The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed sanctions on two senior officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC), including its president, as Washington stepped up its campaign against the Hague-based tribunal.
The sanctions target ICC President Tomoko Akane of Japan, and ICC Senior Trial Lawyer, Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, accusing them of having "directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction."
"The ICC has repeatedly attempted to assert authority over nationals of the United States and other countries that have not consented to its jurisdiction or ratified the Rome Statute," Rubio said. "This sets a dangerous precedent for all nations."
The sanctions generally prohibit US persons from conducting transactions with Akane and Seye and effectively bar the two officials from accessing the US financial system.
The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, and rejects the tribunal's efforts to exercise jurisdiction over nationals of non-member states, including US personnel and Israeli officials.
Tensions surged after the ICC issued arrest warrants in 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the Gaza conflict. The ICC maintains it holds jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed within member territories, regardless of the suspect's citizenship.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it targeted commanders from Hamas' elite Nukhba force in a strike, which Palestinian sources said killed six, including a child, in Gaza City. The strike came as Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said that the group remains committed to the ceasefire roadmap reached in late July.
The Israeli military said in a statement that the attack struck a refugee camp in northern Gaza and targeted a Hamas company commander, three platoon commanders and several other militants. It did not say whether those targeted were killed.
The military said the militants had "advanced attacks against (Israeli) troops operating in the Gaza Strip," claiming that "measures were taken to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians," prior to the strike.
Earlier in the day, Palestinian medical sources said at least six Palestinians, including a child, were killed and 10 others injured in an Israeli air strike that hit a cafe in the seaport area west of Gaza City.
The attack came amid renewed diplomatic efforts to advance talks on the Gaza ceasefire plan.
US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks in Jerusalem on Monday and agreed to establish two working groups to advance the demilitarization of Gaza and address infrastructure and public health needs in the war-devastated enclave.
Earlier this month, Netanyahu rejected a US-backed 15-point roadmap for Gaza, insisting Israel will not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas is fully disarmed. Hamas, in turn, tied any progress to arrangements concerning a ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal, and future administration of the enclave.
On Tuesday, Qassem said in an interview that the group remains committed to the agreed arrangements, noting that the primary obstacle remains Israel's failure to grant mediators clear approval for the roadmap.
Meanwhile, the Hamas-run media office in Gaza urged the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza to assume its responsibilities as soon as possible. In a press statement, the office called on all relevant parties to facilitate the entry of the committee into the Gaza Strip so that it can begin its work amid the deteriorating humanitarian situation.
South Korea's military said on Wednesday that its ongoing joint drills with the United States would conclude on Friday, about a week earlier than originally scheduled.
The Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise began on Monday and was initially planned to run in two phases. The first phase, from August 17 to 21, focused on defensive operations in response to potential attacks, while the second phase, scheduled for August 23 to 27, was set to center on counter-offensive operations.
South Korean military sources said the two sides decided during emergency consultations on Tuesday to conduct only the first phase of defensive training, after which US forces would leave. Training activities originally planned for the second phase will be replaced with alternative arrangements at a later date.
The significant reduction of the drills came after US President Donald Trump said on social media on Sunday that he had instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to "substantially reduce" the scale of joint military exercises with South Korea.
On Tuesday, US Forces Korea Commander Gen. Xavier Brunson abruptly canceled a scheduled public event and met with South Korea's Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back later in the day.
The cutback has raised concerns in South Korea over the progress of the planned transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) from the US-led command structure back to South Korea.
The UFS exercise has long been regarded as a key platform for assessing South Korea's ability to independently carry out military operations. The cancellation of the counteroffensive training phase could affect the evaluation of South Korea's operational capabilities and the timeline for OPCON transfer.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the government should complete the OPCON transfer smoothly during his term as planned.
He stressed that South Korea had sufficient conditions to achieve self-reliant national defense and emphasized the need for a comprehensive upgrade of operational capabilities to further strengthen national defense.
In the early 1950s, South Korea handed over command of its military to the US-led "United Nations Command." In 1978, it was then transferred to the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command, which is headed by a US military officer. South Korea retook peacetime operational control of its forces in 1994, but has not yet regained wartime operational control.
After the OPCON transfer, South Korea would take the leading role in commanding combined defense forces during wartime, while the US would shift to a supporting and stabilizing role.
A 60-day negotiation window set under the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) expired on August 17 with no deal, leaving the diplomatic process in limbo and rekindling fears over regional stability and maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz.
The June memorandum was meant to halt hostilities, reopen the strait and create space for broader talks. But disagreements over maritime access, sanctions and security arrangements stood in the way of meaningful progress.
US President Donald Trump said Washington would not seek an extension, while Iranian officials argued US actions had undermined the agreement from the outset.
Despite the diplomatic deadlock, international organizations and regional actors have continued to urge both sides to return to the table.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly stressed that there is no military solution, calling on Washington and Tehran to urgently resume diplomacy. The UN has warned that renewed hostilities would carry serious consequences for regional security, global energy markets and international trade.
The UN Security Council has also heard appeals from member states calling for dialogue, restraint and respect for freedom of navigation. Several countries have argued that the diplomatic opening created by the June agreement should not be allowed to collapse.
Maritime organizations have voiced similar concerns. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has repeatedly condemned attacks on commercial shipping in the strait and warned that thousands of seafarers face heightened risks across the Gulf.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains well below pre-conflict levels. Only three commercial vessels transited in the 24 hours leading up to August 17, compared with an average of around 110 vessels per day before the conflict. Traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait also remained subdued, with 37 commercial vessels recorded over the same period.
The US insists freedom of navigation must be upheld and has continued to push for unrestricted commercial transit. Iran, meanwhile, has been coordinating with Oman on navigation mechanisms in the strait.
With the MoU expired and neither side willing to make major concessions, analysts say diplomatic channels remain fragile but not closed. Regional mediators continue to pass messages between Washington and Tehran, while international organizations urge both sides to prevent further escalation.
A drone exploded at a bus stop used by staff at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, killing one person and injuring several others, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Tuesday.
The agency, citing the plant's director, said the explosion occured around 6 a.m. local time.
"The explosion caused 16 casualties among staff and subcontractors, including one death and three serious injuries," the IAEA said in a post on X.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday there are no talks "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 said in a Truth Social post.
The Republic of Korea's (ROK) unification ministry said Tuesday that if the talks between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States resume, it is expected to contribute to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and to a shift toward inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation.
Following US President Donald Trump's recent dialogue overtures, an unnamed official from the ROK unification ministry told the reporters that Seoul had stated multiple times that it would fully serve as a peacemaker to facilitate the resumption of the DPRK-US dialogue, including by dispatching a special peace envoy, according to Yonhap news agency.
The ROK's response came after Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday that top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un had responded to his request for dialogue, characterizing the current stage of communication as very positive.
Trump has said on Sunday that he had instructed the Pentagon to significantly scale back joint ROK-US military exercises.
(Cover: A street view in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, August 8, 2026. /VCG)
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on regional leaders to work together to address migration after weeks of anti-migrant protests forced more than 176,000 people to leave the country.
Ramaphosa addressed leaders from the 16-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) at a summit in Durban on Monday, where he described migration as a major regional challenge.
"We thanked countries in our region for their understanding of the challenges that we faced and, in some respects, continue to face," Ramaphosa said as he closed the summit. "We also expressed regret at what has befallen us as a country. We expressed a wish that we should all work together to address the challenge of migration."
The exodus followed weeks of protests by populist groups demanding that undocumented foreign nationals leave South Africa by June 30.
More than 176,000 people have left the country in recent weeks, according to an AFP tally based on figures provided by African governments. About 300 anti-migrant protesters marched to the summit venue on Monday, urging regional leaders to "fetch their people".
Police on horseback and motorbikes controlled the demonstration as a helicopter and drones monitored the gathering.
"We are here to tell you to come and fetch your people who are here in South Africa illegally," said protest leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, one of the figures behind the recent demonstrations.
She singled out Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, whose nationals accounted for most of those who left South Africa.
Some migrants departed voluntarily, while others were deported or assisted through government repatriation programs.
Migrant deaths spark condemnation
At least four migrants were killed during the violence, according to South African police, although some foreign governments have reported a higher death toll.
Ramaphosa said during a public lecture on Friday that his government was "deeply concerned and ashamed" that nationals of other countries had in recent months been subjected to discrimination and ill-treatment.
The South African government's handling of the unrest has drawn criticism from other African countries, including Ghana and Nigeria, which are not members of SADC.
South Africa, which assumed the rotating SADC chairmanship at Monday's summit, has called for an Africa-wide conference on migration.
Ramaphosa's government says a broader continental approach is needed to address the causes of migration, improve cooperation between countries and prevent tensions between host communities and migrants from escalating into violence.
South Africa has long been a major destination for migrants from across the continent, attracted by its relatively developed economy and employment opportunities.
But the country is also grappling with unemployment of more than 30%, deep inequality and widespread poverty, conditions that have fuelled public anger and intensified political pressure over immigration.
The latest unrest has renewed debate over how South Africa and its neighbours can manage migration while protecting the rights and safety of migrants.
China congratulates Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema on his re-election, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a regular news briefing, Lin said that China attaches high importance to developing relations with Zambia and stands ready to work with Zambia's new administration to further deepen the China-Zambia comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and deliver greater benefits to the people of both countries.
Hichilema received more than 2.9 million valid votes, or over 50% of the total, meeting the constitutional requirement for an outright victory without a run-off, according to data released by the Electoral Commission of Zambia.
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has won a second five-year term, securing a decisive victory in an election.
The Electoral Commission of Zambia announced the result in the early hours of Tuesday, declaring Hichilema the winner after he secured about 61.4% of the valid vote. His main challenger, Brian Mundubile, received about 38%.
"I therefore declare Hichilema Hakainde to be president-elect of the Republic of Zambia this 18th day of August, 2026," commission chairperson Mwangala Zaloumis said.
The result gives Hichilema another five-year mandate after his victory in 2021.
Following the announcement, hundreds of Hichilema supporters gathered in Lusaka, wearing the red colours of his United Party for National Development (UPND), singing, dancing and setting off firecrackers.
In a statement after his victory, Hichilema said he was "truly humbled by the trust you have placed in our hands" and reached out to supporters of his opponents. "We hear you, and we will continue to work for you," he said.
Hichilema's re-election extends his mandate at a time when Zambia has made progress in strengthening its public finances and stabilizing its economy, although high living costs, unemployment and concerns over household incomes remain major challenges.
The president will now be expected to build on the country's macroeconomic improvements while addressing challenges facing ordinary Zambians.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday urged China and Ecuador to strengthen the alignment of development strategies and implement the cooperation plan to jointly build the Belt and Road.
The two sides should well implement cooperation projects in energy, minerals, infrastructure construction, finance and other fields, and actively explore cooperation in areas including the digital economy, green development, new energy and artificial intelligence, Xi said during talks with President of the Republic of Ecuador Daniel Roy-Gilchrist Noboa Azín in Beijing.
Noting that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Ecuador, Xi said China has always viewed China-Ecuador relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, regardless of how the international situation may change.
China is ready to work with Ecuador to continuously bring bilateral relations to a new level and better benefit the two peoples, Xi said.
Xi called on the two sides to consolidate political mutual trust and continue to understand and support each other on issues concerning their respective core interests and major concerns.
China respects and supports Ecuador in exploring a development path suited to its national conditions, Xi said, adding that China is ready to enhance exchanges between the two governments, legislative bodies and political parties, as well as exchanges in other fields, and strengthen exchanges of experience in state governance.
The two countries should work together on their respective paths toward modernization, Xi said.
Xi noted that a series of new progress in China-Ecuador relations has benefited from the China-Ecuador free trade agreement and also demonstrated the potential of China's huge market.
The two sides should continue to tap the potential of the free trade agreement and allow the benefits of free trade to reach more enterprises and consumers, Xi added.
China is ready to cooperate with Ecuador in healthcare, poverty alleviation, disaster prevention and reduction, and other areas to support Ecuador's national development, Xi said.
The two sides should also strengthen exchanges in education, culture, youth, sports and between localities, and facilitate people-to-people exchanges to enhance friendship between the two countries, he said.
Noboa said China is an important partner and friend of Ecuador, and hailed Xi as a great leader.
Through joint efforts by both sides, Ecuador-China relations have entered a new stage, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples, Noboa said.
Ecuador is ready to deepen political mutual trust with China, support China in safeguarding its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and respect China's position on the Taiwan question, Noboa said.
Ecuador attaches great importance to cooperation with China and is willing to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation in trade, finance, minerals, renewable energy, science and technology, culture and other fields, expand exports to China, and welcome more Chinese enterprises to invest and operate in Ecuador, he said.
Noboa added such efforts will help Ecuador improve people's livelihoods and achieve national development.
The two heads of state also exchanged views on the situation in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
Xi stressed that China has always maintained that the status of the Latin American and Caribbean region as a zone of peace should not be shaken, the course of development and revitalization of Latin American and Caribbean countries should not be disrupted, and the right of Latin American and Caribbean countries to independently choose their cooperation partners should not be interfered with.
China supports Latin American countries in upholding independence and self-reliance, pursuing foreign cooperation based on their national interests, and safeguarding regional peace and stability, Xi said.
Noboa said Ecuador attaches great importance to China's position and role, and is willing to always be a good friend of China on the other side of the Pacific.
Following the talks, the two heads of state witnessed the signing of multiple cooperation documents in areas including green industries, economic and trade cooperation, the digital economy and people's livelihoods.
Prior to the talks, Xi held a welcome ceremony for Noboa. A welcome banquet was also held for him in the evening.
Russia warned Britain on Tuesday it would face consequences for supplying drones to Ukraine which are used to attack targets on Russian territory.
Russia's embassy in London was responding to a report in The Times newspaper on Saturday which said British-made drones had been used for long-range strikes against Russia for the first time.
"London's actions will inevitably carry consequences for which it will have to answer," the embassy said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.
Ukraine has been using deep-strike drones to hit oil refineries and logistics facilities. Britain's Ministry of Defence did not confirm whether British drones had been used.
In June, Britain said it would provide 150,000 drones to Ukraine by the end of 2026 as part of a £752-million ($996 million) funding package.
Asked about the Russian embassy comments, a British defense ministry spokesperson said that Britain stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine and is committed to providing the equipment Ukraine needs to defend itself against Russia.
Since the start of Russia's conflict with Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has repeatedly warned Britain and other Western allies that their support for Kyiv, including the supply of equipment, could provoke retaliatory measures and increase the risk of a broader confrontation.
Surge in Ukrainian drone attacks
In recent weeks, Russia and Ukraine have significantly stepped up long-range attacks deep behind each other's lines, pushing the civilian death toll to its highest levels since the conflict's first months in 2022.
Over the weekend, Russian authorities reported that the country had faced Ukraine's "largest-scale" drone attack this year.
On Tuesday, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said the city came under the largest Ukrainian drone attack in two years, with 620 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) targeting the Russian capital.
"From yesterday evening until 5:00 a.m. today, 620 UAVs were flying toward the Moscow region. Of these, 180 drones were destroyed," Sobyanin said, adding that emergency crews were working at the debris sites. No casualties or major damage were immediately reported.
In response to the aerial threat, flight operations at Moscow's Vnukovo, Zhukovsky and Domodedovo airports were temporarily halted, while Sheremetyevo Airport operated under partial restrictions.
The previous record for a drone strike on Moscow was set on Sunday night, involving some 600 UAVs.
China's defending champion Shi Yuqi suffered a shock exit in the first round of the BWF World Championships in New Delhi on Monday, losing a three-game battle against India's Ayush Shetty.
The World No. 1 fought back after dropping the opening game, but Shetty held off a late charge from the top seed to clinch a 21-14, 13-21, 21-19 victory in 73 minutes.
Shetty, making his debut at the World Championships, led 11-5 in the decider before Shi cut the deficit to one point in a tense finish. The 21-year-old home hope then closed out the contest to record his first victory in four meetings with the Chinese superstar.
The result represented a major turnaround from their previous encounter at the Badminton Asia Championships in April, when Shi swept aside Shetty 21-8, 21-10 in the men's singles final to capture his only individual title so far this season.
China's other men's singles players experienced contrasting fortunes, as Li Shifeng eased past Kazakhstan's Dmitriy Panarin 21-7, 21-10, while 16th seed Weng Hongyang was knocked out by Japan's Yushi Tanaka 21-17, 21-14.
In women's singles action, China's Wang Zhiyi got off to a comfortable start, needing just 36 minutes to defeat the USA's Beiwen Zhang 21-12, 21-13 and move into the second round. Fifth seed Han Yue recovered from one-game deficit to defeat Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour 20-22, 21-13, 21-13.
Also of note, the Republic of Korea's World No. 1 An Se-young opened her campaign with a 21-14, 21-13 victory over Bulgaria's Kaloyana Nalbantova.
China enjoyed a clean sweep in the day's doubles matches. In men's action, Huang Di and Liu Yang beat the USA's Zhiyi Chen and Presley Smith 21-14, 21-16, while Hu Keyuan and Lin Xiangyi cruised past Switzerland's Yann Orteu and Minh Quang Pham 21-6, 21-10.
On the women's side, Luo Yi and Wang Tingge defeated Denmark's Kathrine Vang and Mette Werge 21-11, 21-15 to reach the round of 32.
China wrapped up its preparations for the next phase of 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifying with an 84-77 loss to New Zealand in the Shunde District of Foshan, south China's Guangdong Province, on Monday.
The home team struggled on the boards against the Tall Blacks, who won the rebounding battle 47-32, including 18 of the offensive end. China coach Guo Shiqiang pointed to the disparity in rebounding as one of the decisive factors in the defeat.
Liao Sanning led the hosts with 17 points, while Jiao Boqiao contributed 14 and Hu Jinqiu added 13. New Zealand was paced by veteran guard Corey Webster with 17 points, while James Moors posted a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds.
The visitors arrived with an inexperienced 11-man squad, as they also gear up for the second round of World Cup Qualifying. Jordan Ngatai was the only member of the group to have taken the court in the first three qualifying windows.
Ngatai said the squad had only been finalized five days before the game, training together only four or five times. He praised the younger players for their display and estimated that three members of the group could earn places in New Zealand's squad for the upcoming qualifiers.
China had difficulty slowing down 37-year-old Webster, who boasts extensive international experience and was New Zealand's leading scorer at both the 2014 and 2019 editions of the FIBA World Cup.
Hu explained that the intensity maintained by New Zealand throughout the game provided China with valuable lessons before returning to competitive action.
Monday's defeat left China with a 1-2 record from its three warmup games. Guo's men opened the series with an 83-78 victory over Uruguay, before losing the second meeting against the South American side 91-72.
China will now turn its attention to the second round of the Asian Qualifying and take a 3-3 record into Group F. The squad will visit Qatar on August 27, before hosting Lebanon on August 31.
The results from the opening round carry over into the next stage, with China grouped alongside Lebanon, Japan, Qatar, the Republic of Korea and Saudi Arabia. Each team will play six more qualifiers across three windows, as the battle for places at the 2027 FIBA World Cup.
A magnitude-6.1 earthquake struck off South Nias, North Sumatra, Indonesia, at 1:02 p.m. local time on Tuesday, according to the country's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency (BMKG).
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 29 kilometers and did not have the potential to trigger a tsunami, the BMKG said.
During the War of Aggression against China, army surgeons from the Imperial Japanese Army Medical School conducted coercive human experiments on hospitalized Japanese soldiers suffering from mental illnesses by deliberately infecting them with malaria, Kyodo News reported on Monday, citing newly disclosed historical documents.
The findings, revealed by Seiya Matsuno, a historian and researcher at the International Peace Research Institute of Meiji Gakuin University, uncover a lesser-known chapter of wartime history. The findings demonstrate that human experimentation by the Imperial Japanese military was not limited to foreign prisoners of war but extended to Japan's own troops.
According to a paper published in the journal of the Japanese Army Surgeon Corps, the experiment took place in 1940 at the Konodai Army Hospital in Japan's Chiba Prefecture. Its stated aim was to evaluate strategies to prevent troops infected on the Chinese battlefield from spreading malaria upon returning to Japan.
During the study, researchers allowed mosquitoes to feed on the blood of soldiers who had contracted malaria in China. The infected insects were then used to bite 10 Japanese patients hospitalized with schizophrenia and other mental disorders. Five of the subjects subsequently developed acute symptoms after an incubation period, suffering from fevers exceeding 40 degrees Celsius, severe headaches, body aches and loss of appetite.
The records also revealed that Shiro Ishii – then head of the epidemic prevention research laboratory at the Army Medical School and later the leader of the Kwantung Army Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department, known as Unit 731 – was involved in directing the experiment.
Matsuno noted that while other military surgeons had also conducted human trials on mentally ill troops, the 1940 case stands as the earliest verified instance to date.
He emphasized the severe ethical violations of the procedures, noting that the subjects' psychiatric conditions left them unable to comprehend the nature or risks of the trial.
Focusing on the fact that the subjects were their own troops rather than prisoners of war reveals a ruthless mindset where nationality was irrelevant, Matsuno noted, adding that the military treated individuals incapable of contributing to the war effort merely as "research material" – an ideology directly aligned with the atrocities later committed by Unit 731.
A Chinese court has sentenced two men who had trafficked precursor chemicals abroad, in the latest outcome of strengthened counternarcotics cooperation between China and the United States.
A court in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, sentenced a man surnamed Xia to six years in prison and his son to five and a half years for illegal operations last Friday. The two were found to have organized the sale of 123 batches of controlled stimulants amounting to 1.69 million yuan (about $249,000).
The case caught the attention of authorities after the US Drug Enforcement Administration reported in 2023 to China's Ministry of Public Security a related case of trafficking sensitive chemicals.
The case highlighted closer law enforcement cooperation between China and the United States.
Since the beginning of this year, law enforcement agencies in China and the United States have engaged in practical cooperation in areas including counternarcotics, combating telecom and online fraud, and fugitive repatriation, achieving tangible results.
In counternarcotics, the two sides have jointly cracked cases involving drug smuggling and trafficking and the transnational trafficking of new psychoactive substances.
In a joint operation targeting telecom and online fraud with the United Arab Emirates, Chinese and US police dismantled nine fraud dens and captured 276 suspects.
The two sides have also cooperated on fugitive repatriation, with the US side handing over two suspects to China, while Chinese police repatriated a US fugitive wanted for serious violent crimes.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi came under scrutiny on August 15 after omitting the word "reflection" from her first address at Japan's annual National Memorial Service for the War Dead, held on the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.
In the roughly three-minute speech, Takaichi paid tribute to the more than 3 million Japanese who lost their lives during the war, including military personnel and civilians. She also vowed that Japan would "never allow the horrors of war to be repeated."
However, it was what Takaichi did not say that made headlines in the Japanese press. Major outlets highlighted the absence of the word "reflection" (反省), a term whose inclusion, or omission, has become a kind of statement about a prime minister’s stance on Japan’s wartime history.
"Reflection" first appeared in the annual memorial address under then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in 1994. Successive prime ministers from different political parties continued to use the term for nearly two decades, including Shinzo Abe during his first stint as prime minister.
But when Abe returned to office and delivered the address again in 2013, he dropped the word, setting a new precedent that was followed by his LDP successors. That pattern continued until 2025, when then-Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba brought "reflection"back after a 13-year absence.
The change has now proved short-lived, and Takaichi's address marked a return to the more conservative framing seen under former prime ministers including Abe and Fumio Kishida, as noted by the Japan Times.
In a commentary published on August 17, Japan's largest newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun called for Takaichi to adopt a "humble attitude toward history." It contrasted Takaichi's approach with that of Emperor Naruhito, who has consistently used the phrase "deep remorse" in his speech at the memorial.
Wu Qicong, an assistant researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, told CGTN that the disappearance of the word "reflection" was "by no means an accidental omission in wording," but reflected what he described as a resurgence of historical revisionism at the level of national commemoration. He argued that the shift should also be viewed alongside Japan's moves to ease restrictions on arms exports and expand its defense capabilities.
The concern over Takaichi's speech is part of a broader, long-running dispute over Japan's reckoning with its wartime past. On the same day, several members of her Cabinet visited the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. The shrine honors around 2.5 million of Japan's war dead, including 14 convicted Class-A war criminals. Visits by Japanese politicians have repeatedly drawn strong protests from China and the Republic of Korea.
Takaichi did not visit the shrine herself on Saturday, instead sending a ritual offering. No sitting Japanese prime minister has visited Yasukuni since Shinzo Abe did so in 2013.
The Cabinet members' visits, together with Takaichi's offering, prompted protests from China and the Republic of Korea. Demonstrations were also held in Tokyo, where Japanese protesters chanted,"No to shrines that glorify war."
Two Air India pilots have reportedly failed mandatory drug tests launched after a recent in-flight incident that left passengers and crew members injured, Indian media reported on Monday.
Air India began conducting compulsory drug screenings for all of its more than 5,000 pilots at the airline and its subsidiary Air India Express from August 13.
Nearly 400 pilots have completed the tests so far, with two receiving "non-negative" results and awaiting further confirmation, according to a report by NDTV, citing sources.
The two pilots have been de-rostered as a precautionary measure, Air India said, adding that the decision was taken in the interest of flight safety.
The drug screening campaign was launched after Air India flight AI2379, flying from Phuket to New Delhi, suddenly dropped about 91 meters in altitude this month, injuring 24 people on board. The plane later landed safely.
A cabin crew member on the Phuket-Delhi flight is believed to have lodged a complaint alleging that the pilot had previously smoked marijuana.
The aircraft captain subsequently tested positive for marijuana in a drug screening, according to Indian authorities. The incident has triggered renewed scrutiny over aviation safety and pilot health checks in India.
Under regulations issued by India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation, a pilot who tests positive for psychoactive substances for the first time must go to a de-addiction or rehabilitation program. They can go back to flying work after they pass a new negative test and get a fitness nod.
A second positive result would lead to a three-year suspension of the pilot's license, while a third positive test would result in permanent cancellation of the license.
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI will lease a massive new data center in the United States for 20 years, backed by a $105 billion financing commitment from Nvidia, according to a regulatory filing published Monday.
The project will be built on the site of a former Cold War-era uranium enrichment plant in Ohio and could eventually reach 8 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, making it the largest single data center for artificial intelligence (AI).
The data center will also run "exclusively" on Nvidia chips.
SoftBank and the data center's owner, a subsidiary called SB Energy, will invest more than $4 billion into local energy infrastructure and "build at least 10 GW of new energy generation" to power the data center. OpenAI will commit $40 million to "support local priorities."
Nvidia will also invest $1.5 billion into SB Energy, though the company preemptively pushed back on critiques about so-called circular financing, which has fueled fears about an AI bubble that will eventually burst.
"OpenAI will pay the lease," Nvidia wrote in a blog post on Monday, adding that the deal was made with "the same discipline we apply to supply-chain management."
However, Nvidia's financing guarantee, its largest, marks a shift in scale for a practice that has become common in the sector: despite explosive revenue growth, AI developers still depend on financial backing from their own suppliers to build the giant infrastructure underpinning this technological revolution.
Nvidia previously considered providing a $250 billion backstop, according to the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg in July. Its shares fell by 5% after those reports, but they're up by more than 19% this year.
"This is going to be a huge site, with enough computing power to help millions of people use AI to do things we can only start to imagine today," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement.
OpenAI expects the project to create 35,000 temporary construction jobs over six years and 2,500 "long-term operating jobs," it said in a blog post.
Promises about jobs and energy investments are a response to growing hostility toward data centers, which need heavy amounts of electricity and water to operate. More than 70% of Americans oppose building them near their homes, according to a Gallup poll from March, and rising electricity bills, attributed in part to these sites, are fueling debate in the midterm elections.
OpenAI and SB Energy maintain that they will cover the data center's energy and infrastructure costs without passing them on to local residents.
The facility will initially have 4.25 GW of capacity with the possibility of adding another 3.75 GW.
A nuclear power plant can provide around 1 GW of energy. The entire city of San Francisco consumed just over 5 GW of energy in 2024, according to state data.
Last year, OpenAI, Nvidia, SoftBank and other partners, including Oracle, also announced a $500 billion, multiyear data center project called Stargate, targeting 10 GW of capacity across multiple sites. Half of that capacity is being built in the UAE.
Elon Musk's SpaceX has 1 GW of capacity at its Colossus data centers across Tennessee and Mississippi. Meta has a 5 GW data center project in Louisiana.
The Philippine government has suspended in-person classes in Metro Manila and 12 other provinces as heavy rains brought by tropical cyclones and the southwest monsoon continue to batter the country, local media reported Monday.
Around 5.08 million people across 10 regions in the Philippines have been affected by extreme rainfall, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said Monday. About 1.45 million families have been affected, with 24,893 people seeking shelter in 523 evacuation centers. The government has provided 734.1 million pesos (about $11.93 million) in aid so far.
The extreme weather has claimed 23 lives, injured 17 others and left one person missing. It has also damaged 1,863 houses, including 182 that were destroyed, according to the OCD.
At least 50 cities and towns have declared a state of calamity, with Pampanga and Cavite placing all their municipalities under the status, the OCD said.
According to Memorandum Circular No. 127 issued by the presidential office on Monday, government agencies in Metro Manila and 12 provinces were directed to adopt alternative work arrangements, while schools were to shift to alternative learning modes. Frontline services such as health, disaster response and other essential functions were to continue operating.
The extreme rainfall has triggered severe flooding and landslides across the nation. The flood-control corruption scandal has left key infrastructure unfinished or poorly maintained, further straining the country's disaster response, local media reported.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) received a report on Tuesday that a vessel was struck by an unknown projectile while transiting outbound in the Strait of Hormuz, causing engine room damage and a crew casualty, with the remaining crew being assisted by the Omani Coast Guard.
Two people were killed in fires that broke out on a Greek island and a soldier died fighting a fire in Spain as Belgium tackled a record blaze on its border with Germany on Sunday.
Europe is facing wildfires spurred by high temperatures and tinder-dry conditions due to a historically hot summer that has already claimed the live of thousands of people.
Two bodies were found Sunday during firefighting operations on Salamina, according to Greek broadcaster ERT. The victims, which initial information indicated are a married couple, were discovered near where a fire started in the forested Peristeria area.
The fire spread rapidly amid strong winds, burning through pine trees and damaging homes. Another fire was reported in Kaki Vigla, where an elderly man was rescued and nine people suffering burns were taken to the Salamina Health Center.
At least 90 people were evacuated by sea. A total of 146 firefighters, supported by volunteers, four water-dropping aircraft and six helicopters were deployed. The latest deaths brought Greece's wildfire death toll in this summer to eight.
In Spain, a soldier died Sunday while helping fight a major wildfire in Aragon, as the local authorities deployed the largest firefighting arsenal in the region's history.
The flames spread across 16,600 hectares and forced more than 1,000 people to evacuate.
Around 1,000 firefighters, supported by up to 40 aircraft, were involved in the operation. France was also sending 100 firefighters to help contain the flames.
In Andalusia, more than 400 evacuees were allowed to return home after a wildfire raging for 10 days and affecting more than 25,000 hectares was declared under control on Sunday.
Portugal was also battling several fires near its border with Spain. Five firefighters suffered minor injuries when their vehicle caught fire near the village of Dine. Firefighters were reported to be battling several other fires near the Spanish border, including at Boticas and Chavez.
Water-dropping aircraft and farmers' tractors helped firefighters battling Belgium's largest modern-day wildfire at an inaccessible area near Germany, where a border town ordered a partial evacuation because of the growing threat.
Military helicopters backed by tractors on the ground hauled water to help firefighters tame the wildfire, burning in a hard-to-access nature reserve.
The blaze, whose origins are still unknown, has grown from 80 hectares burnt on Friday to nearly 3,000 hectares on Sunday.
In Croatia, police said they had arrested four people suspected of starting some of the wildfires that have swept parts of the Adriatic coast in recent days.
Meanwhile, a fire in France's Landes department that burned 1,700 hectares was stabilized after three days of ground and air operations. Cooler temperatures and higher humidity helped authorities gain control. The local prefect said a first group of the 650 people who had evacuated due to the fire would be allowed to return to their homes on Sunday evening.
Search teams worked through the rubble of collapsed buildings in western Colombia on Sunday, nearly a week after a powerful earthquake devastated cities and towns across the country's west, killing hundreds and leaving many more missing, injured or homeless.
The magnitude-7.5 quake struck on Monday morning in San Jose del Palmar, causing severe damage from the Pacific port of Buenaventura to Colombia's coffee-growing region and major western cities including Cali and Pereira.
Official estimates issued on Sunday put the death toll at around 290, with more than 140 people still missing and nearly 4,200 injured. More than two-thirds of the deaths were concentrated in Cali and Pereira, where apartment blocks, homes, churches, schools and hospitals were damaged or destroyed.
In Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, emergency workers continued searching unstable piles of concrete and twisted metal on Sunday as rescue efforts increasingly gave way to the recovery of bodies.
"Unfortunately, there are no signs of life," Cali fire department Captain Alberto Hernandez said. "Miracles can happen, but honestly – as a believer and based on what we have seen – there is no indication that anyone is still alive."
Aftershocks have added to the danger for crews working in damaged neighborhoods and for residents still unable to return home.
"Work has to be done very carefully and methodically, so we do not put rescuers or community members helping at the site at further risk," Hernandez added.
As hopes of finding more survivors dimmed, the relief operation was expanding.
In Bogota, a stadium has been turned into the country's biggest donation collection center, while in Pereira authorities were treating injured pets and distributing donated animal food.
The quake is the first major crisis facing President Abelardo De La Espriella, who took office just days before the disaster and now faces the task of overseeing relief and reconstruction.
De La Espriella said on Sunday that Colombian billionaire banker Jaime Gilinski, who also controls food company Nutresa, would donate 150 billion pesos ($47.75 million) to rebuild hospitals and schools in Gilinski's hometown Cali. The Santo Domingo family, which controls a vast media empire in the nation, had already pledged $32 million on Friday.
US President Donald Trump's envoys met with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators in Cairo on Sunday to advance Trump's Gaza peace plan, even as Israel pressed on with air strikes in the enclave.
Hamas officials were present at some of the meetings that mediators held with Trump's envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Trump's Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, Reuters reported.
A Palestinian source told Al Jazeera on Sunday that Hamas's leadership briefed Kushner on Israel's ceasefire violations in Gaza. The source also stated that Kushner said the US rejects any plans to displace Gaza's residents.
Kushner and Mladenov were scheduled to meet on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on August 9 said Trump's latest roadmap for Gaza peace was "unacceptable."
Trump's peace plan calls for the immediate cessation of military operations in Gaza. It foresees Hamas disarming as Israeli troops withdraw from the enclave and as Gaza is rebuilt under a new civilian Palestinian administration.
Mediators urged to press Israel
The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Sunday called on mediators and guarantors to press Israel to approve the roadmap for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
The call was made in a statement issued following a meeting in Cairo between a Hamas delegation, led by Khalil al-Hayya, head of the movement's political bureau, and representatives of the mediators and guarantors of the ceasefire agreement.
The delegation urged the mediators and the US-led "Board of Peace" to press Israel to implement all its commitments under the first phase of the agreement, halt killings and ground incursions, and approve the roadmap for the second phase of the agreement, the statement read.
Hamas also said it had accepted the roadmap, citing its aim to secure a permanent ceasefire, full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, sustained humanitarian aid, and the start of work by the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.
Eight states condemn Israeli rejection of plan
The foreign ministers of eight countries on Sunday condemned Israel's declared rejection of a roadmap for completing the Gaza peace plan.
"Such rejection confirms that Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza," the foreign ministers of Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia said in a joint statement.
They said the roadmap is a "vital milestone" for the decommissioning of weapons concurrently with the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the deployment of the International Stabilization Force, the transfer of the administrative authority to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and reconstruction of the enclave.
The ministers also urged Israel to comply with the peace plan.
Israeli strikes continue
Israel has resumed air strikes in the past few days after scaling back its attacks in the enclave earlier this month.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that its aircraft struck two Islamic Jihad and Hamas militants in Khan Younis and Nuseirat. At least five Palestinians were wounded in the strike which hit a tent encampment, medics in the enclave said.
A separate air strike, which the Israeli military said targeted another militant, hit an apartment in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, wounding several people, medics said.
Strikes killed 19 people in Russia and Ukraine on Sunday, as waves of drones and missiles pummelled civilian infrastructure on both sides.
With fighting at the front at a near standstill and talks frozen, the two countries have significantly stepped up long-range attacks deep behind each other's lines, pushing the civilian death toll to its highest levels since the conflict's first months in 2022.
In Russia, swarms of Ukrainian drones killed five people in a residential area of the southern Rostov region, regional governor Yuri Slusar said. Three more people were killed in the Belgorod, Kursk and Moscow regions, along with three others in parts of Ukraine controlled by Russia.
Moscow's regional governor Andrey Vorobyov described the assault as "one of the most massive drone attacks in recent memory." Russia's defense ministry said it had intercepted 1,478 drones across the country in the past 24 hours.
In Ukraine, a barrage of Russian drones and missiles killed two people and wounded 14 at ArcelorMittal's steel plant in Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown. The plant, one of Ukraine's biggest steel producers, said it partially halted operations after the strike damaged its core production facilities.
Strikes also hit other regions, killing two people in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region and one in the border region of Sumy.
In Kyiv, a popular outdoor book market at Pochaina, long a destination for rare and antiquarian volumes, was struck. Bookseller Dmytro Semenukha saw all four of his stalls burn to the ground.
"There used to be a store. And books, and flags of all the countries, all the countries. Tons of everything. And that's it," the 45-year-old told AFP.
In a social media post on the overnight raid, Zelenskyy said that "wherever the Russians can reach with their ballistic missiles, they strike civilian infrastructure."
Over the past week, he said, Ukrainian cities had been pummeled by "more than 1,550 attack drones, nearly 1,560 guided aerial bombs, and 62 missiles," as he renewed his appeal to allies for more air defense.
The leader of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, acknowledged mental health concerns aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on Sunday while praising the crew's "resilience" during his recent visit to the aircraft carrier.
The ship has not made a port call in more than 200 days, setting a modern-day record for consecutive days at sea, according to Democratic lawmakers who have called for answers after sailors' families raised concerns about worsening conditions on the Lincoln.
Cooper wrote in a statement posted on social media on Sunday that the Lincoln had the lowest number of mental health cases of the Navy's 11 active aircraft carriers. He praised the carrier's leadership for prioritizing mental health and crew resilience.
The Lincoln left its home port of San Diego in November and was later redirected to the Middle East to support US military operations in the war with Iran. The carrier has roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier this week that reports about conditions on the ship "completely misrepresented" the situation. President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed concerns about the length of the ship's deployment, saying it was "not nearly long enough."
Democrats, however, have intensified their demands for answers over the carrier's prolonged deployment and concerns about crew morale, mental health and living conditions. Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona, a retired US marine, said on Sunday that problems aboard the Lincoln had continued to mount, blaming the Trump administration for failing to adequately plan for the war with Iran and its escalation.
He also criticized Trump and Hegseth for dismissing concerns about the crew, warning that such comments could discourage service members from remaining in the military.
(With input from agencies)
(Cover: The leader of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, appears before a House Committee on Armed Services business meeting, Washington, DC, US, May 19, 2026. /VCG)
Several editorials by Japanese media outlets on Sunday criticized the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for avoiding reflection on history and downplaying Japan's wartime responsibility on the 81st anniversary of the country's unconditional surrender in World War II, warning against growing signs of a "return to the prewar era."
On Saturday, Takaichi delivered an address at the National Memorial Service for the War Dead. In her speech, she made no mention of Japan's past wars of aggression against its Asian neighbors or the immense suffering they caused, nor did she apologize for Japan's history of aggression, while the word "remorse" was also absent from her remarks.
In this regard, an editorial from the Mainichi Shimbun pointed out that Japan's credibility as a peaceful nation will be undermined if the lessons of the war are not squarely faced.
Also on Saturday, Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and several other cabinet members visited the notorious Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines 14 convicted Class-A war criminals.
In its editorial, the Asahi Shimbun noted that Yasukuni Shrine had been closely linked to militarism as a core institution of State Shinto and had served as a tool for mobilizing the public for war. It said Koizumi's visit was particularly alarming given his position as the minister commanding the Self-Defense Forces.
The editorial warned that Koizumi's action could undermine the pacifist principles and constitutional order established in postwar Japan, as well as damage Japan's relations with China and South Korea.
Tokyo Shimbun argued in its editorial that even greater concern should be directed toward a series of policies led by Takaichi that display a clear tendency toward a "return to the prewar era."
The editorial cited moves including the lifting of restrictions on lethal weapons exports, increased defense spending, and the strengthening of the national intelligence apparatus, saying the Takaichi administration's efforts to revive the military industry and expand military capabilities bear a striking resemblance to Japan's prewar and wartime posture.
The editorial warned that failing to reflect on the war could lead Japan to repeat the mistakes of history. It urged that the Takaichi administration's push toward a "return to the prewar era" be corrected without delay, for once postwar democracy is undermined, it will be too late.
(Cover: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi answers questions from reporters at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo, Japan, August 12, 2026. /VCG)
Most US voters said they have become worse off during the second term of President Donald Trump, amid growing discontent with his handling of the economy and cost of living, according to a Financial Times poll released Sunday.
The poll, conducted by London-based research firm Focaldata, found that more than 53% of registered voters said their finances had deteriorated since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
Nearly 57% of independents and almost a quarter of self-identified Republicans also said they felt worse off under Trump, the poll showed.
The nationwide poll also gave Democrats an edge on handling jobs and the economy – issues that have long been seen as Republican strengths.
The poll was released just days after data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that US inflation moderated in July but remains elevated.
The consumer price index saw a 0.1% increase month-on-month and a 3.4% rise from the same period a year ago, according to the data.
Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua: "Inflation is outstripping wage gains and people are having difficulty paying their bills. Many feel they are falling behind and not able to keep up with the cost of food, gas and healthcare."
Experts said that the general feeling about the economy is negative and that could hurt Republicans in the midterm elections.
"What we're seeing in the public at large is a general economic discontent, regardless of what economic indicators say," Christopher Galdieri, a political science professor at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, told Xinhua.
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he had instructed the Pentagon to substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea.
"I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
"These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile," he said.
"Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!" Trump said.
The US president also mentioned Seoul's refusal to join US actions to "denuclearize" Iran.
In a brief statement, South Korea's Defense Ministry said the joint drill with the US, or the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, is proceeding as planned, adding that it would provide further updates in case of any development.
The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has become the deadliest in the country's history with over 2,300 deaths reported, according to the latest official figures.
The DRC has recorded 4,945 confirmed cases, including 2,325 deaths, since the current outbreak began, putting the case fatality rate at 47.0%, according to a situation report released on Sunday by the country's health authorities.
The latest death toll surpassed that of the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC, making the current epidemic the deadliest Ebola outbreak ever recorded in the country.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 3,481 cases, including 2,299 deaths, were recorded during the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC.
The current outbreak, the DRC's 17th since the virus was first identified in the country in 1976, was officially declared on May 15 and caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola virus.
The outbreak has affected 55 health zones across six provinces – Ituri, North Kivu, Haut-Uele, Tshopo, South Kivu and Bas-Uele.
The WHO has previously warned that the current Ebola outbreak in the DRC could be the worst on record.
"It's already the second-biggest Ebola epidemic on record, and it's moving faster than any previous Ebola outbreak. At its current pace, it's on track to eclipse the West African Ebola outbreak of 2014 to 2016," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing in Geneva last Wednesday.
More than 28,600 people were infected during the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic, the largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded.
In Colombia, families are beginning to bury victims of the Aug. 10 earthquake that struck Cali. Even saying goodbye has become a difficult process for many.
The city's morgue was damaged and forced out of operation by the quake, leaving bodies to be transported to the neighboring town of Palmira.
There, grieving relatives are facing long waits and delays in completing the necessary paperwork.
CGTN's Paulo Cabral reports from Cali.
For more, check out our exclusive content on CGTN Now and subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The China Report.
A launch event for the Azerbaijani version of the documentary "The Heritage Guardian" was held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, on Friday.
The program, the first of its kind produced and dubbed by China Media Group (CMG) in Azerbaijani, features vivid stories that reflect Chinese President Xi Jinping's deep concern for the inheritance and development of culture.
It also explains to international audiences the essence of Xi Jinping Thought on Culture and the solid cultural foundation underpinning his philosophy of governance.
Following the launch ceremony, the documentary was aired on the culture channel of the Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting Closed Joint-Stock Company (CJSC), Azerbaijan's national television broadcaster, and ARB 24, a privately owned national news-oriented television channel.
Lu Mei, China's ambassador to Azerbaijan, Wang Lu, director of the CMG TV & Film Dubbing Center, Gunay Efendiyeva, deputy chairperson of the Culture Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Tural Babaev, deputy chairman of the Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting CJSC, and Radik Ismailov, executive director of ARB 24, attended the event.
Several Azerbaijani scholars, media professionals and representatives of cultural and educational institutions shared their thoughts on the documentary, saying Xi's efforts to preserve humanity's cultural memory were deeply admirable and carried far-reaching significance for sustainable development. They also praised the documentary for offering a vivid and relatable portrayal of Xi through historical footage.
During the event, the CMG TV & Film Dubbing Center also introduced a number of high-quality programs, including "China Flash Forward," the opening episode of "Crafted in China" and "Song of the Yellow River."
Yemeni government forces said Sunday they had launched 181 military operations against targets in Houthi-held areas over the past 24 hours, marking a sharp escalation in fighting between the two sides.
Government military spokesperson Majid al-Nuzaili said in a statement posted on social media platform X that drones, artillery and rocket launchers were used to hit Houthi positions, weapons depots, military vehicles and other facilities allegedly used to launch attacks.
The operations killed or wounded dozens of members of the Houthi group and destroyed military equipment across seven provinces, al-Nuzaili said, without providing a detailed casualty toll.
He said the operations were launched in response to a recent wave of Houthi attacks on government forces, civilian infrastructure, economic facilities and ports.
Meanwhile, the Houthi group said it launched a series of ballistic missile and drone strikes against what it called "Saudi enemy military reinforcements" in Mocha and Marib on Sunday, claiming casualties and the destruction of several weapons depots and storage facilities.
The Houthis have stepped up missile and drone attacks in recent weeks against government-held areas across Yemen and targets in neighboring Saudi Arabia, a key backer of the Yemeni government.
The group announced a maritime ban on Saudi-linked shipping on July 20 and has since claimed attacks on oil tankers in the Red Sea as well as energy facilities inside Saudi Arabia.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 in support of the Yemeni government.
Authorities in Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta have introduced a nine-point plan to bolster public health and environmental safeguards following a recent surge in migrant arrivals.
The measures include increased tuberculosis surveillance, closer monitoring of drinking and coastal water, as well as intensified cleaning, disinfection and waste collection. More than 100 additional workers have been assigned to sanitation and environmental duties.
Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia is scheduled to visit Ceuta on Sunday to assess the impact of the influx on local health services.
During the visit, she is expected to meet local and central government officials, medical representatives and social organizations, and visit a health center and the University Hospital of Ceuta.
According to the Spanish government, more than 72,000 migrants crossed irregularly into Ceuta from Morocco on July 30 and 31. Most later returned to Morocco, while thousands remain in the enclave.
Security was reinforced along the border on Saturday after social media calls for another mass crossing. Moroccan security forces intercepted hundreds of migrants heading towards the border, while Ceuta reported no repeat of the large-scale influx seen in late July.
Five years after taking control, the Taliban is marking "Victory Day" in Kabul, pointing to restored security and nationwide calm as major achievements. Yet behind the official celebrations, Afghanistan continues to grapple with deep international isolation, more than 2.6 million girls barred from secondary education, and nearly 22 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. While local residents acknowledge that widespread conflict has ended, everyday survival remains an uphill battle. The challenge now is turning political control into lasting economic stability and a better quality of life for ordinary Afghans. #cgtn #afghanistan
This summer, Yiwu International Trade Market in east China's Zhejiang Province has been bustling with overseas buyers and tourists, turning the city into a unique destination where international visitors can experience China's products, technology and manufacturing capabilities firsthand.
Known as the world's largest wholesale market for small commodities, Yiwu is increasingly becoming a window into China's fast-evolving manufacturing and consumer markets. For many foreign visitors, a trip to the city is no longer simply about sightseeing – it is about shopping and discovering what is new in China.
At the market, a Syrian tourist who asked to be called Saed tried out a range of high-tech products, including dancing robots, interactive robotic dogs and a new-generation robotic exoskeleton.
"It's better than I expected. Honestly, it's shocking," Saed said. "There are a variety of products in the city. I traveled a lot. In other countries, you don't see this level of development. I've already been shocked."
In the first half of 2026, Yiwu International Trade Market received an average of 294,000 visits a day, up 34% year on year. Overseas visitors averaged 12,000 a day, an increase of 30%.
For international visitors, the market offers much more than a one-stop shopping experience. They can try AI-powered customized products, smart toys and other emerging consumer products while getting a close-up look at the speed and dynamism of Chinese manufacturing.
As he explored the market and tried out various smart devices and innovative products, Saed was struck by the pace of China's technological development.
"I think people should come to China every year, or even every few months, to keep up with the technology, because the technology is developing way too fast," said Saed.
From low-cost goods to rapid innovation
The influx of visitors has also brought more business to local merchants.
"During the summer holiday, customer traffic has increased by about 50% year on year," said Li Shujun, a merchant at Yiwu International Trade Market. "We're seeing quite a lot of customers from Brazil, Argentina and Chile."
An expanding range of technology-driven products is helping Yiwu attract buyers with increasingly diverse needs.
"Chinese AI products are particularly attractive," said a merchant named Ruan Xiaolong. "Today's robots can speak multiple languages, and some even have their own emotions and facial expressions."
Yiwu's ability to respond quickly to changing consumer demand can also be seen in seemingly ordinary products.
During the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, a China-made fan hat that provides both shade and airflow unexpectedly went viral on social media. By early July, overseas orders for the product had surpassed 700,000 units.
The evolution of a simple hat – becoming lighter and more compact while adding new functions – reflects a broader shift in the way Yiwu products compete globally.
Innovation in Yiwu is no longer driven solely by individual merchants coming up with new ideas. In 2025, the city granted nearly 9,000 patents and newly recognized more than 100 enterprise research and development institutions at various levels.
Merchant Long Xijin said his company launches hundreds of new products every year. New designs are first tested in stores to gauge market response, with resources then focused on products that prove popular.
"Overseas customers believe Chinese products are constantly evolving through research and innovation," Long said. "They are also willing to share their ideas and new concepts with us, and we use their needs to guide our product development."
Zhang Chenggang, head of the Institute for Social Governance and Development at Tsinghua University, said Yiwu's competitive edge has evolved considerably.
"If Yiwu's advantage in the past was mainly reflected in price, its core competitiveness today lies in a combination of quality, innovation and the ability to respond quickly to market demand," Zhang said. "Yiwu's small commodities have long moved beyond simple price competition and entered a new stage centered on value creation and understanding consumers' needs."
Policy support is also making Yiwu more attractive to international visitors. Measures such as China's 240-hour visa-free transit policy and "instant tax refunds upon purchase" for eligible departing travelers have further enhanced the city's appeal. The number of tax-refund stores in Yiwu has increased from seven to 42, with 28 offering instant refunds at the point of purchase.
The growing popularity of "shopping tourism" has helped boost Yiwu's tourism sector, with the city generating 17.45 billion yuan ($2.59 billion) in tourism revenue in the first half of 2026, up 10.2% year on year.
From robots and smart gadgets to everyday goods with unexpectedly creative designs, Yiwu offers international visitors a snapshot of how quickly Chinese products are evolving – and why more and more travelers are coming to China with room in their luggage for much more than souvenirs.
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said Sunday that its delegation is holding meetings in the Egyptian capital Cairo to ensure Israel's compliance with a roadmap agreed upon with the US-led "Board of Peace."
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said in a press statement that the meetings are part of the movement's ongoing "contacts and diplomatic efforts with mediators to inform them of Israeli violations."
Qassem provided no further details about the visit.
A source within Hamas said that a delegation headed by Khalil al-Hayya arrived in Cairo late Saturday, marking his first visit since assuming the post of head of Hamas' political bureau in July.
The source said the delegation is expected to meet with Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad to discuss developments concerning the Palestinian issue and efforts to consolidate the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
The visit comes as mediators from Egypt, Türkiye and Qatar continue efforts to consolidate the ceasefire agreement amid disagreements over the implementation of its next phases.
Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally rejected a US-backed 15-point plan for ending the Gaza conflict, insisting that Israel will not withdraw its forces from the enclave until Hamas is fully disarmed.
The death toll from the boat capsize accident at Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe on Tuesday has risen to 80 after eight more bodies were recovered on Sunday, police said.
Some of the bodies recovered earlier in the week have already been released to families for burial both within the Lake Kariba area and across the country.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared the accident a national disaster, directing full support for affected families.
The boat was traveling from Kariba town to the Chalala Fishing Camp when the accident occurred. A total of 77 people were rescued from the lake, authorities said.
Chief Commander of the Iranian Army Amir Hatami said on Sunday that US forces have been expelled from the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, and the Strait of Hormuz, and are prohibited from returning.
Hatami said US military bases in the region could by no means return to their previous state, and Iran will never allow such a situation to happen.
A cross-border seaweed blue carbon project between China and the Solomon Islands has developed 2,951 tonnes of carbon sinks, marking a new step in Zhangzhou's international blue carbon cooperation.
Led by the Zhangzhou Municipal Bureau of Ocean and Fisheries in southeast China's Fujian Province and Pacific Trade Invest China, the project was jointly implemented by local enterprises, with technical support from the Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources. Its results were unveiled at Fujian's 2026 National Ecology Day activities.
The project applies Zhangzhou's carbon-sink development expertise to seaweed aquaculture in the Solomon Islands, creating a model that combines Chinese technology, overseas resources and global markets. The carbon sinks have been filed with the Zhangzhou Municipal Bureau of Ocean and Fisheries and listed on the Xiamen Property Rights Exchange Center. The first transaction involved 61 tonnes worth 6,000 yuan (about $890), used for a carbon-neutral project for a single fast-ferry voyage in Pingtan, Fujian.
The project establishes a cross-border system for carbon-sink accounting, traceability and trading, enabling Zhangzhou's experience to be applied to overseas aquaculture areas.
Zhangzhou has pioneered aquaculture carbon-sink development. In 2023, it launched China's first city-level aquaculture carbon-sink development project, accounting for 244,000 tonnes. In 2024, it completed China's first cross-border seaweed carbon-sink project with Indonesia, accounting for 878 tonnes. In the first half of 2026, it established China's first city-level aquaculture carbon-sink resource database.
The latest initiative expands cooperation from carbon-sink trading to seaweed aquaculture, processing and carbon-sink development, further strengthening marine cooperation between Fujian Province and the Solomon Islands.
Russian political analysts have said Moscow no longer needs to show goodwill toward Tokyo, arguing that Japan's policies have pushed bilateral relations into a deadlock and that there is little room left for negotiations over the countries' long-running territorial dispute.
The remarks came after Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first visit to the Iturup island, one of the disputed Southern Kuril Islands, which Japan calls the Northern Territories. The visit was widely seen in Russia as a reaffirmation of Moscow's sovereignty over the islands and a signal that Russia would not make concessions to Japan amid growing tensions.
Russian political scholar Mikhail Lukyanov said Putin's visit had, in a sense, "drawn a line" and sent a clear message to Tokyo: If Japan is unwilling to pursue an independent policy toward Russia and instead aligns itself with the West, Moscow will no longer be concerned about Japan's reaction.
He stressed that a Russian president visiting any part of the country is a normal exercise of official duties.
Lukyanov noted that previous Russian leaders had refrained from visiting the disputed islands partly to avoid provoking unnecessary reactions from Japan. Putin had also made efforts to explore possible solutions to the territorial dispute, he said, but Tokyo had failed to break away from what he described as an entrenched and rigid decision-making process.
Lukyanov said that as Japan's policies have brought Russia-Japan relations to a deadlock, the timing of Putin's visit "was no coincidence".
Another Russian political scholar, Evgeny Minchenko, said Japan was moving down a path toward militarization, pointing to discussions within the Japanese government about potentially abandoning its commitment to the country's long-standing "three non-nuclear principles."
He said that under the current circumstances, there is no point for Russia to show goodwill toward Japan.
Yuri Pikalov, a professor at Pacific National University in Russia, said Putin's trip went beyond a routine working visit, describing it as a powerful political statement reaffirming Russia's sovereignty over the Kuril Islands, and a direct and forceful response to Japan's unfriendly policies toward Russia.
He said that visits by Japanese politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine clearly show that Japanese militarism is resurfacing, adding that such actions signal to the world that Japan does not accept the outcome of World War II.
He also said that the Japanese government's portrayal of Russia, China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as so-called "threats" has an obvious purpose: to alarm the Japanese public, justify increased military spending and accelerate the country's militarization.
Pikalov added that Putin's visit sent a clear message to the Japanese government that it should abandon "unrealistic territorial claims" over the island. He stressed that Russia has an indisputable legal basis for its territorial sovereignty over the island.
Japan strongly protested Putin's visit on Thursday. Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Japan "absolutely cannot accept" the visit and reiterated Tokyo's position that the Northern Territories are Japan's "inherent territories."
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, meanwhile, said the Southern Kuril Islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan, "have been, are and will remain Russian territory."
He said Takaichi's claim that the islands were "inherently Japanese" would not change the situation.
Editor's note: Ma Lirong is director of the Institute of Silk Road Strategy Studies and a professor at Shanghai International Studies University. She is also director of the Ministry of Education's Research Center on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and editor-in-chief of New Silk Road Studies. The article reflects the authors' views and not necessarily those of CGTN.
Ali Mazaheri, a renowned French-Iranian scholar of the Silk Road, wrote in his book The Silk Road: The History of Sino-Persian Cultural Exchange that the ancient Silk Road was far more than a trade route linking the East and the West; it was also a vital bridge connecting civilizations through exchanges and mutual learning.
For millennia, Chinese and Iranian civilizations have met and interacted along this ancient route, leaving a rich legacy of people-to-people exchanges, cultural exchanges and intellectual encounters.
Fifty-five years ago, China and Iran formally established diplomatic relations. Yet their interactions date back much further, with the two civilizations already connected through the ancient Silk Road.
As important participants in Silk Road exchanges, China and Iran gradually developed a spirit of mutual benefit, inclusiveness and cooperation – what can be described as the "Silk Road spirit." Rooted in centuries of interaction, this spirit has continued to inspire contemporary cooperation and mutual learning between the two civilizations.
From connectivity to deeper cooperation
Over recent years, China and Iran have continued to expand cooperation in economic and cultural fields, bringing new vitality to their longstanding Silk Road ties.
The establishment of the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership in 2016 marked a new stage in bilateral relations. In 2021, the two countries signed the China-Iran Comprehensive Cooperation Plan, outlining cooperation in a wide range of areas. In 2023, the two sides issued a joint statement to further expand collaboration in economic, cultural, technological and other fields.
Today, economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges have become mutually reinforcing components of China-Iran relations.
Economic cooperation has provided a foundation for greater connectivity and created more opportunities for interaction between the two peoples. Under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, China and Iran have advanced cooperation in transportation, logistics and infrastructure, drawing on their geographic advantages and historical connections.
Projects such as the Tehran-Hamedan-Sanandaj railway expansion, the electrification upgrade of the Tehran-Mashhad railway, and other railway cooperation initiatives have not only contributed to Iran's transportation development but also strengthened connectivity along the modern Silk Road.
The Yiwu-Qom China-Europe freight train route is another symbolic example. Since its launch in 2016, the route linking Yiwu in east China's Zhejiang Province and Qom in Iran has continued to expand cooperation. In July 2024, the Qom-Yiwu China-Europe freight train achieved full railway-based two-way operation, bringing a new dimension to a corridor that echoes the ancient Silk Road.
From caravans traveling along the historic Silk Road to today's railway networks, China-Iran cooperation not only connects markets and cities but also creates conditions for deeper exchanges between civilizations.
From cultural encounters to people-to-people bonds
In recent years, cultural exchanges have become an important driver of mutual understanding between China and Iran. The two countries have expanded cooperation in publishing, education, arts and cultural heritage, providing more opportunities for their peoples to learn about each other's history and traditions.
In publishing, China and Iran have developed various exchange mechanisms, including book fairs, cooperation between publishing houses, and the translation of literary works. Through book promotions, writers' dialogues and academic exchanges, the two countries have deepened interactions in literature, history and cultural studies.
At the 24th Beijing International Book Fair in 2017, Iran participated as the guest of honor, sending more than 100 publishers and writers to the event. In 2019, China participated as the guest of honor at the 32nd Tehran International Book Fair and hosted a series of cultural exchange activities. Such exchanges go beyond sharing knowledge. They help people from both countries better understand each other's cultural traditions and values.
Cultural heritage has also become a bridge connecting the two civilizations.
Against the backdrop of continued regional uncertainty and challenges to cultural heritage protection, 151 sets of precious artifacts from Iranian universities, museums and art institutions were displayed to Chinese audiences through exhibitions in several Chinese cities this year.
Meanwhile, Chinese museums also selected artifacts related to Persian culture from their own collections, highlighting the historical interactions between Chinese and Iranian civilizations along the Silk Road and allowing visitors to experience the depth of China-Iran cultural exchanges.
People-to-people exchanges have also expanded through growing cooperation between cities. Beijing and Tehran, Nanjing and Shiraz, Guangzhou and Gorgan are among the cities that have established friendly relations and carried out exchanges in areas including culture, education and tourism.
From economic cooperation to interactions among scholars, artists, students and ordinary people, these cross-border connections have continuously strengthened mutual understanding, deepened emotional connections and become an important link for closer people-to-people bonds.
As China and Iran mark the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations, both sides can continue carrying forward the Silk Road spirit. By expanding people-to-people interactions and promoting dialogue among civilizations, China-Iran relations can provide a valuable example of how different civilizations can engage in equal exchanges and deepen mutual understanding. Such efforts will also contribute to the implementation of the China-proposed four global initiatives and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.
The death toll from Zimbabwe's Lake Kariba ferry disaster has climbed to 72, after rescuers recovered 25 bodies on Saturday as efforts to locate the remaining missing passengers continued.
According to the police, 22 bodies were recovered earlier in the day, followed by three more later that evening. Officials are working to establish the identities of those killed.
The ferry, operated by the government's Rural Infrastructure Development Agency, capsized in rough waters on Tuesday while transporting passengers across Lake Kariba, which lies along the Zimbabwe-Zambia border.
Authorities said the vessel was licensed to carry 90 people but was carrying 114 adult passengers and five crew members when it overturned. The number of children on board remains unknown. The Civil Protection Unit said 77 people were rescued the following day.
The incident is described as Zimbabwe's deadliest ferry disaster.
At Kariba District Hospital on Saturday, hundreds of relatives and friends gathered as authorities began the process of identifying the recovered bodies.
A public memorial service was held in Kariba on Thursday, ahead of the start of burials for those who died in the tragedy.
The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines has slammed Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.'s claims on Chinese workers at a steel plant in the Philippines, saying China firmly opposes any discriminatory or selective law enforcement campaigns targeting Chinese nationals by the Philippine side out of political considerations.
The embassy's spokeperson Ji Lingpeng made the remarks when asked to comment on claims by Teodoro, who attacked the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson's remarks as disinformation. Teodoro alleged that Chinese workers at the Sanjia Steel Plant were engaged in illegal activities in the Philippines, and claimed that officials from the Chinese Embassy had actively intervened in local law enforcement processes.
Ji said that Teodoro's remarks are completely unfounded, and distort the facts and turn black into white.
In May this year, Teodoro instructed the Armed Forces of the Philippines to join the raid into the Sanjia Steel Plant and arrest unarmed Chinese workers. "Is Teodoro a national defense chief or a police chief? Why did he have a hand in the law enforcement operation? What is he up to? Is that part of his portfolio? " Ji asked.
"If the plant violated environmental or other laws, why were the workers arrested instead of the people in charge? Why were only the Chinese workers arrested, while all the Filipino workers were released on the spot? Why were the Chinese workers even transported to Manila for detention by a military aircraft?" said Ji.
According to the Chinese workers, employees at the plant only wore regular occupational protective workwear while on duty and had never worn personal protective equipment (PPE). On the day of the raid, a group of law enforcement personnel made three Chinese workers put on PPE and pose for photographs on site, and subsequently made a great deal of publicity out of that. They also claimed that only Chinese workers wear PPE in daily operation but Philippine workers don't. "Isn't this framing and fishing expedition?" he said.
The 70 detained Chinese workers were crammed into 5-square-meter cells. With an average of 13 people in such small space, sleep was impossible, while the Philippine side also failed to make consular notification to the Chinese side or arrange consular visits in accordance with the bilateral consular agreement, he said.
"Are these arrangements normal?" said the spokesperson.
The Chinese Embassy immediately provided the Philippine side with copies of passports and valid work visa or permit of all the Chinese workers. "Why did the Philippine side neither provide any feedback nor release the workers? Why were they kept in detention for up to 32 days? What were they after?" Ji questioned.
Teodoro claimed that there are no documents regarding the status of the Chinese workers when they are arrested and for him "it's a telltale sign of human trafficking." Ji questioned if this meets the legal definition of human trafficking under Philippine law and if all foreign workers employed at factories in the Philippines are required to carry their passports at all times.
"Who possesses the legal authority to determine law violations in the Philippines? The defense secretary or the judicial authorities?" Ji said. On May 28, the Philippine national prosecution authorities resolved the complaints against the Chinese workers. The resolution said in clear terms that all complaints of violation should be referred for further investigation and all 70 Chinese nationals are ordered to be released unless being detained for any other lawful causes, the spokesperson noted.
"Yet Teodoro continues to accuse them of engaging in illegal activities in the Philippines. Does he respect the rule of law and the decisions of the judiciary?" the spokesperson asked.
Ji said China fully respects the Philippines' judicial sovereignty and the lawful handling of cases by its relevant law-enforcement authorities. If solid evidence proves a foreign national is in violation of Philippine law, he or she shall be brought to justice in accordance with the law. The same is true in China.
However, China firmly opposes any discriminatory or selective law enforcement campaigns targeting Chinese nationals by the Philippine side out of political considerations, he said.
Teodoro claimed that the Chinese Embassy officials actively intervened in local law enforcement processes. "Anyone with a basic understanding of diplomacy knows that a fundamental responsibility of an embassy is to protect the safety and legitimate rights and interests of its nationals from infringement," he said.
"Regardless of the reason a Chinese national is detained, the Chinese Embassy has the right and responsibility to conduct consular visits, provide consular protection, make demarches to relevant Philippine law-enforcement authorities to ensure humane, fair and just treatment of detained Chinese nationals," Ji said.
Noting that Teodoro has recently spared no effort to stage anti-China activities, Ji said his real purpose is to destabilize and sabotage China-Philippines relations, pushing the Philippines to the forefront of confrontation with China, and create continued tensions and conflicts, all to serve his own ulterior political agenda.
"If his scheme succeeds, it is the fundamental interests of the two countries and their peoples that will suffer," the spokesperson added.
Hungarian authorities on Saturday began the controlled sinking of two barges in the Danube near the Paks nuclear power plant as decreasing water levels threatened the plant's operation again, the country's Prime Minister Peter Magyar said.
"We have received good news, because the water level has already risen by one centimeter at the power plant's pumping station," Magyar told a press conference at the site.
The two barges, positioned across part of the river near Paks, had initially been lowered by around 20 centimeters as part of an emergency operation aimed at raising local water level and maintaining sufficient cooling-water intake for the plant.
According to Magyar, current forecasts indicate that the Danube at Paks could fall below minus 132 centimeters early Monday, a level at which one of the plant's two operating turbines would have to be shut down. A further decline below around minus 140 cm could force the entire nuclear plant offline, he said.
"We have to prevent this, and we will prevent it," Magyar said, explaining the decision of sinking the barges.
The emergency measures are being taken alongside the construction of a temporary riverbed sill designed to raise the water level around the plant's cooling-water intake. Authorities said water levels, flow velocity and the condition of the riverbed were being continuously monitored.
The latest intervention follows weeks of exceptionally low water levels of the Danube caused by prolonged dry and hot weather.
Low water levels have repeatedly affected operations of the Paks nuclear power plant in recent weeks. Earlier this month, declining levels forced the plant to reduce output, before a temporary rise in the Danube allowed Unit 2 to gradually increase production again earlier this week.
Located about 100 km south of Budapest, Paks normally generates around half of Hungary's electricity. Its four reactors rely on water from the Danube for cooling.
The death toll from a magnitude-7.7 earthquake and several strong aftershocks off Flores Island in eastern Indonesia has risen to 47, the country's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said Saturday.
In its latest update, the BNPB said at least 346 houses have been damaged, including 157 severely, 41 moderately and 148 slightly.
The earthquake also damaged public facilities, including 87 educational facilities, 18 health facilities, five places of worship and six government offices, according to the agency.
Fathur Rahman, head of the city's rescue agency, told Reuters that teams have yet to reach Nagekeo, the region closest to the epicenter, and mobile communications there were affected. Attempts to reach the area by road were thwarted by landslides, while another team attempted to reach it by ferry, he said.
About 2,000 residents in Nagekeo evacuated, with damage reported to homes, warehouses and government buildings, the BNPB said. Authorities also reported power outages and traffic congestion in the regency.
The BNPB has dispatched food and relief supplies to affected areas, including from a logistics warehouse in East Flores Regency. Additional supplies are also being sent from Jakarta via Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base.
Moscow will view British involvement in long-range strikes as participation in the war, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said
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.”
“[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,” Lavrov added.
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 president has reportedly shifted to a strategy of attrition aimed at “strangling” Tehran over time
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.
“There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday, adding that the US blockade of Iranian ports remained “in full force and effect.”
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.
Mikhail Fedorov says the country should hold a vote despite the ongoing conflict with Russia
Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov, whose surprise firing last month sparked weeks of protests, has called for the ban on wartime elections to be lifted.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir 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.
Fedorov’s video address featured images of protests in his support, as well as references to high-profile corruption scandals involving government ministers and members of Zelensky’s inner circle, including his former chief of staff Andrey Yermak.
“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.
A July survey by the Rating Group indicated that Zelensky’s approval rating (59%) trailed those of Budanov (62%), Fedorov (65%), and Zaluzhny (70%). According to a Socis poll released on August 6, Zelensky would lose by a wide margin to each of the three in a runoff election.
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.
Congressional lawyers are reportedly spending more time fixing some chatbot-written bills than it would take to draft them from scratch
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.
One example cited by Politico defined a “state” in a way that could exclude Washington, DC or tribal nations from a federal program. AI can also confuse legal mechanisms such as tax credits, deductions and grants.
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
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.”
A similar episode recently occurred in Canada, where New Brunswick lawmaker Bill Oliver admitted using AI to prepare a lengthy speech after reading leftover chatbot instructions aloud in the legislature, including: “Here’s a more natural, flowing version of that section that reads like a legislative speech rather than a series of short points.”
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.
Dmitry Donskoy is venerated as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church and considered a national hero for his victory in 1380 over the Mongols
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.
A huge slump in yields will lead to higher grocery bills for consumers, economists have warned
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.”
Livestock farmers have meanwhile warned of a growing “forage production deficit” ahead of winter. France’s National Committee for the Promotion of Eggs has estimated that heatwaves have cut daily output by around one million eggs, while poultry farms have reported high mortality rates.
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.
The recruits will train and take part in military exercises to deter the US
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.
The military’s press release framed the deployment as an opportunity for recruits to “practice and train military skills in unfamiliar terrain.” The statement made no mention of Denmark’s ongoing dispute with the US over Greenland, but it did note that the conscripts will take part in Operation Arctic Endurance – a military exercise launched in direct response to Trump’s threats to annex the territory.
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.
Copenhagen viewed an armed conflict with the US as highly unlikely, government and military sources told Denmark’s DR broadcaster in March, but placed troops in Greenland as an insurance policy. By stationing troops on Greenland “with as many different flags on their shoulders as possible,” DR explained, the Danish government ensured that “the Americans would be forced to take a major hostile action if Donald Trump actually wanted to occupy Greenland militarily.”
“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!”
The US president’s clash with Seoul is part of a wider effort to reevaluate alliances and test what American protection is worth
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.
For Trump, however, these considerations appear to carry less weight than the principle of reciprocity. If the US spends enormous resources protecting an ally, provides a nuclear umbrella, and maintains tens of thousands of troops on its territory, that ally should be prepared to support Washington when American interests are at stake. South Korea is revealing in this respect. It is a major industrial economy with a sophisticated defense sector, yet its security still depends on capabilities that only the US can provide, while its export-oriented economy remains highly sensitive to access to the American market.
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.
Tariffs, defense expenditure, arms purchases, and investment in American industry are increasingly placed on the same political balance sheet. Access to the US market is tied to investment, while reliance on American protection brings pressure to spend more on defense and buy American weapons.
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 a historical analogy with the Second World War, although it should not be pushed too far. More than sixteen million Americans served in the armed forces, yet the US industrial heartland escaped the destruction experienced by Europe and much of Asia, while wartime production massively expanded national capacity. America emerged dramatically stronger relative to other major powers.
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.
Emirati officials reported no damage, saying two ballistic missiles fell into the water
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 has not publicly commented on the allegations. At the height of the US-Israeli war on Iran, Tehran repeatedly targeted the Gulf nation, accusing it of allowing US forces to use its territory to launch attacks.
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.
In an interview with RT, Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr. weighed in on the potential release of 31 tons of Venezuelan gold held by the Bank of England to fund earthquake reconstruction
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.
To overcome legal hurdles, they proposed converting the gold into funds to be deposited into US Treasury accounts rather than transferred to Venezuela, with spending subject to independent international audits.
The US Treasury had earlier issued a limited license allowing certain disaster-relief transactions involving Venezuela, which remains under US sanctions. Since the January 3 US operation that captured former President Nicolas Maduro, Washington has taken control of Venezuelan export revenues, particularly proceeds from oil sales. Caracas’ access to the funds is subject to US decisions.
In an interview released on Tuesday, Batista argued that placing the gold under US control would further violate Venezuela’s sovereignty and allow Washington to effectively “micromanage” how the country’s own wealth is spent. He noted, however, that such a move would hardly be surprising because “the US not only controls Venezuela after they abducted Maduro,” but “exerts enormous influence over Great Britain, including the Bank of England.”
“Venezuela has become a protectorate of the United States. I wouldn’t even say neocolonial. It’s a colonial relationship,” Batista stated. He warned that placing the bullion under US control would set a “terrible precedent” for Washington’s relations with the rest of Latin America. “We are under threat by US aggressive imperialism, lack of respect for any rules, norms, the right of property.”
The incident comes just weeks after Washington pressed Kiev to halt strikes on US-linked terminals and shipping
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.
Repeated strikes last month disrupted CPC loadings and forced Kazakh producers to cut output.
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.
Tehran has dismissed the US president’s cryptic claim on the strategic waterway as “delusional”
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.’
The exchange comes as negotiations between Washington and Tehran remain stalled, while the two-month window to reach peace expired on Monday. Shortly after laying claim to Hormuz, Trump confirmed that “no talks or conversations 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,” the US president claimed in a subsequent Truth Social post.
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.
Senator Tim Kaine will table a new resolution to rein in the president’s powers – after more than a dozen failed before
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.”
Kaine added that he hopes to “find some Republican colleagues to join with Democrats and check this blindly stumbling power-drunk president from inflicting more damage on the US and the world.”
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.
A post on X by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, August 18, 2026
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.
The outlet – whose German owners once received several million dollars from the CIA – cited documents received from an intelligence official
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.
According to the outlet, the letter was part of a tranche it obtained through an intelligence official that also included confidential Rosatom documents outlining violations identified in the company’s own reviews and audits.
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.
The Egyptian nuclear authority later issued its own statement, saying that the report “presented an inaccurate and unbalanced picture” and drew conclusions without proper technical and regulatory context. It added that it had received a request for comment before publication but considered the article too politicized to “warrant a response.”
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.
The El Dabaa allegations “cast a shadow over the Paks II project” and could “reinforce concerns” in Brussels, where Politico Europe has a sizeable and influential newsroom, about entrusting critical European infrastructure to a Russian company.
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.
Several European countries and the US have historically relied on Russian nuclear fuel and enrichment services, making a comprehensive ban economically costly.
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.
Axel Springer operates under binding corporate principles known as “The Essentials,” which explicitly champion free markets, Israel, and US-EU transatlantic relationship. While Russia and Ukraine are not named, the company’s leadership has presented its staunch support for Kiev as an extension of its commitments to defending democracy against authoritarianism and strengthening transatlantic ties.
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.
The US rapper reportedly hopes to meet the president when he travels to Russia for two concerts in St. Petersburg
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.
West will be making his first concert appearances in Russia, although he visited Moscow in June 2024 for the birthday of Russian designer Gosha Rubchinsky, with whom he had previously collaborated.
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.
The deal initially covers diplomatic and service passport holders, with broader access under negotiation, the West African nation’s foreign minister has said
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.
Lavrov said the agreement would facilitate contacts between the two governments, including their foreign and economy ministries, while supporting cooperation in trade, investment, education and humanitarian exchanges.
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.
Accra and Moscow established diplomatic relations in 1958, less than a year after Ghana gained independence. Ties expanded under the country’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, with the Soviet Union providing training and university education to Ghanaian students.
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.
The visa waiver agreement comes as Moscow expands its diplomatic presence across Africa. Russia reopened embassies in Niger and Sierra Leone and opened a new mission in South Sudan in 2025. It plans further missions in The Gambia, Liberia, Togo and Comoros, which Lavrov said would bring the total number of Russian embassies on the continent to 49.
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
Hakainde Hichilema received 60.5% of valid ballots, compared with around 38% for his main rival Brian Mundubile, who denounced alleged interference
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.
Mundubile also claimed“heavily armed personnel believed to be members of the Zambia army” raided his residence and opened fire while his family and colleagues were inside. He said opposition politician Mutotwe Kafwaya and several others sustained serious gunshot wounds. Mundubile later said he had been “reliably informed” Kafwaya had died, according to local outlet Zambia Monitor.
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.
European Union, Southern African Development Community, and joint African Union-Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa observers described voting as largely peaceful but raised concerns over restricted freedoms, incumbency advantages, media bias and the counting suspension. The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops separately expressed“grave concern” over the army’s deployment during counting and demanded that detained or missing opposition figures be accounted for.
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 wants to attract more Christian pilgrims for the 2,000-year anniversary in 2030
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.
Ye’s confirmed St. Petersburg concerts are becoming a spectacle of wealth, controversy and celebrity – with the music almost beside the point
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.
No one would argue that West is a hard worker, and Grammys aren’t given out to just anyone. The song ‘Jesus Walks’ with its direct references to slavery and gospel music – how could it not earn him a Grammy in the era of ‘toxic old white men’? West won 21 Grammys in just eight years. About ten years ago, he worked so hard that he even ended up in a psychiatric hospital – well, it happens. Bipolar disorder won’t cure itself.
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.
The New Delhi event in September will bring together major firms from both countries to expand business, technology and industry ties
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).
“INNOPROM is a powerful platform for global collaboration, an opportunity to diversify supply chains, to meet new friends and partners, and to also seek technology in sectors such as advanced manufacturing, green energy, automation and robotics. It is also a great opportunity to access new markets and new customers and create more collaborations across different continents and countries,” said Ameya Prabhu, co-chairman of the CII and managing director of NAFA Capital Advisors.
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.
New energy routes would take years to build and come at a heavy cost, IRGC adviser Mohammad Reza Naqdi has told RT
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.
“If they want to find alternative routes to transport oil and such, it takes many years and incurs very heavy costs,” he said.
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.
Elsewhere in the interview, Naqdi offered Iran’s version of the alleged missile plot that prompted US President Donald Trump to secretly switch planes while leaving Türkiye last month, claiming it had never existed.
Watch the exclusive interview with Mohammad Reza Naqdi in full below.
The country’s Central Energy Fund projects diesel hikes of up to $0.20 per litre while petrol prices could also rise sharply
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 theCentral 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.
Both grades of petrol decreased by 52 cents per litre at the beginning of August, while diesel increased by between R1.23 (50ppm) and R1.38 (500ppm).
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.”
However, analysts do see a gradual softening of international oil prices, with JP Morgan predicting an average of around $86 for Brent in the third quarter of this year, falling to $80 in the fourth quarter and $78 in 2027.
Brussels keeps misreading public backlash as foreign influence when much of it is simply exhaustion with elite overreach and failure
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.
Because apparently there is no such thing as people who are just genuinely fed up with how you guys are running things. We either support you – or support Russia. We’re just mindless units to be fought over, like the last jars of Nutella in a supermarket blowout sale.
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.”
The court obviously doesn’t understand that the whole idea is to use kids to push a mass surveillance scheme. Or else it does understand – and isn’t going for it. Is the judge populist? Does he have a photo of Putin hidden in his desk? Or maybe the judge – like so many others – is just genuinely fed up with establishment hacks on all sides colluding with some opaque agenda whose advancement routinely seems to leave the average person worse off.
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.
Lucky Rawat, 15, was selected from about 5,000 applicants for Rosatom’s ‘Icebreaker of Knowledge’ expedition
A 15-year-old student became India’s sole representative on a recent scientific exploration of the North Pole, beating thousands of others to earn a place in one of the world’s most exclusive expeditions for school students held in Russia.
Lucky Rawat, from the town of Chakrata in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, completed the ten-day voyage to the top of the world on August 15.
Students from 22 countries, including China and Bangladesh, undertook the Arctic voyage on board the Russian nuclear icebreaker ‘50 Let Pobedy,’ which means ‘50 years of victory.’
They covered Murmansk, the geographic North Pole, and Franz Josef Land to become the 200th surface-vessel expedition to the North Pole.
Unlike the South Pole, the North Pole sits atop shifting sea ice on the Arctic Ocean. Rawat, who is familiar with the Himalayan snow, called the Arctic snow “just different.”
“It was hard like a rock plate and grained like sand at the same time,” he told RT India upon his return. “Its seamless white color gave it an endless ice sheet look.”
He described the expedition as a “learning experience.”
“From the first flight to boarding the ship… it taught me that boundaries are just some lines on a map.
“Me learning a Russian song and representing my whole team of international students in the closing ceremony was unexpected.”
Rosatom’s ‘Icebreaker of Knowledge’ Expedition Launches World’s First Stratospheric Platform in the Arctic
Tests on the reusable platform were a success, confirming the feasibility of establishing stable radio comms using readily available radio equipment in polar regions, the… https://t.co/AdG8c0G2t5pic.twitter.com/c9mycOlhmv
The program, called the ‘Icebreaker of Knowledge’ was organized by Russian state-owned giant Rosatom.
Russia has eight nuclear-powered icebreakers, which are owned and operated by Rosatom, making it the only country in the world with such a fleet.
Only one student was selected from a country for the expedition. Rawat, who is trained in judo, cleared the online exam from his home, and created a video to earn his place on the team.
Students in the exploration team worked with scientists on experiments, including the launch of a radiosonde – a weather instrument package attached to a balloon – from the North Pole, and the world’s first recoverable stratospheric monitoring platform for the Arctic.
The data from the platform will help improve communications along the Northern Sea Route and advance the creation of an independent Arctic monitoring system that is not tied to data from foreign satellites, the Murmansk Arctic University was quoted as saying in a statement by Tass.
The Northern Sea Route, which follows along the Russian Arctic coast, is garnering serious interest from several nations, including India and China, amid disruptions in the traditional shipping routes via the Suez Canal.
Rawat was effusive in his praise for the Russian people, calling them “very hospitable.”
“They did know a few things about Indian culture and Indian cinema, and of course, the spicy Indian food,” he recalled. “They knew some Hindi words, such as ‘namaste’ and ‘dhanyawad,’ and would say them to me in a very cute accent.”
“The Icebreaker of Knowledge project is living proof that true science knows no borders,” said Alexey Zhirukhin, a member of the international jury and Arctic Ambassador. “We are opening the Arctic to children from across the globe, showing them Russia’s unique technologies and the breathtaking beauty of the North Pole.”
The cricketer-turned politician’s family and his Tehreek-e-Insaf party have raised concerns over Khan’s health amid the isolation in jail
Pakistan’s top court has ordered imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan to be moved to a hospital amid intensifying concerns about his health.
The Supreme Court issued the order after Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and his family raised concerns about his health, citing medical reports from the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where the 73-year-old cricketer-turned-politician has been held since August 2023.
The court directed Khan to be moved to the private Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad within 48 hours, and to be kept there until September 16, reports quoted PTI spokesman Naeem Haider Panjutha as saying. Khan’s family members have been allowed weekly meetings with him.
The court also directed a medical board to be formed, which will include Khan’s personal physician, and his sister Uzma Khan – also a medical doctor – to look into his health issues.
It, however, warned against sharing the board’s medical report with the media or the public, or using it for any political purposes.
A medical report submitted by the jail administration on Monday had revealed that a doctor from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, who examined Khan on August 2, noted fluctuating blood pressure, palpitations, headache, and restlessness.
Khan, the report said, attributed the problems to infrequent meetings with his wife and family, as well as his lack of access to newspapers and TV.
A medical board that examined Khan on August 10 recommended more frequent meetings with his wife and family, a relaxation of his prison routine, and access to newspapers, magazines, television and books.
“Stress was never his weakness,” former Pakistan President Arif Alvi posted on X on Monday. “That it is now at peak levels tells you everything about what three years of imprisonment and total isolation have done to him.”
Khan’s sons Sulaiman Khan and Kasim Khan have also raised concerns about his health and the restrictions on meeting him.
Khan was Pakistan’s prime minister from 2018 until he lost a no-confidence vote in 2022 – reportedly at the behest of the US, because he was too friendly to Russia. His imprisonment sparked nationwide protests, some of which turned violent.
He was found guilty of illegally buying and selling state gifts in 2023, although the sentence was later suspended. In 2024, he was sentenced to ten years for leaking state secrets, a charge he has denied.
Khan and his political allies have maintained that the cases against him are politically motivated and intended to prevent his return to politics.
PTI, which retains a large support base, was stripped of its election symbol ahead of the 2024 vote.
In February, over a dozen cricket greats, including from India, appealed to Islamabad for more “humane” treatment for Khan amid reports that his health was deteriorating.
The current crisis has claimed 2,325 lives, surpassing the toll from the devastating 2018-2020 epidemic
The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has become the deadliest in the country’s history, with the number of fatalities surpassing the toll recorded during the major 2018-2020 epidemic.
At least 2,325 people have died among 4,945 confirmed cases, according to the latest figures released by the Congolese health authorities. The overall case fatality rate now stands at 47%.
The previous record was set during the 2018-2020 Ebola epidemic in eastern DR Congo. The outbreak, declared on August 1, 2018 and brought to an end in June 2020, resulted in 3,323 confirmed cases and 2,299 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It was the world’s second-largest Ebola outbreak on record.
The current outbreak has reached that grim milestone far more quickly. The DR Congo declared an Ebola outbreak on May 15, marking the country’s 17th recorded outbreak since the virus was first identified there in 1976.
The outbreak is being driven by the Bundibugyo virus, a less common Ebola strain than the Zaire virus responsible for the 2018-2020 epidemic. Unlike the Zaire strain, there is currently no approved vaccine specifically targeting the disease.
A recent genetic study published in Nature Medicine also found that the Bundibugyo virus behind the illness is genetically distinct from variants detected during previous Bundibugyo outbreaks in the region, suggesting it likely emerged through a new animal-to-human transmission. The animal source has not yet been identified.
The latest government figures show the virus has now spread across 55 health zones in six provinces: Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele, Bas-Uele, and Tshopo. Ituri, the epicenter of the outbreak, remains by far the hardest-hit province. According to the WHO chief, responders face major challenges, including insecurity and mass displacement, which are hampering efforts to reach affected communities.
DR Congo continues to grapple with instability as the M23 rebel group maintains control over parts of the country, fueling clashes and humanitarian emergencies.
The WHO warned earlier this month that Ebola was “spreading faster than” efforts to contain it, calling for response measures to be urgently scaled up.
Al-Shabaab and fighters loyal to a former South West State president used two explosives-laden vehicles, the authorities have said
Somali federal troops have driven armed groups out of the administrative capital of the country’s South West State following hours of fierce fighting that killed 30 attackers, the Defense Ministry has said.
The ministry said the assault began at around 5 AM local time on Monday, when Al-Shabaab militants and fighters aligned with former South West State President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen attacked military positions in Baidoa using two explosives-laden vehicles.
“Thirty members of the militias that carried out the attack were killed,” a ministry spokesman said in a video statement.
An unspecified number were captured, while weapons and vehicles were seized, he added. The spokesman accused Laftagareen’s fighters of coordinating with Al-Shabaab and said they would henceforth “be fought in the same manner as terrorist militias.”
The attack marked the latest escalation in a power struggle between Mogadishu and Laftagareen, whose disputed reelection in March prompted federal troops to seize Baidoa and force him to resign. Forces loyal to him have reportedly remained active outside the city.
BAIDOA, Somalia: Forces loyal to ousted regional President Abdiaziz Laftagareen entered the city of Baidoa on Monday, sparking clashes involving heavy weapons across several neighborhoods.
However, Somalia's federal government contested the nature of the fighting, with the… pic.twitter.com/Trx1nZvVYt
Laftagareen’s office rejected descriptions of his forces as an armed group as “false propaganda.” It said the operation was intended to restore order and remove what it called an unlawful federal military presence.
The new Mogadishu-backed South West administration, led by former federal parliament speaker Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur Madobe, said regional and federal troops have repelled the attackers and secured Baidoa.
Four residents also confirmed to Reuters that federal troops have regained control of the city after several hours of fighting. Local elder Farah Ibrahim told the news agency that he saw ten bodies at one location, including four civilians and six soldiers from the opposing sides.
Tensions between Mogadishu and the South West regional authorities have persisted since March, when Laftagareen’s administration severed ties with the federal government over constitutional changes and elections. Days later, Mogadishu rejected his reelection as illegal and declared his administration “no longer valid.”
Federal troops entered Baidoa on March 30 to address what the government described as political instability created by “the former administration.” Laftagareen subsequently announced his resignation.
Baidoa is one of Somalia’s most sensitive political centers, serving as a base for federal forces, peacekeepers, and humanitarian operations. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) estimates that the city is home to 1.6 million people, nearly half of whom are displaced, with many having fled conflict and climate shocks elsewhere in Somalia.
The storm in Nizhny Novgorod ripped off roofing and brought down trees as streets were inundated
A tornado swept through the western Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod on Monday as a powerful storm brought torrential rain and flooding.
Footage shared online showed a dark funnel descending from storm clouds and hurling debris into the air.
The downpour overwhelmed drainage systems, with local media describing it as a wall of rain that turned some streets into fast-moving streams.
Trees and large branches were brought down by strong winds, with some reportedly landing on parked vehicles and damaging windows and bodywork.
No injuries were reported, according to Nizhny Novgorod Mayor Yury Shalabayev, who said municipal crews had been dispatched to deal with the aftermath.
The severe weather came amid an unusually sharp cold snap, with temperatures in Nizhny Novgorod plunging to around 8C (46F), well below the mid-August norm, when daytime highs typically reach around 22C (72F).
The Nizhny Novgorod tornado was the latest in a series of extreme weather events recorded in Russia this summer. In June, a powerful vortex tore through the Ural town of Kushva, injuring 16 people, while a twister in Perm Region in late May destroyed more than 700 hectares of forest.
A major climatological study found that on average more than 100 tornadoes were recorded annually in Russia between 2009 and 2018, although most occurred away from densely populated areas. Researchers say their frequency had historically been significantly underestimated.
At least three people were injured, including a child, and dozens of homes damaged after 620 UAVs were launched toward the Russian capital
At least three people, including a child, have been injured, dozens of homes damaged, and 5,000 left without power after an overnight Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow Region.
Governor Andrey Vorobyev said drones targeted multiple districts outside the Russian capital. In Ramensky, a drone crashed into a private home while people were sleeping, causing shrapnel injuries to a ten-year-old girl, Vorobyev said. A woman was injured by falling UAV debris in Bogorodsky District, while a 27-year-old man was wounded by shrapnel in Kolomna. All three have been hospitalized.
The most serious damage was reported in Pavlovsky Posad, where a UAV caused a fire which destroyed a private house in Kuznetsy and another blaze hit the roof of an apartment building, forcing dozens of families to evacuate. No injuries were reported. Elsewhere, falling drone debris sparked a fire and damaged several buildings in Kolomna, set construction materials ablaze in Kotelniki, and damaged a car and electrical substation in Elektrostal.
In Bogorodsky, a drone also struck a Wildberries warehouse. The major e-commerce platform, widely described as the “Russian Amazon,” said debris caused minor damage to an exterior wall. The facility had been evacuated in advance, and no goods were damaged.
More than 5,000 consumers and 46 socially important facilities in Likino-Dulyovo and Orekhovo-Zuyevo were left without electricity, regional power company Mosoblenergo said. The outage followed equipment damage in the network supplying its Pavlovsky Posad branch.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said 180 UAVs were downed over the region, adding that a total of 620 UAVs had targeted Moscow and the surrounding area between Monday evening and 5 AM Tuesday.
The attack also disrupted air traffic around the Russian capital. Vnukovo, Domodedovo, and Zhukovsky airports suspended flights, while Sheremetyevo switched to operating flights subject to coordination with the authorities. The restrictions remained in effect as of Tuesday morning.
The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses intercepted and destroyed 791 Ukrainian fixed-wing UAVs overnight across the country. Apart from Moscow, drones were downed over 15 Russian regions and the Azov and Black seas, according to the ministry. Nine UAVs were shot down over Ryazan Region, injuring three people, Governor Pavel Malkov said.
The August 18 attack was one of the largest Ukrainian drone raids since the beginning of the year, according to Defense Ministry data. It came just two days after an even larger attack on August 16, when the ministry reported intercepting and destroying 822 Ukrainian drones.
Kiev has stepped up long-range attacks on civilian infrastructure in Russia in recent weeks amid battlefield setbacks, striking warehouses, energy hubs, residential buildings, civilian vehicles, infrastructure, and resort areas. Earlier this month, a Ukrainian drone struck a crowded beach in the southern Russian resort of Gelendzhik, killing at least seven people, including three children, and injuring dozens more.
The divisive and hugely popular US rapper will play two shows in St. Petersburg after facing bans and cancellations across Europe over his remarks about Hitler and Nazism
US rapper Kanye West, known as Ye, will perform two shows in Russia after his concerts were canceled in several European countries over the star’s controversial remarks about Israel and Adolf Hitler.
The rapper will perform at St. Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena on October 10 and 11, his producer Joseph Karre and local organizer SAY Agency confirmed on Monday. The shows will be part of the Ye Live Concert Tour 2026 in support of his 12th album, Bully.
West will be one of the few big-name Western artists to perform in Russia since February 2022, when many Western countries cut cultural ties with Moscow over the Ukraine conflict.
Ukrainian officials and activists have campaigned to dissuade foreign artists from visiting Russia and pressured other countries not to host Russian performers, including ballet dancers and orchestras. Moscow has described the campaign as a futile attempt to “cancel Russian culture.”
In June 2024, West flew to Moscow for the birthday party of Gosha Rubchinsky, a designer who collaborated with him on his Yeezy clothing brand. Rubchinsky cut ties with West the following year.
In recent years, West has been accused of spreading neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic views through social media posts and statements in interviews. Appearing on Infowars in 2022, he said, “I see good things about Hitler” and “I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis.” He has worn T-shirts and necklaces featuring swastikas and, in 2025, released a song titled Heil Hitler, which contained the line “All my n**gas Nazis, n**ga Heil Hitler” and an audio excerpt from a 1936 Hitler speech.
Kanye West wears diamond swastika necklace as he meets up with white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
Last year, the rapper was barred from entering Australia over the song referencing Hitler. In April, West was banned from entering the UK, where he had been scheduled to perform at the Wireless festival. The event was later canceled. Prime Minister Keir Starmer criticized organizers for booking West “despite his previous anti-Semitic remarks and celebration of Nazism.”
In June, West indefinitely postponed a planned show in Marseille, France, after authorities reportedly sought to block him from entering the country. The mayor of Reggio Emilia, Italy, banned West’s concert scheduled for July 18, citing concerns raised by the Jewish community. His show the following day in Chorzow, Poland, was also canceled by the venue.
Penn State inductees into the campus society were made to cut and package drugs as part of their initiation, prosecutors have alleged
A US grand jury has indicted 14 people for allegedly operating a drug ring inside two fraternities at Pennsylvania State University (PSU), where pledges were allegedly forced to cut and package cocaine as part of their initiation.
According to Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday, 13 of the defendants were students in 2023 and 2024, when the crimes allegedly occurred. The remaining defendant is the father of a student and is charged with tampering with evidence and hindering the investigation. At least four of those charged are current students. All were arrested as part of Operation Drugs Unlimited.
Investigators alleged that the group brought “large quantities” of cocaine from Philadelphia and New York, cut and packaged the drugs mainly at the Delta Upsilon and Sigma Chi fraternity houses, and distributed them to PSU students. The state attorney general’s office named Agostino Abbatiello and Thomas Robinson as “the main suppliers” for the group.
“This was a coordinated and highly-profitable drug-trafficking crew revolving around two senior members of the fraternities, other fraternity brothers, and pledges,” Sunday said.
“In fact, according to the evidence uncovered, cutting and packaging cocaine was, for some pledges, an indoctrination into the fraternities,” he added.
The university released a statement saying it was “horrified by these serious allegations.”
“Criminal activity, including hazing, such as this has no place at our institution, and we will cooperate with law enforcement in any way we can,” said Andrea Dowhower, vice president for Student Affairs.
Dowhower added that the university would review Delta Upsilon, while Sigma Chi was not a recognized organization at PSU and therefore fell outside the university’s oversight.
Delta Upsilon Executive Director Justin Kirk said the defendants had been expelled or suspended if they had not already resigned. “We will continue to work closely with the university on any investigative efforts,” Kirk said.
A staple of US college culture, fraternities are selective social organizations that have at times faced scrutiny over excessive partying and initiation rituals involving hazing. In February, three members of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity at Northern Arizona University were charged in connection with the death of a student during a hazing ritual.
The agency reportedly ignored Hugh Hefner and only contacted an alleged rape victim 15 years after his first warning call
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner repeatedly contacted the FBI on behalf of a model who alleged that Jeffrey Epstein had raped and trafficked her, but the agency did not contact her until 15 years later, the New York Post has reported.
According to a lawsuit filed against the US government by 32 of Epstein’s alleged victims and cited by the Post, former Playmate Audra Lynn Christiansen sought Hefner’s help in 2005 after telling him about the alleged abuse. Despite his repeated calls to the FBI, investigators did not contact her until 2020 – a year after Epstein’s death.
Christiansen also alleged that she had been trafficked to Macau casino billionaire Stanley Ho, known as China’s ‘Godfather of Gambling’, who died in 2020. She reportedly asked Hefner to approach the authorities on her behalf because she believed his law enforcement connections and “clout” would ensure her allegations were taken seriously.
Jordan Merson, an attorney representing the alleged victims, told the Post that the FBI’s attempts to use procedural technicalities to avoid accountability for its alleged failure to properly investigate Epstein for years were “deeply concerning.”
In June, the FBI sought to have the lawsuit dismissed, arguing that the agency was not legally required to investigate every complaint it received. The case remains pending.
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking minors and died in custody less than a month later, before standing trial. He had previously pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor and served 13 months under a controversial agreement with prosecutors.
Earlier this year, the US Justice Department released more than 3 million pages of documents related to Epstein. The files mentioned more than 300 people, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, former US President Bill Clinton, Mick Jagger, and Kevin Spacey. Many appeared only in correspondence or news reports, and being named in the files does not in itself indicate wrongdoing.
Hefner himself faced posthumous allegations of sexual abuse and coercion in the 2022 documentary series ‘Secrets of Playboy’, five years after his death. Women featured in the series alleged that they had been coerced into sex and drugged.
The allegations were never tested in court. Hundreds of women, including Hefner’s former girlfriends and employees, as well as Playboy models and ‘Bunnies’ who worked at its clubs and other properties, later signed an open letter defending him.
President Donald Trump’s special peace envoy Jared Kushner has said the militant group must disarm before the Palestinian enclave can be rebuilt
The US would not allow the reconstruction of Gaza until the Palestinian enclave is fully demilitarized, President Donald Trump’s peace envoy Jared Kushner said following meetings with Hamas officials and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, held a rare in-person meeting with Hamas officials in Cairo on Sunday and spoke with Netanyahu the following day. According to the envoy, Hamas reaffirmed its support for Trump’s peace plan and committed to “giving up their weapons.”
“Time will tell whether that’s going to be implemented,” Kushner told Fox News’ Trey Yingst.
“We have a plan to rebuild Gaza, but we will not allow Gaza to be rebuilt until the demilitarization occurs,” Kushner said. “Nobody wants to put more money into a place that’s gone on for so long if it’s just going to be taken over by terrorists or blown up again,” he added.
Kushner said the US was “not going to restrict Israel’s right to defend itself if there are any imminent threats.”
Netanyahu rejected Trump’s 15-point peace plan unveiled in July, saying last week that the Israeli army would not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas completely disarms. Hamas officials, however, insisted that an Israeli withdrawal and an end to “all forms of aggression” were a “fundamental prerequisite” for the group’s disarmament.
The UN and human rights groups, both in Israel and abroad, have accused Israel of systematically targeting civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure, including high-rise buildings, during its war with Hamas. More than 73,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, and nearly all of the densely populated enclave’s pre-war population of 2 million have been displaced. Far-right Israeli politicians have argued that the Palestinian population should be driven out and Gaza resettled by Israelis.
Israel has denied deliberately targeting civilians and blamed Hamas for the destruction in Gaza.
At least 92% of Gaza’s housing units were either fully destroyed or damaged between October 2023 and October 2025, according to the UN. The organization’s special rapporteur on housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, described the devastation as domicide, defined as “the widespread or systematic destruction of housing and civilian infrastructure essential to the survival of a population.”
Last year, Trump unveiled a plan to redevelop Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East” and floated the idea of removing Palestinians and resettling them elsewhere. The proposal was promptly rejected by Arab states, the EU, and the UN.
A Rural US family has refused to sell their land for $26.5mn as a proposed hyperscale facility divided their community
A farming family in rural America has rejected a multimillion-dollar offer to sell their land for a data center development, joining opposition to a rapid buildout of such facilities driven by the AI boom in the US.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a mother and daughter from Maysville, Kentucky, were offered $26.48 million for roughly 216 hectares of farmland, nearly ten times its estimated open-market value.
Delsia Bare, 54, and Ida Huddleston, 83, initially agreed to sell but reversed their decision after learning that their land would become part of a planned 2.2-gigawatt hyperscale data center. Such a facility could consume as much electricity as nearly two million average US homes.
A Kentucky mother and daughter turned down a life-changing offer for their farmland. The ensuing drama has left the town divided. https://t.co/AsGn0ZVVHR
The identity of the company behind the project was not disclosed, although evidence obtained through public records indicated it was Meta, the WSJ reported. Meta said that no decision had been made about working in the area.
The family has owned the land for nearly 200 years, using it over generations to raise cattle and grow tobacco and other crops. A hyperscale data-center campus, by contrast, typically comprises multiple buildings housing thousands of computer servers, along with extensive cooling, electricity, and backup-power infrastructure.
Several neighboring landowners agreed to sell property for the project, with purchase agreements worth a combined $110 million. Legal challenges brought by Bare and other opponents, however, delayed the transactions and the payments expected by participating landowners.
The development has divided the community. Local development officials say it could create 400 permanent jobs and hundreds more during construction, while occupancy and property taxes generated by the facility could double or triple the town budget. With one in four residents living below the poverty line, some locals reportedly see Bare and Huddleston as relatively well-off landowners standing in the way of jobs and investment.
The Maysville case is one of a growing number of disputes over data-center construction in the US. Critics cite electricity and water consumption, noise, and effects on surrounding areas. A Gallup poll earlier this year found that seven in ten Americans opposed the construction of AI data centers in their local area.
The issue has also entered the campaign ahead of the November midterm elections. According to Washington Post analysis, hundreds of federal and state candidates from both major parties have included AI or data-center policies in their platforms, covering nearly 40% of US districts.
Some local governments have already paused new development. Seattle imposed a moratorium on new or expanded data centers in June while it reviews its land-use rules, while Nashville temporarily halted permits for data-center developments in July. Several Michigan townships have adopted similar pauses.
People pay up to $150,000 in bribes for jobs in the country’s mobilization authorities, lawmaker Aleksandr Kachura has alleged
The government body overseeing Ukraine’s mobilization campaign has all the hallmarks of an “organized criminal group,” with some officials allegedly paying bribes of up to $150,000 to secure senior positions, Ukrainian lawmaker Aleksandr Kachura has said.
Draft officers ambush military-age men on the streets, at workplaces, and outside their homes, using physical violence against those attempting to resist or flee. The practice has been dubbed ‘busification’ because officers have often been filmed shoving potential recruits into vans.
In an interview published on Monday, the MP from Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s Servant of the People party said the conduct of the Territorial Centers of Recruitment and Social Support (TCC) went far beyond what he described as abuses of the conscription system.
“Is kidnapping someone in broad daylight, where they gouge out their eyes, break their arms, and take away their health – is that a serious crime?” Kachura said, adding that the authorities exhibited “all the signs of an organized criminal group.”
The average bribe to “get out” of a TCC after being detained is between $10,000 and $15,000, depending on the region, he said. However, people pay even larger sums to secure positions overseeing the process, according to the MP.
“To become a district military commissar, you need to pay $50,000, and to become a regional one, $150,000,” he said.
Kachura accused TCC officials of enriching themselves, claiming that the recruitment chief in his hometown “used to ride a bike, now he drives a Land Cruiser, while his wife drives a (Porsche) Cayenne.”
The MP went on to argue that the TCC should be abolished and replaced with a system centered on the voluntary recruitment of “motivated individuals.”
In May, Ukraine unveiled plans to rebrand the TCC, a name that has become synonymous with controversial and violent draft methods that have fueled widespread discontent among Ukrainians and drawn criticism from officials. Ukraine’s top human rights official, Dmitry Lubinets, recently warned that what he called systemic failures within the Defense Ministry had fostered a culture of impunity.
Moscow has repeatedly condemned Ukraine’s forced mobilization, with Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova arguing that Kiev is throwing recruits into “a meat grinder” on the front line.
The social media behemoth that controls Instagram and Facebook is accused of breaking child protection laws and harming underage users’ mental health
Meta is heading to court on Tuesday to face accusations that it broke child safety laws and harmed underage users’ mental health. A loss could bankrupt Mark Zuckerberg’s company and force permanent changes to Facebook and Instagram.
Four US states – California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey – are suing Meta in a federal court in Oakland, California. The four states are parties to a wider lawsuit involving a total of 29 states, filed in 2023. The remaining 25 states are expected to have their trials at later dates.
Attorneys general in all 29 states have consolidated thousands of individual complaints – a practice known as multidistrict litigation – all alleging that Meta knowingly harmed its youngest and most vulnerable users.
What is Meta accused of?
All four states argue that the social media giant deliberately engineered its platforms to keep children and teenagers scrolling for as long as possible, while knowingly allowing under-13s to use these platforms without parental consent.
“Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens. Its motive is profit, and in seeking to maximize its financial gains,” the lawsuit states.
This week, Attorney General Phil Weiser joined @Morning_Joe to discuss the ongoing fight to protect our young people from harmful social media algorithms and practices. pic.twitter.com/yA7MzfxymE
— Colorado Attorney General (@COAttnyGeneral) August 13, 2026
These addictive design features – including the infinite scroll feature and algorithms that encourage “compulsive use” – amount to unfair, fraudulent, or deceptive business practices in all four states, the plaintiffs allege. Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges that Meta knows its products are harming users’ mental health, but “prioritizes engagement and profits to the detriment of young users’ well-being,” for example by recommending “content related to eating disorders” to young girls.
On top of these ‘addiction’ allegations, the four plaintiffs claim that Meta violated federal law, namely the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), by collecting personal information from under-13s without obtaining parental consent. “Meta does not obtain – or even attempt to obtain – verifiable parental consent before collecting the personal information of children on Instagram and Facebook,” the suit states, claiming that the company falls back on its nominal ban on under-13s to skirt its COPPA obligations.
An excerpt from a 29-state lawsuit against Meta, filed November 22, 2023
“But Meta’s own records reveal that it has actual knowledge that Instagram and Facebook target and successfully enroll children as users,” the suit continues, pointing to internal documents detailing the company’s efforts to increase “penetration” in the 11- to 13-year-old demographic.
Has Meta been sued for causing ‘addiction’ before?
The Oakland case comes after Meta suffered back-to-back legal losses this year. In early March, a state court in New Mexico found the company liable for 75,000 violations of the state’s Unfair Practices Act, fining the social media giant $375 million, before branding its platforms a “public nuisance” to teens’ mental health and imposing an additional fine of $567 million.
Later in March, Los Angeles County Superior Court ordered Meta to pay $3 million in compensation to a 20-year-old California woman identified as ‘Kaley’, who developed anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia after becoming addicted to Instagram, YouTube, and other social media platforms as a pre-teen. Meta was also ordered to pay $2.1 million in punitive damages.
The Los Angeles case was a bellwether, in that the jury accepted the plaintiff’s argument that the design features of Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms – and not the content that Kaley was exposed to – caused her harm.
Kaley’s lawyers presented some of the same internal documents included in the latest case, which show Meta employees discussing plans to bring in more under-13 users and maximize their screen time, and that the company is aware that heavy use of its platforms is linked to depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among teens.
The Oakland trial marks the first time that these arguments will be heard in a federal courtroom, and the first time that Meta will be tried for breaches of state and federal law in the same case. Should Meta lose, the case could be brought to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and potentially to the US Supreme Court, where any ruling would set a legal precedent.
What do the states want?
The four states are seeking damages of up to $1.4 trillion, a figure that would almost equal Meta’s entire market capitalization and bankrupt the company. However, this figure assumes individual payouts for hundreds of thousands of users affected by Meta’s practices, rather than a single payout for every deceptive practice committed by the company.
The plaintiffs also want Meta to implement a process of parental verification for teenage users, change its “dopamine-manipulating recommendation algorithms,” remove image filters “designed around beautification,” end the autoplay of video content, and end “ephemeral” video content such as stories.
Meta has long argued that mental health issues are triggered by far more factors than social media. “Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app,” a company spokesperson said after losing the Los Angeles lawsuit in March. “We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously as every case is different, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online.”
“These lawsuits misportray our company and the work we do every day to provide young people with safe, valuable experiences online,” Meta said in a statement ahead of Tuesday’s trial. “We have listened to parents, researched the issues that matter most, and made real changes to protect teens online.”
Meta pointed to its introduction of restricted teen accounts on Instagram last year, and its use of AI to detect teens attempting to use adult accounts as examples of these changes.
However, during his testimony in Los Angeles in March, Zuckerberg admitted that it is “very difficult” to prevent under-13s from lying about their age to set up accounts.
Regarding the potential of a $1.4 trillion fine, Meta wrote in a court filing last month that “a sanction of that size has no analog in the history of consumer protection enforcement.”
The blaze has scorched around 3,000 hectares and remains out of control despite rain and international assistance
Belgium is battling its largest wildfire on record, with the blaze scorching around 3,000 hectares and spreading toward the German border, according to local officials.
The fire broke out on Friday in the High Fens nature reserve in eastern Belgium and remained out of control on Monday despite cooler weather and overnight rain.
Around 500 firefighters have been deployed, supported by the military, farmers, and aircraft sent from several European countries. Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands have also assisted the operation, while Belgium activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
The blaze has already burned more than twice the area destroyed by Belgium’s previous record fire in 2011, according to European Forest Fire Information System data.
Authorities said the fire was moving toward the German town of Monschau, around 8km from the affected area. Residents near the border have been advised to leave as a precaution, primarily because of heavy smoke.
🇧🇪 BELGIQUE : Le pire incendie de l'histoire de la Belgique a doublé depuis hier et a désormais ravagé près de 3000 hectares en province de Liège. pic.twitter.com/F9x16QYgP1
The difficult terrain has complicated firefighting efforts, with some areas inaccessible to ground crews. Officials have also warned that flames could continue smoldering underground in the region’s peat soil for weeks or even months before flaring up again.
Europe has been hit by a severe wildfire season following repeated heatwaves and prolonged dry conditions. Two people were killed by fires on the Greek island of Salamina on Sunday, while major blazes have also swept parts of France and Spain.
Firefighting efforts elsewhere have also been complicated by EU sanctions on Russia. Spain has been left unable to use its former fleet of Russian-made Kamov Ka-32 helicopters, which are considered especially effective in difficult wildfire conditions due to their high water-carrying capacity and maneuverability.
EU restrictions have blocked access to spare parts and Russian maintenance specialists to service the helicopters, forcing the Spanish authorities to rely on less effective replacement aircraft.
Lost trade and surging military spending have left the Baltic state carrying an outsized financial burden, Riga has claimed
Latvia wants Brussels to provide billions in additional funding as lost trade with Russia and soaring military spending put growing pressure on the Baltic state’s finances, Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs has told Politico.
The Baltic state has asked Brussels to provide €7 billion ($8.2 billion) under the EU’s next seven-year budget, on top of other funding.
The sum would cover almost half of Riga’s projected €15.1 billion ($17.3 billion) military spending bill for 2028-2034.
Kulbergs said that Latvia is taking on debt to finance what its government views as security spending benefiting the rest of Europe. “We are getting our budget deficit to the maximum,” he told Politico, saying Latvia is borrowing to pay for “the defense of the whole of Europe.”
Latvia has been one of the EU’s strongest advocates of sanctions on Russia and has steadily dismantled trade, transport and energy links with its eastern neighbor since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.
The policies, however, have led to a significant economic decline across the region. Politico reported last year that cross-border trade with Russia had “largely collapsed” across the Baltic states, while tourism and investment had also declined, prompting Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to seek additional financial aid from Brussels.
The costs of Riga’s anti-Russian policies have since become a major campaign issue ahead of Latvia’s October 3 parliamentary election. Opposition politician Ainars Slesers has insisted that Riga should demand compensation in return for backing further EU sanctions.
“We are losing money … we are talking about how to support Ukraine, but we are a victim,” he told Politico, adding that economic ties with Russia should eventually be restored.
Despite seeking billions from Brussels to offset the fallout, Kulbergs has called for even tougher measures against Moscow, including a total EU visa ban for Russian citizens and renewed attempts to use frozen Russian sovereign assets for Ukraine.
Russia has long argued that the Baltic states have devastated their own economies by dismantling previously profitable ties while sharply increasing military spending over what their governments describe as a potential threat from Russia.
Moscow has repeatedly denied having plans to attack the Baltic states or other NATO members, dismissing such claims as “nonsense” and Russophobic fearmongering intended to justify inflated military budgets to taxpayers, while warning that European nations are preparing for a full-scale war against Russia.
The minors were subjected to a racially motivated assault by two adults, according to Ukraine’s consulate in Gdansk
Two Ukrainian children were attacked by two adults in Poland for speaking their native language, Kiev’s consulate in Gdansk has claimed.
The incident has come amid increasingly negative attitudes toward Ukrainians in Poland and a diplomatic row over Kiev’s veneration of nationalist groups implicated in the WWII-era massacres of ethnic Poles. Reports of hate crimes against Ukrainians have also risen sharply this year.
In a statement on Sunday, the Consulate General of Ukraine in Gdansk said the attack took place last week in Bydgoszcz, a city in north-central Poland.
A 14-year-old girl and her 12-year-old brother were “subjected to aggression by adults simply because they were speaking Ukrainian to each other,” the consulate said.
The alleged attackers, a man and a woman, used obscene language and threatened the children “based on national intolerance,” according to the statement. They later allegedly twisted one child’s arm, smashed a drone the children had and threw pieces of it at the boy, leaving him with scratches.
“We strongly condemn any manifestations of xenophobia,” the consulate said.
Polish police have confirmed receiving a criminal complaint over the incident, according to local media.
The case comes as public sentiment toward Ukrainians in Poland has hardened. Reported hate crimes targeting Ukrainians rose by more than 30% in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2025, according to police data cited by Polish media.
More than two thirds of Poles also believe Ukrainian men of military age who are not legally employed in the country should be deported, according to an IBRiS survey published last week.
Tensions between Warsaw and Kiev escalated in May after Vladimir Zelensky granted a military unit the honorary title “heroes of the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army).” Poland holds the Ukrainian nationalist organization, which collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II, responsible for massacring an estimated 100,000 ethnic Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, territories now largely in western Ukraine.
Moscow has long accused Kiev of venerating Nazi collaborators and nationalist figures at the state level, while claiming Ukraine’s Western backers deliberately overlook the practice. The “denazification” of Ukraine is among Russia’s stated goals in the conflict.
The USS Benfold is the latest US Navy vessel to leave its crew deprived of basic necessities
A US Navy destroyer spent four days without power in the South China Sea last month, depriving its crew of hot meals, flushing toilets, and air conditioning, CNN has reported. The report comes as US sailors in the Persian Gulf are facing similar conditions.
The USS Benfold, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, suffered an “engineering casualty involving its generators” while on an exercise in the South China Sea last month, a Navy spokesman told CNN on Monday.
The Benfold lost the ability to maneuver on its own, and lost galley services, toilets, air conditioning, and drinking water, the spokesman said. At the time of the incident, temperatures in the South China Sea averaged between 32 and 37 degrees Celsius.
Another US warship, the guided missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls, provided hot meals to sailors aboard the Benfold, before it was towed to the Philippines for repairs. The Benfold has since returned to duty.
The Benfold usually sails as part of the USS George Washington’s carrier strike group. At the time of the breakdown, the group was conducting a so-called ‘freedom of navigation’ exercise in the region – in which US warships sail through China’s exclusive economic zone in a show of defiance against Beijing’s maritime claims.
The USS George Washington has since been ordered to redeploy to the Persian Gulf to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose crew have been at sea for almost nine months. Conditions on board the Abraham Lincoln have deteriorated, with toilets reportedly out of order, food running short, and multiple sailors attempting suicide.
A photo circulating on social media last week suggested that frustrated sailors were writing anti-Israel messages on the wings of the Lincoln’s aircraft, including “be a good goy and do what Israel tells you to,” and “Bibi’s cucks.”
US servicemen’s morale is completely depleted in war against Iran, writing anti-Israel messages on a dust flap:
"Be a good goy and do what Israel tells you to"
"Operation Epstein Fury"
"Peace deal #64 incoming... ALL THIS FOR THE HOLY LAND"
The Pentagon already rotated one aircraft carrier – the USS Gerald R. Ford – out of the Persian Gulf after it suffered repeated malfunctions, including a fire in its laundry room and the overflow of raw excrement from its toilets. The Ford, which is the only vessel in its class and the most advanced aircraft carrier in the US Navy’s fleet, is now undergoing repairs at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, and is expected to be out of commission for around a year.
London is deliberately escalating conflict by supplying weapons Ukraine, Moscow’s embassy in Britain has warned
The UK is deliberately escalating the Ukraine conflict and acting as an accomplice to Kiev’s terrorist attacks, Russia’s embassy in London has said, warning that Britain will be held accountable for its actions.
The statement comes after a Sunday Times report claiming that Ukrainian forces have used drones supplied by two British manufacturers for long-range attacks inside Russia over the past six months.
Multiple Ukrainian military sources told the newspaper that British UAVs had been deployed against industrial and military targets, including oil refineries in Volgograd and Yaroslavl.
The Russian Embassy responded on Monday, saying that the report confirms that “London is deliberately opting for an escalation of the Ukraine crisis, while hypocritically professing a desire for peace.”
“In doing so, the United Kingdom is acting as an accomplice and co-perpetrator of the bloody crimes and terrorist attacks committed by Ukrainian neo-Nazis, seeking to contain Russia and inflict maximum damage on it by proxy,” the embassy wrote, warning that “London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences for which it will have to answer.”
“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 statement concluded.
Britain has been one of Kiev’s most active military backers since the escalation of the conflict in 2022. In June, London pledged to provide Ukraine with 150,000 drones by the end of the year and has already supplied long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles, which have also been used for attacks inside Russia. Several Ukraine-linked drone production facilities are also operating on British soil.
Kiev has sharply intensified its long-range attacks in recent months, launching hundreds of UAVs at a time against Russian territory. Moscow says the strikes have increasingly hit energy infrastructure, residential areas and other civilian sites, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, including children.
Russia has responded by stepping up its own missile and drone strikes against Ukraine’s military-industrial facilities, logistics centers and infrastructure supporting its armed forces.
Moscow has repeatedly argued that Western weapons deliveries, intelligence sharing and targeting assistance make NATO countries direct participants in the conflict. Last week, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that Russia would continue to adopt “much harsher methods to destroy everything that enables the West to fuel Kiev’s war machine.”
Russian officials have also warned that Ukraine-linked weapons manufacturing facilities scattered across Europe could be regarded as legitimate military targets.
Tehran and Muscat are discussing a parallel Hormuz deal as talks with Washington stall
US President Donald Trump has threatened to “bomb the sh*t out of” Oman if it strikes a separate deal with Iran on control of the Strait of Hormuz, despite Oman’s key role as a mediator between Washington and Tehran.
In addition to brokering talks between the US and Iran, Omani negotiators have been conducting parallel negotiations with Tehran aimed at establishing a safe route for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran reportedly wants to charge fees for safe passage of the strait after an interim period, and Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told reporters on Monday that Iran had reached an “understanding” with Oman on the matter.
Asked about these Omani-Iranian talks, Trump told Fox News that “if Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the sh*t out of them.”
The US rejects any agreement that would involve Iran collecting tolls, and Washington has signaled that it will not lift its blockade on Iranian ports unless Tehran relinquishes this demand. Speaking in New York on Friday, Trump claimed that the Islamic Republic was “very badly defeated,” and that he would soon “be declaring the Strait of Hormuz a territory of the US.”
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. The memorandum expired without a deal, and with both sides threatening escalation, on Monday.
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 if necessary. Trump did not reply directly to this threat in his comments to Fox News, but demanded that Iran “raise the white flag of surrender.”
In a post on X on Saturday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi urged Trump to “accept the reality” that the US had suffered “strategic and heavy defeats.”
“The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian,” Gharibabadi wrote, adding that the waterway “will only be closed and opened under Iran’s command.”
US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February prompted Tehran to close the Strait of Hormuz, with Washington responding by imposing a naval blockade of Iranian ports. The blockade disrupted traffic through one of the world’s most important energy corridors, sending global oil prices soaring to as high as $120 a barrel.
Itamar Ben-Gvir has once again called for more military action in the Palestinian enclave
Israel should carry out 30 to 40 “targeted assassinations” in Gaza every night, National Security Minister and prominent war hawk Itamar Ben-Gvir has said, claiming that some in the Palestinian enclave “are not people.”
While a claimed ceasefire is supposed to have been in effect over Gaza, Israel has continued air strikes while negotiations stalled over the issue of disarmament by Hamas and the withdrawal of the IDF from the territory.
In a podcast interview Saturday, Ben-Gvir reiterated his opposition to the reduced level of Israeli military operations under the armistice.
“We need to carry out targeted assassinations in Gaza, taking down 30-40 every night. Not just those who endanger you at that moment,” he said.
There are people there who are not human beings. They don’t need to live, they are not people.
The minister, who oversees Israel’s police, also reiterated his support for Israeli settlement in Gaza, and for pushing Palestinians to leave the territory.
“In my imagination, I see all of Gaza as ours, very consolidated settlements, throughout Gaza,” he said.
Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, Ben-Gvir has consistently advocated policies well to the right of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including harsher conditions for Palestinian prisoners and the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of terrorism.
Far-right parties including Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power and Finance Minster Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism were instrumental in Netanyahu’s return to power in 2022 and in the formation of his coalition government.
West Jerusalem’s hardline policies and conduct in Gaza have generated widespread international condemnation, while Netanyahu’s push for military action against Iran has further strained perceptions of the Jewish State in the US, its most important ally.
A Pew Research Center survey published in June found that 60% of Americans had an unfavorable view of Israel, compared with 42% in 2022. Across 36 countries surveyed by the pollster, majorities in most expressed unfavorable views of Israel, including 68% in France, 69% in the UK and 73% in Germany.
RT India’s Runjhun Sharma has traveled to the country to see how life has changed under Taliban rule
Afghanistan has marked five years since the Taliban swept back to power amid a chaotic US withdrawal. Celebrations have been held across the country, with officials describing Afghanistan as safer and “free.”
The US invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 following the September 11 attacks, for which Washington identified Al-Qaeda as being responsible. The group’s leaders, including Osama bin Laden, were based in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan at the time.
US forces withdrew as the country’s Western-backed government rapidly collapsed and the Taliban recaptured Kabul in August 2021. Once central to US foreign policy – with American taxpayers footing an estimated $2.3 trillion bill for the 20-year occupation – Afghanistan has since largely faded from Western attention.
Since returning to power, the Taliban has brought an end to much of the fighting that plagued the country for decades. Officials and supporters marked what they call “Fatah,” or “victory” day, on Saturday with celebrations across Kabul. Thousands gathered waving Islamic Emirate flags and carrying US-made weapons left behind after the withdrawal.
However, Afghanistan remains under sweeping sanctions, while the Taliban government is still largely unrecognized abroad.
RT India’s Runjhun Sharma traveled to Afghanistan to see how much the country has changed – and whether it is now as safe as its authorities claim, noting “there’s a lot of nuance, a lot of layers to the Taliban story.”
Russian foreign minister has accused France of backing armed groups in the region
Moscow is alarmed by reports that Ukrainian military personnel are involved in operations carried out by illegal armed groups against countries in Africa’s Sahel region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
Speaking after talks with Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa on Monday, Lavrov argued that the involvement of serving troops, rather than individual mercenaries, indicated activity conducted at the state level.
The Russian minister also accused former colonial powers of fueling terrorism in Africa. “It is no secret that this is done by France, which directly works with illegal armed groups, arms them, finances them and instructs them,” he said.
“First and foremost, [France] instructs them on creating problems for those countries, in this case in the Sahara-Sahel region, that have decided to finally, completely and irreversibly break with their former colonizers and are consistently pursuing this course,” Lavrov stressed.
Sahel countries have been fighting a jihadist insurgency since 2012, with years of conflict, displacement, and climate-related shocks contributing to a severe humanitarian crisis. In 2023, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger – three military-led former French colonies – established the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) after cutting defense ties with Paris and accusing France of failing to curb the insurgency. The three nations have since strengthened cooperation with Russia. Relations between Bamako and Paris have meanwhile deteriorated further, with Malian officials accusing France of supporting armed groups active in the Sahel.
Ablakwa, meanwhile, described the Sahel as the “global epicenter for terrorism, violent extremism.” He said that Ghana and Russia had agreed to work together to support Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali in addressing the security challenges facing the region.
The Ghanaian foreign minister also thanked Moscow for supporting a UN resolution that declared transatlantic enslavement a grave crime against humanity. “We see in Russia a reliable partner,” Ablakwa noted.
Russia and Ghana are set to sign an agreement allowing visa-free travel for holders of diplomatic and service passports. Lavrov said the measure is expected to facilitate contacts between the two governments in areas ranging from foreign policy and trade to investment, humanitarian exchanges and education.
Moscow and Accra also agreed to sign a memorandum on cooperation between their media organizations. Ablakwa noted that the initiative would initially establish ties involving RT and Sputnik Africa on the Russian side and Ghana’s GBC, before potentially expanding to private media outlets.
Leaders from the mineral-rich region have met for a summit on industrialization and trade and discussed cooperation with Russia
Southern African countries should process their critical minerals domestically instead of exporting raw materials that create wealth and manufacturing jobs elsewhere, the region’s top official has said.
Southern Africa is regarded as the continent’s richest and most diverse critical-minerals region. Members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) hold major deposits of cobalt, copper, lithium, graphite, manganese and platinum-group metals, placing the bloc at the center of global competition for resources used in clean energy, electronics and military technology.
At the 16-member bloc’s summit in Durban, South Africa, on Monday, Executive Secretary Elias Magosi pressed leaders to turn that mineral wealth into industries and jobs.
“We do not need permission from anyone to start this process. Let’s start now,” he said.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa made a similar appeal as his country assumed the SADC chairmanship. Despite the region’s mineral wealth, he said, “we export the ore and import the battery,” leaving Southern Africa to buy back processed goods at prices set abroad.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), a SADC member since 1998, is the world’s leading cobalt producer and second-largest copper supplier. Zambia is another leading copper producer, while Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique hold significant deposits of lithium, platinum-group metals and graphite, respectively.
The US has openly sought to curb China’s dominance of critical-mineral supply chains, making Southern Africa a focus of the competition for copper, cobalt, lithium and graphite.
China already controls major copper and cobalt operations in the DR Congo and has invested heavily in Zimbabwe’s lithium industry. Beijing is also funding a $1.4 billion refurbishment of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, an export route linking Zambia’s mining belt to the Indian Ocean.
Washington and Brussels are backing the Lobito Corridor, a competing trade route linking mining areas in Zambia and the DR Congo to Angola’s Atlantic coast. The European Commission has said the project will help secure raw materials for Europe’s green and digital industries while creating jobs in Africa.
Several SADC members have restricted raw mineral exports to promote domestic processing. Earlier this year, Zimbabwe suspended exports of all raw minerals and lithium concentrate. Namibia has bans on exports of unprocessed lithium, cobalt, manganese, graphite and rare earths, with limited exemptions. Tanzania has required local mineral processing since 2017, while DR Congo banned copper and cobalt concentrate exports in June.
In his address on Monday, Ramaphosa said “intensifying competition for strategic resources” required Southern African countries to deepen economic cooperation, reduce non-tariff barriers and improve trade facilitation.
The bloc also announced steps to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia on the sidelines of the summit. SADC said Deputy Executive Secretary for Regional Integration Angele Makombo N’Tumba met Tatiana Dovgalenko, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Partnership with Africa, on Sunday to advance a draft action plan under a 2018 cooperation agreement.
SADC said the proposed plan covers industrial development, trade, digital infrastructure, agriculture and technology. The two sides also discussed military-technical cooperation and preparations for the third Russia-Africa Summit.
Tankers sailing with transponders off are reportedly helping prevent a sharper oil-price surge by moving crude through the disrupted strait
Gulf states are covertly shipping oil through the Strait of Hormuz on tankers with their transponders switched off despite severe disruptions to normal traffic and intermittent attacks, Bloomberg reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the shipments.
The de facto closure to normal traffic through the strait due to the US-Iran conflict has affected a strategic waterway that has historically been the route for around a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade. The conflict initially sent global oil prices soaring to nearly $120 a barrel. Some energy experts have warned that oil prices could reach $150 over the coming months.
The volumes shipped through the heavily disrupted passage exceed market estimates of 4 million barrels per day, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on condition of anonymity, without specifying by how much. The UAE, Iraq, Qatar, and Kuwait have reportedly been moving barrels through Hormuz using “dark” tanker transits, with crude later transferred to other vessels in the Gulf of Oman.
The combination of covert shipments, pipeline workarounds, stockpile releases, and reductions in demand across the world has helped keep oil prices in the $80-$90-a-barrel range, according to traders and analysts cited by Bloomberg.
The risks remain significant, with ADNOC telling Bloomberg that 23 of its vessels have come under attack since the US-Iran conflict began, leaving one crew member dead and 20 others injured. Last week, ADNOC reported that two of its vessels came under attack in Hormuz, with all crew members reported safe. UAE authorities blamed Iran for the attacks, calling on Tehran to reopen the strait.
Saudi Arabia also appears to be preparing to use the route, with 16 supertankers positioned off Oman’s coast and three more expected in the coming days, the news agency noted, adding that the vessels can carry up to 38 million barrels of oil.
Insurers say they are seeing a steady stream of requests for coverage from Gulf producers despite the dangers. “It’s a dark trade,” Pankaj Khanna, CEO of Heidmar Maritime Holdings, told Bloomberg, describing it as the only option even as many shipowners remain unwilling to take the risk.
The continent should set its own terms for foreign investors while expanding cooperation with Russia, Duma Boko has told RT
Botswana President Duma Boko has challenged the characterization of Africa as the world’s next major economic frontier, arguing that the continent has already reached that position and should deal with foreign partners accordingly.
African nations should approach investors from a position of strength rather than as supplicants, Boko told RT in an exclusive interview. He said governments must set their own conditions for access to resources, including local processing, technology deployment and skills transfers.
“Africa is actually the ‘now’ frontier,” Boko said.
The president said Botswana is also seeking deeper ties with Russia and is planning to open an embassy in Moscow. He noted that Russia is the only permanent member of the UN Security Council in which Botswana does not have a mission, describing the absence as an “anomaly” that needed to be corrected.
Botswana has never maintained a resident embassy in Moscow, despite diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union dating back to 1970. Russia can provide the expertise and technology needed to survey Botswana’s largely unexplored mineral resources, he added.
“We need these collaborations to explore the rest of the country, about 70% which remains largely unexplored,” the leader said.
Boko sees cooperation with Russia as important for Botswana’s diamond industry. He said the two countries need to work together to protect the market from oversupply.
He also argued that African economies have historically been geared toward extraction and the export of unprocessed resources, with insufficient emphasis on developing local industrial capabilities and skills.
“We now must focus on not being big on extraction, but take it all the way to actually producing finished goods, which the world needs,” he said.
Boko also backed the African Union’s push for reparative justice, saying developed economies benefited historically from African resources and should acknowledge the consequences of colonial exploitation.
RT’s Charlotte Dubenskij reports from Taybeh, where residents face near-daily assaults, property damage, and incursions onto their land
A historic Palestinian village widely described as the last entirely Christian community in the occupied West Bank is facing near-daily Israeli settler attacks and growing restrictions, residents and activists have told RT.
RT’s Charlotte Dubenskij visited the Kaa’bneh family, part of a Palestinian Bedouin community living in Taybeh, east of Ramallah, where she witnessed settlers approaching with sheep and goats at sunset, hurling rocks, and trying to breach the fences. The family says such incursions can happen several times a day.
“They come and vandalize our property, cut through the fencing and bring their sheep onto our land,” Naif Kaa’bneh said. “They break the water tanks and cut off the electricity. If someone is filming, they beat them.”
Kaa’bneh said the harassment has continued for years but intensified recently, blaming Israeli military inaction for allowing settlers to act with near-total impunity. He said troops can take hours to respond to attacks and have never detained those responsible.
“They have never once come and arrested a settler. We tell them, ‘There’s the settler.’ The soldier just turns his head, pretends he hasn’t seen anything, and they leave,” he said.
The attacks come as Taybeh faces growing isolation. Historically known as Ephraim and mentioned in the Gospel of John as a place where Jesus stayed before his final journey to Jerusalem, the village has long drawn Christian pilgrims. But the Israeli military earlier this month declared parts of the area a closed military zone, claiming the measure is intended to curb settler attacks. Residents say it has instead restricted movement while failing to stop the violence, deterring pilgrims, and squeezing an economy heavily reliant on religious tourism.
Meanwhile, locals say new settler outposts are appearing on the hills around Taybeh, fueling fears that residents are being steadily hemmed in and pushed from land they have inhabited for generations.
The detainees reportedly included 294 people from Sub-Saharan Africa and 61 Moroccan nationals accused of facilitating the border crossing
At least 355 people were detained by the Moroccan authorities near Ceuta on Saturday as security forces sought to prevent another mass crossing into the Spanish enclave called for on social media.
Moroccan state-owned broadcaster Medi 1 TV said 294 migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa and 61 Moroccans accused of facilitating the attempted crossings had been detained. Reuters had earlier reported at least 111 detentions in and around the border city of Fnideq, citing a Moroccan Interior Ministry source who identified 109 Sub-Saharan African migrants and two Moroccan citizens.
Police reportedly fired tear gas at groups gathering on hills near the border. Spain, meanwhile, deployed soldiers and hundreds of additional police officers to Ceuta.
The security operation followed online calls for a mass crossing on August 15 and came two weeks after more than 72,000 people crossed into Ceuta on July 30, overwhelming the enclave. At least 100 people reportedly died while attempting to reach Spanish territory.
The crisis has revived a sovereignty dispute between Madrid and Rabat. Morocco has claimed Ceuta and Melilla since gaining independence in 1956. Spain regards the enclaves, which it has controlled for centuries, as integral parts of its territory.
Moroccan Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi said on August 11 that Rabat repeatedly raised the territories’ status with Madrid and wanted the dispute resolved through negotiations.
Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles rejected the claim, declaring that Ceuta and Melilla were Spanish and “cannot be touched.” Spain’s Foreign Ministry said the country’s territorial integrity was not open to discussion.
More than 8,000 people entered Ceuta in 2021 amid allegations that Morocco had eased border enforcement during a diplomatic dispute with Spain. The incident was widely viewed as retaliation for Madrid’s decision to provide medical treatment to Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali, an advocate of Western Sahara’s independence from Morocco. Morocco denied using migration to pressure Spain.
Ahead of the latest attempt, the Moroccan Interior Ministry said it was tracking online messages from unidentified sources calling for a border rush on August 15. It warned that organizers and participants could face prosecution.
Spain sent more than 500 additional police officers to Ceuta and installed a maritime barrier after the July 30 surge. Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said about 5,000 migrants remained in the enclave. Those without the right to stay would be returned to Morocco and barred from travelling to mainland Spain, except in cases of extreme vulnerability, he added.
Moscow wants foreign firms to bring advanced technologies, expertise, and joint production, presidential adviser Anton Kobyakov has said
Russia seeks foreign technologies and management expertise rather than investment based on simple “screwdriver assembly,” presidential adviser Anton Kobyakov has said.
Speaking to TASS on Sunday ahead of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, a major international platform for attracting investment to Russia’s Far East and expanding economic ties with the Asia-Pacific, Kobyakov said Moscow favors pragmatic, “win-win” cooperation involving joint production, capital-intensive industries and scientific research.
“We need the best management practices and the best technologies – all of it!” Kobyakov said. “We no longer want to engage in ‘screwdriver assembly’ of some components of their products. We have done this before,” he explained, referring to a model where foreign manufacturers import largely finished components for basic final assembly.
Numerous US, European, and Asian companies pulled out of Russia due to supply problems caused by the sanctions imposed on Moscow by the West after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Other firms left due to the risk of secondary sanctions or public relations pressure.
Many departing firms sold their Russian assets to local buyers, often retaining buyback options.
Moscow has since tightened the rules for potential returns. Earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin signed legislation allowing Russian courts, under certain conditions, to terminate buyback rights held by foreign investors.
Kobyakov said businesses from Germany, France, Italy, the UK, Switzerland, Spain, Greece and the Netherlands continue maintaining contacts with Russia despite political pressure from their governments.
Russian officials have argued that Western sanctions ultimately strengthened domestic industry by spurring import substitution and domestic production. Putin said last year that sanctions had become “a powerful catalyst for structural changes” in the economy, prompting Russian businesses to occupy market niches abandoned by foreign companies and accelerate the development of domestic technologies.
Some major Western companies continue operating in Russia despite the sanctions, including Nestlé, Mars, Mondelez, PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble. An analysis in June by Russian outlet Vedomosti found that 2,350 of 4,265 foreign-owned companies, or 55%, remained active in Russia.
Entrar
