ award (sure, just be honest next time and call it ‘Best Consigliere in Mafia Ukraine’). In 2021, she won ‘Women Leaders who have Influenced the Development of the Legal Community’ (and unfortunately, she probably has). And just two years ago, Business Woman magazine honored her achievements in “Politics and Diplomacy.”

Yet one man who may be looking at an uncertain near-future in conjunction with ‘Operation Forrest Gump’ – the code name for this investigation – is the current head of Zelensky’s administration, Kirill Budanov. Formerly mostly busy with black ops, lies, and terrorism, Budanov has taken his office as Zelensky’s top manager only recently. His predecessor Andrey Yermak, another very close, intimate friend of Zelensky, had been forced out because of his deep involvement in Mindich-Gate. Or probably, really due to both his own crimes and those of Zelensky himself that needed a fall guy.

As caught by eavesdropping, Mudraya reminded an accomplice that “he says that corruption needs to be organized and controlled; we must not fight it.” According to Ukrainska Pravda, the mysterious “he,” the real author of that arrogantly direct and brashly cynical statement, was her boss Budanov.

It is intriguing, as another Ukrainian publication has pointed out that it is precisely Ukrainska Pravda that has dared name Budanov. For the outlet is among the supporters of Mikhail Fedorov, the tech whizz kid and former minister of defense, who has turned from a Zelensky regime insider into a challenger by calling for presidential elections even during wartime. That is, in reality, for calling for an end to the Zelensky regime, because the incumbent, polls show, can be beaten.

The swamp that is Ukrainian politics keeps festering. The greed and cynicism of Kiev’s ‘elite’ knows no limits. At the same time what may be even more tragic for Ukraine is that any attempt to reign in the rampant corruption by finally holding everyone accountable, no matter how high up, is not only unlikely to succeed but dishonest too.

Naming Budanov? Yes, but not because he should face scrutiny and accountability but because he needs to be weakened so that another ambitious establishment representative has a better chance at beating him at coming elections. In Kiev, stories of messianic redeemers are popular again and again. Zelensky was once the most enthusiastically endorsed of them all. And yet it is his regime that has become the very worst. Why would Fedorov be any different? Or for that matter, anyone else. Ukraine does not need personnel change; it needs a massive reset.

Dozens of Ukrainian soldiers have deserted while undergoing military training in Germany, Die Zeit has reported, citing interviews with ten men who fled their units.

Kiev has increasingly relied on forced mobilization as it struggles to replenish battlefield losses. Videos regularly circulate online showing recruitment officers detaining men in public places and forcing them into vehicles, sometimes after violent confrontations. The practice has become widely known in Ukraine as “busification.”

Die Zeit reported on Wednesday that during the early years of the conflict, Ukrainian troops sent to Germany for training were generally experienced and highly motivated. More recently, however, many of those arriving have been newly mobilized recruits.

In Saxony-Anhalt alone, the regional Interior Ministry has recorded around 80 cases of Ukrainian soldiers deserting, while the nationwide total is believed to run into the hundreds, according to the weekly.

Among those interviewed was Vladimir Shulgin, a 39-year-old former pianist from Dnepr. He told Die Zeit that after Ukraine intensified its mobilization campaign, he largely avoided leaving home while his wife supported the family.

According to his account, he initially had no intention of deserting. He changed his mind after allegedly being physically abused by Ukrainian superiors and threatened with death upon his return to Ukraine.

After a German military doctor referred him to a hospital in Berlin, Shulgin did not return to the training facility. He has since applied for asylum and is living in a refugee shelter.

Another deserter interviewed by Die Zeit said he had fled because he did not want to kill or be killed.

“I simply don’t want to die, and I don’t want to kill. Not at the front, and nowhere else. Is that enough?” he said.

Their prospects of obtaining asylum are “likely slim,” however, according to the newspaper.

Similar desertions have occurred during Ukrainian training programs elsewhere in Europe. In late 2024, Ukrainian media reported that around 50 soldiers from the 155th Mechanized Brigade had deserted during training in France.

The Ukrainian authorities have acknowledged tens of thousands of desertion and unauthorized-absence cases since the conflict with Russia escalated in 2022.

Russia has accused the leadership in Kiev and its Western backers of being willing to fight “to the last Ukrainian.”

The US Navy is reportedly considering whether to rename an upcoming aircraft carrier honoring World War II black hero Doris Miller after President Donald Trump in an unprecedented move.

The ongoing discussions were first reported on Friday by CNN, citing three sources familiar with the matter. The report was corroborated by CBN News, with two unnamed US officials confirming to the broadcaster that deliberations have been going on.

The USS Doris Miller is set to become the fourth Ford-class aircraft carrier and is expected to be commissioned in the mid-2030s. Under the first Trump administration, the US Navy announced the decision to name it after Miller, who distinguished himself during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The sailor, an enlisted cook with no appropriate training, managed to shoot down at least one incoming Japanese aircraft during the attack, becoming the first black recipient of the Navy Cross for his feat.

The navy is now reportedly weighing renaming a different warship after Miller, as well as posthumously recommending him for the Medal of Honor, the top US decoration for military valor. The sailor was killed in 1943 in the Japanese torpedoing of the USS Liscome Bay, which remains the deadliest carrier sinking in US Navy history, with over 700 crew lost.

A recent Trump executive order, in which he tasked the Pentagon and US Navy to come up with a plan to replace electromagnetic aircraft launch systems on carriers with old-school steam and hydraulic catapults, also referred to the ship only by its hull number.

The US president has shown a great interest in shipbuilding during his second term. In December last year, Trump announced plans to construct a ‘Golden Fleet’ of massive, aptly named Trump-class battleships that would be “100 times more powerful” than any ever built. Trump said he approved building two ships to start, with plans for up to 25. 

The ‘Golden Fleet’ affair reportedly resulted in the downfall of Navy Secretary John Phelan, who was sacked this April for allegedly failing to deliver a plan to build the Trump-class battleships on a “nearly impossible timeline.”

As more US police departments deploy Flock cameras to monitor traffic and track criminals, public backlash has grown. In San Diego, a protester dressed as Darth Vader showed up to a city council meeting to portray Flock as a tool for tracking “rebel scum.”

There are now more than 130,000 Flock cameras dotting the US, with law enforcement departments in at least 4,000 cities erecting the AI-powered surveillance devices on intersections, parking lots, and public land. Flock Technologies says the cameras have helped police stop burglaries, carjackings, and homicides, but opponents say they encroach on civil liberties.

At a meeting of the San Diego City Council on Wednesday, a man dressed as Star Wars villain Darth Vader shared his opinion on the technology, approaching the podium with his character’s signature mechanical breathing.

“The Emperor is a fan of Flock, and we must continue utilising Flock technologies so that we can surveil the rebel scum,” he declared. “As they move from playground to playground, from playground to pool, from pool to gymnasium, because we all know that the Flock cameras are not only following the license plate readers, they are following children.”

Darth Vader comes out in favor of Flock cameras pic.twitter.com/YL3jaiwIEx

— Orwell Day (@OrwellDay) August 20, 2026

Flock is best known for its Falcon ALPR (Automated License Plate Recognition) cameras, which capture still images of passing vehicles. However, the company’s Condor PTZ video cameras can be used by police departments to track the movement of individuals across multiple cameras with AI, and search for people via description.

Flock’s Falcon ALPR cameras have already been used by more than 50 police officers to stalk women – including ex-wives and partners – without their consent, the Washington Post reported earlier this month. Vulnerabilities in Flock’s software have also left images of children, recorded with the company’s video cameras, exposed online. 

“I need this so I can stalk my ex-girlfriend,” ‘Darth Vader’ told the city council meeting. “This technology will help us find Luke Skywalker as he traverses the universe in his X-Wing.”

The rollout of Flock cameras began at scale in 2020, but the process has not been smooth.  Flock cameras have been shot, spray-painted, cut down, and obstructed across the country. According to FlockStats, a website that counts confirmed incidents of vandalism against the devices, at least 162 have been destroyed nationwide. 

As the cameras have proliferated, so have their detractors. Republican Representative Thomas Massie is among the highest-profile opponents of the technology, introducing a bill last month that would withhold federal funding from police departments deploying the cameras. Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, a Democrat, has also ordered cities to pause the installation of Flock cameras until the state develops new privacy legislation. 

Israeli airstrikes on Syria’s Abu al-Duhur airbase on August 18 unexpectedly turned what might otherwise have looked like another familiar episode of Israeli military activity inside a neighboring country into something far more dangerous.

This time, the real recipient of Israel’s warning was neither Iran nor Hezbollah, but Türkiye, which has emerged as one of the principal political and military partners of Syria’s new leadership since the fall of Bashar Assad. Eight strikes hit the airbase, located roughly 70 kilometers from the Turkish border, damaging runways and military infrastructure.

Israel said the operation was intended to prevent Syria from allowing Turkish forces to establish a presence there, while US and Israeli officials indicated that one of the objectives was also to disrupt the delivery of advanced Turkish weapons systems to the facility. Shortly before the attack, Mossad chief Roman Gofman had reportedly discussed with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Shaibani the expansion of Türkiye’s military footprint, arms sales to Damascus and the possible transfer of drones to the Syrian armed forces.

Turkish-Syrian military cooperation itself is hardly a secret. As early as August 2025, Ankara formally agreed to assist the reconstruction of Syria’s armed forces through weapons, military equipment, logistics, training and advisory support, and over the past year, the two governments have steadily deepened that relationship. What remains unconfirmed, however, is whether a new shipment of Turkish weaponry was physically delivered to Syria on August 20. Yet the issue goes beyond that particular shipment.

Israel increasingly views the transformation of Turkish assistance from a reconstruction program into a permanent military infrastructure as a strategic shift in the regional balance. It is especially concerned about drones, electronic warfare systems, radar networks and, above all, the eventual deployment of modern air-defense systems that could restrict Israel’s long-standing freedom of action in Syrian airspace.

The escalation between Türkiye and Israel is advancing at a remarkable speed. For the moment, the confrontation remains largely rhetorical, diplomatic and indirect, but Syria has created the very real possibility of a proxy conflict between two states that both possess modern armed forces, sophisticated defense industries and competing visions of the regional order. Syria could become the arena in which those visions collide via the arming of allies, the destruction of military infrastructure and attempts to enforce rival red lines. Such a scenario could become the point of no return.

The most important change is that post-Assad Syria is no longer merely a battleground for Israel’s campaign against Iranian influence. For years, Israel operated within a relatively predictable framework. Airstrikes targeted assets linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, weapons depots and supply routes serving Hezbollah, Syrian air-defense systems and other infrastructure capable of restricting Israeli operational freedom. Türkiye was not directly a part of that equation.

Now, Ankara has acquired the opportunity to rely not only on its long-standing military presence in northern Syria and on armed groups historically aligned with it, but increasingly on the central government in Damascus itself. Syria’s new authorities need investment, reconstruction, military training, infrastructure and international political backing, all of which Türkiye is well placed to provide. For Ankara, this represents an unusually favorable strategic opening, allowing it to convert years of costly involvement in the Syrian conflict into lasting influence over the political and military architecture of the neighboring state.

Israel sees the Turkish presence as a threat. If the Syrian army remains weak, fragmented and technologically backward, Israel can preserve near-unrestricted operational freedom across large parts of Syrian territory. But if Türkiye helps Damascus rebuild a centralized army, restore airfields and radar networks, acquire drones and eventually field modern defensive systems, Israel could face a fundamentally different Syria within several years. More importantly, that Syria would no longer be backed by a sanctions-battered Iran, but by a NATO member with a rapidly expanding defense-industrial base.

The attack on Abu al-Duhur is an attempt to establish a preventive red line. Netanyahu said after the strike that Israel would not tolerate a Turkish military presence in Syria that threatened Israeli security, adding that an earlier message had apparently not been understood clearly enough. Türkiye replied by accusing the Israeli prime minister of pursuing an “expansionist and destabilizing policy,” while Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan against testing Israel’s determination.

Even Israel’s allies in Washington are concerned. US envoy Tom Barrack described the strike as an unnecessary escalation, while the US has accelerated efforts to create a deconfliction mechanism between Israel, Türkiye and Syria. The very fact that such a mechanism is now considered necessary shows that Washington is increasingly treating an accidental or deliberate confrontation between two of its most important regional partners as a scenario that requires technical safeguards rather than as an abstract possibility.

Yet it would be a mistake to think that Israel is solely pursuing military goals. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 27, and the campaign has already transformed Israel’s foreign policy into one of the central arenas of domestic political competition.

For Benjamin Netanyahu, this may be one of the most difficult election campaigns of his career. For decades, he built his political brand around two propositions – that he alone could guarantee Israel’s security and that he possessed a unique ability to manage relations with Washington and other world powers. Both claims are now under scrutiny. The October 7 attack shattered much of Netanyahu’s long-cultivated image as Israel’s ultimate guarantor of security. Years of war and mobilization have not produced an uncontested political outcome; relations with allies have grown more complicated, and domestic tensions have been intensified by disputes over ultra-Orthodox military service, the confrontation over the judiciary and Netanyahu’s continuing criminal trial on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, all of which he denies.

His problem is compounded by shifts within the electorate itself. Netanyahu must simultaneously recover more moderate right-wing voters and prevent the radical wing of the nationalist camp from drifting toward politicians such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and other parties positioned to the right of Netanyahu’s Likud party. That creates almost ideal conditions for a return to one of Netanyahu’s most effective political instruments – the politics of the besieged fortress.

The more threatening the external danger appears, the easier it becomes to move the election away from questions about Netanyahu’s personal responsibility, his court cases, the social cost of prolonged mobilization and economic pressures, and instead turn it into a referendum on who can be trusted to lead Israel against a growing circle of enemies.

That strategy has become explicit in Likud’s campaign messaging. Billboards have placed Erdoğan alongside Iran’s supreme leader, Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, beneath the slogan that they all want Netanyahu to lose. Erdoğan is no longer a difficult foreign leader or an unreliable partner, he now stands among Israel’s traditional adversaries and is being used as part of domestic electoral mobilization.

Netanyahu’s critics are attacking him from opposite directions. Naftali Bennett, himself hardly a dove, argues that Israel’s international position has deteriorated dramatically under Netanyahu and has proposed the creation of a special public-diplomacy body to fight for Israel’s image abroad. Bennett’s criticism carries weight: There is no fundamental disagreement between him and much of the Israeli right over the need to confront hostile regional forces. The disagreement is over method and results. According to Bennett, Israel possesses enormous military power but has failed to efficiently convert it into diplomatic clout.

Ehud Barak, by contrast, has attacked Netanyahu for moving too far in the opposite direction. He described the strike on Abu al-Duhur as “reckless and foolish” and argued that it carried a strong political flavor of manufacturing security fears before the election. Barak’s position is that Türkiye is not Iran and not Assad’s Syria, and that the tensions with Ankara can still be managed through discreet channels coordinated with Washington.

Netanyahu now finds himself squeezed between those that demand he prove that Israel can still impose its will on the region, and those accusing him of turning foreign policy into an extension of his election campaign. In this tight spot, backing down before Ankara may carry almost as much domestic political risk as escalating further.

The situation in Türkiye’s domestic politics is similar in some aspects, but different in others. The next scheduled presidential and parliamentary elections are formally due in 2028, yet the possibility of an early vote remains a recurring subject in Turkish politics. The issue is especially relevant for Erdoğan because constitutional limits complicate another presidential run unless the legal and electoral framework changes or early elections are triggered under specific conditions. At the same time, the government continues to promote the idea of a new constitution, a project that the opposition views partly through the lens of Erdoğan’s political future.

Türkiye is also approaching the next electoral cycle from a position of persistent economic and political strain. Inflation remains high, purchasing power has been severely eroded, and the cost of housing and food continues to shape everyday voter sentiment. Even as Ankara has adopted more orthodox economic policies and rebuilt parts of its financial credibility, the social consequences of years of inflation remain politically toxic.

The political environment is also tense. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Erdoğan’s most formidable long-term rival, has been imprisoned, while the main opposition party CHP has endured a severe internal crisis and leadership struggle. Turkish authorities reject accusations that legal proceedings against opposition figures are politically motivated, but the struggle over the country’s post-Erdoğan future, or perhaps Erdoğan’s continued political dominance, has already begun well before the formal campaign.

Confrontation with Israel offers Erdoğan several political advantages. It appeals simultaneously to religious-conservative and nationalist constituencies, allows Türkiye to present itself as a state capable of shaping the Middle East, and turns foreign policy activism into proof that Ankara remains an autonomous center of power despite its economic problems.

By backing the government in Damascus, Türkiye can embed itself in Syria’s future security and political architecture, weaken Kurdish armed formations, expand markets for its defense industry and deepen its political presence all the way to the Mediterranean. Erdoğan has already argued that Israeli military activity in Syria and Lebanon has reached a stage where it threatens Türkiye’s own security.

This creates a problem similar to Netanyahu’s. Once Ankara publicly presents itself as a state capable of protecting its partners and influencing the regional balance, retreating after a direct Israeli strike on an object associated with Turkish-Syrian cooperation becomes politically costly. The more Türkiye’s regional strategy depends on the perception that it can defend its interests, the harder it becomes to ignore Israeli attempts to define the limits of Turkish involvement by force.

On August 7, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a defense agreement in Mecca. The pact reportedly includes principles of mutual protection, political and military coordination, joint exercises and cooperation in defense production, including drone manufacturing, electronic warfare and emerging technologies. Riyadh has emphasized that the arrangement should not be understood as a sectarian bloc or as an alliance directed against any particular state.

The agreement 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.

From an Israeli perspective, this is the kind of development that feeds concern over the emergence of a new Sunni axis. What matters is not whether the three countries have formally created an anti-Israel alliance. They have not. Their interests differ, their relationships with Washington are distinct, and Saudi Arabia in particular has reasons to avoid being locked into an overtly anti-Israeli structure. But Israeli strategists are increasingly focused on the possibility that Turkish military power, Saudi financial weight and Pakistani strategic capabilities could gradually become parts of a broader political-security architecture capable of limiting Israel’s freedom of maneuver.

This concern is not limited to Netanyahu’s camp, either. Bennett has previously warned of the danger of Türkiye becoming a kind of “new Iran” and of a hostile Sunni strategic framework emerging with the involvement of nuclear-armed Pakistan. Once Saudi Arabia is added to that picture, the implications become even more uncomfortable for Israel, especially because normalization with Riyadh was for years regarded as one of the top strategic objectives of Israeli diplomacy. After decades of confronting what Israeli strategists described as an Iranian-led “Shiite crescent,” Israel may now be facing the early outlines of a very different regional center of gravity – one that conflicts with the idea of Israel as the uncontested dominant power of the region, and potentially with the nationalist expansionist vision of ‘Greater Israel’ itself.

For Ankara, on the other hand, the Mecca pact is another opportunity to evolve from an autonomous regional player into one of the architects of a new Middle Eastern security order. It allows Erdoğan to deepen strategic ties with the largest Arab economy, reinforce relations with a nuclear power, consolidate influence in Syria and demonstrate to Turkish voters that, despite domestic economic difficulties and political tensions, Türkiye is capable of shaping events far beyond its borders.

The current Turkish-Israeli confrontation is about more than Erdoğan and Netanyahu, or even about Syria itself. It is the product of two processes occurring simultaneously. At home, both leaders have powerful incentives to demonstrate strength amid electoral pressure, economic problems and social polarization. Abroad, competition for regional leadership and military-political influence is intensifying rapidly in a Middle East where the old post-Assad balance has already begun to disappear.

Neither Ankara nor West Jerusalem appears to want a direct war – yet if Türkiye continues to arm and train the Syrian military while Israel systematically destroys the infrastructure created with Turkish assistance, a de facto proxy conflict will already exist. But if Turkish servicemen are killed in a future strike, or if Israel deliberately destroys a major Turkish military asset inside Syria, the domestic political cost of restraint for Erdoğan would rise dramatically. Conversely, if Syrian forces using Turkish-supplied systems were to shoot down an Israeli aircraft, Netanyahu would face exactly the same political dilemma, particularly only weeks before the October election.

When foreign confrontation starts to define a leader’s domestic political legitimacy, the space for compromise contracts much faster than the space for military action.

Escalation was the name of the game this week, as the full extent of British involvement in Ukraine’s long-range strikes on Russia was revealed, and as US President Donald Trump laid claim to the Strait of Hormuz and shifted to a policy of subjecting Iran to long-term economic strangulation.

Trump declares ‘D-Day’ for Iran

Instead, the US president took to social media to declare the Strait of Hormuz “new US territory,” before promising to inflict “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale” on Iran by punishing any country doing business with the Islamic Republic. However, despite Trump’s declaration of “ECONOMIC D-DAY,” the balance of power in the Persian Gulf has not changed.

Iran retains its veto on shipping in the vital waterway; a mere six ships transited the strait on Tuesday, despite the Pentagon leaking information about a ‘secret shipping corridor’ via the Israeli military’s favorite reporter, Barak Ravid. Iran also maintains a formidable arsenal of missiles and drones, and has threatened to “escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and wider region” if diplomacy fails and Trump refuses to lift his blockade on Iranian ports.

pic.twitter.com/FSYX32KR8d

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 19, 2026

Iran and Oman are the only players in the region making diplomatic progress right now, with the two reaching an “understanding” on a future shipping regime in the strait, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday. Trump’s response? If Oman strikes a deal that doesn’t satisfy Washington, “we’ll bomb the sh*t out of them.”

Russia warns Britain of ‘consequences’

As the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence approaches on Monday, the country is in the most perilous position it’s been in since the fall of the USSR. Vladimir Zelensky spent the week continuing to beg for non-existent air defense missiles from his Western backers; this was to no avail as Russia continued to pound military, industrial, and energy targets across Ukraine with impunity.

We need missiles for Patriots, and only our partners can provide them. We ain’t talking about gifts. Ukraine is ready to buy the weapons we need. What matters is that decisions be made, first and foremost in the U.S. I am grateful to everyone who is helping Ukraine save lives. pic.twitter.com/OImT18CGwM

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 20, 2026

For as long as Kiev keeps up its campaign of terror-bombing Russian cities, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned on Thursday, “the Russian Armed Forces will respond proportionately.” For Ukraine, this means more ballistic missiles, more blackouts, and more burning weapons factories in Kiev and beyond.

Zelensky wasn’t the only participant in the conflict to receive a stark warning from Moscow. After the Sunday Times revealed that Ukrainian forces have used British-made drones for long-range attacks inside Russia for the past six months, Moscow’s embassy in London stated that “London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences for which it will have to answer.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the point even more directly:

[Russian President Vladimir Putin] has warned that we have the right to act in any part of the world’s oceans if anyone encroaches on our interests or our property. Likewise, 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

Coming after Russia dismantled Ukraine’s port infrastructure with missiles, and began its winter campaign against Ukrainian energy infrastructure a month early, it’s a warning that London would be wise to heed.

Zelensky feels the squeeze

Zelensky’s friends in London have vowed to stick with the Ukrainian leader “100%” of the way, but at home in Kiev, opposition is rising. Fired by Zelensky last month, former Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov made a bid for power on Tuesday, releasing a campaign-style video blasting the corruption and “systemic crisis of governance” in Kiev, and upping the ante by calling for a wartime election.

Fedorov’s drone-centric model of warfare won him support from a public hungry for the illusion of victory, and his glad-handing with the new military-industrial elite in Silicon Valley made him powerful friends abroad – even if, as RT explored in our ‘Wired for War’ series, he turned the Defense Ministry into a glorified sales office for Palantir.

To mark the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence, RT is launching a dedicated series that provides a snapshot of Ukraine’s present, and warnings about its future. Watch for banners on Sunday on rt.com. 

Meta’s trillion-dollar trial begins

Zelensky is a once-untouchable titan facing his most serious challenge to date. If there’s anyone who knows the feeling, it’s Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Meta went on trial on Tuesday, accused by four US states of designing its platforms to keep children and teenagers scrolling for as long as possible, with all of the ensuing mental health consequences. 

Whatever the result, 25 other US states have signed on to the lawsuit, meaning Zuckerberg’s legal problems will only compound from here on.

However, as the old military adage goes, “shoot the archer, not the arrow.” Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are merely tools in the hands of an elite hellbent on building a decadent society, French-Russian analyst Matthieu Buge wrote for RT this week. Defanging Meta won’t stop people craving the dopamine hit that tech offers, he argued, concluding that “whoever wins the Meta trial, the masses will remain willing slaves.”

Another crisis threatens the EU

Every EU headline these days seems to involve a crisis of some sort: the energy crisis, economic crisis, political crisis, and the migrant crisis, the latter of which degenerated this week with multiple rapes in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta. The latest emergency looming over the bloc is a potentially existential one – a food crisis. 

This was one of our top stories this week, and we’ll be keeping an eye on the crisis throughout the fall. Meanwhile, here’s what we’ll be monitoring next week: 

What to watch out for

The on-again, off-again talks between the US and Iran are seemingly dead in the water, and with all parties escalating, we’ll be watching who signs on to Trump’s sanctions regime. China is already out, and the Europeans are staying quiet. If the sanctions plan crumbles and Trump refuses to walk away, a return to open war may be in the cards.

Expect more punishing Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid, and more long-range attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure from an increasingly desperate Zelensky. The embattled Ukrainian leader hasn’t publicly responded to Fedorov’s challenge yet, and he’ll likely use his Independence Day speech on Monday to project an image of control and stability.

We’ll also stay tuned to the Meta trial and keep you posted on just how hard Zuckerberg and his colleagues worked to hide the insidious design of their platforms. Stick with rt.com for all these stories, and watch our banners for our special deep-dive into Ukraine’s tragic, fascinating three decades of independence.

Kirill Budanov, the head of Vladimir Zelensky’s office, has been drawn into a widening corruption investigation involving senior Ukrainian officials, Ukrainskaya Pravda reported on Thursday.

According to the outlet, Budanov’s name appears in case materials concerning his former deputy Irina Mudraya, who was fired by Zelensky this week after anti-corruption investigators searched her home.

The case centers on efforts to raise and legalize about $3.3 million in bail money for former Energy Minister German Galushchenko – a key figure in a $100 million corruption case involving state nuclear operator Energoatom and linked to Zelensky’s longtime business associate Timur Mindich.

The outlet reported that Zelensky tasked Budanov with organizing the bail effort, with businessmen and former lawmakers brought in to help find the money. The funds were eventually paid through little-known companies with opaque ownership.

Recordings released by investigators show Mudraya repeatedly referring to instructions from “the leadership,” which the outlet said could mean either Budanov or Zelensky himself. In one conversation, she quoted a senior official as saying that corruption should be “systematized and controlled” rather than fought.

The case is but the latest of several major graft investigations to reach Zelensky’s inner circle. His former chief of staff Andrey Yermak has also been accused of laundering more than $10.4 million through a luxury property scheme outside Kiev.

Other recent investigations have targeted former ministers, diplomats, and senior officials. Foreign Ministry figures have been accused of stealing about $1.3 million in Western aid, while separate cases have involved alleged embezzlement in the energy and defense sectors.

The heads of the Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) recently warned that graft remains entrenched at the highest levels of government. SAPO chief Aleksandr Klimenko said the state has repeatedly demonstrated that it has “no political will to fight corruption properly.”

Corruption has also complicated Ukraine’s EU ambitions. A senior European diplomat recently told the Financial Times that admitting a country ranked 104th globally for perceived corruption would make a “mockery of the entire project.”

Moscow has long argued that the scandals reflect systemic corruption in Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier this year that corruption “permeates the entire Ukrainian power structure, including Zelensky’s inner circle and Zelensky himself.”

People-to-people ties between India and Russia have been one of the core strengths of the relationship, Indian Ambassador to Moscow Vinay Kumar said at the four-day annual ‘India Day 2026’ festival in central Moscow.

The event, which started Thursday, is a major crowd puller that brings together hundreds of artists and artisans. Last year, over 2 million people attended.

“With technology and the creative economy, all of this is gaining more ground,” Kumar said.

He cited the countries’ cooperation in culture, academies, dance, drama, and music, and noted the “great enthusiasm” of the crowd. “On a working day, thousands of people enjoy Indian music… and see the vibrancy it generates.”

Addressing the burgeoning cooperation between the two nations, the envoy highlighted some of the key drivers they are focusing on to achieve their $100 billion bilateral trade target, which was set when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited New Delhi in December.

📹 Just How Popular is Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy in Russia? See For Yourself...

RT India's karaoke booth at 'India Day 2026' saw many 🇮🇳 and 🇷🇺 participants singing to Mithun Chakraborty's famous track from the 80s. https://t.co/K55UuPkEEY pic.twitter.com/TjN2tRwvEu

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) August 21, 2026

Kumar noted energy and minerals, metals, education and tourism have been key areas of cooperation amid Western attempts to isolate Russia economically.

India is the second-largest importer of crude from Russia, and Indian companies, especially state-owned ones, have recently reached out to Russian entities to source Indian rare earths, coal, and minerals from the country, as New Delhi seeks to secure its supply chains amid the geopolitical tensions.

Kumar said India and Russia have stepped up engagements in the run-up to the BRICS summit, which will be held in New Delhi next month. “The summit will be successful, and the Indian Presidency’s agenda will help to take cooperation to the next level.”

Putin is expected to attend the event as the bloc of emerging economies seek to assert their voice and economic heft amid Western coercion on geopolitical issues.

The Kremlin has condemned Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s apparent support for the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage and his opposition to prosecuting the alleged perpetrators.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to Tusk’s claim that those behind the September 2022 blasts should not be ashamed and that those who built the pipelines should be. Nord Stream was designed to carry Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea.

“If Mr. Tusk supports and endorses such acts of terrorism, it can only provoke astonishment and incomprehension,” Peskov told reporters on Friday, describing the blasts as “an act of terrorist sabotage against Europe’s critical energy infrastructure.”

“I will not change my mind here, and I believe that those who built this pipeline should be ashamed, not those who disabled it,” he told reporters.

Tusk’s remarks followed Wednesday’s arrest in Croatia of Ukrainian national ‘Vladimir Z.’, previously identified in the media as Vladimir Zhuravlyov, under a European arrest warrant. He had been detained in Poland in September 2025, but a Warsaw court refused to extradite him to Germany and ordered his release the following month.

German legal magazine LTO reported that Zhuravlyov was arrested in the Croatian city of Pula while on the set of ‘Snake Island’, a Hollywood thriller about the alleged Ukrainian plot to destroy Nord Stream. The film, starring Sean Penn and Adrien Brody and directed by Doug Liman, reportedly began shooting in Croatia earlier this month. It is unclear why Zhuravlyov was on the set.

Moscow has rejected claims that a small group of Ukrainian divers could have carried out the sophisticated operation independently, arguing that an attack of such complexity in NATO-controlled waters would have required state support and Western intelligence involvement.

Parents of children abducted in northeastern Nigeria have staged a protest demanding government action nearly 100 days after the students were taken, multiple outlets said on Friday. Around 40 children remain missing following the attack in Borno State.

Families gathered in Uba on Thursday to call on the federal government to secure the children’s release, Daily Trust reported. The abduction occurred on May 15 in Mussa, a settlement near the Sambisa Forest, an area that has for years been used by Islamist militant groups.

The attack occurred while classes were underway at Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in the Askira-Uba area. Senator Ali Ndume said at the time that school officials had told him 32 pupils were abducted from the school and another ten were seized from homes nearby. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

A police spokesperson said that the military was “on top of the situation” and referred further questions to the armed forces.

Boko Haram and its splinter group, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have previously targeted schools in the northeast. The region has been at the center of a longstanding Islamist insurgency, with mass abductions, including the 2014 kidnapping of more than 270 Chibok schoolgirls.

Nearly 100 days after children were abducted from Mussa community in Borno State, their families have taken to the streets of Uba, demanding urgent action. Carrying “Bring Back Our Children Mussa” placards, the parents say they will keep speaking out until the children are safely… pic.twitter.com/vbjXojCnQq

— News Central TV (@NewsCentralTV) August 20, 2026

In June, the Nigerian Army said it had rescued 360 hostages, including women and children, from a Boko Haram enclave in the state of Borno following what it described as “weeks of painstaking intelligence preparation.” According to the military, the captives were held in harsh conditions after being abducted from several communities in the region.

Former Ukrainian servicemen switch to the Russian side once they get out of the “information bubble” set up by Vladimir Zelensky’s government and see the reality of the conflict for themselves, a high-ranking officer from a unit comprised of ex-Kiev troops has said.

Earlier in August, Russia announced the creation of the Ukrainian Volunteer Brigade out of several smaller formations of Ukrainian nationals who left the ranks of Kiev’s forces and are now fighting for Russia.

In its report on Thursday, RT Russian shared the stories of some members of the newly-formed brigade.

Some decided to join Russian troops because they changed their views after being captured, some because they never wanted to be in the Ukrainian military, but were forcefully mobilized, and others because they supported Moscow from the start.

The Ukrainian Volunteer Brigade will perform different tasks on the front line. It includes reconnaissance units, an FPV-drone strike squad, and teams handling the evacuation of civilians, among other kinds of troops, the report read.

Highly-motivated troops

A fighter with the callsign ‘Zhak’, who serves as deputy commander for political affairs at the separate battalion ‘Maksim Krivonos’, which also joined the brigade, told RT that the soldiers in his unit have high morale.

“If those people simply didn’t want to fight, they could’ve gone to the detention center after being captured, sit there safe and warm, eat three times a day and wait to be exchanged in a prisoner swap,” said the officer, who was born in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region but has been fighting for Donbass since the Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014.

The people “in Ukraine… live in a very harsh, aggressive information bubble. But when they find themselves here [in Donbass], when they see the Alley of Angels in Donetsk – they see a completely different picture, and a lot changes in their minds,” Zhak explained.

The Alley of Angels is a monument to hundreds of children killed in Ukrainian attacks on Donbass over the past 12 years.

Our own command ‘wanted to destroy us’

Another member of the brigade, called ‘Hunter’, said that he used to be a research fellow at an agricultural academy in Kiev and was never interested in politics. He was recruited into the Ukrainian military in 2023 after his request for a draft deferment to finish his PhD was denied, he said.

According to Hunter, his company was tasked with controlling “a rather pointless” position in a wooded area that was under constant Russian shelling. When the size of the unit fell from more than a hundred to 20 and then 13 troops, he asked his commanders to order a retreat, but was told to stay put and await reinforcements.

But after a week, no additional troops had arrived. Hunter and his fellow servicemen decided to surrender as soon as Russian forces began storming their trenches.

However, when they left their positions with their hands in the air, the Ukrainian military started firing at them, Hunter noted. “Artillery, mortars and kamikaze-drones were deployed. They didn’t even spare cluster munitions, which surprised me greatly. Our own command wanted to destroy us,” he said.

‘Patriotism ran out’

Another soldier of the Ukrainian Volunteer Brigade, nicknamed ‘Bely’, told RT that he served as a paratrooper in Kiev’s military and used to be a passionate patriot of Ukraine, despite being born in Donbass. When Ukraine sent its armed forces to the east of the country in 2014, he abandoned his home in what is now Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic, leaving his wife and son behind, and moved to the city of Dnepropetrovsk (Dnepr), he said.

According to Bely, his marriage fell apart because his spouse was pro-Russian and wanted him to join the self-defense forces in Donbass. But instead he signed another contract with the Ukrainian military in 2016, fighting against the units of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics.

Bely said he then lost the will to serve, but the Ukrainian Army refused to discharge him after the escalation between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022. When he surrendered to the Russian military in 2023, he was also targeted by fellow Ukrainian troops, suffering shrapnel wounds, the serviceman said.

Russian medics patched him up, and the experienced soldier was invited to join the Maksim Krivonos battalion while in detention. Bely said he initially had concerns about becoming a traitor to his former Ukrainian comrades-in-arms, but eventually came to the conclusion that fighting for Russia was the right thing to do.

Russia has opened its first national pavilion in the western Indian city of Navi Mumbai, as Moscow tries to prise open the huge market for its consumer goods amid Western attempts to squeeze its economy.

The ‘Made in Russia’ pavilion, launched by the Russian Export Center (REC), opened Friday in the Belapur Central Business District of Navi Mumbai, the twin city to India’s financial capital Mumbai.

The pavilion will feature products from Russian producers like Makfa, United Confectioners, Tatspirtprom, Miratorg, Afanasy Private Brewery, Fame Label, Wild Siberia, Stashevskoye Bio, and others.

Russian Consul General in Mumbai Ivan Fetisov called it “a landmark event for Russian-Indian relations.”

He said it will enable Russian manufacturers to directly access the vast Indian market, adding “we are moving toward the ambitious goal of increasing trade turnover between our countries to $100 billion.”

India-Russia bilateral trade is now at about $60 billion, but is skewed by the high volume of oil India imports; non-commodity goods make up only about 10% of Russian exports to India.

REC Managing Director Konstantin Evstyukhin called it “the first stage in deploying comprehensive infrastructure in India for promoting Russian goods.”

“We have begun creating a full-fledged ecosystem for domestic manufacturers to enter one of the world’s most promising markets,” he said, adding “national stores at the largest marketplaces” and “network of branded retail outlets” under the ‘Made in Russia’ brand will follow.

Similar pavilions are already operating in China, Vietnam, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Jordan.

Israel has warned Türkiye against expanding Ankara’s military involvement in Syria, days after striking a Syrian airbase it claimed was being prepared for Turkish forces.

West Jerusalem attacked the Abu al-Duhur airbase in northwestern Syria on Tuesday, damaging the facility but causing no reported casualties.

“[Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan is dragging Turkey into dangerous adventures in Syria,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Thursday.

Katz went on to accuse Erdogan of making “empty and delusional” anti-Israel speeches and warned him against testing the country’s determination to defend itself.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Damascus was about to violate a security “status quo” by allowing Turkish troops to deploy there. Syria and Türkiye denied any such deployment was planned.

Middle East Eye reported this week, citing Turkish government insiders, that Ankara views the Abu al-Duhur strike as a challenge to its credibility as a regional security partner. It came less than two weeks after Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, under which an attack on one is considered an attack on all three, potentially raising the stakes of any direct military confrontation involving Türkiye.

According to MEE, Israel also did not use its military hotline with Türkiye before the strike, raising the risk of an unintended confrontation.

US Ambassador to Türkiye and Syria envoy Tom Barrack called the attack an “unnecessary escalation” and urged the sides to avoid further military incidents.

The authorities in Russia’s Altai Republic in southern Siberia have launched a bear cull after a 29-year-old tourist was dragged from her tent and killed. It follows a spate of violent bear attacks across the country this summer.

On Wednesday, a tourist from Novosibirsk Region was sleeping in a tent with her fiance near the village of Artybash when a bear tore through it and dragged her into the forest. Her fiance and local residents tried to drive the animal away, but it repeatedly charged at them. The woman was killed before she could be rescued.

The incident is the latest in a series of serious bear attacks reported across Russia in recent months. In July, a 62-year-old man was mauled to death on the outskirts of the village of Ola in Magadan Region in Russia’s Far East. A month earlier, a fisherman was also killed by a bear in Kamchatka on Russia’s Pacific coast. Officials shot the animal after finding it beside the victim’s body.

Several other people have narrowly survived recent encounters. On August 19, a fisherman in Kemerovo Region in southwestern Siberia fought off a mother bear after it bit him in the leg, while a mushroom picker in Novgorod Region, in northwestern Russia, suffered multiple wounds in an attack on August 13 but survived

Following the attack in Altai, the regional authorities launched a bear population-control operation and issued additional hunting permits in an effort to protect residents and tourists.

Twelve bears have since been killed near the area of the attack, with officials saying one may have been the animal responsible for the tourist’s death. Drones are also being used to track the predators, while the cull is continuing.

The district has also been placed on heightened alert, with movement restricted between 8 PM and 10 AM and tent camping banned in affected areas. Police and hunters have formed patrols, while access to some tourist sites has been restricted.

Officials have urged people encountering bears not to run or approach cubs. They advise slowly backing away, avoiding prolonged eye contact and making loud noises if an animal continues to approach.

If an attack cannot be avoided, people are advised to protect their head and neck and, if the bear keeps attacking, fight back using whatever means are available.

Israeli warplanes carried out a new wave of strikes around Nabatieh, a major city and administrative hub in southern Lebanon, early on Friday, with footage showing powerful explosions lighting up the night sky.

The attacks come despite a US-brokered framework agreed in June aimed at ending fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group. The deal envisages a progressive Israeli withdrawal alongside Lebanese Army deployments and Hezbollah’s disarmament but has stalled over which should come first.

🚨🇱🇧 🇮🇱 Israeli airstrikes are hitting Kfar Rumman alongside the Ali al-Taher Heights

-Both targets sit in the same corridor just outside Nabatieh in southern Lebanon

-Israel struck the ridge yesterday with airstrikes and heavy mortar fire, and again on Saturday

-Ali al-Taher…

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) August 21, 2026

Reports from Lebanon: Israeli airstrikes are pounding the Ali al Taher hills pic.twitter.com/au05A7rAKW

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) August 21, 2026

The overnight strikes targeted the town of Kfar Rumman on the outskirts of Nabatieh and the nearby Ali al-Taher Heights, according to Lebanese media. Israeli artillery also struck several other locations across the south.

Watch the moment Israeli fighter jets strike the town of Kfar Roummane in southern Lebanon.

Follow Press TV on Telegram: https://t.co/kG3YhfM6RO pic.twitter.com/pQRMubK7ir

— Palestine Highlights (@PalHighlight) August 21, 2026

The Ali al-Taher Heights, which overlook the Nabatieh region and roads leading into the city, have emerged as a focal point of Israel’s military campaign. The Israeli military claims Hezbollah maintains underground infrastructure in the area and has repeatedly targeted the heights in recent weeks.

The latest bombardment comes less than a week after one of the deadliest Israeli attacks in Lebanon since fighting subsided under a June truce. Eleven people were killed in attacks in the south on August 15, according to Lebanese officials. Israel said it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure.

RT correspondent Steve Sweeney recently returned with DD Geopolitics reporter Christopher Helali to the damaged Qasmiyeh Bridge over the Litani River, where he and cameraman Ali Rida Sbeity were wounded in an Israeli airstrike on March 19. Sweeney shared a first-hand account of the strike as he returned to the scene.

The conflict in Lebanon is closely tied to Israel’s confrontation with Iran. Hezbollah, Tehran’s longtime ally, resumed attacks on Israel in March following the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, prompting a major Israeli air and ground campaign. Fighting subsided following the Israel-Lebanon truce in June, but Israeli strikes have continued.

Lebanon has condemned the attacks and demanded that Israel withdraw from its territory. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called last week’s deadly strikes “extremely dangerous” and said any Hezbollah military infrastructure on Lebanese soil should be dealt with by the Lebanese state, not Israel.

Former Zambian transport minister and opposition politician Mutotwe Kafwaya was shot dead by security forces during a raid on the residence of presidential candidate Brian Mundubile a day after last week’s election, police have said.

Zambian police chief Graphel Musamba said on Wednesday that a joint security task force encountered “gunfire and resistance from unknown individuals” during the operation in the capital Lusaka on August 14 and returned fire, fatally wounding “one unidentified male person” later identified by his family as Kafwaya.

Eleven people, including senior opposition figures, were arrested during the raid. The government said the operation targeted suspected militia activity and an alleged armed insurrection, adding that restricted military-grade weapons and ammunition were recovered.

The Information Ministry initially dismissed reports that the 49-year-old former lawmaker had been shot. Defense Ministry Permanent Secretary Maambo Haamaundu separately said checks at Maina Soko Medical Center found no patient under Kafwaya’s name. Police confirmed his death on Wednesday after his family identified him as the previously unidentified man killed during the raid.

At a press briefing on Thursday, Secretary to the Cabinet Patrick Kangwa expressed the government’s condolences to Kafwaya’s family and said it regretted his death. He said “no further comments” would be made while the incident is under investigation and urged the public to “remain calm and avoid speculation.”

The operation followed an unusually tense election in a country that has held largely peaceful votes since returning to multiparty democracy in 1991. President Hakainde Hichilema secured a second term with 60.5% of valid ballots, compared with around 38% for Mundubile, according to official results. Mundubile has rejected the result and said he would challenge it in court over alleged irregularities.

Musamba said the two politicians have sought refuge “with a known international organization,” which he did not identify. He added that the government has assured the organization that “the suspects are entitled to the due process of the law and their fundamental human rights, and that there is no harm intended to be done to them in any way.”

UN human rights chief Volker Turk on Wednesday urged the Zambian authorities to stop arbitrary arrests and uphold the due process rights of detainees.

An adult-content creator was presented as a potential ambassador for the memory of Poland’s 1944 Warsaw Uprising before public outrage forced a reversal, according to local media reports. The campaign commemorating the revolt’s 82nd anniversary has the honorary patronage of the Polish Culture Ministry.

Monika Laskowska, known in Poland as an OnlyFans creator, appeared in a photo published by the Warszawa44 Association wearing a T-shirt commemorating the uprising and was presented as an ‘Ambassador of Remembrance’, multiple media outlets reported on Thursday. OnlyFans is a subscription platform widely associated with adult content.

The Warsaw Uprising was launched by the Polish resistance against Nazi German forces on August 1, 1944, in an attempt to liberate the capital as Soviet troops approached. The revolt was crushed after 63 days of fighting, leaving much of the Polish capital destroyed and an estimated 150,000-200,000 civilians dead.

Laskowska has also interviewed celebrities associated with Poland’s so-called “freak fights” – combat events that typically pit influencers and other internet personalities against each other – and has herself participated in such bouts.

The choice quickly drew backlash on social media, with users questioning whether an adult-content influencer was an appropriate figure to promote the memory of one of the most significant events in modern Polish history.

Polish media personality Karolina Korwin-Piotrowska, whose father fought in the uprising, also blasted the campaign for chasing social-media reach with controversial figures. She sarcastically suggested that organizers recruit even more provocative personalities.

Sebastian Meitz, an expert at Poland’s Sobieski Institute, publicly questioned Culture Minister Marta Cienkowska over the campaign and asked whether Laskowska had received the title under “culture” or “national heritage.”

The Culture Ministry rushed to distance itself from the decision, saying on Thursday that the list of ambassadors “was not consulted with the Ministry.” While the project had received its honorary patronage, the ministry stressed that it provided neither funding nor organizational support.

Warszawa44 president Dariusz Michalak confirmed that Laskowska was their own choice. The association, however, reversed course after the controversy erupted, suspending her ambassador role and removing her photo from Instagram.

Pakistan has vastly expanded the powers of Chief of Defense Forces (CDF) Asim Munir through two new laws passed on Thursday.

The Defense Forces Act, 2026, and the amended National Command Authority Act, 2010, expand the statutory role of the CDF, an office that was created only last year.

The Defense Forces Act allows the CDF to exercise powers and perform functions necessary for “multidomain integration, operational cohesion, coordination and oversight of all matters which have joint, tri-services and strategic implications for the Armed Forces and national security of Pakistan.”

These also give Munir the power to retire, release, accept or reject the resignation of, or retain in service, any person – except for posts where the appointments are made by the president on the advice of the prime minister, such as those of the army, navy and air force chiefs.

He can also relax the age or service limit of retirement for any military personnel.

Pakistan’s constitution requires the CDF to also be the army chief – considered the most powerful role in the country, thus practically giving Munir control over the army, navy and air force. The CDF is also the senior military adviser over Pakistan’s nuclear command.

The latest changes give Munir considerable influence over the careers of military officers. By making the CDF the prime minister’s senior military adviser, the laws also consolidate the military leadership’s role in decision-making.

The bills, drafted as a follow-up to the 27th Constitutional Amendment, then passed amid a walkout by the opposition.

Last year’s 27th Constitutional Amendment reorganized the Pakistani military command, creating the roles of CDF and commander, national strategic command. The amendment gave Munir immunity from arrest or prosecution regarding official or personal actions tied to his tenure and rank.

Munir was promoted to the rank of field marshal on May 20, 2025, becoming only the second officer in Pakistan’s military history, after Ayub Khan, to receive the rank.

At least 52 people have died after an overloaded boat carrying farm workers capsized in Nigeria’s northwestern Sokoto State, according to officials and residents. Many of the victims were women and children.

The boat overturned on Thursday near Gorau town in the Goronyo local government area, Abdulkadir Yusuf, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) Sokoto State manager, told the Associated Press.

More than 80 passengers were on board and most were traveling to farms for work, according to officials cited by the news agency.

Many of those aboard were farm owners and laborers hired to harvest rice, according to residents cited by Reuters. Initial estimates of the number of passengers varied, with one resident putting the figure at more than 70 and another saying 57 people were aboard.

Resident Samaila Garba told AP that he had personally counted at least 42 bodies, most of them women and children. “You know, during the rainy season, most women and children go to the farm to work,” he said.

Another Gorau resident, Aminu Dan Hajiya, told the agency that he regularly uses the same waterway to reach his farm. “In fact, almost every household in the community has been affected,” he said. 

Boat accidents are frequent in Nigeria, often blamed on overloading and poor maintenance and safety practices. Eleven people were killed in June when a wooden passenger boat capsized on the Benue River near Makurdi during heavy rain and strong winds, according to local media reports.

Two commercial ships were hijacked in two separate incidents this week, reviving the specter of piracy off the coast of the Horn of Africa and nearby. The region has seen several attacks on commercial shipping amid the current Middle East conflict.

The Eritrea-flagged MT Sibu 1, an oil products tanker, was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Yemen on Thursday. The ship had a crew of 20, including 16 Indians.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said Thursday that the ship was boarded by six armed men, who diverted it toward Somalia. The tanker had been sanctioned by the US last year for allegedly transporting Iranian petroleum products.

UKMTO WARNING 118-26 UPDATE 001

Click here to view the full product⤵️ https://t.co/TA6cqIqsyJ#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/fBRghwkqpJ

— UKMTO Operations Centre (@UK_MTO) August 20, 2026

The Cameroon-flagged MV Lutuf, which was carrying weapons for a Turkish military training facility in Mogadishu, was taken off the coast of Somalia’s Puntland region on Monday. Its 10-member crew includes six Indians.

The pirates took the vessel, owned by Polar Movement Shipping, toward the region’s Nugaal coast, a Somali official was quoted by news reports as saying. The status of the ship and its cargo is not immediately clear. Indian and Turkish authorities have not issued any statement.

India is the world’s second-largest supplier of seafarers, with 311,936 Indian maritime professionals working in the global shipping industry. 

This disproportionately exposes Indian nationals to attacks on commercial shipping. Ten Indian seafarers have died in attacks on ships since the start of the Middle East conflict, which was triggered by US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

China has refused to join a US plan to “squash” Iran’s economy, rejecting Washington’s push to be part of the “toughest sanctions in history” against the Islamic Republic.

On Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on American allies and other countries to choose sides and stop doing business with Iran, as Washington prepares what he touted as “the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world.”

In an interview with CNBC, Bessent described the plan, expected to be unveiled on Monday, as “a one-two punch” combining a naval blockade with “the toughest sanctions in history.” He claimed it would “squash” the Iranian economy and “collapse this regime.”

Beijing, however, has rejected Washington’s call.

“Regarding the Iran issue, sanctions and pressure do not help resolve the problem,” Reuters quoted a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington as saying. “China calls on the relevant parties to take responsible actions and resolve the issue through political and diplomatic means.”

China has also rejected that threat. In response to a question by Bloomberg on Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said “sanctions and pressure tactics are not the solution” and called for a “political and diplomatic approach.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has also dismissed the threat.

“Doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat,” Araghchi wrote on X on Thursday. “US economic terrorism threatens global economy and sovereignty worldwide.”

China is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, having purchased more than 80% of the country’s shipped crude in 2025, according to Kpler data cited by Reuters.

Bessent argued that Beijing has a strong interest in cooperating with US sanctions because of its reliance on energy supplies passing through the Strait of Hormuz, claiming China gets “50% [of their] energy from inside the Gulf.”

Around 30% of China’s LNG imports came through Hormuz in 2025, but Beijing also sources LNG elsewhere and receives substantial pipeline gas from Russia and Central Asia.

A rebel coalition in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has imposed travel restrictions after alleging that the government planned to send Ebola-infected people into territory under its control.

Shared taxis operating between the eastern city of Goma and the town of Kirumba will be suspended for one month from Saturday, while passenger canoes will be barred from specified routes across Lake Edward, the Congo River Alliance/March 23 Movement (AFC/M23) said in a statement on Wednesday. Minibuses will remain permitted on the Goma-Kirumba road under health and security controls, while trucks carrying goods will also be allowed to operate.

AFC/M23 political coordinator Corneille Nangaa linked the coalition’s response to what he described as a threat from Kinshasa.

“There are reports of a cynical health offensive that the Kinshasa regime intends to conduct against the liberated territory by deliberately infiltrating infected people there to sow death and devastation,” he said.

The new measures follow the detection of Ebola in two travelers from the government-held town of Lubero in a village under rebel control, a member of the response team established by the rebels told Reuters.

Nangaa accused the Congolese government of corruption and tribalism and said its response was “dramatically below what the emergency demands,” while claiming that the rebel administration has confronted the outbreak with “a strong sense of responsibility.”

AFC/M23 captured Goma and Bukavu, the respective capitals of North and South Kivu provinces, during a major offensive in early 2025 and now controls large parts of both provinces.

The World Health Organization has said ongoing insecurity, large-scale displacement, and population movements are complicating the Ebola response. Attacks on health facilities have reportedly restricted access for response teams, disrupted surveillance, and increased the risk of infections going undetected.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has been transferred back to prison after a brief visit to an Islamabad hospital following a court order.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court had on Tuesday ordered that the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party – one of cricket’s all-time greats – be moved to the private Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad within 48 hours, and kept there until September 16.

The authorities took him to the hospital just after midnight early Friday morning, past the court deadline. The PTI had threatened to file a contempt of court petition against the government.

“A team of qualified doctors, including an ophthalmologist, a cardiologist, and a physician, conducted a detailed examination of him and declared him medically fit,” Information Minister Attaullah Tarar wrote on X about Khan. “After the completion of this entire process, he was transferred back to Adiala Jail.”

❗Imran Khan Back In Jail After Hospital Check-Up (Reports)

Doctors have found former Pakistan PM Imran Khan fit to remain in custody after examining him at a hospital in Islamabad. (Reports)

Khan was taken to the hospital from Adiala Jail amid concerns over his deteriorating… pic.twitter.com/5DdeBBHDpT

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) August 21, 2026

Khan only spent a few hours in the hospital before being returned to Rawalpindi prison, where he has been incarcerated since 2003. 

His lawyers had said his health had deteriorated in prison, and that he had lost significant vision in his right eye.

The government had appealed to the top court to review and recall its order on Khan, saying medical reports showed he had no condition that required immediate treatment.

His supporters lined the route and cheered as the convoy passed despite the late hour.

Khan has been convicted of selling state gifts, a charge he denies. The former PM and his political allies have maintained that the cases against him are politically motivated and intended to prevent his return to politics.

The PTI, which retains a large support base, was stripped of its ability to participate in elections ahead of the 2024 vote.

The Russian Navy has carried out a successful missile test near the country’s Kuril Islands, the Pacific Fleet has said.

The test comes a week after Japan vigorously protested Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first-ever visit to the archipelago, which is partially claimed by Tokyo.

The missile test, which took place near the southern Kurils, involved the Varyag guided missile cruiser, the Omsk nuclear-powered submarine, and a ground-based Bastion surface-to-ship missile system, the Russian Pacific Fleet said in a statement on Thursday.

They fired several types of munitions at a target simulating enemy vessels at a distance of around 300 km (186 miles), with targeting data provided by naval aviation, the fleet said.

Objective control data confirmed the destruction of all targets, it stressed.

Kyodo news earlier reported that Japan had lodged a protest with Russia after Moscow notified it of the upcoming missile test last week.

On Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Tokyo’s ambassador to Moscow to express a strong protest over “anti-Russian statements” by the Japanese leadership.

After Putin traveled to Iturup, the largest of the Kuril Islands, on August 13, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the trip “absolutely unacceptable” and said it “hurts the feelings of the Japanese people.” Motegi also issued a statement, claiming that the four southernmost islands of the archipelago “are an inherent part of Japan’s territory both historically and under international law.”

“Any attempts by the Japanese side to directly or indirectly call this obvious reality into question are categorically unacceptable and illegitimate,” it added.

Moscow “reserves the right to take appropriate countermeasures” in response to Japan’s adherence to Western sanctions against Russia and its support for Ukraine, the ministry warned.

The Kuril Islands, stretching from Kamchatka to Japan’s Hokkaido, came under Soviet control following Tokyo’s defeat in World War II and were subsequently incorporated into the USSR. The Japanese authorities, however, continue to claim the islands of Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and the Habomai – which they call the “Northern Territories.” The dispute has been the main obstacle to Moscow and Tokyo signing a formal peace treaty in the eight decades since the conflict.

Russian security officers have detained a foreign national suspected of surveilling critical infrastructure sites on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence, the Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Friday.

The suspect was taken into custody this month in Murmansk Region near the border, as he sought to illegally cross into Norway, the agency said in a statement. The detained man is believed to have a longstanding relationship with Kiev’s special services, having voluntarily contacted them back in 2023 for the first time, according to FSB.

The man’s Ukrainian handlers had ordered him to travel to Moscow and conduct reconnaissance at a key train hub “to identify freight trains transporting petroleum products, as well as administrative buildings in the city center,” the FSB said. He was involved in an “attempt to launch an FPV drone” to gather the intelligence, it added.

Last month, the FSB said it had thwarted a major Ukrainian FPV drone plot, which involved smuggling 24 AI-guided drones into the country and using them to target a key defense industry enterprise and military airfields. The failed operation had been prepared by Kiev’s intelligence with the direct involvement of Western handlers, the agency said at the time.

The disassembled drones had been flown into Russia using fixed-wing UAVs and balloons, which were collected by the suspects and transferred deeper into the country for assembly and preparations for the attack. However, the whole operation had been closely monitored by Russian secret services from the very beginning, and the perpetrators and their accomplices ended up in custody.

A US woman has been charged with plotting to bomb the New York State Capitol building and then flee the country to join ISIS.

In a statement on Thursday, the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York alleged that Samantha Bowie had pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), a jihadist terrorist group.

Investigators alleged that Bowie had posted extremist messages online, including praise for the 9/11 attacks, and said she wanted to “destroy as much of the building as possible and kill the senators while they are meeting.” She made several visits to the Capitol and took photographs in preparation for the attack, officials said.

“This arrest will send a strong message to anyone across the country who has been radicalized by our enemies,” First Assistant US Attorney John Sarcone III said.

There have been several IS-linked plots in the US in recent months. In April, two men were detained for allegedly throwing explosive devices at protesters outside Gracie Mansion, the residence of the mayor of New York. Police alleged that the suspects were supporters of the jihadist organization and that bomb-making equipment and instructions were found in a storage unit they owned.

In November, several men were charged in Michigan with plotting attacks on behalf of IS using AR-15 rifles and shotguns.

Ukraine has imposed sanctions on the creators of the popular Russian children’s cartoon Masha and the Bear, claiming it is part of Moscow’s propaganda campaign.

The animated series, loosely based on a traditional Russian folk tale, follows the adventures of a mischievous little girl and a retired circus bear. It is one of the most popular children’s shows online, with one episode, Recipe for Disaster, having been viewed more than 4.6 billion times on YouTube.

Last month, Netflix acquired the rights to two more seasons and extended licensing agreements for existing seasons and spin-offs, prompting criticism from Kiev.

In a statement on Thursday, Ukraine’s presidential sanctions commissioner, Vladislav Vlasyuk, said the latest round of restrictions targeted five individuals and four entities involved in the production and distribution of the show, including Animaccord Studio and its main creator, Oleg Kuzovkov. The show and its social media accounts have been banned in the country.

Ukraine has banned dozens of Russian actors, musicians, films, and TV shows, claiming that they promote “Russian aggression.”

The popularity of Masha and the Bear has also drawn criticism from hawkish Western politicians. Last month, more than 50 British MPs called on the government to stop the cartoon from being shown in the UK.

Moscow has condemned the campaign against Russian culture as “stupid” and futile. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in 2023 that the policy of “canceling Russia” was “at its core, anti-cultural, neocolonial, and racist.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova argued in September that Ukrainian officials targeted Masha and the Bear precisely because it had “topped the popularity rankings.”

The US national debt has surpassed $40 trillion for the first time, reaching the milestone months earlier than expected as Washington’s borrowing accelerates amid persistent deficits, rising interest costs, and military spending.

The debt was expected to reach the milestone next year, but it has jumped by $1 trillion since March. For comparison, it took nearly 200 years for total US debt to reach $1 trillion for the first time, in 1981.

Treasury Department figures released Wednesday showed total outstanding debt reaching about $40.05 trillion, equivalent to roughly $119,000 for every person in the country or more than $366,000 per federal taxpayer. The debt has doubled since January 2017, when it stood at roughly $20 trillion.

The debt is essentially the accumulated result of annual federal budget deficits. When Washington spends more than it collects in taxes and other revenue, the Treasury covers the shortfall by borrowing.

Much of the increase has accumulated under President Donald Trump’s two terms and Joe Biden’s presidency. Trillions were added during Trump’s first term and under Biden as Washington borrowed heavily to fund Covid-19 relief and cushion the economic fallout from the pandemic.

More recently, the US war with Iran has created another major unplanned expense. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in July that the conflict had cost Washington about $37.5 billion, while the actual cost is likely to be much higher.

Social Security, Medicare and other mandatory programs remain major drivers of federal spending. Tax cuts under successive administrations have, meanwhile, reduced revenue without corresponding spending reductions, leaving Washington to finance the gap through additional borrowing.

The debt itself is also becoming increasingly expensive. As borrowing has grown and interest rates have risen, annual federal interest payments have climbed above $1 trillion, making debt servicing one of Washington’s largest expenditures.

Of the $40 trillion total, about $32.3 trillion is held by the public, while roughly $7.8 trillion represents obligations between federal government accounts. Most publicly held debt is owned domestically by pension and mutual funds, banks, individuals, companies and the Federal Reserve. Foreign countries also hold trillions in Treasury securities, with Japan, the UK and China among the largest overseas holders.

Drone footage released by the UK’s Border Security Command on Thursday shows French police intercepting migrants attempting to cross the English Channel illegally.

The officers reached the beach as dozens of migrants wearing life jackets were pushing an inflatable boat towards the water in an attempt to cross from France to Britain. Some migrants threw stones at the officers, who used pepper spray and slashed the boat with knives, according to ITV.

Around 15,900 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, down 43% from the same period last year, officials said. The UK Home Office announced on Thursday that more than 80,000 criminals and immigration offenders have been deported since July 2024.

“Returns have reached a near-decade high, with removals now at their highest level since 2016,” the Home Office added.

French cops zoom onto beach to STOP illegals from setting off to UK by boat pic.twitter.com/GgxVgu5FOL

— RTVisual (@RT_Visual_on_X) August 20, 2026

Immigration remains a hot-button issue in the UK, which has seen riots and mass protests sparked by violent crimes linked to migrants and British citizens with foreign backgrounds.

On July 23, around 150 migrants aboard a single boat crossed the Channel from Berck in northern France, the highest number ever recorded on one vessel by the volunteer rescue service SNSM.

European officials have been on alert since late last month, when around 72,000 illegal migrants crossed into Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the Moroccan coast. Although the vast majority have since been sent back, several countries have accused Spain of negligence, with Italy suspending the Schengen free-travel arrangement with the country.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

Beijing is gearing up for the Eurasian Cinema Academy award screenings, which will showcase six feature-length films that garnered the Diamond Butterfly in various categories at the inaugural ceremony in Moscow last year.

Touted by the organizers as an alternative to mainstream ‘woke’ Western film awards, the event promotes works that reflect both “national” and “universal spiritual and moral values” under the motto: “Any truth without love is a lie.”

Renowned Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov played a seminal role in the creation of the Eurasian Cinema Academy and the Diamond Butterfly award with support from Russia’s Culture Ministry and Foreign Ministry.

The screenings are scheduled to run August 28 through August 30 at the Art-House Cinema of the China Film Art Research Center in Beijing.

The program will open with the film ‘Two People in One Life and a Dog’ by Russia’s Andrey Zaitsev, which tells the story of a married couple that lived through the Great Patriotic War as children. Despite many hardships, the protagonists retain optimism, patience, and forgiveness. The work received Best Actress and Best Actor awards last November.

Also next Saturday, audiences in the Chinese capital will get the chance to watch the Russian-Belarussian film ‘Dark Castle’ – a historical adventure movie, whose score was awarded with the Diamond Butterfly.

Wrapping the day up will be ‘Old Righteous Blues’ – a South African drama by Muneera Sallies, which was recognized by the Eurasian Cinema Academy jury for its screenplay.

The program of the final day will include ‘Upstream’ by China’s Xu Zheng, who won the award for best picture last year for the depiction of the trials and tribulations faced by a delivery driver.

Finally, ‘Ali Primera’, a biopic by Venezuela’s Daniel Yegres, will be screened. The film that won Best Non-Eurasian Film award tells the story of the popular singer-songwriter.

The first award ceremony took place on November 27, 2025 in Moscow, with the jury reviewing a total of 34 films representing 17 countries. Aside from the Diamond Butterfly statuette adorned with nearly 5,000 lab-grown diamonds, the Best Picture Award winner, Xu Zheng, was also presented with a ten-carat Yakut diamond worth the equivalent of $1 million. The winners in the other 11 categories received five-carat diamonds valued at $250,000, in addition to the statuettes.

In June, the organizers announced the start of the selection process for this year’s Diamond Butterfly, with the award ceremony scheduled to take place in Moscow on November 12.

Shocking news of a sudden over-threefold year-on-year increase of the number of miscarriages and stillbirths should be front page on global media. But because it is one of the latest consequences of the ongoing Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, it will probably go ignored by most Western corporate media.

In fact, since a ‘ceasefire’ supposedly came into effect in October 2025, media coverage of Gaza has decreased dramatically. But – as with ceasefires prior – Israel has continued to kill Palestinians in Gaza on a near-daily basis, by bombing, machinegun fire, drone strikes, and by (continuing its near twenty-year siege on Gaza) not allowing in adequate amounts of humanitarian aid, medical supplies, and other things needed to just sustain life at the very basic level.

As of August 19, the Gaza Health Ministry reports 1,273 Palestinians have been killed, 4,223 wounded since October 11, 2025.

In mid-July, Ahmad Abu Foul, a Palestinian medic who I’ve known since I lived in Gaza, told me of the sudden increase in miscarriages, primarily among women living in displacement tents across the Gaza Strip.

He cited Dr. Mohammed Al-Bashiti, an obstetrics and gynecology specialist at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, as warning of this disturbing increase and attributing it to various environmental and physical factors, notably, severe malnutrition and anemia, and “extreme physical fatigue due to repeated displacement from one place to another. Many are forced to carry heavy loads beyond their physical capacity, putting their pregnancies at greater risk.”

But it’s also caused by exposure to toxic chemicals – explosive residues, TNT-related materials, smoke – which put the baby at risk. Ahmad said that his sister just had a miscarriage at four months pregnant, and his niece had a stillbirth at eight months.

Thousands of women in #Gaza have lost their pregnancies amid the destruction of the healthcare system, displacement, shortages of essential supplies, and the ongoing genocide.

A thread 🧵 pic.twitter.com/oRmM3M9xWk

— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) August 13, 2026

The Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, on July 30 published an article highlighting the dramatic rise in miscarriages. It cited a recent UN report stating from January to June 2026, 3,950 miscarriages had been reported. This is over triple the 1,197 miscarriages reported from July to December 2025. The miscarriage rate, it notes, is one-sixth of all pregnancies.

Haaretz cited Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, head of the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital as likewise saying the contributing factors to the increase in miscarriages are malnutrition and stress and also water shortages: “We have reached a point where each person has three liters of water a day, far below the minimum required. Ninety percent of the water is not fit for drinking. The water shortage leads to infections, weakening the immune system and worsening malnutrition.”

With the complete destruction of the Gaza Strip by Israel, and with Palestinians constantly forced to suddenly move their inadequate tents elsewhere, the lack of clean drinking water, and the near-complete dependence on financial and humanitarian aid from the outside world set the stage for a host of food-, water-, and hygiene-related illnesses, and now this dramatic increase in miscarriages.

Although it was stipulated in the ‘ceasefire’, Israel hasn’t been allowing sufficient food, water and medicines to enter Gaza.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported on August 9, 2026, that, “Israel enforces a comprehensive policy that disrupts the entire supply chain, starting from the entry of goods and aid through crossings until they reach the population.”

Euro-Med points out that Israel, “as the occupying power, has an obligation under Articles 55 and 59 of the Fourth Geneva Convention to guarantee that the population receives food and medical supplies when local resources are insufficient.”

From a logistical perspective, many of the illnesses plaguing Gaza could be eradicated were Israel to adhere to international law and allow in sufficient food, water and medical aid.

Israel is of course aware of this, as it has been since enforcing a full siege on Gaza in 2007. But the Israeli authorities know no international body or state – certainly not its biggest backer, the US – will force it to stop its genocide and allow in aid.

The invisible, creeping 'Yellow Line'

Israel has been expanding its control of Gaza via a constantly-expanding, mostly-invisible, ‘Yellow Line’ – a demarcation line set out in the Israeli-US ‘peace plan’ of 2025. The Palestinians can mainly only guess at where it lies, aside from some yellow cement blocks which are periodically moved still further into Gaza, to claim more land.

Palestinians report being fired upon by Israeli forces even if nowhere near where the Yellow Line might be. This is reminiscent of the Israeli ‘Buffer Zone’ imposed inside the Gaza Strip in the 90s and widened in the 2000s, expanding from 50 meters to 300 meters to much further. It was imposed in the name of “security” but was, in reality, another landgrab device.

Having accompanied Palestinian farmers for years when I lived in Gaza, I’m acutely aware of how Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition on any – elderly to child – Palestinian civilians, whether near what Israel deemed off limits, or hundreds of meters or even a kilometer away. We routinely came under this fire, bullets whizzing close by our heads and bodies, Israel  maiming or killing Palestinians who were simply trying to work their farmland.

Many Palestinians, including Ahmad, the medic mentioned above, report being told suddenly one morning to move west as the Israeli occupying forces shift the Yellow Line still further.

While the Yellow Line theoretically marks the limits of Israel’s ‘temporary’ occupation, it is clear that Israeli forces never intend to withdraw. Instead, Israeli leaders speak of “encouraging emigration” of Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip. This is code-speak for making conditions so unlivable that they are forced out of the Strip – in other words, ethnic cleansing.

Nonstop killing continues

On August 19, Israel killed ten Palestinians in central Gaza. On August 18, an Israeli strike near the sea in Gaza City killed six Palestinians, including a child, and wounded ten more. The slaughtering hasn’t stopped since the ‘ceasefire’, but major media reporting on it has.

Nearly every day there are reports from Gaza of Palestinians killed or maimed by Israel, ceasefire be damned. On top of which, Israel continues its decades-old policy of gunning down Palestinian fishers, ensuring they cannot access the sea for food.

Gaza’s Health Ministry lists the Palestinian death toll since October 2023 as 73,407. It lists only those it can actually count, which does not include those buried under rubble, completely obliterated, or otherwise unaccounted for.

Israel is now actively working to ensure a true death toll cannot be counted, literally removing the evidence of unaccounted-for bodies under the rubble.

Euro-Med reported on August 3 that Israel has removed or crushed an estimated 10 million tonnes of rubble from Gaza, “before international and local investigative committees have had the chance to survey, examine, and document the sites. This risks destroying crucial evidence of genocide and the remains of victims still unaccounted for under the rubble. These sites need careful examination and thorough criminal investigation before any intervention that might change or erase their features.”

We’ve seen Israeli leadership call for Israel to kill 30, 40, 50 Palestinians a night, and prior to that – among a very long list of genocidal statements – refer to Palestinians as human animals and enforce measures to ensure that if Israeli bombs and fire don’t kill Palestinians, they will die of starvation, disease, or before they are even born. So, it isn’t hard to conclude that this dramatic rise in miscarriages and stillbirths is not an accidental consequence of the genocide, but a predicted and calculated result of Israeli policies.

Russian farmer Nikolay Mukhin, who was fined for attempting to shoot down a Ukrainian drone with his shotgun, has told RT that his actions were motivated by love for his motherland.

The 66-year-old vowed to appeal the court’s decision, and the Volgograd Region prosecutor’s office is now siding with him amid a public outcry.

The incident, which happened in early July, resulted in the man being slapped with a 40,000 ruble ($480) fine for discharging a firearm in an unauthorized place, as well as the confiscation of his shotgun. Mukhin appealed to the district court, but the judge upheld the penalty, arguing that the man’s actions could have endangered other people’s lives.

Speaking to RT on Tuesday, Mukhin recounted how on the night of July 7 he woke up to the roar of drones flying over his house. The farmer called the police, took his shotgun and ventured outside.
According to Mukhin, he initially intended to merely report the UAV sighting to the authorities, but fired his shotgun as a second drone appeared in sight in an attempt to shoot it down.

With the call on speaker all along, the police operator asked the man if it was he who fired the shots and whether he had a gun license, which the farmer did.

Mukhin told RT that he missed the drone, as it was flying too high.

Nevertheless, the judge took issue with this line of reasoning.

Mukhin described the fine as an “overly harsh punishment,” explaining to RT that “I love Russia and defend it as best I can.”

In a post on her Telegram channel on Wednesday, RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan took the farmer’s side, saying that she would pay his fine.

“Dear comrades in authority, please, sort this out. We have no rules as to what should be done in such situations. It means that we need to come up with some,” she wrote.

In a follow-up post on Thursday, Simonyan said that Volgograd Region’s prosecutor’s office has now contested Mukhin’s fine, arguing that he was acting under exceptional circumstances, and should thus be exonerated.

Ukraine has intensified its long-range attacks on civilian infrastructure in Russia in recent months amid battlefield setbacks, which Moscow has characterized as terrorist attacks.
Russia has responded with its own missile and drone strikes against Ukraine’s military-industrial facilities, logistics centers and infrastructure supporting its armed forces.

UPDATE:

Later on Thursday, the Volgograd Regional Court overturned the original decision, nullifying the fine and ordering that the impounded shotgun be returned to Mukhin, as reported by TASS. The judge reportedly concurred with the prosecutor’s office in that the farmer was acting under exceptional circumstances.

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky is facing his gravest political challenge in years, major US and European media outlets have reported, as a new corruption scandal engulfs his office and a former official openly challenges his leadership.

Zelensky fired the deputy head of his office, Irina Mudraya, on Wednesday after Western-backed anti-graft authorities launched an investigation into an alleged $3.4 million money-laundering scheme involving senior presidential officials. Mudraya has denied wrongdoing. It is the latest of many corruption scandals involving officials close to Zelensky.

A day earlier, former Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov, whose surprise dismissal last month sparked weeks of public protests, released a campaign-style video denouncing government corruption and calling for elections amid what he described as “a systemic crisis of governance.”

Zelensky’s five-year presidential term expired in May 2024, but he has refused to hold a new election, citing martial law imposed after the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022.

The Financial Times noted that the growing list of Zelensky allies caught up in corruption investigations have contributed to his falling approval ratings and raised concern among Kiev’s Western backers, citing an analyst who concluded that “the political crisis is obvious.”

The Washington Post described Fedorov’s intervention as a “remarkably direct challenge” to Zelensky’s authority.

The Telegraph said Zelensky had been “bruised by a series of lingering corruption scandals” as investigations “keep coming.” It argued that he was accumulating powerful rivals who were once deeply loyal to him and said it appeared “increasingly possible” that he may not lead Ukraine into peacetime.

Le Monde said Fedorov had “crossed a line” no major Ukrainian politician had dared to cross since 2022 by calling for elections. The newspaper said he was seeking to capitalize on an “accumulation” of crises, including repeated corruption scandals.

Der Spiegel cited a Ukrainian political analyst who described Fedorov’s challenge as an “application for the role of opposition leader.” The magazine said Zelensky now faced his first “public and direct opponent” since the conflict escalated.

Israel has acknowledged that its troops killed Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl, and opened a criminal investigation into the incident. At the same time, it has refused to pursue a probe into the death of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in a separate attack.

Both incidents occurred in 2024 and prompted international outrage over the conduct of Israeli forces, making them among the most notorious civilian casualties of the Gaza war. 

The contrasting decisions have triggered outrage over Australian citizen Zomi Frankcom, who was among the seven slain aid workers. Canberra summoned Israeli Ambassador Hillel Newman on Thursday, with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong demanding accountability.

The killing of Hind Rajab

Five-year-old Hind Rajab was fleeing Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighborhood with relatives in January 2024 when their car came under heavy Israeli fire. Independent investigators later found hundreds of bullet impacts and estimated that an Israeli tank had been only meters away and would have easily identified the car passengers as civilians.

Hind survived the initial attack and spent hours trapped inside the car alongside her dead relatives, pleading with Palestinian Red Crescent dispatchers by phone to rescue her. An ambulance sent to reach her after coordinating its movement with the Israeli military was subsequently shelled, killing two paramedics.

Hind’s body and those of her relatives and emergency workers were recovered 12 days later, after Israeli forces withdrew from the area

Israel’s response

Despite initially denying that its forces were even in the area where Hind was killed, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that its troops had indeed fired on the car carrying the girl and her relatives. It also admitted that a shell was later fired at the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance sent to rescue her.

In the WCK case, however, the military stated that despite “serious failures” in the attack, commanders’ actions did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct and no criminal investigation would be opened.

Israel claimed its troops had mistakenly believed a Hamas fighter was traveling with the convoy and claimed it had deviated from an agreed route.

Australia demands answers

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Israel’s decision on the WCK killings fell “far short of the accountability we expect” and said Australia was “outraged.”

She questioned why, if the first strike on the convoy was a “catastrophic error,” two more missiles were fired minutes later. Canberra has also said Israel has still not handed over requested audio from the drone involved in the attack.

Frankcom’s family said it was “deeply disappointed” and called for an independent investigation.

Israel doubled down

After being summoned to the Australian Foreign Ministry on Thursday, Israeli Ambassador Hillel Newman defended the IDF’s decision, saying there had been “no criminal intention” to kill innocent civilians and that therefore, there was no criminal responsibility. 

He refused to apologize for the deaths of the aid workers, saying doing so could have “legal ramifications,” and claiming that “there are a lot of haters of Israel in Australia.”

Canada reacts 

Ottawa has also reacted to the IDF statement, with Foreign Minister Anita Anand on Thursday calling Israel’s position “unacceptable,” adding that “Canada expects international humanitarian law to be upheld and will continue pressing for a full accounting of what happened, along with justice for the seven workers who were killed and their families.”

Gaza scrutiny

Despite the IDF announcing an investigation into the murder of Hind and her family, Israeli rights groups have warned that even cases which do reach the criminal investigation stage rarely result in prosecutions. 

Yesh Din researcher Dan Owen told Reuters that only a “tiny” proportion of investigations into soldiers accused of killing Palestinians have led to indictments.

Gaza casualties

More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the Gaza war began in 2023, according to local health authorities, including aid workers, medical personnel and journalists. 

Israel has faced repeated accusations of war crimes over attacks on civilians and humanitarian workers, while maintaining that its operations target Hamas and other armed groups.

Russia and China are both opposed to Japan’s accelerating militarization and growing debate over acquiring nuclear weapons, Beijing’s ambassador to Moscow, Zhang Hanhui, has said, warning that Tokyo’s policies could trigger a new arms race.

In an article published by TASS on Thursday, Zhang said Moscow and Beijing had reached a “high degree of consensus” over Japan. “Beijing and Moscow consider it necessary to remain highly vigilant and firmly oppose Japan’s accelerated remilitarization and its pursuit of nuclear weapons,” he wrote.

The envoy warned that if Tokyo decides to create its own nuclear weapons, the strategic balance in Northeast Asia will be completely disrupted, and “a nuclear arms race in the region could erupt at any moment”. “If Japan’s right-wing forces continue to play with fire on nuclear policy, the Japanese will ultimately once again find themselves in the dock of history,” Zhang added.

Publicly, Takaichi has stressed that Japan still adheres to three non-nuclear principles – a long-time policy stating that Tokyo will not possess, produce or permit the introduction of nuclear weapons.

In this vein, Zhang accused the Japanese leadership of hiding nuclear ambitions behind the country’s status as the only nation to have suffered atomic bombings in war, saying Japanese leadership had begun “dangerous experiments in nuclear policy” while trying to revive “the spirit of militarism.” 

The envoy also alluded to Japan’s nuclear prowess, recalling that the country possesses about 44.4 tons of separated civilian plutonium. “This amount is sufficient for the production of approximately 5,500 nuclear warheads,” he said. “Given the desire and appropriate capabilities, Japan becoming a nuclear power no longer looks like fantasy.” 

Russia has voiced similar concerns. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has called debate over revising Japan’s non-nuclear principles a “serious signal,” while Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko warned that abandoning the policy would worsen security in Northeast Asia.

Bangladeshi lawmakers have elected Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, a candidate of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), as the country’s 23rd president.

The former secretary-general of the BNP secured 255 parliamentary votes in the presidential election, while Oli Ahmed, a former army colonel from the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami-led alliance, received 88 votes.

The president is the constitutional head of state but the position is largely ceremonial.

The polling was held on Thursday evening, with all of the country’s 349 lawmakers casting their votes.

This was the first presidential election in 35 years to feature more than one candidate. In previous elections, the political opposition never contested the ruling party.

The election was necessitated by the resignation last month of Mohammed Shahabuddin, citing health issues, ahead of the official end of his tenure in April 2028.

A Reuters report quoting sources said that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government had pressed Shahabuddin to step aside because of his long-standing ties to Hasina, who is now in India.

Alamgir will be sworn in on Friday evening.

Residents of a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut have said they will not trade the group’s weapons for reconstruction money, while decrying a US-brokered framework peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel.

The Dahiyeh neighborhood in the south-western part of the Lebanese capital has suffered extensive destruction from strikes by West Jerusalem since the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2023 and its subsequent spillover into Lebanon.

The deal, signed between the Lebanese and Israeli governments in late June, envisages the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) pulling out from southern Lebanon, to be replaced by the Lebanese military, which would oversee the disarmament of Hezbollah.

The sentiment is shared by locals in Dahiyeh, who continue to support Hezbollah despite Israeli attacks, RT’s Steve Sweeney has reported from the area.

One shopkeeper blasted the agreement as a “humiliation and disgrace” for his country, insisting that “it brought no benefit to the Lebanese state.”

Another said: “Are they offering us money in exchange for restricting the resistance’s weapons? Let them state the amount. We would raise it ourselves rather than trade away the resistance’s arms.”

The World Bank estimates that Lebanon’s reconstruction after the Israeli airstrikes and ground invasion will cost at least $11 billion. Physical damage from the 2023 to 2024 war between the IDF and Hezbollah alone was put at $6.8 billion, with the assessment not including the subsequent destruction.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs could face criminal charges linked to the killing of rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas 30 years ago, The Telegraph has reported, citing sources. According to the outlet, prosecutors could take action if the man currently on trial over the murder is convicted.

Combs, who rose to become one of the most powerful figures in US hip-hop as a rapper and producer, is currently serving a 50-month federal prison sentence after being convicted in 2025 on two counts of transporting people for prostitution.

On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times while stopped at a red light in a car with record executive Suge Knight. The 25-year-old died six days later, while Knight survived. His death soon became one of the most infamous unsolved murders in US popular culture.

The cold case was revived after Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis, a former senior figure in the South Side Compton Crips street gang, began publicly discussing his involvement in 2018 and 2019, eventually leading to his arrest in 2023. Members of the gang are believed to have provided protection to Combs in Los Angeles.

Davis, now on trial for allegedly orchestrating the shooting, had previously claimed that Combs offered $1 million for Shakur and Knight to be killed amid an increasingly violent rivalry between Combs’s Bad Boy Records and Knight’s Death Row Records, which represented Shakur.

Combs has denied any involvement, calling the allegations “pure fiction and completely ridiculous.” Davis now insists his previous accounts of the killing were fabricated for money and notoriety.

The Telegraph did not specify what charges Combs could face but said a Davis conviction could lend credibility to the latter’s claim regarding the $1 million offer.

“The door remains open on what charges could be made against Diddy. But if the jury convicts Davis, then it gives a green light to take action against Diddy,” the outlet quoted a Clark County district attorney’s office source as saying.

Davis was allegedly one of the four men in the Cadillac from which the fatal shots were fired and is the only one still alive.

Prosecutors believe the man’s nephew, Orlando ‘Baby Lane’ Anderson, fired the shots in retaliation for being beaten by Shakur and his entourage earlier that night. However, he was never charged and was killed in an unrelated gang shooting in 1998.

South African Anglican priest and anti-apartheid activist Michael Lapsley has accused the US of inflicting “a genocide without bombs” on Cuba through sanctions that he says are causing severe shortages and worsening the island’s humanitarian crisis.

Lapsley made the allegation after returning from Havana, where he said he observed dire conditions and few vehicles on the roads because of severe fuel shortages. He said Cubans endure prolonged electricity outages that prevent water from being pumped, disrupt factories and hamper the production of medicines.

”The United States is actively strangling Cuba. This is a collective punishment of a whole country since the triumph of the revolution. However, things have become immeasurably worse in the last six months,” he told IOL.

Washington has maintained an embargo on Cuba since 1962.

In January, US President Donald Trump declared a national emergency over Cuba and moved to restrict its fuel supplies, blocking oil tankers bound for the island and threatening tariffs against countries that continued supplying it. Cuban Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy said in May that the country had run out of diesel and fuel oil, leaving it dependent on gas from its own wells. Island-wide blackouts have been reported since March.

Delegates from 63 countries attended the event, including representatives of South Africa’s National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu), the South African Communist Party (SACP) and former minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

During an address to the gathering, Lapsley called for an end to the US blockade of Cuba. Joel Ortega Dopico, president of the Cuban Council of Churches and the Cuban Bible Society, told Lapsley that Washington’s restrictions were making it difficult even for countries seeking to assist Cuba.

“They don’t allow diesel or oil to get into the country. It’s very difficult. Support from other countries, even from countries that want to support Cuba, is very hard. They are making it hard for everyone to help Cuba right now,” Dopico said, adding that the restrictions were hitting the most vulnerable hardest, with some Cuban families cutting their food intake from three meals a day to one.

Lapsley said Cubans had shown resilience and innovation but now needed international support. “From the beginning, Cuba has fought for other countries, such as South Africa, Angola and Namibia. Now, the world needs to come to their support. Governments, solidarity movements and faith organisations need to come together so Cuba can survive. But they also need to come together to oppose what the United States is doing,” he stressed.

Lapsley is honorary life president of the Friends of Cuba Society, which he helped establish ahead of South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994. He also brought medical supplies to Cuba during the visit.

First published by IOL

Former Liberian Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor has been charged with drug trafficking, money laundering, and other offenses as part of an investigation into an alleged transnational narcotics network, the authorities have said.

The West African nation’s Ministry of Justice announced the move on Wednesday, saying Howard-Taylor was prevented from leaving Liberia through Roberts International Airport and taken to the national police headquarters.

Following a review of evidence gathered by a joint national security team, she was charged with illicit drug trafficking, unlicensed importation and distribution of controlled substances, criminal solicitation, facilitation and conspiracy, as well as money laundering, the ministry said.

“No office is too high, no political connection is too powerful, no nationality provides immunity,” Attorney General Oswald Tweh said.

The government also charged two Croatian citizens, Nikolai Ivancic and Mihovil Vrovac, and Ukrainian national Tara Zaderieko in absentia for allegedly helping organize the network. The authorities said they would seek their arrest through domestic and international channels.

Howard-Taylor’s lawyer, Kabineh Ja’neh, told Reuters he had met his client but had yet to see the formal indictment. “We would be able to proceed with the matter once we get the formal charge,” he said.

Howard-Taylor served as vice president under former leader George Weah from 2018 to 2024. She was previously married to former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who is serving a 50-year sentence for aiding war crimes committed during Sierra Leone’s civil war.

The case comes less than a month after the authorities announced Liberia’s largest-ever drug seizure. Approximately 4.2 metric tons of cocaine valued at $336 million were destroyed in July, while several senior police officers were implicated in the operation.

The Liberian Ministry of Justice has said the country “will not be surrendered to drug traffickers or those who enable them.” It vowed to uproot trafficking networks, sever their financial and institutional support, and pursue their members “wherever they may be found.”

India’s federal ministers are being ranked on their social media activity as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government goes all out to connect with the country’s youth, after student protests last month gave a nasty surprise to a government and party that once dominated online narratives.

The rankings, based on the performance data for the ministers’ social media accounts, were shared at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Modi on Wednesday, reports said. The data, and the review’s results, were not shared publicly. 

Local media reports said the exercise was not a mere counting of followers. Rather, the activity of the ministers across social media platforms Instagram, X, and Facebook between May 1 and August 15 was reviewed, with the aim to assess the quality and reach of communications. Some reports said LinkedIn posts were also included in the review.

Metrics such as frequency of posts, engagement, likes, and the interactions generated across the platforms were used for the grading, with the ministers being presented with a scorecard. Modi reportedly came up top in the review.

Modi, 75, has about 107 million followers on X, where he has posted regularly on policy initiatives by his government, development schemes, and even congratulatory messages to the citizens and foreign leaders. 

Young people aged 15-29, or Gen Z, make up about 28% of India’s 1.4 billion population. They are particularly active on Meta’s Instagram, where reels, short videos, and visual storytelling, rather than text, are key to getting eyeballs. TikTok, a rival platform which is immensely popular among the youth, is banned in India.

As the protests intensified last month, Modi himself posted a selfie message to the students on Instagram, and directed his ministers to post more on the platform to reach the young audience.

More than 100 people were killed in the Central African Republic (CAR) after a gold mine collapsed near the border with Cameroon, according to rescuers and local officials.   

The disaster occurred on Tuesday at a mining site in Zamboye, in the country’s western Nana-Mambere prefecture. Several underground galleries reportedly caved in while miners were working below ground.  

More than 100 bodies had been recovered from the site, the Associated Press reported, citing Gervais Ganagoroh, a local Red Cross volunteer involved in rescue efforts. AFP also put the death toll as being at least 100, citing local sources.   

Separately, Cameroonian journalist Jean Charles Biyo’o Ella reported a preliminary toll of 107 after speaking with the mayor of the nearby border town of Garoua-Boulai. CAR officials had earlier reported that 30 bodies had been recovered as search operations continued. 

The final official death toll has yet to be announced.

🇨🇫 DRAME | Plus de 100 personnes seraient mortes dans l’effondrement d’une mine d’or artisanale en République centrafricaine.

L’accident s’est produit dans le village de Zamboye, près de la frontière avec le Cameroun. (Reuters) pic.twitter.com/u4NFCjFi23

— Cerfia (@CerfiaFR) August 20, 2026

The disaster initially caused confusion over whether the mine was in CAR or Cameroon. Cameroon’s Ministry of Mines later said the collapse occurred on the CAR’s side of Zamboye. The settlement straddles the border area, with its Central African and Cameroonian sections separated by the Kadey River. 

Deadly mining accidents are common across Africa, particularly at artisanal sites where miners often work in hand-dug tunnels with limited safety protections. In January, more than 200 people were killed after a landslide struck the Rubaya coltan mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The disaster, which followed heavy rains, buried miners working at the sprawling site, which is one of the world’s major sources of coltan.

The Orthodox Church is very strict about the sin of schism. Saint Ignatius of Antioch wrote, “If any man follows him that makes a schism in the Church, he shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Likewise, Saint John Chrysostom wrote, “The sin of schism is not washed away even by the blood of martyrdom.” In this context, a recent event in Africa is of particular significance. While it may not attract the attention of secular people, it holds particular significance for devout Christians.

At the end of July, a delegation from the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) made an official visit to the Metropolis of Nairobi of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria. With the ‘blessing’ of so-called ‘Metropolitan’ Epiphanius Dumenko, ‘Metropolitan’ Eustratiy Zoria and ‘Archpriest’ Vitaly Danchak arrived in Kenya.

On July 25, they were received at the residence of Archbishop Makarios (Tillyrides) of Nairobi, to whom the guests presented a bishop’s panagia, among other gifts. On July 26, with the blessing of the archbishop, the schismatics from the OCU celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Orthodox Patriarchal Cathedral of Sts. Cosmas and Damian. Eustratiy Zoria presided over the Liturgy, assisted by the local African clergy.

This confirms that the creation of the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa of the Russian Orthodox Church was a timely decision. The Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa was created after Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria, contrary to his previous position and without any explanation, recognized the OCU in 2019. The Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa was initially established for those priests, religious, and laity of the Church of Alexandria who wished to avoid contact with the schismatics.

The fact that the Ukrainian groups from which the OCU was formed are schismatics is not the “private opinion of solely the Russian Orthodox Church”; it was the common position of absolutely all regional Orthodox Churches from the 1990s to 2018, and was confirmed by official church documents.

The defrocking and excommunication of the self-proclaimed ‘Patriarch of Ukraine’ Filaret Denisenko was also recognized by all the regional Orthodox Churches without exception, including the patriarchates of Constantinople and Alexandria. Moreover, Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria once said in an interview that when he served as archimandrite at the Representation of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria in Odessa, Ukraine, and learned that Ukrainian schismatics wanted to come into the church, he stood at the door and barred them from entering. He also boasted of this when he became patriarch, citing it as an example of his principled stance on schism.

The particularly cynical nature of the situation lay in the fact that at the time, in 2018, the majority of Orthodox believers in Ukraine belonged to the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which was not schismatic. And the UOC did not request Patriarch Bartholomew to sign the tomos.

After Constantinople recognized the OCU, its adherents did not cease behaving like schismatics; they even intensified their attacks, beatings, and seizure of churches from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Patriarch Bartholomew’s lawless act legitimized this evil, which continues to this day. This meant that this was not only a canonical crime, but also an immoral act that only intensified the suffering of Orthodox Ukrainians.

The overwhelming majority of the regional Orthodox Churches did not support Patriarch Bartholomew’s decision. Only the patriarchates of Constantinople and Alexandria fully recognized the schismatics as the true ‘Orthodox Church of Ukraine’. The Churches of Greece and Cyprus recognized the OCU partially (some bishops of these Churches did not recognize it). The remaining ten regional Orthodox Churches, including the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, have not officially recognized the OCU in the past nine years. So this is not a “Greek-Russian dispute,” as some falsely claim; and the question is not, “Do you side with the Russians or the Greeks?” but “Do you side with the schismatics or with the Church?”

However, the events in Kenya at the end of July have once again confirmed that those who left the Patriarchate of Alexandria had valid reasons to do so. The threat is real – and now, it has gone a step further: the Greeks allowed the schismatics to celebrate the Divine Liturgy alongside Orthodox Africans. Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria, who once barred Ukrainian schismatics from entering his church in Ukraine, has now allowed them to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in Africa. Self-proclaimed ‘Metropolitan’ Eustratiy Zoria, who was ‘ordained’ by the excommunicated Philaret Denisenko (and therefore, for most of the Orthodox world is simply a layman) was allowed to celebrate the Liturgy as a bishop, and Kenyan clergy served him.

Canon 33 of the Council of Laodicea states, “No one shall join in prayers with heretics or schismatics”; Canon 10 of the Apostolic Canon says, “If any one shall pray, even in a private house, with an excommunicated person, let him also be excommunicated”; And Canon 2 of the Council of Antioch states, “It is unlawful to commune with excommunicated persons, to assemble at private homes and pray with those who do not pray in the church, or to welcome those who do not assemble with another church. In addition, if any of the bishops, priests, deacons, or anyone in the canon are found communing with excommunicated persons, let them also be excommunicated because they bring confusion to the order of the Church.”

The OCU is not in communion with the majority of the Orthodox Churches. It appears that the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria has forced Orthodox Africans to commit a canonical violation of the aforementioned canons and defile themselves by concelebrating the Divine Liturgy with the schismatics.

This is precisely what those Orthodox Kenyans and other Africans who joined the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa of the Russian Orthodox Church shielded themselves from. By preserving their souls from communion with the schismatics, they preserved the purity of their Orthodox faith.

ChatGPT maker OpenAI has announced it is decelerating the development of its AI models, citing security risks.

In July, one of the company’s advanced AI bots unknowingly escaped its testing environment, gained internet access, and hacked into the servers of the Hugging Face online repository for AI models and datasets.

OpenAI said in a statement on Tuesday that the Hugging Face incident and the overall rise in the capabilities of its artificial intelligence models “have added urgency to our work on strengthening our monitoring, alignment and containment safeguards across all stages of the training process.”

“As models become more capable, the risks associated with developing and testing them internally also grow. Our standards for monitoring, alignment, and security must stay ahead of those risks,” the statement read.

The measures include a two-week pause in the training of the latest OpenAI models and the assignment of additional AI bots to monitor the behavior of AI agents during testing, it announced.

The company’s largest planned training run “remains on hold while we conduct smaller-scale training and evaluations to assess model behavior, validate our safeguards, and establish more evidence of alignment before proceeding,” the statement read.

Alignment is a key process of making AI systems behave as intended by the developers and being responsive to human oversight.

“Mr. Altman, Mr. [Dario] Amodei and Mr. [Mark] Zuckerberg: In the interest of humanity, stand by your words. Pause AI development,” he wrote.

The incidents of AI going rogue should be a wake-up call, Sanders said. He also warned that the technology falling into the “wrong hands” could lead to the development of “new bioweapons that result in the deaths of tens of millions of people.”

When addressed about the Hugging Face incident last month, US President Donald Trump said that “we’re looking at AI, we’re looking at controls.” However, he insisted that America must be the global leader in AI, adding he did not want any regulations that would leave the country “second to China.”

The shakeup in India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday has brought changes to its organizational hierarchy, raising some eyebrows. 

The shuffle, effected by BJP National President Nitin Nabin, is being explained away as the result of a new party leader bringing in his own team. However, a closer look shows the imprint of recent events as the organization struggles to connect with the youth in the world’s largest democracy.

What changed

Nabin replaced four of the party’s general secretaries and brought in two more new faces to fill existing vacancies. These are formidable positions in the BJP, ranking directly below its president and responsible for key decisions.

He also replaced the head of the party’s powerful IT and Social Media Cell, Amit Malviya, as well as the president of the youth wing, Tejasvi Surya.

Also shown the door were the heads of the party’s farmers’ wing, the scheduled tribes and scheduled castes wings, and the minority wing.

Malviya and Surya fell to youth anger

At least a couple of the big exits can be attributed to the student protests last month over leaks of questions for a national medical entrance test – the biggest challenge Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has faced so far.  

The government responded to the protests with brutal police violence, stoking public anger – before it caved and sacked Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The BJP’s IT cell was overwhelmed as netizens attacked the party, the government, and even Modi. Amit Malavia, the party’s social media czar since 2015, found his tool-kit had come up short.

Attempts to deflect from the main issue – for instance, by focusing on the traffic congestion caused by the protests – fell flat. He faced fierce counterattacks online, even from those usually sympathetic to the BJP.

Tejasvi Surya, a young lawmaker from the southern IT hub city of Bengaluru, had won praise for organizing the government’s health response in his constituency during the Covid-19 pandemic. But he, too, failed to rally the youth behind the party as the protests intensified.

As the public’s mood soured, Modi went on Instagram with a selfie message to the protesting students – rather than his favorite platform X. He advised his ministers to also go on the Meta social media network to promote the work of their ministries among the country’s youth. 

This clear realization of a lack of a connection with Gen Z and Gen Alpha Indians, who weren’t reached via the methods, channels, and faces the party had come to rely on, seems to have sealed the fates of Malviya and Surya.

Trusted hands brought in

Replacing Malviya is Deepak Mhaske, another BJP veteran who has spent 15 years in the party’s IT and social media cell.

He has led social media campaigns in states like Bihar, West Bengal, and his home state of Chhattisgarh, where the BJP has recorded strong victories. 

A lawmaker from Modi’s home state of Gujarat, Hemang Joshi, has replaced Surya. 

The party also reached out to the old guard to stabilize the situation as public discontent persists over several issues. 

Among those issues is the rollout of petrol cut with 20% ethanol, called E20, which has led to complaints about damage to engine components and loss of mileage in older vehicles trending on social media. 

The salaried middle class is angry about the faster escalation into higher income tax slabs. 

Widespread corruption and poor quality road construction (as was evident from showpiece highways crumbling under heavy rains) have added to public discontent.

One of the people brought in as a general secretary by Nabin is Smriti Irani, who was a trusted member of Modi’s inner circle when she was made one of the youngest cabinet ministers in 2014.

Irani is well known to Indians as the star actor in one of the most popular daily soap operas on television, ‘Kyuki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi,’ which translates as “because every mother-in-law was once a daughter-in-law.”

Another notable inclusion in the party hierarchy is Piyush Goyal, the federal trade minister, who has articulated India’s positions to the public as New Delhi drives a hard bargain with Washington over a trade deal. Goyal, the son of a long-time BJP treasurer, has been brought in as – no surprises – the party’s treasurer.

Meeting the youth where they are

The BJP seems to have been guided by the thinking that fresh but trusted faces can help it regain trust among the country’s youth. It hopes to do so by meeting them in the social media spaces they prefer, and speaking using their lingo – as lawmakers like Surya have done in parliament. 

How that works out will be seen when a number of big states, including Modi’s Gujarat, go to the polls next year.  

Russia does not prefer escalation, but will continue to retaliate to Ukraine’s attacks on civilians and infrastructure, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has warned.

In an interview with Izvestia published on Thursday, Zakharova accused Kiev of showing “complete unwillingness to negotiate” while stepping up terrorist attacks against Russia’s civilian population and infrastructure.

“As long as this remains the case, the Russian Armed Forces will respond proportionately to emerging threats and continue the special military operation in order to accomplish the tasks set by President Vladimir Putin,” she said.

“Escalation is not our choice,” Zakharova added, arguing that progress toward a settlement depends on Kiev and its Western backers abandoning the “dangerous illusion” of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia.

Her remarks came as Russia and Ukraine carried out another major exchange of long-range strikes.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that its forces had launched a large-scale missile and drone attack overnight against military-industrial facilities in and around Kiev, including plants producing long-range drones and components for cruise missiles, as well as several storage facilities housing fuel, lubricants, UAV parts, and dual-use goods.

Moscow has repeatedly condemned Ukrainian drone incursions, which target civilian infrastructure and residential areas inside Russia, as terrorist attacks aimed at compensating for Kiev’s setbacks on the battlefield, where Russian forces continue their steady advance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged on Wednesday that Ukrainian strikes on Russian industrial facilities were causing damage but noted that they have not produced “critical consequences.”

In July, he warned that Moscow’s responses to Kiev’s attacks would be “mirror-like” and “several times more powerful.”

A helicopter carrying tourists has crashed in northern Kenya, killing all seven people on board, including five US citizens and Ecuador’s intelligence chief, the authorities have confirmed.

The Eurocopter EC130 B4 went down near Mount Ololokwe in Samburu County at approximately 9:13 AM local time on Wednesday, according to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA). The aircraft was carrying six passengers and a pilot on a charter flight from Loisaba Conservancy, a 58,000-acre wildlife reserve and safari destination, toward the Ewaso Nyiro river area, KCAA said in a statement.

“The Ministry of Roads and Transport, Air Accident Investigation Department is leading investigations on circumstances surrounding the accident,” it said.

The victims included Michele Sensi-Contugi, director general of Ecuador’s National Intelligence Center, and his wife, Stephany Hollihan, who also held US citizenship. Jose Alberto Suarez, a senior executive at the US-based Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo, was also killed.

Luxury safari operator &Beyond, which organized the excursion, confirmed that its guests were aboard the helicopter, according to Reuters. “Our deepest sympathies are with the guests, crew, their families and loved ones, and all those affected by this tragic accident,” Lady Lori Helicopters, the aircraft operator, said in a statement.

The Kenya Red Cross said search and recovery operations were “hampered by difficult terrain access and an active fire at the crash site.”

Search and recovery efforts are ongoing, hampered by difficult terrain access and an active fire at the crash site.

An additional team has been dispatched from Isiolo to reinforce the operation.

More updates to follow. https://t.co/XUjWArYul3 pic.twitter.com/qSApuA1b0y

— Kenya Red Cross (@KenyaRedCross) August 19, 2026

Sensi-Contugi was a close associate of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa and headed the country’s intelligence service amid an ongoing campaign by the authorities against powerful criminal organizations. Ecuador’s presidential office confirmed the deaths of Sensi-Contugi and his wife, and declared three days of national mourning from August 20 to 22.

In neighboring Tanzania, five people – including two Czech tourists – died when a medical rescue helicopter crashed on Mount Kilimanjaro in December.

Pakistan on Wednesday summoned the top US diplomat in Islamabad to lodge a “strong demarche” over remarks made by Washington’s ambassador in New Delhi that Jammu and Kashmir is an “important part of India.” 

Sergio Gor, who is also the US special envoy to South and Central Asia, made the comments in Srinagar, the part of Kashmir administered by India, on Wednesday. Gor, a close confidant and former business partner of US President Donald Trump, is on a two-day trip to India’s Jammu and Kashmir state and the federally administered Ladakh region.

“Kashmir is an important part of India,” Gor told reporters after meeting Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. “It is an incredibly beautiful place.” 

India and Pakistan, which gained independence when Britain partitioned its colonial territories in South Asia in 1947, have competing claims on Kashmir.

Hours after the comments, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry summoned Charge d’Affaires Natalie Baker – the top US envoy in Islamabad – and lodged a protest over Gor’s “factually incorrect remarks” and “irresponsible statement.”

“It was underscored that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed territory, awaiting final disposition in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan clashed briefly with missiles and drones last year after 26 people were killed in a terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-backed terror groups. 

Trump has, in return, called Munir “my favorite field marshal.” Islamabad has also been acting as a mediator to end the Mideast war, which was triggered by US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

Indian authorities on Thursday used a bulldozer to remove temporary structures, traffic bollards, and barricades outside the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, in an apparent retaliatory action after Pakistan carried out a similar drive outside the Indian mission in Islamabad on Monday.

Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica has accused YouTube of waging a “war” against people who think independently and “tell the truth,” after the Google-owned platform deleted his channel without any warning.

YouTube removed Kusturica’s ‘My Life’ channel on Wednesday, without publicly elaborating on the decision, according to several media reports. The project, produced with Sputnik’s Serbian service, contained more than 200 videos and had roughly 30,000 subscribers. Some of the videos are dedicated to the fate of Yugoslavia, the clash of civilizations, and the collision between Christian and Western values.

After the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, YouTube banned both Sputnik and RT as the West imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia. Moscow condemned the Western crackdown on the outlets as proof of an anti-Russian agenda and Western censorship.

Sputnik Balkan noted that while YouTube rules stipulate that a channel can be shut down due to user complaints about video content, and after three consecutive warnings, neither the outlet’s editorial staff nor Kusturica received any notifications.

RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan also condemned the move, describing Kusturica as her close friend. “Welcome to the club, maestro!” she wrote, referring to the Western sanctions placed on other outlets.

Born in Sarajevo in 1954, Kusturica is one of Europe’s most decorated filmmakers. He won the Palme d’Or at Cannes for ‘When Father Was Away on Business’ in 1985 and again for ‘Underground’ in 1995, while ‘Time of the Gypsies’, ‘Arizona Dream’ and ‘Black Cat White Cat’ cemented his reputation for surreal and politically charged Balkan cinema.

Kusturica has been supportive of Moscow’s stance on the Ukraine crisis, arguing that the conflict had been “long prepared with the assistance of the Pentagon” and was “a war against Orthodoxy,” while describing the Ukrainian government as “pro-Nazi.”

Russian forces have carried out a large-scale strike against drone-making plants and other facilities in Kiev linked to the Ukrainian military, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

The latest overnight raid involved ground-, air-, and sea-launched missiles as well as attack drones, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday morning.

An industrial facility belonging to weapons maker Fire Point was hit during the bombardment, the ministry said, adding that the plant had manufactured components for long- and medium-range drones and had also assembled and stored boosters for Flamingo cruise missiles.

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky actively promotes Fire Point and its products internationally, despite the firm being linked to his longtime business associate Timur Mindich, who fled Ukraine after becoming a key figure in a $100 million corruption scandal last year.

A large warehouse where UAVs were manufactured and stored, an aviation industry assembly plant, and an arms depot hosting vacuum bombs, anti-tank mines, and ammunition for Baba Yaga drones were also struck in the Ukrainian capital, the statement read.

In Kiev Region, Russian missiles and drones struck the Martusovka logistics center, used to store and distribute dual-use goods, including those intended for the production of UAVs and electronic warfare systems, it said.

According to the statement, a fuel and lubricants depot housing up to 8,000 cubic meters of fuel intended for the Ukrainian military was blown up in the town of Brovary, east of the capital.

Ukraine has also carried another major drone raid against Russia overnight, with 726 UAVs destroyed by air defenses in 20 regions of the country, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Moscow has condemned Ukrainian drone incursions, which target civilian infrastructure and residential areas inside Russia, as terrorist attacks aimed at compensating for Kiev’s setbacks on the battlefield, where Russian forces continue their steady advance.

According to Russian officials, the intensification of long-range missile and drone strikes against targets in Ukraine is a response to those actions.

Moscow maintains that it does not attack civilians, with its strikes being directed solely at military targets and infrastructure supporting Kiev’s forces.

US Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barrack has condemned Israeli airstrikes on an airbase in northwestern Syria as a dangerous escalation.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces struck the Abu al-Duhur base in Idlib province, near the Turkish border. Although there were no casualties, the strikes damaged recently built runways.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the attack was carried out because Israel and Syria had agreed to “a status quo in security matters,” and claimed that Damascus was “on the verge” of breaching the arrangement by allowing “Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase near Aleppo.”

“Israel repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would pose a threat to Israel’s security. Syria chose to ignore these warnings,” it added.

Barrack added that the government of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa “has neither adopted a predatory posture nor maintained proxy forces” and was committed to “de-escalation with Israel.”

“We encourage all parties to prioritize logical discourse over further military incidents,” Barrack wrote on X on Tuesday.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani told Axios on Wednesday that Damascus had “no intention” of establishing a Turkish base or allowing a permanent Turkish military presence at the site. The Turkish Foreign Ministry similarly accused Israel of resorting to “frivolous allegations” to legitimize its attacks on Syria.

Netanyahu defended the strikes on a podcast on Wednesday.

“The message was conveyed but apparently they didn’t hear it, so we made sure they understood it more clearly,” he said, according to the Times of Israel. Netanyahu has repeatedly clashed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a vocal critic of Israel’s war in Gaza.

Relations between Israel and the US have remained tense in recent months as Netanyahu, who faces parliamentary elections in October, rejected Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, arguing that Israeli troops would not withdraw from the Palestinian enclave until Hamas fully disarms.

Trump earlier condemned Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, saying they could undermine peace talks with Iran. This week, Trump said he had suspended the negotiations and announced a “historic” campaign to cripple Iran’s economy.

A former senior official who worked under US Covid czar Anthony Fauci has pleaded guilty to conspiring to hide government records concerning coronavirus research and the origins of the pandemic.

David Morens served as a senior adviser at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which Fauci headed, between 2006 and 2022. He was indicted on April 28 on charges including conspiracy against the US, destroying or falsifying federal records, concealing records, and aiding and abetting, over an alleged scheme to evade public-records requests concerning Covid-19 research.

On Tuesday, Morens pleaded guilty in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses and defraud the US. He admitted that he and others had deliberately used his personal Gmail account to evade Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

He now faces up to five years in prison and is due to be sentenced on November 12.

In emails previously released during the investigation, Morens wrote that he had learned from an “FOIA lady” how to “make emails disappear.” In another, he said he could send material to “Tony,” an apparent reference to Fauci, through private Gmail or deliver it personally, adding that “Tony” is “too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble.”

The records concerned US-funded coronavirus research carried out at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The funding was cut in 2020 as scrutiny grew over whether Covid-19 could have emerged from the Chinese laboratory.

In his plea, Morens further admitted involvement in an illegal gifts scheme. The head of the nonprofit behind the Wuhan-linked research grant had sent him wine for his “behind-the-scenes shenanigans.” Prosecutors said Morens also discussed writing scientific commentary supporting a natural origin of Covid-19 as something he could do to “earn” the gift.

The guilty plea comes amid renewed scrutiny of Fauci, whom critics have accused of helping fund risky coronavirus research in Wuhan, concealing what he knew about a possible lab origin, misleading Congress and the public over the pandemic and vaccines, influencing intelligence agency assessments, and leading them away from the lab-leak theory, and personally profiting from his government role.

Last month, Fauci appeared before a Senate committee, where he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times while being grilled about Wuhan research, Covid’s origins, and his conduct during the pandemic. The Republican-led panel later voted to hold him in contempt of Congress.

Shortly before leaving office, former US President Joe Biden granted Fauci a broad pardon covering any potential federal offenses committed between 2014 and January 2025. Fauci has described efforts to prosecute him as an “unhinged” campaign.

US President Donald Trump has vowed to target any country helping Iran’s economy, shifting from his previous focus on military threats.

Trump made the remarks after a 60-day window to negotiate a peace deal with Tehran expired on Monday without breakthroughs.

“I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY! This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday night.

“I am also announcing that ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences. Oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, front companies – it all needs to stop NOW,” he added.

“This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat,” Trump wrote.

Earlier on Wednesday, the UAE announced the suspension of economic ties with Iran after two ballistic missiles were fired at its territory. Tehran rejected the allegations, describing the incident as an Israeli “false-flag operation.” It has previously fired drones and missiles at the UAE and other Arab states in the region that host US bases, accusing them of allowing their territory to be used to stage attacks against it.

Iran closed the waterway, which handles around a quarter of global seaborne oil and LNG trade, shortly after the US and Israel launched their joint bombing campaign on February 28. The US Navy declared its own blockade of Iranian ports in April and has been guiding ships via routes that Iran considers illegal. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trump described the blockade as “extremely effective.”

Iranian officials said this month that the strait would not be reopened until the US lifts its blockade, releases the Islamic Republic’s frozen assets, and ends sanctions. Tehran also demanded that Washington withdraw its troops from the region as a condition for a peace deal.

The US suspended its most recent wave of strikes late last month, with Trump saying he wanted to provide space for talks. He has since said, however, that all negotiations have been halted.

The pause in hostilities occurred amid widespread reports that the US military had largely depleted its stockpile of high-precision munitions and interceptor missiles. Trump and US War Secretary Pete Hegseth have denied any shortages.

A biological male who identifies as a woman was sentenced on Tuesday to six years and one month in prison after pleading guilty to plotting to kill US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Ryan Michael English, who goes by the name Raleigh Jane English, turned himself in to a police officer outside the Capitol building in Washington, DC, on January 27, 2025, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Police searched English and found a folding knife, two Molotov cocktails, and a lighter in his jacket pockets.

English confessed to traveling to Washington to kill a Cabinet nominee whose Senate confirmation vote was scheduled for that day, or to burn down an unidentified think tank in the capital. Police found a note to a roommate in English’s pocket that said, “This is terrible but I cant do nothing while nazis kill my sisters… Im so sorry for lying and plotting and lying.”

Judge Rudolph Contreras said English was concerned with “trans rights” and that “the plan was basically impossible to succeed, and she turned herself in before it came anywhere near fruition.”

US Attorney Jeanine Pirro rejected English’s argument for a lighter sentence, which portrayed the defendant as “a young transexual woman who has experienced trauma and suffering from the day she was born.”

“My office will not tolerate attempts to intimidate or harm public officials that strike at the heart of our democratic process and are antithetical to the values we all depend on,” Pirro said following the sentencing.

The US has seen a series of attacks on public figures in recent years, which observers have attributed in part to increasingly charged political rhetoric.

In September, a gunman killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a speech on a university campus in Utah. US President Donald Trump survived several assassination attempts, including a shooting at his reelection rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024.

In June 2025, an assailant murdered Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and wounded state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. In April of the same year, a man firebombed the residence of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.

On August 18, a federal trial opened in the US, organized by a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general against Meta.

Twenty-nine states brought the lawsuit, and were represented by California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey at the trial. They claimed that the company’s social media platforms hook users, harvest their data, and hide their methods, asserting that they are addictive to children and harm their mental health.

While this particular trial concerns only Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube are also being targeted. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, and many others have already been summoned to testify to Congress. And let’s not forget the European Union's Digital Service Act and the showdown between Elon Musk and former European Commissioner Thierry Breton about X’s content moderation. The regulation of social platforms is strengthening everywhere. The arguments are always the same: companies shouldn’t be above the truth or the law, there’s a crucial need to ban “hate speech,” protect our children from pedophilia and psychological disorders, and so on.

But is it really about online activity? Isn’t the problem deeper and rooted in society itself? In its depravity that can be traced back to decades of cultural propaganda, consumerism, the promotion of all kind of sexual habits, and the dismantling of the homogeneity of people? Indeed, social platforms are a tool used to propagate ideas and shape minds, and a lot of trash can be found out there, but they remain only a tool. They are not ideas, ideology, instructions or policies; they are only a transmission channel of a peculiar zeitgeist.

Long before Meta, TikTok and X, the elites were promoting their decadent agenda through books, schools, political discourses, Hollywood and music: sexual promiscuity and ambiguity (essentially targeting the youth), acceptance of a cheaper and cheaper lifestyle (for the masses), tolerance towards organized mass immigration (creating an unstable society), abortion and euthanasia (altering the perception of life itself), and of course the omnipresence of gadgets supposed to connect people and make life easier when in reality they’re alienating them.

Of course, one can argue that it was the same during the Industrial Revolution. Political forces had to deal with the economic importance of entrepreneurs. Most of modern history can be summed up as a constant dialectic between two conceptions: people serving the economy, and the economy serving people. The big difference now, however, is that the tech giants have an asset that traditional entrepreneurs wouldn’t have even dreamed of acquiring to such an extent: control over propaganda and the personal data of billions of people.

It really is a question of balance of power, that can be solved in one of two ways: the forced creation of techno-fascism (where the tech giants obey the political leadership) or the organic emergence of digital capitalist anarcho-totalitarianism (where the politicians are puppets, even more so than they are nowadays).           

In any case, the main culprits will still be the masses. Because, you know, you can’t stop progress! As French philosopher Jacques Ellul wrote: “Modern technology has become a total phenomenon for civilization, the defining force of a new social order in which efficiency is no longer an option but a necessity imposed on all human activity.” Technology has been sanctified, it can’t be controlled – but the worst part is that people can’t envision a world without it and the more it develops, the more severe the addiction becomes. To believe that anything can be changed through institutional means is illusory.

Technology will keep developing. The politicians can’t do anything about it and the masses welcome it, just as they accept with thoughtlessness the decadent society they are offered. The only revolution that can happen has to be not a continuous technological one but a sudden philosophical, spiritual one. Unfortunately, as Etienne de la Boetie wrote back in the second half of the 16th century, one can argue that people voluntarily accept their own servitude. But the servitude is now not towards a government but toward technology.

US President Donald Trump has said he expects to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un later this year, days after ordering joint military drills with South Korea scaled back over what he called their ‘hostile’ signal to Pyongyang.

During his first presidency, Trump and Kim sought to improve relations between the two countries, meeting three times, including at the Demilitarized Zone in 2019. The diplomatic thaw eventually stalled without a deal on North Korea’s nuclear program.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trump said he knows Kim Jong-un “very well” and the two “get along.” 

“The fact that I get along with him – that’s a good thing,” the US president said, adding that North Korea possesses “57 very powerful nuclear weapons.” 

Asked whether he planned to meet with Kim later this year, Trump replied: “Yeah, I will be.”

Also on Wednesday, NBC News quoted a White House official as saying Trump was open to meeting Kim at the “appropriate time,” although no date has been set.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s National Defense Ministry said that the annual joint military drills with the US, codenamed Ulchi Freedom Shield, were being cut short at Washington’s request.

A US Department of War official said the drills, which began on Monday, would end on August 21 rather than August 27, with some live-training events canceled or converted to simulations.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun told parliament on Wednesday that the Trump administration had not notified Seoul of the move in advance.

The drills were scaled back after Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday that he was “not happy” that the US had agreed to participate. He said the drills were costly and “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea. “It is too late to cancel,” Trump wrote, adding that he had instructed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” the exercises.

Trump pointed out that South Korea has refused to back the US in its military campaign against Iran.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, he said he “was not happy when South Korea said – no, they are not interested in helping us with the Hormuz Strait.”

Leaving aside Belarus, which is geographically European but rarely treated as part of Europe’s political mainstream, most people would probably name Serbia, which in geopolitical terms is a remarkable exception. Even after the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, Belgrade maintained a friendly attitude towards Moscow at both the governmental and public levels.

For four years, Serbia has tried to remain neutral despite sustained pressure from Brussels and Washington, and it refused to impose sanctions on Russia, while avoiding taking openly hostile measures. Recently, however, something appears to have shifted.

The change began in July, when Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic made an unexpected visit to Kiev and less than a month later, he hosted Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky in Belgrade.

During their talks, Vucic announced the launch of a Serbian-Israeli factory producing unmanned aerial vehicle, meaning the project places Serbia within the wider Western European drive to expand drone production, an effort from which Kiev may ultimately benefit. Then came a curious dispute over reports that Serbia might end visa-free travel for Russian citizens while hints of such a move appeared in official government documents, even as Belgrade categorically denied that any decision had been taken.

Vucic insists that Serbia’s policy hasn’t changed, yet his recent actions have created understandable doubts. Where are our Serbian brothers heading and when did they take this apparent wrong turn?

Politically and culturally, however, much of Serbia continues to lean towards Russia. So to preserve its right to maintain that relationship, Belgrade must constantly make compromises, including occasional gestures of support for the Western agenda.

Vucic’s precarious domestic position makes this balancing act even more difficult. Since late 2024, the president and his party have faced persistent street protests, with demonstrators accusing the authorities of corruption and demanding their resignation and at the end of June, Vucic said he would step down “very soon” and call early parliamentary and presidential elections.

In any event, he must leave the presidency next year because he can’t seek a third consecutive term, but he’s nevertheless hinted that he intends to remain in power, perhaps by moving into the prime minister’s office if his party wins the election.

Vucic has already faced warnings that EU funding could be blocked unless Serbia repeals legislation strengthening presidential powers while Western policy circles have also discussed placing the Serbian elections under “special supervision,” supposedly to ensure their fairness. In practice, the objective would be to make certain that the present authorities surrender power to more reliably pro-EU forces.

Seen in this context, Belgrade’s recent maneuvers become easier to understand. Suggestions that Serbia might bring its visa policy for Russians into line with EU requirements are a familiar way of stringing Brussels along with promises of future reform, while Vucic’s sudden friendship with Zelensky serves a similar purpose in that it demonstrates loyalty to the prevailing Western political line without committing Serbia to a fundamental change of course.

Together, these gestures may be intended to discourage the European Union from interfering too aggressively in the coming elections while helping Vucic and his party secure a comfortable result. His early announcement that he intends to leave the presidency also gives him some protection, given Brussels will find it harder to direct sustained criticism at a leader who can present himself as a lame duck with one foot already out of office.

In practical terms, therefore, nothing fundamental has changed in Russian-Serbian relations, nor have these meetings created any entirely new source of tension. Serbian-made weapons have already displayed a mysterious tendency to find their way to Ukraine through third countries, while Vucic was probably sincere when he said that Belgrade had not joined Kiev’s side.

Serbia itself hasn’t suddenly changed either. It remains a country with a difficult history and an unenviable geography, trying to preserve its interests in an increasingly unforgiving world. Its leaders must accommodate the European Union without surrendering a relationship with Russia that retains deep cultural and popular roots.

Should Russia condemn the Serbs for trying to preserve their identity and room for maneuver? Definitely not and in fact should help them do so. 

The difficulty is that, for the moment, Russia may not possess as many opportunities to help as either country would like.

Has Serbia withdrawn its support for Russia?

This article was first published by the online newspaper Gazeta.ru and was translated and edited by the RT team

Croatian police have arrested a Ukrainian man suspected by Germany of taking part in the Nord Stream pipeline attack – while he was on set filming a Hollywood thriller based on the 2022 sabotage operation

The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office said on Wednesday that Ukrainian national Vladimir Z., previously identified by media as Vladimir Zhuravlyov, had been apprehended in the Croatian city of Pula under a European arrest warrant.

In a bizarre twist to the already labyrinthine Nord Stream story, Zhuravlyov was arrested while on the set of ‘Snake Island’, a movie about the supposed Ukrainian plot to destroy the pipelines, German legal magazine LTO reported. 

Starring Sean Penn and Adrien Brody, and directed by Doug Liman of ‘The Bourne Identity’, ‘Snake Island’ began filming in Zagreb earlier this month, according to a report by World of Reel. It is unclear whether Zhuravlyov was on set as an actor, an adviser, or a guest of Penn and Brody.

In true Hollywood fashion, Ukrainian and Western media claimed that Ukrainian soldiers on the island refused to surrender to the Russian Navy, radioing “Russian warship, go f*ck yourself” to the Moskva guided missile cruiser.

In reality, the garrison on the island immediately surrendered. Ukrainian forces tried and failed to recapture the island several times throughout 2022, before Russian forces departed in June.

Zhuravlyov has evaded German authorities twice already. While living in Poland in 2024, he fled to Ukraine before he could be apprehended, reportedly in a vehicle belonging to the Ukrainian military attaché. Zhuravlyov then returned to Poland and was detained there in September 2025, but a Warsaw court rejected Berlin’s extradition request, arguing that “blowing up critical infrastructure during a war… is not sabotage but denotes a military action.”

According to the warrant, Zhuravlyov, a trained diver, is accused of planting explosives as part of a group, committing sabotage, and destroying infrastructure. He is expected to be extradited to Germany.

German authorities say the alleged team was led by Sergey K., identified by media as former Ukrainian special forces member Sergey Kuznetsov. He was arrested in Italy in August 2025, extradited to Germany three months later, and charged with “war crimes” for knowingly attacking civilian infrastructure. His trial is due to begin this fall.

Moscow has dismissed the “Ukrainian frogmen” theory as fantasy, arguing that such a complex operation could not have been carried out in NATO-controlled waters by a small group without state assistance or Western intelligence involvement. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed a version of events put forward by American journalist Seymour Hersh, who claimed – citing intelligence sources – that the CIA and Norwegian Navy, acting on direct orders from then-US President Joe Biden, used NATO military exercises in the Baltic Sea in June 2022 as cover to plant remotely-triggered explosive devices on the Nord Stream lines.

Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky has fired Irina Mudraya, deputy head of his office, after media reports indicated that her home was raided as part of anti-corruption probe over alleged money laundering scheme.

The Western-supported National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) announced on Wednesday that it and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) were targeting an alleged criminal organization led by a current and former lawmaker and involving senior officials from Zelensky’s office.

NABU later said members of the alleged group had laundered 150 million hryvnia ($3.3 million) in cash through shell-company accounts to finance bail for a defendant in the Midas investigation. That sprawling corruption case centers in part on an alleged $100 million embezzlement and kickback scheme involving the country’s nuclear operator Energoatom, which investigators say was masterminded by Timur Mindich, a longtime business associate of Zelensky.

While NABU did not name the suspects, ZN.ua, citing law-enforcement sources, identified them as Mudraya, lawmaker Vadim Stolar, and ex-MP Maksim Mikitas, adding that several Justice Ministry officials and Sense Bank representatives were also targeted.

Recordings released by NABU featured discussions about moving the bail funds and avoiding scrutiny. In one excerpt, an unidentified woman – potentially Mudraya – cites another unidentified person as saying, “corruption needs to be systematized and controlled, not fought.” Another voice adds: “and led.”

The scandal is part of several high-level graft cases. Earlier this month, anti-corruption authorities accused former ambassador to the US Olga Stefanishina of illicit enrichment and inaccurate asset declarations. Last month, they also accused several senior officials in Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry of large-scale fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering aimed at stealing foreign money.

Rampant corruption in Ukraine has long been the case, and only intensified after the escalation of Kiev’s conflict with Russia in 2022. EU officials have also designated graft as one of Ukraine’s key obstacles to membership.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said that “corruption in Ukraine has become a byword” as it “permeates the entire Ukrainian power structure, including Zelensky’s inner circle and Zelensky himself.”

In a recent interview, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in response to a question about the aggressive attitude of Israeli politicians towards Türkiye, stated that Ankara will not shy away from war if attacked. While these words cannot be considered a direct declaration of war against Israel, they certainly served as a stern warning. The Turkish leader clearly stated Ankara’s position: Türkiye does not seek to enter into an armed conflict, but any aggression against it will be met with a decisive response. Erdogan, however, did not express any intention to strike first; he merely indicated that the diplomatic means of deterring Israel are gradually being exhausted.

Erdogan’s words are directly related to the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement signed on August 7 by Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. Its core principle is reminiscent of Article 5 of NATO, which states that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all. The defense pact provides for military coordination, joint exercises, intelligence sharing, and the development of defense-industrial cooperation. Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan are creating their own mechanism of deterrence. And while it is not yet a full-fledged ‘Islamic NATO’, it is much more than a mere declaration of friendship.

US President Donald Trump’s reaction to this pact was notable. He welcomed the agreement, calling it a “big step” that demonstrates the unity of Middle Eastern countries. At first glance, it sounds contradictory that Washington is approving a mechanism that reduces the dependence of regional allies on American security guarantees. However, the Mecca Agreement is not a military alliance against the US, but rather an agreement against the American monopoly on determining regional security rules. There is a difference between these two concepts, although the distinction may narrow over time.

Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan all have their own grievances against Washington. Türkiye is dissatisfied with US support for Kurdistan Workers’ Party-affiliated militias in Syria, its exclusion from the F-35 program, and America’s continued support for Israel. Saudi Arabia feels bitter about America’s muted response to the attack on its oil infrastructure during the US aggression against Iran and is no longer confident that American guarantees will shield it at a critical moment. Pakistan considers its relations with Washington rather situational. After decades of cooperation, Islamabad faced sanctions and a decline in American interest following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, while Washington’s ties with India strengthened.

Why, then, is Trump satisfied about this new agreement? Regional self-defense is consistent with his long-standing principle that US allies should bear more costs and responsibilities. Moreover, openly opposing the pact would be tantamount to acknowledging US concerns and pushing the three countries toward even greater independence. Washington benefits from welcoming the new structure and maintaining influence through NATO, arms sales, intelligence cooperation, and bilateral ties. Finally, Trump can portray the situation not as a weakening of America, but as a success of his own policy – an example of how the allies have united to share the common burden.

The underlying fault line remains, however. The Mecca agreement enshrines the right of regional powers to decide for themselves who poses a threat to them and what their response should be. Ankara, Riyadh, and Islamabad have no intention of severing ties with the US, but they are trying to safeguard themselves should American policy again prove unpredictable or be subordinated primarily to Israeli interests. Formally, the pact is not directed against Washington; but politically, it signifies a shift away from American patronage toward a more polycentric security system. This is why experts view the agreement as a sign of America’s declining role in the region. 

The entire region, from the Eastern Mediterranean to South Asia, is closely monitoring the new agreement. India sees that its main adversary, Pakistan, has received collective guarantees from two influential states. Israel must take into account that Türkiye now intends to rely not only on its own forces and NATO membership, but also on a separate regional defense mechanism. Likewise, Greece, which has long-standing disputes with Ankara in the Aegean Sea, concerning Cyprus and maritime borders, cannot ignore the strengthening of Türkiye’s position. 

There is currently no reason to talk about the imminent emergence of a formal trilateral pact. India has officially stated that it is studying the implications of the Mecca Agreement for its national security and regional stability, but remains cautious. Most likely, a possible counterweight will initially emerge not in the form of a single treaty, but as a network of joint exercises, intelligence sharing, cooperation in air defense, unmanned systems, and maritime security. But the very possibility of such a configuration demonstrates that the Mecca agreement has already set in motion the logic of regional balancing: the emergence of a single center of power almost inevitably pushes its potential rivals closer together. 

But is Erdogan truly prepared to fight Israel? While retaliatory actions are quite possible, a pre-planned major war is not likely. Türkiye is not interested in a direct confrontation. War would hit its already battered economy, inevitably trigger a crisis within NATO, complicate relations with the US, and could quickly escalate beyond a bilateral conflict. Israel also understands that war with Türkiye carries an incomparably greater risk than operations against non-state actors or strikes against weaker neighbors.

Nevertheless, such a scenario is no longer entirely out of the question. The main zone of risk is Syria, where the interests of the two countries frequently clash. Ankara seeks to consolidate its influence in Damascus, strengthen Syrian statehood while maintaining pro-Turkish sentiments, and prevent the emergence of hostile forces on the Turkish border. Israel is trying to limit Türkiye’s rise and maintain freedom of military action. The two sides maintain technical channels to prevent accidental clashes, but a strike on a target housing Turkish military personnel or the death of Turkish citizens could be enough to trigger a chain reaction.

The Mecca agreement raises the costs of attacking Türkiye, but does not automatically imply that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will start a major war with Israel. The full text of the document has yet to be published, and collective defense could include various forms of assistance, from political support and intelligence sharing to direct military involvement. For now, it is primarily an instrument of deterrence: its purpose is not to facilitate war, but to dissuade a potential adversary from starting one.

Erdogan’s statement should be seen within this logic. He is not declaring war on Israel, but is depriving the Israeli leadership of the confidence that Türkiye will, under any circumstances, limit itself to protests and diplomatic statements. A full-scale Turkish-Israeli war remains unrealistic. However, if Israeli actions affect Turkish forces or are perceived by Ankara as a direct threat to national security, Erdogan is capable of responding with force. Then it would no longer be a question of whether he wants war, but whether the parties are able to stop the war after the initial exchange of blows.

Donald Trump said just before midnight Washington time that he has a deal with Canada to avoid 50% tariffs, and thus the tariffs are on pause for three days. Although that may not be the case a few more seconds from now. Just ask Iran. Whoops, here we go already. Canada has already disputed the existence of any deal.

If midnight strikes on the eve of August 19 without Canadian government negotiators agreeing to Trump’s demands, then Canada faces “50% tariffs,” Trump had warned. Except now, apparently, Canada has a deal with Trump. For three days. Clock it. Best to check that reservation again before leaving the house, though.

The reality is that most exports to the US from Canada are already covered under a North American free trade agreement that also includes Mexico. And the Canadian government has spent the past several months educating the country’s companies about how they can feasibly ensure that their own products can qualify under that deal. Which leaves, what exactly? Canadian booze. Canadian hockey gear. Canadian wood and paper products.

Yet you’d think that the US has actual options from the way that Trump has been behaving. Why even negotiate with Canada if that’s the case. It’s like the guy blowing up your phone asking for a date while insisting that he has better offers on the table than you. Well, go ahead, then. What’s stopping you? If you’re still camping out on the lawn, then there must be something that you really want and need – regardless of the accompanying rhetoric suggesting otherwise.

Now, apparently, there is a deal. Until there isn’t. Or until the deal becomes a different deal. Or until the deadline for the deal moves. Or until the deal is declared a victory, followed by another deadline to secure the next victory. It’s like a departure board for a flight in hurricane season.

Oh, what’s that? You want first dibs on Canadian natural resources in the interest of collective security, as reports have suggested? That’s like telling a woman that she must date you and not anyone else because you’re the safest choice.

Does Mr. Security threaten to violate you against your multiple attempts to rebuff his advances, as Trump did in repeatedly riffing about making Canada the “51st state” despite Canadians literally making it the primary issue in their last national election that resulted in a landslide win for the current Prime Minister, Mark Carney, who made it the cornerstone of his campaign?

“The US is demanding a right of first refusal on Canadian critical minerals, that Canada complete its purchase of US F-35 fighter jets, that Ottawa buy US tech such as radar planes as part of joining Mr. Trump’s planned Golden Dome missile defence system, and that Washington receive some guarantee on future supplies of oil and gas,” according to the Globe and Mail.

In fact, this entire charade has made Canada more unified and stronger than ever. It’s finally awoken even the most sycophantic pro-US Canadians to its vassal status reality through historical kowtowing to Washington’s demands. Just a few years ago, anyone talking about diversifying interests away from US over-dependence and speaking publicly about how the US-centric world is over, would have immediately been branded some kind of foreign agent tasked with breaking up the US-led Western alliance. But Carney has made it clear that sovereignty runs through the kind of diversification of interests that much maligned patriotic Canadians have been demanding for years.

Trump’s desire for Canadian assets – and the frustration over being denied, as repeatedly exhibited by his Ambassador to Ottawa, Pete Hoekstra – has also served to draw Canadians’ attention to the various potential ways that American and other foreign interests have been actively supporting separatist groups – most recently in resource-rich Alberta – in an attempt to gain political leverage over the country’s elected decision makers and tilt the global playing field in their own favor.

Hoekstra himself has been linked to a voter ID app used by the separatist movement, which has also met with Trump’s State Department officials – as a Canadian petition on the parliamentary website states. To date, nearly a quarter-million Canadians have signed it, demanding that Hoekstra be drop-kicked out of the country for foreign interference – a phenomenon that would have been unthinkable to associate with the US until recently, despite what some of us kept trying to explain.

The trade spat with the US was also the catalyst needed for the various Canadian provinces to do away with their own provincial protectionist barriers – finally allowing free trade across the nation.

And buying Canadian – or anything BUT American – has become such a widespread activist movement that it’s been widely reported that despite Trump’s demand that Carney get American booze back on Canadian shelves, it would just sit there collecting dust at this point. It’s no wonder Canadians that don’t care about any midnight deadlines, with 66% certain that Trump wouldn’t honor it anyway, according to an Abacus poll.

So, yes: Canada and Trump have a deal. Unless something changes. Like the direction of the wind. Which is already the case, apparently. It’s actually more like a three-day free trial that can be cancelled anytime before it ends. Or even after. Doesn’t really matter anyway, since the charges will be showing up on the statement, regardless.

Russian doctors have developed and tested what they describe as the first treatment strategy of its kind for Alzheimer’s, using a new blood-filtering technique to target chronic inflammation – one of the processes believed to drive brain-cell damage.

Alzheimer’s is a progressive brain disease and the most common form of dementia. It gradually destroys memory, thinking and other cognitive abilities, eventually leaving patients unable to perform everyday tasks independently.

The new method was developed by clinicians at Sechenov University in Moscow, one of Russia’s oldest and leading medical universities, and tested on Alzheimer’s patients, according to a press release issued on Tuesday.

Unlike most existing treatments, which largely seek to ease symptoms or target beta-amyloid – a harmful protein that accumulates in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients – the new approach focuses on substances that fuel inflammation throughout the body and are believed to contribute to the disease.

Among them are so-called neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) – web-like structures of DNA and enzymes released by immune cells to fight health threats. While normally part of the body’s defenses, researchers say an excess of NETs with age can fuel inflammation, increase blood-vessel permeability, promote beta-amyloid buildup and damage brain cells.

To do so, they developed a technique that essentially cleans the blood. A patient’s plasma is passed through a special filter that removes potentially harmful DNA-containing particles while preserving healthy proteins, minerals and other useful substances before being returned to the bloodstream.

The approach was tested in a pilot study involving patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. They underwent three blood-filtering procedures at intervals of two to three days, with each session processing the equivalent of twice the patient’s total circulating plasma volume.

Doctors assessed the patients before and after treatment using memory and cognitive tests, brain MRI scans and spinal-fluid biomarkers. Three months later, researchers reported improvements in verbal memory, attention and information-processing speed. Relatives asked to assess the patients’ progress also noted improvements in their ability to perform daily tasks.

The researchers stressed that the findings are preliminary and that larger trials are needed to confirm the treatment’s safety and effectiveness. However, the team believes the strategy could eventually complement existing Alzheimer’s therapies.

Around 57 million people worldwide live with dementia, with Alzheimer’s accounting for an estimated 35–40 million cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Dementia is the seventh-leading cause of death globally, with nearly 10 million new cases each year – roughly one every three seconds. The risk of developing the condition doubles every five years after age 65. There is currently no cure.

South Korean prosecutors have sought the death penalty for a woman accused of killing two men with drug-laced drinks after allegedly consulting ChatGPT about potentially lethal combinations and dosages.

Kim So-young is accused of giving beverages spiked with benzodiazepines to three men between December 2025 and February this year. Two died, while the third survived, according to Yonhap. She is also charged with injuring three other men using similar methods.

Prosecutors asked the Seoul Northern District Court on Tuesday to sentence Kim to death during the final hearing of her trial.

Kim has denied intending to kill the men and has claimed she gave them the drinks to prevent unwanted physical contact.

However, police have said they recovered ChatGPT conversations from Kim’s phone in which she asked about the effects of combining sleeping pills with alcohol, what amounts could be dangerous, and whether the mixture could prove fatal.

According to investigators cited by NBC News, one of the three men at the center of the murder case survived after spending two days in a coma. Kim is believed to have subsequently consulted ChatGPT about the risks and dosages involved, and investigators say she increased the amount of drugs used before the later fatal poisonings.

Authorities have sought to use the chatbot conversations as evidence that Kim understood the potentially lethal consequences of the drugs. A lawyer representing one victim’s family has said the chat logs could be important in establishing whether she intended to kill.

Florida launched a criminal investigation into ChatGPT creator OpenAI this year after authorities said the perpetrator of the 2025 Florida State University shooting had used the bot to seek advice about guns and ammunition before killing two people and injuring six others.

In Canada, OpenAI faced lawsuits after acknowledging that it had banned the ChatGPT account of a teenager who later killed eight people in the Tumbler Ridge massacre, but had not alerted police.

Earlier this month, prosecutors in Massachusetts said a 17-year-old charged with murdering his 45-year-old mother and 14-year-old brother had also used ChatGPT to create “fantasy stories” about killing his family.

OpenAI has generally rejected claims that ChatGPT is responsible for violent acts committed by users, insisting it has a zero-tolerance policy on using its tools to assist violence and has been strengthening safeguards, account enforcement, and procedures for referring potentially dangerous users to law enforcement.

The company has also faced lawsuits accusing ChatGPT of fostering addictive behavior, reinforcing mental-health crises, and contributing to suicides.

India has finalized the paperwork to start constructing a hospital in the West Bank, Palestine’s ambassador to New Delhi has said. But he added that it is Gaza that badly needs the artificial limb facility that his government has discussed with New Delhi about building.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Abdullah M. Abu Shawesh said that there are more than 5,000 amputees in Gaza who are desperately in need of artificial limbs.

India said last month that it will build three major projects in Palestine, which include a specialty hospital, an artificial limb fitment center, and a vocational training institute.

Gaza is currently under Israeli occupation following the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023. 

”I’m sure India will be with us in Gaza the day after the war,” Shawesh  said. He added that some 20,000 Palestinians are in need of medical evacuation in Gaza, but that Israel is allowing only small groups of 5-10 to be moved.

Shawesh said that Palestine backs India’s bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for 2028-2029, a day after Indian diplomat Sripriya Ranganathan visited Ramallah in the West Bank and met with Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin.

”There is no ceasefire in Gaza, even with the declaration that had been (made) many months ago, Israel did not stop killing the Palestinian people,” Shawesh pointed out in an exclusive interview with RT India. 

The envoy painted a dire picture of Gaza. “My home, my father’s home, where I was born, has been destroyed. Gaza is destroyed,” he said, adding that 95% of the people there have been displaced and are living in shelters and tents.  

US President Donald Trump’s envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, after holding talks with Hamas leaders, in an effort to revive a Gaza peace plan.

However, Israeli Defense Forces said on Tuesday that it had hit a meeting of Hamas commanders in Gaza City; the Hamas-run civil defense agency said six people were killed and 14 wounded in the attack.

He alleged that children were specifically targeted by Israeli forces. The UN panel reported that Israel had killed 20,000 Palestinian children.

Protests broke out in western Libya, including in its capital Tripoli, on Tuesday after three widespread power outages in two days left residents without reliable electricity. 

Demonstrators took to streets and public squares, blocking roads and setting tires on fire. In Tripoli’s Tajoura district, protesters closed main roads with earthen barriers as they demonstrated against prolonged power outages and deteriorating basic services.  

The latest unrest follows weeks of protests linked to Libya’s electricity crisis. Triggered by a blistering heatwave with temperatures soaring to 50 degrees Celsius, residents faced daily blackouts lasting up to 14 hours, fueling widespread public anger.  

The situation escalated dramatically on July 28, when furious protesters stormed the strategic Mellitah Oil and Gas Complex, temporarily shutting down critical gas supplies to local power stations. 

Libya’s energy infrastructure has recently come under attack. Last week, Zawiya’s oil refining facilities which can process about 120,000 barrels a day were repeatedly targeted with drones. Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) warned that continued drone attacks could force it to stop operations at the country’s largest functioning refinery. 

One strike hit a gasoline tank holding about 4.5 million liters of fuel and started a major fire, the NOC said. Another damaged a tank containing untreated naphtha. The corporation declared the highest state of emergency in the area and called on the authorities to investigate the attacks. No group has claimed responsibility so far. 

🚨BREAKING: Protests Erupt In The Libyan Capital, Tripoli

The demonstrators are protesting against frequent blackouts & government mismanagement. pic.twitter.com/hmkbqgWJJ5

— MintPress News (@MintPressNews) August 17, 2026

Israel is building an execution facility for Palestinian prisoners sentenced to death on terrorism charges, ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has announced. Apart from an execution chamber, the facility will house viewing booths where “crime victims” and their families can witness hangings – an option “customary in many countries,” Ben-Gvir mentioned while presenting the facility on Tuesday.

The complex will be used to hang convicted “terrorists” under the recently approved Death Penalty for Terrorists Law. The Knesset passed the legislation, championed by Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party, in March. It mandates death penalty for those convicted of deadly terrorist attacks aimed at “ending Israel’s existence” – a provision critics say effectively exempts Jewish Israelis, making the law applicable almost exclusively to Palestinians. Executions must be carried out within 90 days of sentencing, with no right of appeal.

The execution facility’s exact location has not been disclosed beyond that it is housed in a newly built death-row wing at a prison in central Israel. In partly blurred video footage filmed at the site, a beaming Ben-Gvir proudly showcases the construction site, framing it as the fulfillment of promises to his supporters.

“We are making history. Terrorists deserve only one thing – death by hanging,” the minister stated. “I took office promising to stop the ‘summer camps’ in the Prison Service. This has been fully implemented. I promised to legislate a death penalty law for terrorists. This has been carried out. And now the death row and hanging facility are also starting to take shape.”

Ben-Gvir is known for inflammatory rhetoric toward Palestinians and has been sanctioned by multiple countries for repeatedly inciting violence against them.

‘Deeply discriminatory’ law

The death penalty law has drawn widespread criticism from human rights groups and legal campaigners, including in Israel, over discrimination, due process, and potential violations of international and Israeli law. UN human rights experts have warned that hanging in particular is incompatible with the absolute prohibition on torture, while Israeli rights group B’Tselem argued that the highly visual method contributes to the “dehumanization” of Palestinians.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has called it “deeply discriminatory” and an egregious violation of international law. Israeli lawmakers and rights groups, including Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel – recently petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the law as unconstitutional.

Israel currently holds around 9,400 Palestinian prisoners, including nearly 100 women and more than 370 minors, according to media reports citing the Palestinian Prisoner Society. Rights groups have repeatedly reported mistreatment of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, with former detainees and advocacy organizations alleging abuse, torture, starvation, physical and psychological harm, sexual violence, and denial of medical treatment. Israel is also reportedly holding the bodies of more than 100 Palestinians who died in its custody.

The US has imposed sanctions on two senior International Criminal Court (ICC) officials, accusing The Hague-based institution of overstepping its authority.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday designated ICC President Tomoko Akane and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye, describing the court as a “corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate.”

The designations are a part of a campaign announced by Rubio last month to “systematically dismantle the threat posed” by the ICC to US sovereignty.

Rubio has accused the court of targeting nationals of countries that have neither consented to its jurisdiction nor ratified the Rome Statute. The ICC previously investigated alleged crimes by US military and intelligence personnel in Afghanistan despite Washington not being a member.

Seye worked on the prosecution team involved in the Netanyahu case. Israeli outlet Ynet reported in May that he was also overseeing an ICC investigation into funding for West Bank settlements and the supply of weapons to settlers. Netanyahu welcomed the latest US sanctions, denouncing the ICC as a “kangaroo court.”

The ICC said on Wednesday it “strongly rejects” the new designations, calling them “a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution.”

The court has also faced criticism elsewhere. Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have initiated withdrawals this summer, while Chad followed in July, accusing the ICC of disproportionately focusing on Africa.

Russia has likewise rejected the court’s authority. The ICC issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova in March 2023 over the alleged unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia. Moscow dismissed the warrants as legally null and void and rejected the allegations, saying it evacuated unaccompanied children from the war zone and is ready to return them to their legal guardians upon request.

Liberia has agreed to accept up to 1,200 third-country migrants deported from the US under a controversial agreement pushed by the Trump administration as part of its sweeping immigration crackdown.

The transfers will take place over one year, with the first group of 20 due to arrive in the West African country on Thursday, Liberia’s Ministry of Information said in a statement on Tuesday.

The arrangement, concluded through an exchange of diplomatic notes in September 2025, covers medically cleared nationals of “African and Western Hemisphere countries.” Those transferred may apply for asylum in Liberia or leave the country voluntarily, the ministry stated.

It said the deportees “are not criminals” and will be treated as guests rather than prisoners. The government said it would provide protection and support during their stay.

The deal is among the largest reached under US President Donald Trump’s expanding third-country deportation policy. The mechanism allows Washington to remove migrants to states where they hold no citizenship or established ties, including when their home governments refuse to receive them.

A coalition of rights lawyers and advocates, including the Global Strategic Litigation Council, has accused Washington of using third-country transfers to bypass protection orders and expose migrants to persecution or torture. Thousands have reportedly been transferred to nearly two dozen states, including around ten in Africa.

Ghana, Eswatini, Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, and the Central African Republic are among the African countries that have accepted third-country deportees.

Liberia has said its participation is “entirely humanitarian,” pointing to its founding as a refuge for freed slaves from the US and elsewhere, as well as its history of sheltering people fleeing persecution and war.

South African citrus exporters have received a boost in the Indian market after New Delhi amended its plant quarantine rules on Monday, approving additional cold-treatment options for fresh citrus imports from the African state.

The move, which follows almost a decade of negotiations, will give exporters more flexibility and could help improve the quality of fruit reaching the Indian market. Minister of Agriculture Willie Aucamp welcomed the development, saying it was good news for the industry and showed how technology was helping farmers overcome barriers and expand access to international markets.

India is home to about 1.47 billion people and is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing economies, making it a potentially important market for South African citrus.

CEO of the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa (CGA), Boitshoko Ntshabele, argued the focus should now shift to improving the commercial conditions for South African citrus exports to India. He said tariffs of about 25% to 30% continue to put South African citrus at a disadvantage compared with competitors from the Southern Hemisphere that have preferential trade arrangements with India.

“Special recognition is given to the Department of Agriculture and Citrus Research International for their continued technical engagement with Indian authorities that have made the new treatment options possible. This demonstrates the importance of sustained public-private partnership in improving technical conditions for accessing markets,” Ntshabele said.

First published by IOL

The death toll from last week’s ferry disaster on Zimbabwe’s Lake Kariba has risen to 94, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) said on Tuesday.  

Search teams remain deployed in the area and recovery operations will continue as the authorities seek to locate any people still missing. “The death toll is now 94,” the ZRP reported, adding that search efforts would continue to locate “any missing persons or bodies.”  

The latest figure marks a further increase from the 93 deaths reported by police on Monday. In an earlier statement, the ZRP said 83 of the victims had been identified by their relatives. The victims include a number of young children. 

The ferry, operated by Zimbabwe’s Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA), capsized on Lake Kariba on August 11 while traveling from the town of Kariba to remote communities and fishing camps along the lake. The ferry, which reportedly encountered strong waves, was carrying around 180 passengers and cargo at the time of the accident, according to local broadcaster ZBC News.   

The African Union (AU) has expressed condolences over the disaster. AU Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said the bloc stood “in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe and the affected communities.” The United Arab Emirates (UAE) also conveyed its “sincere condolences and solidarity” to Zimbabwe. 

Fatal boat accidents occur regularly across Africa, where overcrowding and poor safety standards are often cited as contributing factors. In September, a wooden vessel carrying about 90 passengers capsized in Nigeria’s Niger State, killing at least 29 people. Authorities attributed the accident to overloading and the boat striking a submerged tree stump.

Russia and Ukraine have conducted another prisoner of war exchange, returning over a hundred servicemen to each side, the Defense Ministry in Moscow announced on Wednesday.

In a statement published on social media, the ministry said that “103 Russian servicemen were returned from territory controlled by the Kiev regime.” In exchange, 103 Ukrainian Armed Forces prisoners of war were transferred to Kiev.

The returned Russian servicemen are currently in Belarus, where they are receiving psychological and medical assistance, according to the ministry. Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova is working with the freed soldiers.

Lantratova noted that of the 103 returned Russian soldiers, 31 are wounded. “Among those who returned are fathers of many children, and some are very young men,” she added.

The soldiers will later be transported to Russia for further treatment and rehabilitation at Defense Ministry medical facilities.

The exchange was carried out with humanitarian mediation from the United Arab Emirates, the ministry added.

The swap is the latest in a series of prisoner exchanges between Moscow and Kiev despite the ongoing conflict.

The previous exchange took place on June 26, when the two sides returned 160 servicemen each, also with UAE mediation. Earlier that month, Russia and Ukraine also exchanged 185 POWs each, while another 205 servicemen from each side were released in May.

Moscow and Kiev have also continued exchanging the bodies of fallen soldiers. The UAE has repeatedly acted as a mediator in humanitarian contacts between the two sides.

NASA has released images showing a crater blasted into the Moon by a discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage that struck the lunar surface at around 5,400 mph (8,700 kph) earlier this month.

The US space agency published an animated before-and-after comparison on Tuesday, using images captured by its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that show the previously undisturbed surface and a dark new impact scar.

NASA said the crater measures roughly 18 meters (60 ft) across and less than 3 meters (10 ft) deep.

The images also reveal bright and dark rays spreading outward from the crater. NASA said the darker streaks consist of weathered lunar dust and rocks that were blasted out from the upper 1.5 ft (0.46 m) of the lunar surface by the impact. The material had been altered over time by solar wind, cosmic rays, and micrometeorite strikes. Brighter debris near the crater rim came from deeper underground.

Spotted: Falcon 9 impact site

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has captured images of a new crater on the Moon. The crater formed on Aug. 5, 2026, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage impacted the lunar surface. https://t.co/aqduBYwpmg pic.twitter.com/hE83yvzmIk

— NASA Solar System (@NASASolarSystem) August 18, 2026

The 4-ton upper stage struck the Moon on August 5 after drifting through space for more than a year. The Falcon 9 launched in January 2025 carrying the US Blue Ghost and Japanese Resilience lunar landers. Its reusable first-stage booster returned to Earth, while the second stage remained in space.

SpaceX said the stage had initially been placed on a trajectory considered safe under existing rules. A combination of solar activity and gravitational forces later sent it toward the lunar surface.

Although the Moon is regularly struck by natural meteoroids, collisions involving man-made objects are much less common. NASA deliberately crashed rocket stages into the lunar surface during the Apollo era to collect seismic data.

The US has lifted security restrictions on vessels arriving from Nigeria, ending a 12-year regime that burdened shipping companies with additional guards, inspections, and paperwork.

A US Coast Guard notice published on Wednesday said “recent assessments” had found that Africa’s most populous nation was maintaining effective antiterrorism measures at its ports, warranting the removal of restrictions known as Conditions of Entry (CoE).

The measures, imposed in June 2014, did not amount to an outright ban on Nigerian-flagged ships. They applied to vessels that had called at designated Nigerian ports during their previous five port calls, requiring operators to tighten onboard security, guard access points, and report their precautions. The safeguards were intended to prevent ships leaving poorly secured ports from being exploited to carry terrorists, weapons, or tampered cargo into US waters.

The conditions had long drawn complaints over higher insurance bills, added personnel costs, and delays. Abuja expects their removal to improve turnaround times and attract shipping lines, although congestion, corruption allegations, and Gulf of Guinea piracy remain obstacles.

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency said the US Coast Guard conducted four assessments of the West African nation’s maritime security systems and port facilities between March 2024 and April 2026.

Nigeria’s minister of marine and blue economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, hailed the decision as “a major milestone” affirming Abuja’s progress in maritime security and implementation of the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code.

Nigeria was not the only African country subject to US conditions of entry. Similar vessel restrictions remain in force against Cameroon, Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Libya, Madagascar, Seychelles, Sudan, and Sao Tome and Principe. In February, the Coast Guard expanded the restrictions within Cameroon and Madagascar by revoking exemptions previously granted to certain port facilities.

Sicily is facing its worst aviation disruption in more than two decades as a prolonged eruption of Mount Etna forces hundreds of flight cancellations, stranding thousands during the peak summer holiday season.

Europe’s tallest and most active volcano has been erupting continuously since August 6, producing lava fountains, fresh flows, and persistent ash emissions. Experts say the activity could continue for weeks or even months.

Volcanic ash has caused the greatest disruption, with shifting winds carrying it toward Catania-Fontanarossa Airport, about 30 km south of Etna. On Tuesday, the airport extended restrictions due to “Etna’s eruptive activity and the simultaneous emission of volcanic ash,” limiting arrivals to ten per hour. In recent days, the cap has fallen as low as five as changing winds repeatedly forced schedule revisions under safety procedures.

Catania is Sicily’s busiest airport and the sixth busiest in Italy. Its operator, Societa Aeroporti Catania (SAC), has called the disruption “the most difficult emergency of the last 20 years.” Between August 6 and 12, 36% of some 1,974 scheduled arrivals were canceled, SAC said, while around 630 incoming flights were diverted. By August 13, nearly 800 flights had been canceled, disrupting travel for tens of thousands of passengers.

Drone footage released by the Ruptly video agency on Tuesday showed Etna lighting up the night sky as jets of glowing lava erupted from its summit and flowed down its slopes.

“In this case we have… days of continuous activity. Similar phenomena were seen in the late 1970s,” Gambino told Euronews.

Several parts of Etna are also active simultaneously, with lava fountains and ash emissions at the Voragine crater and multiple vents feeding flows in the Valle del Bove. A new vent opened on the eastern side on Monday, though INGV said the lava currently poses no threat to populated areas.

Italy’s Civil Protection Department has kept Etna at yellow alert, the second of four levels, since June 26. Despite heightened monitoring and restrictions, particularly at higher altitudes, the eruption has drawn large crowds, causing congestion and prompting some hiking closures. The local rescue service has also urged caution following several callouts.

BRICS countries have opposed the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), calling it “unilateral, punitive, discriminatory, and protectionist.”

The meeting of the bloc’s environmental and climate ministers in New Delhi, chaired by Indian Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, expressed concern on Monday that the measures specifically undermine efforts by developing countries “aimed at addressing the adverse impacts of climate change.”

The BRICS group of emerging and developing economies includes the original members Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, as well as Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Indonesia.

The EU mechanism, which came into effect on January 1, aims to reduce “carbon leakages” through a certificate-based pricing system. In effect, it puts a carbon price on emissions-intensive goods entering the 27-nation EU bloc.

Importers have to buy certificates matching the weekly carbon price of the EU Emissions Trading System, with deductions allowed for any carbon prices already paid in the goods’ country of origin.

Addressed the 12th BRICS Environment Ministers’ Meeting, welcoming Ministers and Delegates and reaffirming the importance of aligning policy, technology and public participation towards building a sustainable planet following a “humanity first“ approach.@BricsIndia2026 pic.twitter.com/YC8CKLpz5t

— Bhupender Yadav (@byadavbjp) August 18, 2026

The CBAM’s professed aim – to ensure foreign goods face a carbon cost equal to products made inside the EU – puts producers in developing countries at a disadvantage. It imposes extra carbon costs on the key exports of developing countries and reduces their price competitiveness in European markets.

Producers in the Global South are forced to undertake costly tracking of factory emissions to sell to the EU, while it reduces overall market opportunities for carbon-intensive emerging economies – which in effect are forced to pay for the historical high emissions of Western developed nations.

The higher carbon costs make Indian exports of steel, aluminum, and cement to the EU less competitive. New Delhi has raced to create a domestic carbon trading framework and mechanism to keep the value of the carbon savings within the country instead of ending up as EU taxes.

The BRICS statement noted that the EU carbon border tax was “not in line with international law.”

India had in 2024 labelled the proposed CBAM as unfair and detrimental to domestic market costs.

The UK will face consequences if it continues to supply drones used by Ukraine for strikes deep inside Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned. Moscow has accused Ukraine of targeting civilian infrastructure and carrying out indiscriminate strikes that kill civilians.

According to the Sunday Times, drones made by BAE Systems and another unnamed UK company have been used in attacks over the past six months, including strikes on oil refineries in Volgograd, southwestern Russia, and Yaroslavl, northeast of Moscow. The UAVs reportedly used in long-range strikes included the Nyan, a jet-powered drone manufactured by a BAE Systems subsidiary.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said the UK will continue to support Ukraine “100%.”

“We are not fair-weather friends, we will be there in Ukraine’s hour of need and that won’t change,” he said, according to the BBC.

Commenting on Tuesday, Lavrov told Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin: “You know, I feel sorry for Britain if it intends to stand with Ukraine until the very end.”

In a statement on Monday, the Russian Embassy in London branded the UK “an accomplice and co-perpetrator of the bloody crimes and terrorist attacks” committed by Ukraine.

“The deeper its involvement in the conflict and the greater its support for Kiev’s terrorist machinery, the higher the price it will pay,” the embassy said.

Ukraine has stepped up attacks in recent months, targeting Russian port infrastructure, energy sites, and warehouses belonging to Wildberries, the country’s equivalent of Amazon. In a number of cases, drones have also struck residential areas, including high-rise apartment buildings and houses.

An attack last week on industrial and civilian sites in Nizhnekamsk in Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan killed 13 people, while a strike on a Wildberries warehouse in Kotovsk, Tambov Region, on July 18 left seven workers dead.

One of Ukraine’s deadliest strikes on Russia came in May, when a drone hit a college dormitory in the Donbass city of Starobelsk, killing 21 people, mostly young women.

The US has suspended negotiations with Iran and is seeking to gradually “strangle” the country, CNN reported on Tuesday, after its bombing campaign near the Strait of Hormuz failed to yield the desired results.

The US abruptly halted its most recent wave of strikes late last month amid reports that the war, launched alongside Israel on February 28, has largely depleted its stockpiles of precision munitions and interceptor missiles. US top brass have also reportedly warned President Donald Trump that the military has exhausted its list of targets near the Strait of Hormuz.

White House officials reportedly told political allies that they were changing strategy in what a CNN source described as “going from ‘hammer Iran ASAP’ to ‘strangle them’ over time.”

According to the outlet, Trump instructed his negotiators, including Vice President J.D. Vance and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, to halt talks with Tehran.

The June 17 memorandum of understanding (MoU), which provided a 60-day window to negotiate a definitive peace deal between the US and Iran, expired on Monday as the two sides clashed over its interpretation. Iran’s key negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, last week denounced what he called “theater diplomacy,” accusing the US of issuing unacceptable ultimatums.

Ghalibaf said on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until the US lifts its blockade, releases Iran’s frozen assets, and removes sanctions. Iran closed the strategic waterway, which handles around a quarter of global seaborne oil and LNG trade, shortly after the US and Israel launched their bombing campaign in late February. The US Navy declared its own blockade in April and has since been guiding ships through routes that Iran considers illegal.

Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov, whose surprise firing last month sparked weeks of popular protests, has called for Vladimir Zelensky to lift his ban on elections.

Zelensky, whose five-year presidential term expired in May 2024, has refused to hold a new election, citing martial law imposed after the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022.

Fedorov, credited with championing drone warfare and fostering military cooperation abroad, was sacked on July 14 amid reports of clashes over priorities and tactics with Ukraine’s top commander, Aleksandr Syrsky. Zelensky responded to street protests demanding Fedorov’s return by firing Syrsky the following week. Both Fedorov and Syrsky have since publicly sought to downplay their differences.

In a campaign-style video released on YouTube on Tuesday evening, Fedorov blasted corruption and called for accountability and transparency amid what he described as “a systemic crisis of governance.”

“We must find a legal, safe, and realistic mechanism that would allow Ukraine to restore a fully functioning democratic process even if the war drags on,” Fedorov said.

“We can find a solution even in this situation, because democracy is not a luxury reserved for peacetime. Democracy is part of what we are fighting for today. But there is another reason why this conversation is needed right now. People cannot live indefinitely in a state where they do not understand why certain decisions are being made,” the former minister added.

“Society gets the impression that the main criterion for appointing someone is not their professionalism, their track record or their ability to change the country, but their personal loyalty to the system,” Fedorov said.

In an apparent jab at Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, he argued that the country’s parliament should be “the heart of Ukrainian democracy, not its wallet.”

In a post on X, Russian presidential investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev argued that Fedorov was “de facto signaling his presidential ambitions in a challenge to Zelensky.”

Critics have long accused Zelensky of abusing his power and seeking to sideline officials widely seen as potential political rivals. In February 2024, he abruptly sacked his top commander, Valery Zaluzhny, who was credited with the defense of Kiev during the early stages of the conflict, and later appointed him ambassador to the UK. In January, Zelensky removed Kirill Budanov as head of military intelligence and appointed him his new chief of staff. Both Zaluzhny and Budanov enjoyed significant public support and had polled close to or ahead of Zelensky.

Zelensky’s rule has been marred by controversies that have caused uproar at home and abroad. Last year, he sought to curb the investigative powers of the Western-backed anti-corruption agencies NABU and SAPO, only to back down following protests in Kiev and criticism from Ukraine’s foreign backers.

In November, anti-corruption investigators uncovered an alleged $100 million kickback scheme in the energy industry that implicated Zelensky’s longtime business partner Timur Mindich, who fled the country to evade arrest. The fallout led to the resignations of several ministers and Zelensky’s close associate Yermak.

US congressional lawyers are struggling with a flood of error-ridden AI-generated legislation, forcing them to spend increasingly more time rewriting proposals produced by chatbots, Politico reported on Monday.

Staffers and outside groups have more frequently turned to ChatGPT and Claude to produce legislative text, with error-ridden drafts regularly reaching the House Office of Legislative Counsel (OLC), according to eight current and former officials interviewed by the Axel Springer-owned outlet.

In some cases, lawyers spend “more time trying to fix AI-drafted legislation than it would take for them to draft it from scratch,” one person who advises congressional staff on the technology said.

The OLC helps lawmakers turn policy proposals into bills and ensure they fit existing US law. However, AI-generated drafts have reportedly arrived with incorrect statutory references, confused legal definitions and wording that could produce unintended consequences if enacted.

The errors are adding to an already heavy workload. The OLC has 61 attorneys and 19 support staff and received 5,623 legislative requests during the first 60 days of the current Congress, up 72% from the same period two years earlier.

AI use is becoming increasingly common on Capitol Hill, four congressional staffers told Politico, saying that chatbots are used to review and draft legislation. The introduction of generative tools, however, has already led to a number of public blunders.

Canadian politician reads AI prompt aloud in legislature without realizing it:

"Here's a more natural, flowing version of that section that reads like a legislative speech rather than a series of short points" pic.twitter.com/S2Q0aV2Ufp

— CR1337 (@CR1337) July 26, 2026

In June, Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna’s office published an amendment summary containing the words “Claude responded:” along with other text copied from the chatbot. Luna said AI had been used on the summary rather than the amendment itself, and added that the inclusion of Claude’s remarks was “not a shocker. Most staff use it.”

AI-related errors have also reached the US courts. Two federal judges came under scrutiny last year over rulings containing inaccurate quotations, factual errors and incorrect case references, with AI reportedly involved in at least one case.

The State Department also apologized last month after using an AI-generated map that misplaced all six African countries it highlighted.

Despite such blunders, the OLC is also exploring how AI could assist its own work. The office told Congress in March that it had formed a working group to examine uses such as legal research and had already introduced specialized technology to help its lawyers draft legislation.

The relics of one of Russia’s greatest heroes, Dmitry Donskoy, have been recovered at the Kremlin’s Archangel Cathedral, the Russian Orthodox Church announced on Tuesday.

Grand Prince Dmitry of Moscow has for centuries been revered for his victory over the Mongols at the Battle of Kulikovo on the Don River in the year 1380, which earned him the epithet Donskoy. While the victory did not end the Golden Horde’s domination over the Russian principalities, it is traditionally regarded as a turning point in Russian history that helped pave the way for eventual liberation.

Under Dmitry Donskoy, Moscow also strengthened its position as the leading power among the rival Russian principalities, laying the foundations for the emergence of a centralized Russian state. The Orthodox Church canonized the prince in 1988.

The Church said Donskoy’s remains were uncovered by chance during restoration work at the cathedral last month. The project was undertaken to address sinking floor slabs that threatened to damage the tombstones of several grand princes.

As workers dismantled the brick covers of the crypts beneath the floor, they uncovered three white-stone sarcophagi. One was found to have cracks requiring urgent repairs.

The discovery marked the first time Donskoy’s burial site had been opened. Until July, Kremlin museum specialists had been uncertain about the exact location of his remains after a 19th-century engineering report suggested that the tombs may have been mixed up.

With the blessing of Patriarch Kirill, archaeologists and anthropologists from the Russian Academy of Sciences examined the remains.

After the remains were authenticated, Kirill ordered that fragments of the relics be recovered and made available for veneration by worshippers.

During a special service on Tuesday, the patriarch highlighted Donskoy’s role in the emergence of a sovereign Russian state.

“Now we will offer a prayer to the holy and faithful prince, asking him to intercede for and protect our land, our Fatherland, and to beseech the Lord to safeguard the Russian land from every enemy and adversary,” the patriarch said.

Presidential aide and historian Vladimir Medinsky described the recovery of Donskoy’s relics as an event of profound spiritual significance for the entire nation, according to TASS.

Agricultural producers across the EU have warned of sharp drops in yields after Europe has been hit by successive heatwaves this summer. Economists have said the losses are likely to push food prices higher in the coming months.

June and July were the hottest on record in western Europe, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, which has warned of a “continued risk of heatwaves affecting much of Europe” through August and into September.

In France, one of the EU’s largest grain producers, groundwater reserves were severely depleted across much of the country by early August, according to the national geological survey.

Prince de Bretagne, a major growers’ cooperative in Brittany, warned last week of a “historic” vegetable crisis. It projected yield declines of 40% for peas, 60% for broccoli, and between 50% and 100% for artichokes this summer.

Eric Legras, president of Unilet, France’s leading association of canned and frozen vegetable producers, said severe heat had also hit northern and southwestern France, describing the crisis as “exceptional.”

In northern Italy, home to one of Europe’s main rice-growing regions, water shortages have left some paddies “completely dead, burnt, with the rice dried out,” according to Coldiretti, the country’s largest farmers’ association.

Farmers in Spain have likewise reported considerable shortfalls in cereal yields, as well as cattle fodder deficits.

The German Farmers’ Association on Tuesday warned that grain production would be 7%, or 3.3 million tons, lower than last year. The worst-hit regions in the south of the country could potentially suffer total crop failures.

In neighboring Poland, business outlet Puls Biznesu predicted last month that persistent drought could force the country to become more reliant on food imports.

Analysts at Zurich Insurance Group and several European banks have estimated that the heatwaves could cost the EU between €50 billion and €180 billion.

Denmark has deployed a batch of fresh military conscripts to Greenland for the first time in modern history, as Copenhagen seeks to assert its control over the Arctic territory in response to threats of annexation from US President Donald Trump.

Around 100 conscripts from the Schleswig Infantry Regiment arrived in Nuuk in early August, Denmark’s military said in a press release on Tuesday. The group will divide their time between training and “operational tasks,” the military explained, with some troops stationed in Nuuk and others sent 350km north to Kangerlussuaq, an airbase used by US forces throughout the Second World War and Cold War.

The conscripts deployed to Greenland are the first batch of recruits to serve 11-month stints in the Danish military. In 2024, Denmark extended conscription from four months to 11, broadened the draft to include women, and ordered annual conscription numbers to increase from 5,000 to 7,000.

Trump started threatening to annex Greenland last year, claiming that the US needs the landmass “for the purpose of national security” – namely to host elements of his promised ‘Golden Dome’ ballistic missile defense network. Trump has also said that he wants “Greenland for its rare-earth minerals.” 

Denmark launched the exercise in January, after Trump and other top US officials refused to rule out the use of military force to annex Greenland. Two weeks before the operation was announced, Trump joked that Denmark’s entire military presence on Greenland amounted to “two dog sleds.”

Eleven other NATO states have sent troops to take part in the exercise, including France, Germany, and the UK. Operation Arctic Endurance is a small-scale exercise, with fewer than 300 Danish and allied troops in Greenland at any one time before the arrival of the conscripts.

“The cost to the US would be raised. The US would have to carry out a hostile act to get Greenland,” a defense source told the broadcaster.

As an American oil company moved drilling equipment onto Greenland last month, Trump posted an image of himself looming over Greenland on his Truth Social platform, along with the caption “Hello, Greenland!”

Only hours before the annual US-South Korean military exercise Ulchi Freedom Shield was due to begin, Donald Trump issued a statement that went far beyond another dispute over how much America’s allies should pay for their own security.

On August 16, 2026, the US president announced that he had instructed the Pentagon to substantially reduce joint military exercises with the Republic of Korea, describing them as costly and arguing that such demonstrations of force were sending North Korea an unnecessarily hostile signal. For decades, these exercises had been presented as an essential element of deterrence on the Korean Peninsula.

Trump approached the issue from almost the opposite direction. He suggested that North Korea, despite its nuclear arsenal and long confrontation with the US, has behaved in an unthreatening and respectful manner while he has been president. The following day he again emphasized his personal relationship with Kim Jong-un and said that the two men understood each other.

Yet North Korea was only part of the story. Trump also linked his frustration with Seoul to the war with Iran, claiming that he had asked South Korea to support American actions and had effectively received the answer “No thanks.” Seoul was far more cautious. South Korean leaders had to consider the permanent security problem on the peninsula, domestic legal procedures, and the political risks of direct involvement in another Middle Eastern war.

Paying for security

The modern US-South Korean security relationship emerged from the Korean War, was institutionalized through the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1953, and has remained stable for decades. The US maintained forces on the peninsula and extended strategic and eventually nuclear deterrence, while Seoul provided infrastructure, shared costs, and developed its own military capabilities. Around 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea today.

American forces are part of a system that includes intelligence, logistics, command structures, air and naval power, and, above all, the US nuclear umbrella. Washington traditionally viewed this presence as an investment in American influence across Northeast Asia.

Trump challenged this logic during his first presidency. Previous administrations generally accepted substantial overseas military expenditure as part of the cost of maintaining a US-led international order. Trump repeatedly returned to a simpler question: How much was the ally itself paying?

In 2019, his administration reportedly sought to raise Seoul’s annual contribution to the cost of American troops to nearly $5 billion, several times the existing amount. Yet South Korea was never a free rider. Pentagon spending connected with the US presence in Korea reached roughly $13.4 billion between 2016 and 2019, while Seoul provided about $5.8 billion in support. Under the current cost-sharing framework, South Korea’s contribution for 2026 is approximately 1.5 trillion won, or around $1.1 billion.

The Trump administration’s argument is that Washington provides a strategic asset whose value exceeds the direct cost of maintaining troops and that wealthy allies have enjoyed access to it too cheaply. The same logic applies to trade policy. During Trump’s first presidency, Washington attacked KORUS – the US-South Korea free trade agreement – as economically unfavorable, noting that the US goods trade deficit with South Korea had risen from $13.2 billion in 2011 to $23.1 billion in 2017.

Two principles had emerged during Trump’s first term. Allies should pay more for security and trade deficits should not be accepted merely because they occur between strategic partners. Earlier US policy could tolerate some economic imbalance as the price of geopolitical cohesion. Trump increasingly treats the economic and military dimensions of an alliance as parts of the same calculation.

South Korea’s dependence on Washington should still not be overestimated. Seoul possesses formidable conventional capabilities. Its defense expenditure reached approximately $47.8 billion in 2025, while its defense industry produces advanced artillery, tanks, aircraft, missiles, and naval systems and has become an important global exporter. The emerging American strategy increasingly assumes that South Korea should take primary responsibility for conventional deterrence against North Korea.

The most significant aspect of the dependency lies elsewhere. The Republic of Korea remains protected by US extended nuclear deterrence, backed by the full range of American capabilities, including nuclear weapons. Seoul participates in strategic consultations, but ultimate control over the nuclear component remains in American hands. Operational command arrangements in a major war create another layer of dependence.

The result is a peculiar balance. South Korea is powerful enough to handle many conventional threats, yet replacing American nuclear guarantees would require a profound strategic shift and might reopen the politically explosive question of acquiring an independent nuclear arsenal. This gives Washington leverage that cannot be measured only through troop numbers.

Economic ties create another asymmetry. In 2025, South Korean exports reached a record $709.4 billion, of which about $122.9 billion went to the US. America absorbed roughly 17 percent of all South Korean exports and remained the country’s second-largest foreign market. Dependence is the greatest in sectors such as automobiles, semiconductors and automotive components.

Bilateral goods trade in 2025 reached approximately $194 billion. US exports to South Korea stood near $68.8 billion, while imports reached about $125.2 billion, leaving Washington with a deficit of roughly $56.4 billion. Traditional economic analysis can treat this deficit as one element of a wider relationship involving investment, technology and industrial integration. Trump sees it more transactionally. If a country depends on American security and benefits from access to the American market, Washington can demand measurable concessions in return.

One strategic account

During Trump’s second presidency, this approach has become more systematic. Trade, investment and defense are increasingly treated as elements of one strategic negotiation. South Korea has agreed to investment commitments worth approximately $350 billion, including around $150 billion connected with American shipbuilding. In return, Washington moderated some of the tariff pressure that had threatened Korean exports.

At the same time, Seoul has faced expectations that it will increase defense spending, purchase more American weapons and provide greater support for the US military presence. South Korea has committed itself to moving defense expenditure towards 3.5 percent of GDP and purchasing roughly $25 billion of American military equipment by 2030.

The dispute over Iran shows how far this approach can extend. South Korea imports almost all of its energy resources. Before the latest crisis, around 70% of its crude oil and roughly 20% of its liquefied natural gas came from the Middle East, much of it dependent on the Strait of Hormuz. The disruption cause by the Iran war threatened South Korean industry and growth.

Yet economic exposure did not translate into a willingness to participate militarily in American operations against Iran. Seoul sought alternative supplies and measures to stabilize domestic markets but remained reluctant to become directly involved in a distant conflict. This appears to have irritated Trump precisely because the refusal contradicted his understanding of reciprocity.

From Washington’s perspective, the US has guaranteed South Korean security for decades, and when America asked for assistance in another strategically important region, Seoul hesitated despite suffering economically from the crisis itself. Trump’s subsequent criticism of joint exercises is a statement that military protection is not an unconditional feature of the alliance, but an asset whose political value must be matched by tangible support.

A new American model

South Korea is part of a larger transformation in American strategy. The US is not returning to classical isolationism. It continues to maintain global military capabilities, confront China in the Indo-Pacific, preserve nuclear alliances, and intervene when vital interests are perceived to be at stake. What is changing is Washington’s willingness to bear a disproportionate share of the everyday cost of the international order.

The emerging priority is the protection of the US and the strengthening of the Western Hemisphere, followed by the containment of China and preservation of American technological, industrial and military superiority. Allies in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East are increasingly expected to assume greater responsibility for regional security as Washington recognizes that its resources are not unlimited.

The US remains the most powerful individual state, but the period of virtually uncontested predominance has ended. China has accumulated enormous industrial, technological, and military capabilities, Russia continues to impose security costs on Western Europe, and maintaining commitments across several theatres demands enormous resources. Trump’s answer is therefore not retreat but an attempt to make American power cheaper to maintain.

There is no clear evidence that the Trump administration is consciously attempting to reproduce that scenario by encouraging conflicts elsewhere. A more defensible interpretation is that its policy follows a similar logic of relative power. Washington wants allies to carry more of the expense of regional defense, foreign companies to invest more heavily in the US and strategic industries to return to American territory, while partners purchase American weapons and contribute to US industrial renewal.

South Korea is wealthy enough to be asked to pay more, militarily capable enough to assume additional responsibility, and economically integrated enough with the US for tariff pressure to hurt. At the same time, it remains dependent enough on American strategic guarantees that it cannot easily disregard Washington’s demands. This makes Seoul an almost ideal test case for Trump’s new alliance policy.

The ultimate risk is that America’s alliance network has itself been a foundation of US power. States accepted American military leadership and financial influence partly because protection was regarded as predictable. If it increasingly becomes a conditional service whose price changes with trade balances or support for US operations, governments such as South Korea’s will have stronger incentives to seek strategic autonomy.

Trump may make the alliance system less expensive while also making it less American politically. A more autonomous South Korea could reduce Washington’s burden but become less willing to align automatically with US preferences.

For the moment, however, access to the American market increasingly comes with demands for investment and concessions, while American security guarantees increasingly come with demands for greater defense spending and political support. South Korea has not been granted an exception.

Trump’s decision to reduce joint military exercises reflects a deeper reassessment of America’s role in a changing world, in which Washington appears determined not to abandon global leadership but to make it more selective, less expensive and more economically rewarding. Whether that strategy preserves American primacy or encourages even close allies to seek greater independence may become one of the defining questions of the emerging international order.

The UAE has accused Iran of firing two ballistic missiles in its direction on Tuesday, as the two-month window for US-Iran peace talks expired without a breakthrough. Following the incident, Abu Dhabi announced a halt to all trade and financial transactions with Tehran.

The alleged incident was reported by the UAE’s Defense Ministry and the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA). The agencies did not explicitly say whether the incoming missiles were shot down. The military stated that one of them fell inside the country’s territorial waters, while the second landed outside.

Later in the day, the Defense Ministry said the projectiles appeared to have attacked “maritime navigation.” The ministry did not specify whether the allegedly targeted vessels were traveling within the country’s domestic or international waters.

Shortly after the UAE’s military provided the update on its assessment of the alleged attack, the Foreign Ministry announced a halt to all trade and transactions with Iran over the incident.

“In light of the regional escalation that undermined regional and international peace and security, all activities, trade exchanges, and financial transactions with Iran have been suspended until further notice,” the ministry said in a statement.

Iran’s state broadcaster Press TV claimed that the barrage bore the hallmarks of an Israeli “false-flag operation.”

The 60-day window set out in a US-Iranian memorandum for reaching a peace deal expired on Monday without a breakthrough. The two sides repeatedly exchanged strikes during the negotiating period, while shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz remained largely disrupted.

Earlier on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump confirmed that “no talks or conversations [were] going on, or scheduled” with Iran. “The Naval Blockade remains in full force and effect. The Hormuz Strait is open and operating. All water mines have been removed or detonated,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Iran maintains that it controls maritime traffic through the waterway and has repeatedly signaled plans to impose permanent tolls for safe passage.

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), reiterated the position on Tuesday, arguing that Washington’s failure to reopen the strait signaled “the post-American order in the Persian Gulf.”

“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,” Rezaei wrote on X.

The escalation comes amid reports that the US is facing a missile shortage, while the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, operating near Iran, has been plagued by maintenance and supply problems. Trump suspended the bombing campaign against Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz in late July, saying he was providing space for negotiations.

The prospect of US control over Venezuela’s sovereign assets would amount to a “colonial relationship” and set a “terrible precedent” for Latin America, former IMF Executive Director Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr. has told RT.

Reports have surfaced that some 31 tons of Venezuelan gold – valued at approximately $4 billion and held at the Bank of England – could be released to fund reconstruction following earthquakes in June, but potentially placed under US Treasury control.

The bullion has been inaccessible since 2018, when the Bank of England stopped recognizing the Venezuelan government and froze the country’s reserves. However, following weeks of US-backed negotiations, the Venezuelan government and opposition recently reached a rare agreement to jointly seek repatriation of the assets.

A Greek-run tanker has been attacked in the Black Sea off the Russian coast after calling at a US-linked oil terminal, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The strike comes weeks after US Vice President J.D. Vance pressed Vladimir Zelensky to curb Ukrainian strikes on vessels using the hub.

The Suezmax-class Skiros, capable of carrying around 1 million barrels, was attacked on Sunday after loading at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal near the Russian port of Novorossiysk, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the incident.

The vessel was carrying Russian-origin oil, according to the outlet. The ship’s Athens-based manager said that there were no injuries or pollution resulting from the attack, but declined to comment further.

A spokesman for Ukraine’s General Staff told Bloomberg he had “no data to comment on the issue.”

The incident follows months of Ukrainian attacks on CPC infrastructure and tankers operating near Novorossiysk. The consortium transports mostly Kazakh crude across Russia to the Black Sea and includes US oil giants Chevron and ExxonMobil among its shareholders.

The attacks reportedly prompted direct intervention from Washington, with J.D. Vance allegedly delivering a dressing down to Zelensky during a July 31 phone call. According to the Financial Times, the Vice President ordered Kiev to stop targeting CPC-linked tankers, warning that the strikes were damaging American commercial interests and unsettling oil markets.

Zelensky quickly caved to the demands and subsequently called off strikes on tankers near the CPC terminal, as long as they are not under Ukrainian sanctions or carrying Russian cargo.

Sunday’s incident marks the first attack on a vessel calling at the CPC terminal after a lull of almost three weeks.

Russia has condemned previous attacks on Black Sea tankers as terrorist acts against civilian shipping. Kazakhstan has also protested strikes affecting CPC exports, describing them as an unacceptable threat to its economic interests and global energy supplies.

Iran has called US President Donald Trump “delusional” after he proclaimed the Strait of Hormuz a “new US territory.”

Trump made the claim on the strategic waterway, which remains heavily disrupted due to the ongoing standoff, in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday. The US president shared a map of the strait and its environs with an area circled out and labeled as “New territory of the United States.”

The post promptly elicited a reaction in Tehran, with Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi condemning Trump’s “delusions” and warning Iran would “correct” them. At the same time, he commended Trump for managing to “correctly write the name of the eternal Persian Gulf,” apparently referring to the reported intentions of the US president to rebrand the waterway as the ‘Arab Gulf.’

On Monday, Trump threatened to attack US ally Oman and “bomb the sh*t out of it” should it “get in the way” of his purported effort to end the conflict with Iran. While Muscat has been playing a major role in mediating the talks between the US and Iran, it has been conducting parallel negotiations with Tehran on establishing a joint mechanism to govern the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has been seeking to collect tolls for safe passage through the waterway on a permanent basis and has reached an “understanding” with Oman on the matter, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday. The US has ruled allowing Iran to charge fees for passing through the strait, signaling it would continue to block Iranian ports indefinitely unless it relinquishes the demand.

Congressional Democrats will introduce a war powers resolution prohibiting military action against Oman, after US President Donald Trump threatened to bomb the country for holding talks with Iran. 

Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Trump warned that “if Oman gets in the way” of his efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz via a peace deal favorable to the US, he would “bomb the sh*t out of them.” Trump was reacting to news that Oman and Iran were closing in on a deal to reopen the strait, which would reportedly involve shipping companies paying transit fees to Iran – a strategic loss for the US. 

In a statement on Tuesday, US Senator Tim Kaine said that he will introduce a war powers resolution “prohibiting military action against Oman” when the Senate returns from summer recess next month.

“President Trump is increasingly deranged in his one-man campaign to threaten and initiate wars all over the globe,” Kaine said. “His wars are illegal since they are not approved by Congress, but he keeps on despite the massive toll on our troops, their families, the pocketbooks of everyday Americans, our stock of munitions and our alliances around the globe.”

Without support from a majority of Senators, war powers resolutions are largely symbolic. Democrats in both houses of Congress have filed more than a dozen such resolutions since the US began attacking Iran in February, with one passing the House in July. However, with Republicans holding a 53-47 majority in the Senate, only one war powers resolution – a non-binding and therefore toothless ‘concurrent resolution’ – has actually passed the upper house. 

A memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran in June set a 60-day window to bring the conflict to an end and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. With talks deadlocked, the memorandum expired on Monday. Trump has since ruled out any extension to the present ceasefire, telling reporters on Monday evening that he believes Iran is “not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary.” 

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran is prepared “to escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and wider region” if diplomacy fails, and to launch “timely and precise strikes” to break the US naval blockade on Iranian ports if necessary.

After suggesting that he may declare “the Strait of Hormuz a territory of the US” last week, Trump posted a map of the Persian Gulf with the strait labeled “new US territory” on Tuesday. “Just as Trump correctly wrote the name of the eternal Persian Gulf, soon his delusion regarding the Strait of Hormuz will either be corrected or we will correct the delusions of this deluded man,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi replied.

Russia and Egypt have strongly challenged a report by Politico alleging violations at the El Daba nuclear power project (NPP). The report which the Axel Springer-owned outlet admits is sourced from an intelligence official is “biased,” they have claimed, insisting that the venture fully complies with international safety standards.

El Dabaa, Egypt’s first nuclear power plant, is being built by Russian state corporation Rosatom in Matrouh Governorate. Launched in 2017, the $28.75 billion development comprises four VVER-1200 Generation III+ reactors and is jointly financed by Moscow and Cairo, with Russia covering about 85% through a 22-year loan. Construction is expected to be completed by 2029, and the plant to come online by 2030. When fully operational, the plant is expected to meet roughly 10% of Egypt’s electricity needs, while freeing up millions of cubic meters of natural gas for domestic use or export.

Politico’s claims

Politico on Monday published a lengthy report detailing purported violations at the site.

Citing a “confidential letter” from an unknown party addressed to an unnamed Rosatom executive, it claimed that Egypt’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA) – the government agency responsible for the country’s civilian nuclear power stations – had identified “defects” at reactor units, violations of “nuclear safety culture,” and “deliberate negligence” by a project official.

The document also reportedly details construction delays, security breaches, unprofessional conduct, and an attempt to conceal a serious accident.

How have Russia and Egypt’s nuclear agencies reacted to Politico’s claims?

Rosatom was the first to reject the allegations.

“None of the claims made in the Politico report have been substantiated through the contractual, technical, or regulatory procedures established for the project,” Rosatom’s press service told RBK. The company said that El Dabaa is being implemented under Russian-Egyptian intergovernmental agreements and a contract with the NPPA, with all work subject to continuous regulatory oversight.

El Dabaa meets the “highest internationally recognized nuclear safety and security standards,” the NPPA insisted, dismissing issues outlined by the outlet as “typical” for a project of this scale.

Politico is attempting to draw El Dabaa “into a broader narrative aimed at serving other political objectives,” the NPPA claimed.

“Following a careful review of the article, it became clear that it lacked the required balance and objectivity and contained inaccuracies and reflected a biased approach.”

How did Politico structure its PR offensive?

Politico framed the purported violations at El Dabaa as posing broader risks to cooperation with Russia on peaceful nuclear energy, pointed to Rosatom’s Paks II project in Hungary, which generates half of Hungary’s electricity but which has repeatedly fueled tensions between Budapest and Brussels.

Politico also cited the Royal United Services Institute, a UK-based think tank co-funded by the British government, the US State Department and the European Commission, which last month urged Western countries against doing business with Rosatom. Politico then released a supporting article citing Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sybiga, who seized on the outlet’s “investigation” to call for EU sanctions on Rosatom and an end to nuclear energy cooperation with Moscow.

Western pressure on Rosatom

Rosatom controls nearly half of global uranium enrichment capacity and supplies nuclear fuel to reactors worldwide. Its critical global role and expertise have allowed it to avoid sweeping Western sanctions imposed on much of Russia’s energy sector since the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022. However, some subsidiaries, executives, and projects face targeted restrictions.

While Washington banned Russian uranium imports in 2024, it introduced waivers allowing purchases until the full ban takes effect in 2028. Kiev, however, has pressed the EU and G7 for sweeping sanctions on Rosatom, particularly over its operation of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), Europe’s largest nuclear facility. Russia took control of the plant in March 2022, and the facility and nearby Energodar have been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian artillery and drones since.

Russia has long argued that Western sanctions, particularly on energy, are illegal and self-defeating. Rosatom CEO Aleksey Likhachev acknowledged in May that restrictions have hampered its overseas projects, particularly by complicating international payments, but said that they have ultimately strengthened the company’s technological independence by encouraging closer cooperation with Russian manufacturers and new suppliers.

Who owns Politico – and do they have an agenda?

Politico is owned by Axel Springer SE, the German media conglomerate that acquired the outlet from founder Robert Allbritton in October 2021.

That openly prescribed ideological framework has raised questions about editorial independence, with critics and staff questioning whether mandatory corporate values can coexist with newsroom impartiality. CEO Mathias Döpfner has publicly defended the principles as fundamental to Axel Springer and told employees who reject them that they are free to leave.

Axel Springer’s Cold War history is also noteworthy. In the 1990s, investigative journalist Murray Waas cited former US intelligence officials alleging that the German media mogul received roughly $7 million in covert CIA funding in the 1950s – around $97 million in today’s money. The funds were reportedly intended to promote pro-American, anti-communist sentiment in postwar West Germany and support Springer’s expanding media operation, which would include right-leaning, pro-Western publications such as Bild.

US rapper Kanye West could potentially meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the artist’s upcoming visit to Russia, a senior State Duma lawmaker has said. West, also known as Ye, is scheduled to perform in St. Petersburg on October 10 and 11 as part of his Ye Live Concert Tour.

On Tuesday, Svetlana Zhurova, the first deputy chair of the State Duma’s International Affairs Committee, told Lenta.ru that Putin has previously met prominent foreign celebrities, but noted that a meeting with West would depend on several practical factors.

“Hypothetically, such a possibility exists,” Zhurova said.

Anna Subcheva, head of local concert organizer SAY Agency, previously told RIA Novosti that it is the rapper’s “long-standing dream” to meet Putin, for whom he has “expressed great admiration for several years.”

“The main issue here is the working schedule of our president and the artist’s own schedule, so that they align,” Zhurova said, also pointing to security and health requirements surrounding presidential meetings.

His upcoming Russian shows follow a string of cancellations and bans in several European countries over his controversial statements about Jews, Adolf Hitler, and Nazism. West has since apologized for some of his remarks, attributing his actions to bipolar disorder as well as “poor judgment and reckless behavior.”

The rapper’s St. Petersburg concerts have attracted strong demand, with VIP tickets reportedly selling out within two hours of going on sale.

Ghana and Russia have signed their first visa-waiver agreement since establishing diplomatic relations nearly seven decades ago, the West African nation’s foreign minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, announced, describing the move as “historic.” 

The deal was formalized during Ablakwa’s three-day official visit to Moscow and allows visa-free travel for holders of diplomatic and service passports.

“We shall continue with negotiations for enhanced privileges for all categories of travelers as we bolster trade, investments and people-to-people exchanges,” Ablakwa wrote on X on Monday following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.

During their talks, Ablakwa thanked Moscow for supporting a Ghana-led UN resolution declaring transatlantic enslavement and racialized chattel slavery among the gravest crimes against humanity. The Ghanaian diplomat said his “visit will map out broader areas of strategic cooperation” between Moscow and Accra.

The two sides also agreed to pursue a cooperation memorandum between Russian and Ghanaian media organizations. The initiative is expected to initially involve RT and Sputnik Africa on the Russian side and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.

In a July 22 interview with the Ghana News Agency, Russian Ambassador to Ghana Andrei Ordash said Moscow had allocated 120 government scholarships to Ghanaian students for the 2026-2027 academic year.

Russia signed a similar waiver for diplomatic and service passport holders with Mauritania in December and is negotiating broader visa-free arrangements with Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Eswatini. Russian citizens already enjoy reciprocal visa-free travel with 11 African countries, including South Africa, Morocco, Namibia, and Angola.

Today I honoured an invitation from the distinguished Foreign Minister of Russia, H.E. Sergey Lavrov to undertake a 3-day official visit to Russia.

On my first day of this important official visit, we signed a historic Visa Waiver Agreement for holders of Diplomatic and Service… pic.twitter.com/Chm3mx9lQm

— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) August 17, 2026

Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has been reelected for a second five-year term after clearing the 50% threshold required to avoid a runoff, the country’s electoral commission announced on Tuesday.

Hichilema received 2,965,326 votes, or 60.5% of valid ballots, against 1,856,217 – around 38% – for his main challenger, Brian Mundubile. Turnout was 57.23%. 

The result followed a temporary suspension of counting and an election-night exchange of gunfire during a security operation at Mundubile’s residence. The authorities said the raid targeted a suspected militia, while the opposition leader called it an “attempt on his life.”

The president thanked voters for their trust and said his government would also work for “those citizens who preferred the ideas presented” by his opponents.

“This election showed the world who we are: a nation of peace, a nation of law and order, a democratic nation that settles our differences at the ballot box, and nowhere else,” he said.

Mundubile has yet to formally respond to the result. During the count, however, he demanded an investigation into allegations that presidential election forms had been removed or subjected to “interference or alteration.”

“We will pursue every legitimate and constitutional avenue available to seek justice,” he said, urging supporters to remain peaceful.

The authorities denied Kafwaya had been shot and said the operation targeted a suspected militia whose members opened fire first. They reported seizing military-grade weapons and arresting 11 people, including senior political figures. Mundubile rejected the account, insisting his party “has no militia” and does not support violence.

Counting was suspended for several hours on Friday after attacks on polling officials and the theft of marked ballots. Police said polling agent Lovemore Chishima was assaulted at a polling station in Matero, a district of Lusaka, and later died. Nine suspects were arrested.

Hichilema first took office in 2021 after defeating late President Edgar Lungu. His government restructured Zambia’s debt, stabilized the currency and reduced inflation, but high food prices, unemployment and electricity shortages continued to strain households.

The campaign was also overshadowed by a dispute over Lungu’s remains following his death in South Africa in 2025. Mundubile’s alliance accused Hichilema of disrespecting Lungu’s wishes and promised to return his body to Zambia for burial if elected.

Copper-rich Zambia has held largely peaceful transfers of power since restoring multiparty democracy in 1991.

Jordan is preparing to mark the 2,000-year anniversary of Jesus Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River, with the Muslim nation investing more than $100 million to draw Christian pilgrims to one of the world’s holiest sites.

Jordanian Prime Minister Jafar Hassan met with Christian leaders this month and signed agreements to develop the baptism site by building a village for Christian pilgrims and visitors, a museum dedicated to the baptism, a green corridor, and infrastructure upgrades leading to the site. The project is expected to cost $120 million, Vatican media reported.

The year 2030 is widely accepted as the two millennium anniversary of Christ’s baptism by John the Baptist, a moment that marked the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. The ceremony took place at Bethany Beyond the Jordan on the east bank of the Jordan River, which today separates Jordan from the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

At the time of Jesus’ baptism, Bethany Beyond the Jordan was a part of Perea, a Jewish client state of Rome.

Four popes have visited Bethany Beyond the Jordan: Paul VI in 1964, before the site was excavated and restored, followed by John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis. Jordan is the only country to have hosted these four pontiffs.

Although Jordan is a Muslim country, with Islam enshrined as its state religion, it is home to around 350,000 Christians. Speaking at the meeting with Christian leaders, Hassan said that honoring the anniversary of the baptism “reflects Jordan’s historical and religious standing and its role as a global destination for Christian pilgrimage, while highlighting the Kingdom’s message of coexistence.”

Two of the holiest sites for Christian pilgrims – the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where Jesus was crucified, and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where he was born – are located across the Jordan River, in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory. Although visitors can normally access the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in East Jerusalem, pilgrims traveling to Bethlehem must pass through a system of Israeli military checkpoints, barriers, and road closures, which are often shut by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) without prior notice.

Things are getting ridiculous – Kanye West is coming to perform in Russia. In the past few months, it’s been hard to get rid of him. Photos with captions like, “We’re at a Kanye West concert in Türkiye!” (or Tbilisi! or Almaty!) are all over social media. It feels like no one attends other concerts anymore. No one raves, “We’re at a Muse concert!” (or a concert by ‘Metallica’, ‘Linkin Park’, or at least Marilyn Manson). Nope. It’s all about Kanye West.

To quote Ostap Bender from the novel ‘The Little Golden Calf’, “Who’s Studebaker – is Studebaker your dad?”. Who is Kanye West? Is that the rapper who was supposed to perform in Moscow? But lots of people were supposed to perform in Moscow. And then the hysteria hit St. Petersburg. Now, it’s reported that VIP boxes for West’s concert costing 2 million rubles each are sold out at St. Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena. No one knows for sure whether this is true, but there sure is a lot of hype around it. There were even fake websites selling Kanye West tickets, supposedly for his Moscow concerts, two years ago. By pop-business standards, two years feels like an eternity, but the belated love for West persists. And here we go again – Kanye West is coming to Russia… once again. 

Local producers are fussing about, but no one can quite explain why there’s so much excitement around the figure of Kanye West. Perhaps it’s simply because a ‘real US rapper’ has fallen so deeply in love with Russia that he’s coming to make a fortune from ticket sales here? Oh yeah. In that case, we should definitely bow down before Mr. West.

Or maybe it’s because he loves to pick fights with the American establishment? Sounds like a double reason to love him. 

The diagnosis actually allows him to get away with alarming political statements and demonstrations. Once on the Alex Jones Show, he expressed a warm attitude toward Hitler; then he spoke about Jews in a way that Jewish organizations couldn’t possibly appreciate; and then he launched merchandise featuring a swastika.

Naturally, he got cancelled: advertising collaborations with Balenciaga and Adidas collapsed, and his Twitter (now X) and Instagram accounts were wiped. He is no longer signed to Def Jam, the label with which he won most of his Grammys. Once, he burst onstage and told the audience that Taylor Swift was nothing compared to Rihanna and that the awards had been given to the wrong girl. And even if he had a point, he went about expressing it in a most rude manner. 

They say that following West’s outbursts, public figures began to be held more accountable for their statements. However, when singer Madonna said that she thought about blowing up the White House because Trump was there, no one even mentioned ‘responsibility’.

But all that is America’s problem. It’s got nothing to do with Russia. Just like all American rap – from underground rap to its luxury top-end version, represented by P. Diddy (who’s in jail for transporting prostitutes) and our new friend and idol, Kanye West. Go up to the person who bought that VIP box for 2 million rubles and ask them, “What’s your favorite line from ‘Watch the Throne?’”. They won’t be able to tell you, and won’t hum it either. Because no one in Russia really cares about West’s songs. But the scent of luxury and foreign culture – that’s definitely alluring. 

Registration has opened for the first International Trade Fair INNOPROM. India, which will take place in New Delhi from September 9 to 11, 2026, organizers said. The event will be held at the Bharat Mandapam Exhibition Center ahead of the 18th BRICS Summit, and participants can register through the fair’s official website.

INNOPROM. India is being positioned as an international platform to strengthen trade and industrial ties between Russian and Indian companies. The exhibition will cover 10,000 square meters and bring together representatives of industry from both countries to present technological solutions and products. It is organized by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade and India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The event comes at a time of rapidly growing economic ties between the two countries. Over the past five years, Russia-India trade has increased nearly sevenfold, reaching more than $60 billion by the end of 2025. The first edition of INNOPROM in India is intended to expand business contacts and open new directions for industrial cooperation.

Among the Indian exhibitors are the SRB industrial and engineering group, National Mineral Development Corporation, and Steel Authority of India Limited, representing mining and metallurgy. ITC will present food products and everyday consumer goods, while Nicco Cables and Global Gases Group will showcase solutions for the energy sector. Monte Carlo will represent the textile industry, and Central Electronics Limited will focus on renewable energy and digital infrastructure. The exhibition is curated by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Russian participants will include Rostec, Rusal, Rosatom, TMH, the Russian Export Center, the Center for the Development of Advanced Technologies, UMG, Natzproektstroy, PhosAgro, Arnest Unirus, Sber, and Alfa-Bank, among others. Regional collective exhibitions are also planned, with companies from Moscow, the Krasnodar Territory, Tatarstan, and the Chelyabinsk Region. The National Centre RUSSIA will present a cultural zone and a collective stand.

The fair will focus on engineering, chemicals, digital technologies, mining and extraction technologies, human-centric technologies, and trade development.

Russian exhibitors are expected to present a broad range of products, including a mock-up of a nuclear power plant with a VVER-1200 reactor, composite gas storage and transport products, master alloys and powders made from rare and rare-earth metals, models of modern Russian aircraft and helicopters, large-scale construction machinery such as a tracked excavator and a backhoe loader, automated storage systems, industrial and collaborative robots, an intelligent transportation management system, and Russia’s national product marking system. Medical and optical equipment will also be displayed, along with other innovative technologies.

Organizers say the launch of INNOPROM in India marks another stage in the trade fair’s international expansion and a new step in strengthening industrial cooperation between Moscow and New Delhi.

The Strait of Hormuz will remain indispensable to global energy trade despite efforts by Persian Gulf states to develop alternative export routes, a top Iranian military advisor has told RT.

In an exclusive interview with the outlet, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander and adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, argued that the strategic waterway cannot easily be replaced given the concentration of oil and gas production in the Gulf.

“The Strait of Hormuz will never lose importance. [The Persian Gulf] is the production site for oil and gas. Oil wells cannot be moved elsewhere,” Naqdi told RT correspondent Saman Kojouri.

The veteran brigadier general also pointed to the time and expense involved in developing new energy infrastructure.

Oil-producing Gulf states have been pursuing additional infrastructure and export routes as shipping through the Strait remains severely disrupted, with July transit volumes down more than 80% from pre-conflict levels.

Saudi Arabia is considering another expansion of its East–West pipeline system, although an industry estimate cited by AFP suggests it could be completed only around 2030–31. The UAE is moving faster on an additional pipeline, which is expected next year, while a revived Iraq–Syria project has no timetable. Kuwait and Bahrain currently have no pipeline routes bypassing Hormuz.

Watch the exclusive interview with Mohammad Reza Naqdi in full below.

South Africa is expected to face another fuel price hike in September as the ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to keep global oil prices elevated, according to the data provided by the Central Energy Fund (CEF), the country's state-owned energy company.

The latest snapshot from the CEF is pointing to steep diesel price increases in the region of R2.73 for 500ppm and R2.90 for 50ppm. The petrol price predictions are less severe but significant nonetheless, with CEF data indicating under-recoveries of 66 cents for 93 Unleaded and 77 cents for 95 Unleaded. However, if current trends persist, these are likely to grow into increases of around 80 to 90 cents by the time the final sums are done at month-end. Illuminating paraffin is looking set for an increase in the region of R2.14.

This follows a volatile few months, during which the price of 95 Unleaded has increased from R19.47 in March to R24.71 in August, peaking at R27.19 in June. The wholesale price of diesel has risen from R17.70 in March to R25.30 in August, peaking at R30.30 in May.

International oil markets have seen extreme volatility since the US-Israeli war with Iran began in late February, with the critical Strait of Hormuz oil passage mostly shut to shipping traffic.

While the markets appear to have settled, with Brent crude oil trading mostly around the $90-per-barrel mark in August, down from highs of around $126 earlier in the year, prices remain well above pre-war levels of around $70.

Ole Hvalbye, commodities analyst at SEB, recently told Reuters: “A return to normal flows out of the Strait of Hormuz is now suddenly without any near-term hopes.”

First published by IOL

Look, Queen Ursula, we need to talk, girlfriend.

Yes, I’m addressing you directly, EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, because I’m not going to pretend that there’s anyone in charge in Europe who’s actually elected by the people and crafting EU policy.

And since you’ve apparently been more interested in monitoring Russian media platforms for dissident views that could potentially qualify as “Russian-aligned” than stopping online clarion calls for mass migration pushes into the EU, RT seems as good a place as any for an intervention.

Because the problem for the EU is that it’s getting so dissociated from the realities and concerns of its own people that even the pure data wonks are starting to sound the alarm. Seat projections for the EU parliament are set to swing populist to the detriment of the right-left establishment majority for the first time ever, according to recent reporting by Euronews on research data complied by the Europe Elects platform.

Now, the next EU election isn’t until 2029, which is a long way off, and you could very well decide to drop all of this in someone else’s lap by then. After all, you keep telling us that Putin is coming to Western Europe around that time, so maybe you’ll want to personally be busy window shopping in New York by then, instead of dealing with the headache of his arrival – or alternatively, his non-arrival after spending years scaring up billions from European taxpayer pockets for military hardware to mark the occasion.

I hate to break it to you, Queen, but the data from this very non-Russian research outfit (Europe Elects), published by a non-Russian media outlet (Euronews), is basically saying that right now, Europeans are looking more increasingly pro-Russian than not. To the point where the EU parliament, after the next election, could see pro-Russian gains and the anti-Russian firewall lose its majority. Or at least that’s how you guys see it when you look down on the plebes.

Look, unlike you guys, the average European is fed up with hearing about Russia and Ukraine, and with European policies revolving around that conflict and sucking the life out of everything else that actually falls within your purview.

Perhaps it would be different if you had everything else under control, and had the luxury of jacking around outside of the Eurozone that you’re actually responsible for – but that’s clearly not the case. The usual way that politics is supposed to work is that the establishment takes action A, and its impact is direct, positive, and visible on issue A. Instead, what we’re getting is action A being taken on issue A, and causing not only aggravation and worsening of issue A, but also of issues B, C, D, E… which happened to be more or less fine before. This is what has happened with the EU’s Ukraine obsession, and now it seems like it’s becoming par for the course for other issues, too. It’s like we’re spending money to see pure ideology in action rather than success as defined in the dictionary and not through some kind of Orwellian rhetoric that flips everything on its head.

In just the latest example, even one of the most stalwart establishment entities of an EU state has explicitly asked what the heck you think you’re doing. The EU has fallen into line in pushing this authoritarian control of internet use, promoting a “harmonized” bloc-wide control of internet use under the pretext of protecting kids – which apparently requires ID collection from every single adult user, as well. Turns out that even the French Constitutional Court told French lawmakers to take their law and shove it somewhere else other than up the rears of the French populace.

“By prohibiting minors under the age of 15 from accessing certain online services, the law inherently requires every person, even an adult, to prove their age before accessing them,” the court ruled. “By failing to specify the conditions and limits under which such proof must be provided, the legislature has not established the legal safeguards necessary to ensure compliance with these requirements.”

Consider, for instance, that this mass data initiative just happens to coincide with the recent revelation that the French public finance department – in other words, the tax collection folks – was massively hacked back in June. The hackers made off with almost all conceivable personal, tax, and income data of an estimated 700,000 taxpayers, according to a French European lawmaker. How do we know all this? Because the hackers said so. It was only then that the establishment felt compelled to inform people.

Hey, Queen Ursula, why don’t you guys just get in touch with the hackers and mainline all our “save the kids” internet data right to them? Just make sure they have to double-authenticate and click on all the cookies to access it first, though.

Again, the action taken on problem A (the kids running into perverts online), risks causing other problems of B (authoritarianism), C (data leaks), D (constitutional issues), and E (hacker-facilitated scams), even before there’s the most remote opportunity to credibly ascertain whether it does anything at all to actually fix issue A.

Look, I’m personally one of the center-right cohorts that you lost with this kind of nonsense. And things like this perfectly illustrate why populism is on the verge of exploding in Europe. Because who’s even left? We’re looking for people to lead with basic common sense. Folks who can read the room, and who are as far away as possible from your blast radius. If Russia is cheering that on, then you only have yourselves to blame. Perhaps that wouldn’t be the case if your repeated insistence on lockstep groupthink hadn’t pushed any real, legitimate dissent outside the tent and left only idiocy to bounce around off the walls unabated.

Admittedly, you guys do a great job with the food quality regulations that the average person doesn’t have the knowledge or time to police themselves. And the tethered bottle caps have grown on me. I actually miss the feeling of the plastic on my face when I take a swig of a Pepsi outside of the EU, and the cap risks rolling under the car seat. I’m not bringing my own durable container to fast food takeout, though. You can forget that. I am the durable container. Fill me up!

All I’m saying is that Euronews is warning you that you’re turning even more Europeans into “Russians” (by your own definition), and that your iron-fisted smashing of the alarm on the results of your own idiocy is counterproductive. The data shows that it’s only giving a growing number of Europeans even more incentive to just unplug the entire European establishment at the ballot box.