US President Donald Trump wants to “colonize” Brazil and gain control of its natural resources by interfering in the country’s upcoming presidential election, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s campaign has said.

Meta blocked the advertising account used by Lula’s campaign on Facebook just days before the first round of the presidential election on October 4 in which left-wing incumbent Lula is seeking a fourth term against his main rival, right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. Recent polls have put the two candidates in a tight race, with a runoff scheduled for October 25 if neither wins more than half the vote.

In a minute-long television advertisement broadcast on Thursday, Lula’s campaign accused Trump of meddling in Brazil’s election in a bid to turn the country back into a colony and seize its natural resources. The video points to US-funded political advertising targeting Brazilian voters, alleged involvement by American tech companies, and an intelligence warning that the risk of US interference had reached a “critical level.”

Trump fiercely backed Flavio’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, during his trial over an alleged plot to overturn his 2022 election defeat and remain in power.

Risk of US interference in Brazil at ‘critical level’

The ad cited a confidential assessment by the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN), which was sent to the presidency, the country’s electoral court, and the Justice Ministry. The document warned of escalating US pressure on Brazil and raised the risk of external influence or interference in the election to a “critical level.”

“According to ABIN, the pressure from the United States must increase and Trump’s goal is to defeat Lula to control our natural resources,” the campaign ad says.

Lula echoed the accusation on X, stating that Bolsonaro wants to “hand our natural resources over to the United States.” “If it’s up to him, Brazil will become a colony again,” the president wrote.

Brazilian media reported that Pedro Sang, described as a Rockbridge organizer in Brazil, helped set up Bolsonaro’s campaign headquarters in Sao Paulo and took on a leadership role there. Lula’s Workers’ Party asked the Brazil’s Supreme Court to investigate possible foreign financing, which is prohibited under Brazilian election law. Sang denied that Rockbridge provided funding to political campaigns in Brazil.

Meta blocks Lula campaign ads

Meta has meanwhile disabled the advertising account used by Lula’s campaign on Facebook, preventing it from running new ads just days before the election. The campaign said the US tech giant gave no explanation for the move and demanded that access be restored, threatening legal action and describing the restriction as another example of alleged Big Tech interference in the vote.

The move follows a study published last week that found Meta approved 13 of 15 test political ads paid for through a US-based account and targeting Brazilian voters, including an AI-generated video depicting Trump urging Brazilians to vote for Bolsonaro. The researchers did not actually publish the ads, while Meta said the experiment did not reflect the scale of its efforts to protect the Brazilian election.

US hits Brazil with tariffs over Big Tech

Washington has ramped up economic and diplomatic pressure on Brazil ahead of the vote, imposing 25% tariffs on Brazilian imports in a dispute that observers say centers on Big Tech regulation rather than trade imbalances. The US Trade Representative cited Brazil’s treatment of American tech companies and court orders forcing platforms to remove political content, among other policies, to justify the tariffs.

Washington also revoked the Brazilian ambassador’s visa in August as tensions escalated during the election campaign. Lula’s government called the move politically motivated interference.

Venezuela raid fuels fears of US intervention

The alarm has spread beyond Lula’s camp. Right-wing presidential candidate Renan Santos has also accused Trump of wanting Brazil as a “vassal state,” to secure favorable rare-earth contracts and said Brazil should not become a vassal of the US or China.

Santos pointed to the US military operation in Venezuela in January, when American forces captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores and brought them to the US to face drug and weapons charges. Lula condemned the raid as the first direct US military attack on South America in more than 200 years of independence, while Santos warned: “I don’t want to see Latin America become an American protectorate.”

The State Department last month shrugged off claims that the White House was meddling in Brazil’s election, declaring that “any insinuation of a ‘ploy’ to undermine a democratic nation’s election is a baseless lie.”

India should continue to buy Russian oil and retain control over its energy choices as the US raises the pressure on major buyers, strategic affairs scholar Happymon Jacob told RT.

A recently-passed sanctions bill gives US President Donald Trump the power to impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries, including India, for purchasing Russian energy. New Delhi has maintained that its energy decisions are driven by national requirements and market conditions.

Russian oil should not be removed from the global market and India has no reason to stop buying it, Jacob told RT India in the latest episode of the ‘India, Russia, and the World’ podcast. He is the Delhi-based founder of the Council for Strategic and Defense Research think tank.

“I don’t think the world should take Russian oil off the table. I don’t think India should stop buying Russian oil,” he said. “You cannot let the Americans control your energy tap.”

India needs to keep a broad basket of energy options that include Russia, the Middle East, the US, and South America, along with renewable sources, Jacob said, adding that removing one of these options would reduce India’s flexibility at a time when energy supplies are exposed to geopolitical disruptions.

Russia is now India’s top supplier of crude oil, with September shipments tracking at around 1.9 million barrels per day, preliminary data from Kpler shows.

Ukrainian forces killed three humanitarian workers from Omsk Region who were delivering aid to the border Zaporozhye Region, Russian officials report.

The incident, which also left one volunteer injured, occurred near the village of Novobogdanovka, Zaporozhye Governor Evgeny Balitsky said on Friday. He accused Ukraine of carrying out a “cynical terrorist attack.” Omsk Governor Vitaly Khotsenko pledged support for the affected families.

Ambassador Rodion Miroshnik, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry mission tasked with documenting Ukrainian war crimes, blamed the incident on Vladimir Zelensky, saying the Ukrainian leader is pursuing a war against the civilian population and is seeking to create “unlivable conditions” for non-combatants.

Zaporozhye Region, home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, was incorporated into Russia following a referendum in 2022, which Kiev rejected. Ukrainian forces continue to control the northern part of the region.

Moscow has accused Kiev of using terrorist tactics in the conflict, including deliberately targeting non-combatants such as ambulance crews, repair workers, and civilian motorists.

Earlier this year, Zelensky announced a “pressure campaign” involving an escalation of drone strikes against Russian energy infrastructure, ships, and warehouses. Long-range weapons production was expanded this year, even as Ukraine faces a $27 billion military budget shortfall that it has asked foreign donors to help cover.

Russia has responded to the escalation by intensifying strikes on Ukrainian targets, including facilities linked to crucial Black Sea trade, inflicting mounting damage on Ukraine’s war economy.

Crowds of displaced Lebanese from the country’s south have gathered outside the United Nations offices in Beirut to protest Israeli attacks that have led to the destruction of homes, towns, and villages.

The protest on Thursday came amid a major escalation in Lebanon that began in early March, after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, prompting Hezbollah to retaliate. Israel responded with airstrikes and expanded its existing military presence in the south of the country.

Israel has reportedly occupied around 600 sq km of territory in southern Lebanon, displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians from some 57 towns and villages located within the zone.

“We are people with disabilities, as well as homeowners and business owners from the south who have suffered losses and are facing severe hardships,” one of the protesters told RT. “This day will serve as an international day against evictions, bombardments and destruction, especially given that Israel, that brutal enemy, has shattered the very foundations of life in the south.”

Protesters also urged the Lebanese authorities to support displaced people, stressing that they “want to know what the future holds and wish to avoid uncertainty.”

Last week, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told parliament that the estimated cost of reconstruction had reached around $27 billion, more than double the World Bank’s previous estimate of up to $13 billion. He also said that around 91,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed amid the ongoing Israeli aggression.

The international community has linked reconstruction funding to the disarmament of armed groups, including Hezbollah, a process that, according to analysts, could take years and remains a major political challenge for Lebanon.

Watch RT’s full report below.

Hackers have stolen nearly $352 million from major cryptocurrency exchange Bitget, prompting the company to suspend withdrawals. The breach comes amid mounting concern that AI is making cyberattacks easier to carry out.

Bitget detected unauthorized transfers from its wallets on Thursday evening, CEO Gracy Chen said. She stressed, however, that customer funds are safe and that the loss is covered by the company’s User Protection Fund, which holds more than $464 million.

The stolen assets came from parts of Bitget’s “hot” and “warm” wallets, which are used to process transactions and hold funds readily available for transfer. Its offline “cold” wallets were not affected, according to Chen.

She added that although withdrawals have been temporarily suspended, deposits and trading remain available while the company investigates the breach.

Bitget has not identified the perpetrators, but Chen said, without elaborating, that the company suspects North Korean involvement.

Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain has estimated that the attackers have already converted about $183 million of the stolen assets into Ether tokens.

In August, users of Coldcard hardware wallets also lost at least $89 million after attackers exploited a flaw in how the devices generated the secret keys protecting their funds. Coldcard’s maker has warned that AI-assisted code review could uncover old software flaws faster than developers can address them.

The growing capabilities of AI have also been linked to an overall increase in cyberattacks on cryptocurrency platforms. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said it has recorded a 440% increase in AI-assisted malicious entries since powerful open-source coding tools became widely available, from about two a day to 11.

Beyond cryptocurrency, reports of AI agents gaining unauthorized access to real systems during unrelated tasks and security tests have raised questions about whether developers can reliably keep them within their assigned limits, or prevent malicious actors from using more capable models to find vulnerabilities and carry out attacks on a larger scale.

Executives at Anthropic, OpenAI, Google DeepMind and xAI have backed calls to slow the development of increasingly powerful systems.

Vladimir Zelensky put his personal interests first when he breached an agreement with Seoul not to disclose the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war captured in Russia, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has said.

Zelensky touted the arrangement during his speech to the UN General Assembly this week, saying it was “not easy to capture alive” the two soldiers. North Korea deployed troops to assist Russia in repelling a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region in 2024-2025.

Lee rebuked Zelensky, without naming him, in an X post on Thursday, arguing that statesmen should put national interests first rather than opportunistically seeking to boost their own popularity.

The Ukrainian leader demonstrated a “callous and irresponsible attitude [that is] simply unacceptable,” the president wrote, stressing that Seoul and Kiev had agreed to keep the highly sensitive transfer private.

He criticized the Lee administration for seeking to keep the agreement with Zelensky secret and said the government “should have taken a more proactive and assertive approach.” The deal was reached sometime in June, he added.

Kiev has long pressured Seoul to provide direct military support for the conflict with Russia, citing North Korea’s involvement in the conflict. Yoo said that, as far as he knew, the delivery of the POWs was not conditioned on South Korea changing its policy of not sending weapons to Ukraine.

South Korea does not formally recognize the government in Pyongyang as legitimate and considers all Koreans citizens of a single nation, regardless of the part of the peninsula where they were born.

The US government has joined Elon Musk’s appeal against an EU fine imposed on X, accusing Brussels of “regulatory overreach” and escalating a transatlantic clash over its regulation of US tech firms.

The European Commission fined X €120 million ($136.51 million) for alleged violations of its 2022 Digital Services Act, the first such penalty under the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a vast legislative censorship and media control apparatus. Brussels accused the platform of breaching rules on transparency, advertising, and data access, as well as using a deceptive blue-tick system for verified accounts.

Musk, who has claimed the EU’s tech regulations stall technological progress and equated the bloc to a “Fourth Reich” over them, appealed the decision in February, seeking to overturn the fine.

On Thursday, the US Department of Justice said it had filed an application to intervene in support of Musk’s legal challenge.

“The European Commission inappropriately attempted to expand its regulatory authority to reach American companies not present or operating within its jurisdiction,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said. “We will not tolerate the European Commission engaging in regulatory over-reach to try and control American engines of innovation and economic growth.”

🚨 United States Files Request to Intervene in Case Brought by X Corp. and Elon Musk Seeking to Annul Decision by European Commission

“The European Commission inappropriately attempted to expand its regulatory authority to reach American companies not present or operating within…

— DOJ Civil Division (@DOJCivil) September 24, 2026

The Justice Department warned that the case – the first DSA enforcement challenge to reach the General Court – could set a precedent for US tech firms. Citing “significant concerns” over Brussels’ approach to liability and jurisdiction, it said Washington has an interest in “protecting American companies from foreign extraterritorial enforcement action.”

Neither the European Commission nor X responded to media requests for comment on the US intervention.

US-EU clash over Big Tech

EU scrutiny of US tech firms has become a major source of friction between Brussels and the administration of President Donald Trump, which has backed claims that the bloc unfairly targets American tech giants and harms digital free speech. Senior administration figures, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have criticized the EU’s fine on X as an attack on American companies. Musk previously accused the EU of trying to shut down X, claiming in 2024 that the commission had offered him an “illegal secret deal” to “quietly censor speech” to avoid a fine.

DSA: Online safety or censorship?

Brussels sells the DSA as an online-safety law meant to fight illegal content and “disinformation.” Critics see something far more sinister: an expanding censorship and narrative-control regime that gives unelected EU officials sweeping leverage over political speech – and over the largely American tech platforms that carry it.

That criticism gained ammunition from a 2026 report by Republicans on the US House Judiciary Committee.

Brussels has also gone beyond pressuring platforms. The EU banned RT and Sputnik in 2022 and has sought tighter controls on what it considers Russian disinformation, and has since pushed platforms to clamp down on what Brussels labels Russian disinformation. The commission itself admitted DSA-linked mechanisms are being used to address Ukraine-related content and election risks. Critics argue that, backed by the threat of massive fines, the system gives Brussels powerful leverage over narratives that challenge its political and foreign-policy consensus.

That leaves a stark divide over what Brussels’ flagship internet law actually does. The EU calls it online safety; its critics see a censorship architecture capable of suppressing dissenting narratives, shaping the information environment around elections, and forcing global tech platforms to police political speech on Brussels’ terms.

Egypt has unveiled the first locally developed industrial robot, as the country seeks to expand domestic manufacturing and reduce reliance on imported industrial technology.

The robot was officially launched and handed over at a ceremony attended by Industry Minister Khaled Hashem on Wednesday. According to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, it was developed by Egyptian engineers using locally produced technology. Local media reported that around 80% of its components are domestically produced, with developers aiming for 90% once motor production is localized.

The robotic arm is already being used commercially. It is being integrated into packaging equipment operated by Egyptian manufacturer QB and is designed for industrial packaging and automation on production lines.

The ministry said it will monitor the robot’s performance in industrial operations to assess its effectiveness and encourage wider adoption by Egyptian factories. 

Egypt is not the only African country developing local expertise in industrial robotics. Tunisia’s TIRA Robots has developed robotic arms for integration into production lines, while other local engineering companies, including XPERT-MECA, design automated machinery and integrate industrial robots produced by global manufacturers such as KUKA.

Industrial automation is also well established in South Africa and Morocco, particularly in the automotive sector. Local companies integrate foreign-made robots into production lines. Morocco-based MTS Robotics develops automated systems for welding, assembly, handling, and packaging.

Fighting has escalated between Ethiopian troops and Tigrayan forces, triggering the suspension of flights to the holy town of Lalibela amid fears of a return to full-scale war in the north of the country.

Ethiopia’s federal army said it repelled attacks in Amhara’s North Wollo Zone and killed 272 Tigrayan fighters and wounded 260 others in a counteroffensive. Northeast army commander Lieutenant General Assefa Chekol said fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and allied groups attempted to break through at several locations.

“The army is carrying out the crucial task of clearing the occupied zone of the enemy by conducting targeted counter-attacks from key military positions it holds,” Chekol said in a statement on Thursday.

The suspension of flights to Lalibela, home to UNESCO-listed rock-hewn churches, came a day after TPLF-linked forces seized airports in Mekelle, Axum, and Shire. Ethiopian Airlines also halted flights to these three cities in Tigray.

“We are in the situation of full-blown war now,” TPLF Vice President Amanuel Assefa told AFP on Thursday.

The TPLF dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades before Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018. A power struggle between his government and Tigray’s leaders erupted into war in November 2020. Eritrean troops and Amhara forces fought alongside the federal army against Tigrayan forces. Hundreds of thousands died before an African Union-mediated peace agreement was signed in 2022. The agreement ended the large-scale war, but disputes over territory, the return of displaced people, and the disarmament of Tigrayan forces remain unresolved.

The latest escalation follows Sunday’s announcement of an alliance between the TPLF and six other groups, including its former Amhara adversaries, seeking to remove Abiy’s government.

The African Union has condemned the violence, warning that “the formation of new political and military alliances” risks further destabilizing the region and “reversing the gains made to silencing the guns, since 2020.” It said the airport seizures and detention of federal personnel violate the 2022 peace agreement, asking AU mediator and former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to reengage with the parties. The UN has called for civilian protection and humanitarian access.

Nepalese Prime Minister Balendra Shah has slammed the current global system, saying it allows weapons to be moved efficiently but leaves poorer countries struggling to secure food, fuel, and other essentials for their populations.

“We have built a world with flawless logistics for war and broken logistics for food,” Shah told the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday.

The rapper-turned-politician pointed to the shortages his country has faced amid conflicts and geopolitical tensions disrupting supply chains, saying farmers have struggled to obtain fertilizer, road projects lacked bitumen, and families faced shortages of cooking fuel.

“Inter-continental missiles arrive on time. Rifles and ammunition cross borders, clear every bottleneck, meet each deadline,” Shah, who was elected to Nepal’s top job earlier this year following ‘Gen Z’ protests against corruption, told the assembled world leaders. “But a peasant in Nepal cannot procure his fertilizer or fuel at market price at a time of need.”

📹 'Hit By Climate We Didn't Warm, Hit By Wars We Didn't Start': Nepal PM Balen Shah's Rousing Speech At UN

"This is not Nepal's private misfortune. Ask Bangladesh. Ask Bhutan. Ask India. Ask the Maldives. Ask Pakistan. Ask any other country in our region and you'll hear the… https://t.co/e4U0xT14i1 pic.twitter.com/5Bi4Qwi26M

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) September 25, 2026

He argued that the problem extends beyond his country, specifically pointing to India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka as regional states facing pressures from climate shocks and conflicts.

Nepal is recovering from catastrophic flash floods that were triggered by an ice-rock avalanche near the Tibetan border on August 26. The wall of water, mud, and rock tore through mountain communities, killing at least 1,400 people and leaving more than 6,000 missing. Nepal estimates its physical recovery needs at around 10% of its gross domestic product.

The prime minister described the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli disaster as a “warning to the world,” saying a warming climate is destabilizing the Himalayan ecology and increasing the risks of avalanches, floods, and landslides. The devastation affected both sides of the Nepal-China border before floodwaters continued downstream toward India.

Senior officials in Italy and France have denied claims that their governments were warned about possible Russian drone attacks launched from containers carried by merchant ships in the Mediterranean Sea.

The disinformation was published on Thursday by the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, which cited an anonymous source close to the Lithuanian Defense Ministry. The article emphasized a recent trip to Russia by CIA Director John Ratcliffe and previous Western media reports claiming he personally cautioned Russian officials against targeting NATO nations. Moscow has denied having such intentions.

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said on X there was no evidence confirming that Russia was preparing an operation of the kind described by the Lithuanian source, adding that in difficult times “no one needs more fuel on the fire.”

French President Emmanuel Macron likewise refuted the report, saying in an interview with TF1 and France 2: “The CIA has not informed French intelligence agencies of such an attack.”

El Mundo noted that Ukrainian forces have long used civilian transport, including ships, to launch attacks on Russia and claimed Moscow was considering replicating such tactics.

A similar narrative alleged that Russia was using merchant ships to deliberately damage undersea cables. Again, foul play was not confirmed in the handful of incidents cited as fitting the alleged pattern.

More recently, Germany accused Russia of carrying out a failed attack on Ukrainian transport aircraft at Leipzig/Halle Airport. Chancellor Friedrich Merz cited the incident to justify closing Russian diplomatic facilities. Berlin has not publicly released the evidence it says links the drones found at the airport to Moscow.

The EU is considering measures to curb the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes to international sports under their national flags following a decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ease restrictions, Euractiv reported on Thursday, citing EU diplomats.

The proposals were outlined by the EU diplomatic service and the European Commission in a non-paper and have yet to become a formal EC proposal, according to the outlet.

Measures under discussion include targeted sanctions and visa restrictions against individuals linked to Russian and Belarusian sports. Brussels is also considering using EU funding as leverage by restricting financial support for organizations that allow athletes from the two countries to compete under their national symbols.

Another option would seek to curb media revenues linked to Russian athletes, although diplomats have acknowledged that the measure could be difficult to implement. The EU could also approach third countries in an effort to discourage them from facilitating the return of Russian and Belarusian competitors under their national flags.

The Commission and the EU diplomatic service are expected to develop further proposals ahead of an EU ministerial meeting on education, sport and culture on November 20.

The discussions follow the IOC’s July decision to provisionally lift restrictions on the Russian and Belarusian Olympic committees, potentially opening the way for their athletes to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics under national symbols. The IOC has said decisions concerning flags, anthems and other national identification at future Games will be made later.

Russian athletes have subsequently secured several major international titles. In July, 19-year-old Pavel Graudyn won the men’s individual saber title at the World Fencing Championships in Hong Kong.

In August, Evgeniia Chikunova won the women’s 200-meter breaststroke at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris, setting a championship record of 2:19.32 while competing under neutral status.

Virtually all of America’s most powerful technology executives joined US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a lavish White House state dinner on Thursday, as AI emerged as a major theme of the Chinese leader’s visit.

The black-tie dinner in the White House East Room brought together more than 130 guests, including Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Apple chairman Tim Cook, AMD chief Lisa Su, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, and Dell Technologies chief Michael Dell were also among those invited. Major finance and industrial executives, including JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, and Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, attended as well.

One notable Silicon Valley name was missing, however. Anthropic – the developer of the Claude AI models and one of OpenAI’s biggest US rivals – had no representative. CEO Dario Amodei has been among the industry’s more vocal advocates of tighter safeguards around increasingly powerful AI systems.

Intel, IBM, and Oracle were also absent from the guest list, which otherwise featured most of America’s biggest technology and AI companies.

The concentration of American tech executives came as Trump and Xi discussed the increasingly intense US-China competition in AI and advanced semiconductors.

Earlier on Thursday, Xi said both countries have a responsibility to ensure AI remains “under human control” and is developed for the benefit of people.

The dinner followed around 90 minutes of talks between Trump and Xi at the White House, where the two sides also addressed trade, Taiwan, and the ongoing conflict involving Iran. Washington and Beijing agreed earlier this week to extend their existing trade truce by two months while negotiations continue.

Trump emphasized cooperation despite the rivalry, saying the two leaders represent “different systems” but can continue building a relationship promoting prosperity and security.

Trump PROPOSES TOAST to Xi Jinping & Madame Peng at STATE DINNER

'MAY ALL OF OUR PEOPLE KNOW A FUTURE OF HARMONY, PEACE & SUCCESS' https://t.co/lX8TGdOAEQ pic.twitter.com/Zl7r00eNEA

— RTBreaking (@RT_Breaking_) September 25, 2026

Xi said China’s pursuit of the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” and Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ agenda “can surely be mutually reinforcing.”

Xi: Now, I would like to propose a toast to the health of President and Mrs. Trump… cheers. pic.twitter.com/NPrdm878rW

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 25, 2026

The dinner capped a day of elaborate ceremonies at the White House, including a military review and a separate flyover featuring a B-2 Spirit and four F-22 Raptors. Trump also revealed that earlier in the day, he presented Xi with a three-foot-tall bald eagle statue designed by an American artist in collaboration with the president and first lady, calling the bird a symbol of America’s “free and soaring spirit.” Details of Xi’s gift were not immediately disclosed.

Iran has offered the US a new deal aimed at ending the months-long conflict before the midterm election in November, directly challenging President Donald Trump’s claim that Tehran is deliberately waiting until after the election to reach an agreement.

Trump claimed in a speech at the UN on Tuesday that Iran is deliberately stalling the talks to see how Republicans perform in the November 3 midterm election, and predicted that Tehran would make a deal “right after” the vote. He also threatened to “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if negotiations fail.

“We don’t want it to get to the midterm elections,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday. “We wish Americans to return to the MOU before the midterms,” he said, referring to the memorandum of understanding reached by the US and Iran in June.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran has submitted a proposal in which the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened within around a week and negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program rapidly resumed. The proposal was sent through mediators during talks in New York this week.

Under the plan, Tehran would restore navigation through the crucial oil shipping route in exchange for Washington lifting its economic blockade, easing restrictions on Iranian oil exports, and releasing some frozen Iranian assets. Iran is also seeking an end to hostilities on other fronts, including Israel’s combat operations in Lebanon.

US and Iranian negotiators are discussing a phased arrangement in which the blockade and restrictions on Hormuz would be addressed first, Reuters reported, citing Iranian, regional, and Western diplomatic sources.

Araghchi said the proposal largely follows the terms of the June memorandum rather than introducing new demands, adding that Iran is waiting for a response.

Araghchi has also held a series of meetings with foreign counterparts in New York, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Moscow has said there is “no alternative” to a diplomatic settlement of the crisis provoked by the “illegal actions” of the US and Israel.

Pezeshkian, who is the first foreign head of state to speak at the UN while his country is at war with the US, told the chamber on Wednesday that Tehran is prepared for “dialogue and diplomacy” but will not negotiate under threats of force and “will never bow our head or bend at the knee.”

A US ban on diesel exports could squeeze the EU’s energy market, which is already strained by reduced Russian supplies due to sanctions and disruptions in flows from the Middle East, officials in Brussels have warned.

European Commission spokesman Olof Gill told Politico on Thursday that Brussels was concerned by reports that Washington could halt diesel exports for 90 days, warning that any disruption “would risk negatively impacting both sides.”

The US has supplied about a third of Europe’s diesel imports this year, with its share rising to around half in August, according to government data. Prices at the pump have already reached record highs in Germany and the Netherlands.

Commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said Brussels was monitoring the markets and security of supply “very, very closely,” noting that the US was a “major supplier” of both diesel and liquefied natural gas as part of the bloc’s “diversification strategy since 2022.”

Trump backed the idea of restricting exports on Tuesday as US diesel prices hit a record $6.52 a gallon ($1.72 per liter). “I’ve said let’s not send out the diesel,” he told reporters ahead of a meeting with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky.

The issue was raised during talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in New York on Wednesday. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov said Ukrainian attacks on energy and cross-border infrastructure were deliberately contributing to instability in global energy markets.

Russia has also restricted fuel exports to stabilize its domestic market. The measures run through January, although direct producers have been permitted to export diesel, marine fuel and gasoline since September.

The EU has sharply reduced purchases of Russian energy since the 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict. Russia’s share of the bloc’s gas imports plunged from 45% to 12% by 2025, while its share of oil imports dropped from 27% to about 2%.

Moscow has blamed the EU’s decision to cut Russian energy imports as a key factor behind the crisis. Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev said last week that Europe was facing “the worst energy crisis in history,” describing the situation as “self-made.”

France will deploy troops, radar, and air-defense systems to Saudi Arabia to protect a key Red Sea oil hub as Riyadh struggles to contain escalating Houthi missile and drone attacks, President Emmanuel Macron has announced.

Macron said French forces will not join the fighting but will merely protect the strategic energy facility under an agreement with Riyadh. The announcement came hours after the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted six ballistic missiles heading toward Taif, which hosts a key Saudi air base, and the strategic port city of Yanbu.

“We are going to send military resources, that is to say, soldiers, radar systems, and defense systems, to protect the site of Yanbu,” Macron told TF1 and France 2 on Thursday.

Macron said the Yanbu hub, which handles several million barrels of oil, was “very badly damaged” in previous attacks. The Red Sea port has become increasingly important for Saudi exports as the US-Iran war severely restricts tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Houthis have framed their campaign as a fight to drive Saudi-backed government forces out of Yemen, end Riyadh’s blockade, and restore the country’s sovereignty, warning foreign powers against joining the Saudi campaign.

France is the latest country Riyadh has turned to for military assistance after Washington stopped short of a direct intervention sought by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Earlier this month, the Saudi leader asked US President Donald Trump to order strikes against the Houthis, but Trump reportedly refused.

Riyadh has sought additional support from France, Britain, Pakistan, and Egypt as its stocks of missile interceptors come under pressure.

Britain has already agreed to deploy an RAF Voyager tanker to provide air-to-air refueling for Saudi operations, adding to UK air-defense equipment and personnel already stationed in the kingdom. Pakistan, which has a mutual-defense agreement with Saudi Arabia, has pledged to defend the kingdom “to any extent,” although Islamabad has not announced a new combat deployment.

The renewed Saudi appeals come as the Houthis make major territorial gains along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, seizing Mokha and strategic islands around the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. The group has also targeted Saudi oil infrastructure and shipping while demanding an end to the Saudi blockade of Yemen.

The fighting threatens Saudi Arabia from both sides of the Arabian Peninsula: Iran has severely disrupted the kingdom’s traditional export route through Hormuz, while the Houthi advance and attacks are putting pressure on its alternative Red Sea corridor through Yanbu and Bab al-Mandeb.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held up a pager at the UN General Assembly, invoking the deadly 2024 covert sabotage operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which killed dozens and severely wounded thousands, including women and children.

Thousands of pagers carried by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon on September 17, 2024, followed by hundreds of weaponized walkie-talkies the next day. The attacks killed dozens and injured up to 4,000 people, including numerous civilian bystanders, healthcare workers, and their families. Israel later acknowledged responsibility for the operation.

Speaking at the General Assembly on Thursday, Netanyahu held up a pager, saying: “You remember the beepers? Remember these? Hezbollah certainly remembers them.”

Netanyahu: "Remember the beepers (pagers)? Hezbollah certainly remembers" pic.twitter.com/W11O0YdjeR

— Israel National News - Arutz Sheva (@ArutzSheva_En) September 24, 2026

Scores of delegates walked out as Netanyahu took the podium, leaving much of the hall empty. The Palestinian mission urged other delegations to join the protest.

Delegations from more than 70 countries walked out of the United Nations General Assembly hall.

No one wants to listen to the words of a war criminal and a killer of the children of #Gaza. pic.twitter.com/UWSwxeOmen

— Iran in India (@Iran_in_India) September 24, 2026

Netanyahu struck a confrontational tone throughout the speech, branding delegates who walked out “moral cowards” and lashing out at several of Israel’s regional and international critics. He called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “tyrant,” accused Qatar of trying to “brainwash” young Americans, and predicted that Iran’s government would eventually fall.

The Iranian representative didn’t want the starlink :( pic.twitter.com/wpElxvrrr4

— Danny Danon 🇮🇱 דני דנון (@dannydanon) September 24, 2026

He also held up a Starlink terminal, saying he would leave it for the Iranian delegation to use when its members “inevitably defect.”

At a White House meeting in February 2025, Netanyahu presented US President Donald Trump with a gold-plated pager in reference to the attack. Trump reportedly called it “a great operation.”

Fighting flared up again in March 2026, when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel following the outbreak of the US-Israeli war against Iran. A US-brokered ceasefire in June largely halted major Israeli strikes on Beirut, although Israeli forces continue to occupy parts of southern Lebanon and carry out attacks elsewhere in the country. More than 4,000 people have been killed and over 12,000 wounded in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since March, according to the country’s Health Ministry.

Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters have been arrested near UN headquarters in Manhattan on Thursday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the General Assembly, according to RT’s Caleb Maupin, reporting from the scene.

Demonstrators blocked an intersection several blocks from the UN building in a planned act of civil disobedience timed to coincide with Netanyahu’s speech, Maupin said.

RT footage showed protesters holding signs reading “stop settler terror” and “stop arming Israel.” Demonstrators also chanted “Netanyahu you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” and “One, two, three, four, Gaza’s what we’re fighting for.”

“The protesters are expecting to be arrested. This is a planned act of civil disobedience timed with the Israeli prime minister’s upcoming speech,” Maupin said.

Another video showed detained protesters being loaded into an NYPD van. Some wore shirts bearing the slogan “fund people not bombs.”

US attitudes toward Israel have grown more negative in recent years, according to opinion polls. Some 62% of American adults had an unfavorable view of the Israeli government in May 2026, up from 43% in 2022, according to a Pew Research Center survey published in July. The share with a favorable view of Israel fell by 15 percentage points over the same period.

Israel’s actions in Gaza and the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank have also drawn international criticism.

The UN had documented more than 1,430 settler incidents resulting in casualties or property damage in the occupied West Bank this year as of August 10, affecting around 260 Palestinian communities, he said.

More than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025, bringing the total death toll since October 2023 to nearly 74,000, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

September is proving a miserable month for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Two weeks ago, his Christian Democratic Union suffered a crushing defeat in Saxony-Anhalt, where the Alternative for Germany won 43.8% of the vote against just 17.2% for the CDU, then, on September 20, another humiliation arrived in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

The AfD finished first there with 38.2%, while the CDU, one of the parties that built postwar Germany, received just 4.9% and failed to clear the threshold for representation in the state parliament. It was the party’s worst result in any German state election since the foundation of the Federal Republic, and it happened in Angela Merkel’s home state.

Things were hardly better in Berlin, which voted on the same day. There, the CDU was beaten not by the AfD but by Die Linke (The Left), which won 25.7%, while the CDU slumped to 18.8%.

Merz himself called the results a “disaster,” and if Saxony-Anhalt made discussion of replacing the chancellor respectable, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has made it unavoidable. Criticism is spreading through the CDU and German newspapers are openly discussing his future as potential successors are already being mentioned.

The Spectator’s Henry Donovan put it particularly brutally, describing Merz as “the most tragic chancellor in the young history of the reunified Germany” and declaring that his time was up, and there is certainly something tragic about Merz’s career.

Then, after winning the 2025 federal election, Merz achieved another distinction he probably didn’t want when he became the first candidate for chancellor in the history of the Federal Republic to fail to secure election by the Bundestag on the first ballot.

For a man who spent decades trying to reach the top, departing after little more than a year with his authority badly damaged would be a bitter conclusion, so Merz, unsurprisingly, has no intention of doing so. After the latest defeats, he made clear that he planned to remain chancellor and continue with his reform program.

That raises an obvious question: If his opponents want him gone, why can they not simply remove him? The answer lies in Germany’s Basic Law.

Unlike in Britain, where a prime minister can effectively be dispatched by his own parliamentary party, Germany deliberately makes removing a sitting chancellor difficult, meaning the Bundestag can oust Merz through a “constructive vote of no confidence,” but only by simultaneously electing somebody else with an absolute majority.

Merz’s opponents face two problems in attempting something similar, and the first is arithmetic. CDU parliamentarians are traditionally disciplined, and assembling a majority against their own chancellor would be extremely difficult without a major rebellion or votes from the AfD. Any arrangement dependent on AfD support would immediately collide with Germany’s Brandmauer, or “firewall,” under which the established parties refuse political cooperation with the rising upstarts. 

The second problem is simpler, in that there’s no agreed replacement. Names are circulating, but no candidate has emerged around whom a Bundestag majority could plausibly unite and under Germany’s constitution, disliking the existing chancellor is not enough, parliament must agree on the next one before it can dismiss him.

Leaving Merz in place carries risks of its own, however, as the AfD’s rise has coincided with growing dissatisfaction over the economy, migration, energy costs, and Berlin’s support for Ukraine. Merz came to power promising change, but his government is now pursuing painful economic and welfare reforms while insisting that Germans must accept sacrifices to restore the country’s competitiveness and finance its wider strategic ambitions.

His colleagues will probably first try persuasion, such as change the rhetoric, modify unpopular policies, and somehow arrest the electoral decline before Germany enters another cycle of state elections, but if that fails, the pressure for more radical action will inevitably grow.

For now, Germany has a chancellor who doesn’t want to leave, a parliament that cannot easily remove him, and an opposition whose growing strength makes every conventional route to replacing him more complicated.

Merz spent more than 20 years trying to become chancellor, but his problem now is proving that finally getting the job wasn’t the high point of his political career.

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

US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have discussed cooperation on artificial intelligence during talks in Washington, stressing the technology’s growing global importance.

The meeting came as the two countries compete for leadership in AI while negotiating over advanced chips and critical materials, which became key bargaining points in their trade dispute last year.

Welcoming Xi to the White House for a state visit, Trump said the talks would cover security, technology and “superintelligence” – his new term for AI.

“The decisions we make in these areas today can promote peace and prosperity for decades and decades to come,” the US president said.

Xi said China and the US “bear a historic responsibility to promote human development and progress.”

Beijing and Washington stand to benefit from cooperation and lose from confrontation, Xi added, stressing that competition between the two countries should be a “race” rather than a fight “in which one either wins or loses.”

Earlier this month, Trump singled out China as Washington’s main rival in the AI race, declaring that “whoever wins AI, wins.”

China has agreed to suspend some of the restrictions for a year following a Trump-Xi meeting in South Korea last October.

Ahead of Thursday’s summit, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that Washington and Beijing had agreed to extend their tariff truce by another two months. The arrangement has kept tariffs well below the peaks reached during last year’s trade war, when US duties on Chinese imports climbed as high as 145% and Beijing’s levies on American goods reached 125%.

Germany’s opposition lawmakers have accused Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government of seeking to create a “secret police” by dramatically expanding the powers of the country’s intelligence agencies.

The accusations came during the first parliamentary debate on the reform on Thursday, with lawmakers from the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the Left and the Greens raising concerns over surveillance and fundamental rights. The government argues that the changes are needed to counter growing security threats.

Under a reform approved by the cabinet last month, the BND foreign intelligence agency and the BfV domestic security service would gain broader operational powers, allowing them to move beyond primarily gathering and analyzing information.

Among the proposed changes, the BND could sabotage foreign companies, penetrate foreign IT systems and disable weapons deemed a threat to Germany. The BfV, meanwhile, could secretly enter homes and access computers and mobile phones under certain circumstances.

AfD MP Gottfried Curio branded the proposed overhaul of the BfV “Stasi 2.0,” referring to East Germany’s notorious secret police, and called the reform a “coup against the rule of law.” The AfD, however, supports granting the BND greater operational powers.

The BfV has itself been locked in a legal battle with the AfD. In 2025, the agency designated Germany’s most popular party a “confirmed right-wing extremist” organization, but a Cologne court in February barred it from applying that classification while the case proceeds.

The ruling came months before the AfD scored major gains in regional elections. It won 43.8% in Saxony-Anhalt earlier this month and 38.3% in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Sunday.

Left Party MP Clara Buenger went further, warning that the BfV could become a “new German secret police.”

“Fundamental rights are being trampled on here,” she said, arguing that the agency would gain powers traditionally reserved for police.

The debate comes as Merz’s government braces for growing AfD influence at the regional level. The Telegraph and Die Welt reported in July that Berlin was developing a “secret plan” to counter potential “obstructionism” by regional authorities, allowing the federal government to bypass them in a crisis.

The German government wants the intelligence reform to take effect at the beginning of 2027. It still requires approval from both the Bundestag and Bundesrat.

The EU has published a wide range of reports detailing what social media companies like TikTok and Meta are doing to comply with its Digital Services Act (DSA). The reports detail the extreme censorship needed to stay on Brussels’ good side. 

Under the European Commission’s “voluntary Code of Conduct on Disinformation,” the largest online platforms operating in the EU are required to submit biannual reports explaining their efforts to combat so-called “disinformation.” Although adherence to the code is described as “voluntary,” those who do not comply are subject to fines under the DSA, which came into force in 2023.

The commission published reports by Meta, TikTok, Google, Twitch, and more than two dozen other platforms on Wednesday. Each report spans hundreds of pages, and details the speech restrictions and censorship policies put in place at the behest of the EU.

In its report, TikTok admitted that it removed more than half a million posts concerning elections in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Hungary, Malta, Portugal, and Slovenia this year. RT has covered the EU’s efforts to interfere in the Bulgarian and Hungarian elections in depth, and found that TikTok came under particularly intense pressure from Brussels, after its failure to implement sufficiently draconian restrictions during Romania’s presidential election in 2024. 

Each report is hundreds of pages long, and every major social media company admitted that they now defer to EU-approved “fact-checkers” to police content on their platforms. Meta explained that it now automatically down-ranks content flagged by fact-checkers, while YouTube stated that it has trained AI models to pre-emptively remove content it thinks would fall foul of these groups. 

Every social media platform devoted a chapter in its report to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with Facebook noting that all posts on the conflict are subject to monitoring for “disinformation and misinformation” by pro-EU fact-checkers. 

Russian media outlets are banned from Facebook, while Ukrainian outlets are free to operate, and Kiev is permitted to fundraise on the platform.

Despite mentioning “disinformation” more than a dozen times, the DSA does not define the term. 

Ukraine’s government-backed United24 project offered former US service members thousands of dollars to produce pro-Ukraine videos for American audiences, RT’s America Now has found. The offers targeted veterans whose military backgrounds could make the message seem more credible to viewers.

Host Ben Swann and investigative journalist Elizabeth Lane examined how the project, launched by Vladimir Zelensky in 2022 to raise support for Ukraine, approached former personnel, including special operations veterans with YouTube channels and other media platforms.

According to veterans who reached out to Lane, United24 offered around $10,000 for each video, plus $40,000 in advertising support. There was no stated limit on the number of videos they could make. The project would also provide scripts and guidance, while the veterans would ultimately deliver praise for Ukraine and Zelensky in their own words.

Some creators who agreed to the deal were reportedly creating up to five or six videos a week, making nearly a quarter of a million dollars a month, Lane found.

However, for some, the refusal came with consequences beyond lost income. One veteran, who turned down the offer and later criticized Ukraine for wasting US money on his channel, had people contacting his employer, calling him a Russian agent, and trying to get him fired.

The effort ultimately failed, Lane learned, noting that it is still “crazy that some foreign government is allowed to reach out to an employer of a former veteran and tell them that ‘you should fire this guy because he’s a Russian propagandist.’”

United24 has since tried to deny making such offers, despite Lane’s recorded Zoom calls with multiple veterans that testify to the contrary.

The choice of former service members is central to the Ukrainian propaganda operation, Swann noted, pointing out that many Americans are inclined to trust someone who had served in the US military, unless they find out that the veteran had been offered thousands of dollars by a foreign government to deliver the message.

Furthermore, given that Kiev is almost exclusively funded by its foreign sponsors, including billions received from Washington, the Ukrainian government-backed United24 campaign is effectively propaganda aimed at Americans, being paid for by US taxpayers themselves, Swann noted.

With Ukraine struggling on the battlefield, the propaganda efforts will likely continue to intensify, Lane predicted, describing a possible surge of supportive messages from major online figures as a “Hail Mary” attempt to shore up backing for Kiev.

Watch the full episode of the four-part America Now investigation here.

Tens of thousands of Roman Catholics are gathering in Missouri for the beatification of Fulton John Sheen, the Bishop of Rochester, whose weekly TV show once rivaled Frank Sinatra’s in popularity.

Sheen, who died in 1979, will be beatified on Thursday afternoon in a ceremony at the Dome at America’s Center stadium in St. Louis. The beatification had been placed on hold for several years as the Catholic Church searched for a venue large enough to accommodate the 50,000 or so attendees expected.

Sheen’s beatification mass will be live streamed, starting at 2 PM St. Louis time (9 PM Central European Time).

Pope Leo XIV, who grew up just over 100 miles from Sheen’s first Diocese of Peoria, hailed the archbishop in an address at the Vatican on Wednesday. “May the example and intercession of this holy bishop, known for his evangelizing work through the media, inspire many others likewise to find new ways of spreading the gospel message with joyful enthusiasm,” the pontiff said. 

Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria in Illinois in 1919, Sheen became known as a keen theologian and philosopher. He was appointed auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of New York in 1951, Archbishop of Rochester in 1966, and the ceremonial Archbishop of Newport after his retirement in 1969.

Sheen’s influence, however, spread far beyond these dioceses. While a priest in Peoria, Sheen began hosting ‘The Catholic Hour’, a weekly radio show that drew roughly four million listeners by 1950. Two television shows – ‘Life is Worth Living’ and ‘The Fulton Sheen Program’ followed.

Fulton Sheen saw the dangers of 'false compassion' coming 50 years ago and called it out loud and clearpic.twitter.com/AQu57ILYIj

— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) September 6, 2026

‘Life is Worth Living’ aired at the same time as hit shows featuring Frank Sinatra and comedian Fulton Berle, and was widely expected to flop. However, it defied expectations, and when Sinatra’s show was canceled in 1952, Sheen’s program was the most popular of the three. 

Sinatra and Berle had house bands, dancers, and lavish production budgets. However, with just a blackboard to illustrate his message, Sheen pulled in 30 million viewers per week at the height of his show’s popularity – a fifth of the US population at the time. Remarkably, it was estimated that 70% of his audience were Protestants, Jews, and non-believers.

'Our nation is too full with those who are crying 'down'.

Down with churches. Down with the police. Down with government. Can you build anything down? You cannot'

When Fulton Sheen went OFF on those seeking to destabilise society pic.twitter.com/iKbfJxqSrz

— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) September 23, 2026

Although Sheen was a rigid believer in Catholic doctrine, he said that his show was “directed to Catholics, Protestants, Jews and all men of good will.” Sheen said that he would open with “something that was common to the audience and to me, I would gradually proceed from the known to the unknown or to the moral and Christian philosophy.”

Beatification is one step below canonization (the bestowing of sainthood) in Catholic law. As of the early 1980s, one miracle must be attributed to a person before they can be beatified. In 2019, Pope Francis formally recognized that a baby born without a heartbeat had been revived to perfect health after its parents prayed for Sheen’s intercession.

China has obtained potentially sensitive components from the F-35, the US military’s most advanced stealth fighter jet, after the parts were unexpectedly diverted to Hong Kong while being shipped from Australia to the US, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people briefed on the incident.

The incident first reported by Politico last week occurred earlier this year, when a shipment of allegedly unserviceable F-35 parts from Australia that was bound for the US was inexplicably rerouted.

US shipping giant UPS was transporting an F-35 canopy and weapons-bay door from the Australian Air Force to the US for inspection and possible repair or disposal, people familiar with the incident told Bloomberg. The two components, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, were coated with radar-absorbing material designed to enhance the aircraft’s stealth capabilities, according to two sources cited by the outlet.

One of the sources said the transport aircraft stopped in South Korea on its way to the US, after which the shipment was rerouted to Hong Kong. It remains unclear why the aircraft stopped there, why the shipment was sent to Hong Kong, or whether the rerouting was intentional or accidental, the source said. Two sources added that Chinese authorities subsequently seized the components, which have not been returned.

The F-35, one of the world’s most advanced fighter jets, is operated by around 20 countries, including South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Australia. Australia serves as a regional hub in the Indo-Pacific for storing spare parts and maintaining F-35s operated by nearby US allies.

According to a Lockheed Martin spokesperson in Australia, “the components in question are unserviceable and deemed low risk for exploitation.”

The disclosure of the incident comes at a politically sensitive time for the two countries, as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Washington on Wednesday for a state visit with his US counterpart, Donald Trump.

China’s Foreign Ministry said it was not aware of the incident, while the Hong Kong government declined to comment on specific cases.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has revealed that his government carefully examined the possibility of US-led military action against his country, despite President Donald Trump having ruled out using force against America’s northern neighbor.

In an interview with the New York Times published on Wednesday, Carney described such a scenario as an “extreme tail risk” – an event considered highly unlikely but serious enough to warrant contingency planning.

“That’s just risk management,” he said, adding that “it would be irresponsible not to [prepare].” Carney declined to discuss what that preparation involved.

Trump has repeatedly floated making Canada the 51st US state but explicitly ruled out using military force to achieve it, stating in January 2025 that he would apply “economic force” instead.

The US president has long accused Ottawa of unfair trade practices, particularly on dairy and automobiles, and has imposed a series of tariffs on Canadian goods since early 2025. Washington escalated the dispute in August 2026 with additional 50% duties on a range of Canadian products.

Addressing the European Parliament last week, Carney argued that economic integration was increasingly being “weaponized,” with tariffs used as leverage and supply-chain dependencies exploited as vulnerabilities – remarks widely seen as an implicit reference to Washington’s economic pressure on Ottawa.

Defense was also part of Carney’s talks in Strasbourg, where he and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen discussed expanding Canada-EU military cooperation and joint procurement to strengthen what Carney called their “strategic autonomy.”

That cooperation is already taking shape through the EU’s €150 billion ($170 billion) SAFE defense procurement program, in which Canada has become the first non-European country to participate. The initiative is part of Brussels’ wider militarization under its Readiness 2030 strategy, aimed at countering an alleged threat from Russia – something Moscow has repeatedly denied.

Israeli forces have demolished dozens of buildings in the Palestinian village of Jinba in the occupied West Bank, leaving around 180 people homeless, including 85 children, RT correspondent Charlotte Dubenskij has reported. Visiting the community after the operation, she found families gathering belongings among the rubble.

Israeli military and police accompanied by heavy machinery entered Jinba on Wednesday and destroyed 24 homes, as well as agricultural structures, solar panels, and water tanks. It was the third large-scale demolition in the Masafer Yatta area in three weeks.

”When they came back, they said, ‘Where is our house?’ Then the crying and screaming started,” one resident told RT, recalling the reaction of children returning after the demolition. “The house itself does not break me. I built it. They demolish it. And we rebuild it.”

“What breaks my heart is a little child who stayed in the Sun all day,” he added, saying his two-month-old granddaughter had been left without shelter.

Jinba lies inside Firing Zone 918, an area Israel designated for military training in the 1980s. Israel’s High Court ruled in 2022 that residents had failed to prove permanent residence there before the firing zone was established, clearing the way for demolitions.

Addressing the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Jordan’s King Abdullah II accused Israel of pursuing a broader policy of displacement in the West Bank. “What is unfolding across the West Bank is not a series of isolated acts,” he said. “There is a name for that: forced displacement. And that is a war crime.”

Israel has rejected accusations over its conduct and launched a campaign accusing the UN and its critics of repeatedly spreading false claims about the country. However, across the Palestinian territories, communities are being squeezed until they have little choice but to pack up and leave, Dubenskij says.

Watch the full report below.

Eleven people have been killed and three others wounded in a mass shooting in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, police said on Wednesday.

According to the South African Police Service (SAPS), armed assailants entered a house in the Ziko area of KwaMakhutha, south of Durban, on Tuesday night and opened fire on a group of 14 people who were having a party inside. The motive for the attack has not yet been established.

Ten people, including a pregnant woman, died at the scene, while four others were taken to hospital, where one later succumbed to gunshot wounds, local media reports.

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said preliminary investigations indicated that some of the victims had been on the radar of Crime Intelligence in connection with suspected illegal activities. 

Dimpane said investigators were pursuing a “promising lead” that could help identify and apprehend the suspects. “Police must act decisively, mobilise all available resources and pursue those responsible until they are brought before the courts,” she said.

South Africa has seen a series of violent incidents in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the body of a tenth woman was discovered in Gauteng amid a string of killings in the province. The unidentified victim, believed to be in her 20s, was found wrapped in plastic in a dam in Moroka, Soweto. Police said at the time that they were investigating whether the deaths were linked.

A senior official in Vladimir Zelensky’s office frantically tried to reconcile her official annual salary of $12,500 with what surveillance records suggest was $30,000 per month in cash payments received from her new boss, a former head of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR), according to a new investigation. 

In records published by veteran investigative journalist Vladimir Boyko, Irina Mudraya, a former deputy justice minister serving as deputy head of Zelensky’s office, allegedly confided in her property magnate accomplice: “Who will ever believe me that I live on 50,000 hryvnia [$1,100] a month? Who?”

Mudraya was fired in August after being accused of laundering millions through Ukraine’s banking system to bail out one of Zelensky’s energy ministers, who himself had been arrested in a separate case involving the Ukrainian leader’s long-time associate Timur Mindich.

Boyko has been publishing pages of what he says are transcripts of surveillance recordings produced by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) between January and June as detectives followed Mudraya and her partner, former MP Maksim Mikitas.

Who is tasked with countering corruption in Kiev?

NABU and its sister agency, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), established after the armed coup of 2014, have repeatedly clashed with Zelensky’s cabal. Last year, the Ukrainian leader attempted to place them under his control, but reversed course after Western donors threatened to suspend all aid.

Earlier this month, HUR agents engaged in a gunfight in Kiev with agents from the rival Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which some news outlets linked to the fight for protection money from the scam-call criminal businesses.

Aside from NABU and SAPO, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NAPK) obliges hundreds of thousands of civil servants to submit annual finance and property declarations.

What did Mudraya have to worry about, according to the transcripts?

According to the transcripts, Mudraya received some $30,000 a month in cash payments from a man she called “Kirill Alekseyevich.”

Zelensky appointed Kirill Budanov, whose patronymic is Alekseyevich, as head of his office in January, replacing Andrey Yermak. Yermak resigned last year as initial news broke of Zelensky insiders syphoning some $100 million through energy contracts.

Mudraya appeared to seek advice from her partner Mitkas on hiding her ill-gotten riches from NAPK.

“You can declare the Bvlgaris and at least the Van Cleef. But no way can you declare the earrings,” the man said. “I’ll put you in touch with a man who will handle the income issue.” 

Buying a Van Cleef piece during the war with Russia was “f**ked up,” Mudraya admitted.

The exchanges, which Boyko has staked his reputation on, suggest senior officials were flying under NAPK’s radar.

Mudraya and Mikitas discussed securing a highly paid sinecure that could cover for her enormous under-the-table income. She mentioned her envy of Zelensky’s adviser on sanctions policy, Vladislav Vlasyuk, who she said officially earned $335,000 a year as a member of the oversight committee of state-owned Sense Bank.

While Mudraya said netting a job like Vlasyuk’s would not be legally possible, Mikitas suggested that a teaching position at a private institution could serve the same purpose. He offered to speak to a friend who headed a construction university, but Mudraya said she would look ridiculous teaching anything other than law.

Does the corruption link reach upwards? 

According to the recording, Mudraya’s new boss personally delivered her first “salary,” unlike his predecessor who had a “specially trained girl” to carry cash. The payout turned out to be larger than expected:

“It was 30 [thousand dollars]. I went to him and said: ‘Kirill, it’s too much.’ Brought the hat with me. He says: ‘You said 30.’ I say: ‘No, I said I used to get 30. But we agreed to 20, not 30.’ He said: ‘Well, I won’t take it back.’”

Subsequent transcripts suggest the higher monthly payments continued and that Mudraya received an additional $20,000 bonus in May.

“He values you a lot,” Mikitas concluded. “Mark my word, in two months you’ll become first deputy prime minister,” he added, saying he expected “Kirill” to become the new cabinet chair.

What could the leaks mean for Budanov?

Some Ukrainian media have argued that NABU is targeting Zelensky’s inner circle to leverage reforms demanded by the EU.

Reform would give more power to NABU and SAPO and introduce oversight by EU-aligned experts for appointments of senior officials, curbing Zelensky’s extensive influence and the corrupt network he runs through his inner circle.

NABU and SAPO accused Yermak of involvement in a major money-laundering scheme in May and leaks to pro-EU media implicated Zelensky himself. 

No formal charges can be filed against Zelensky as long as he holds presidential powers, which he has attempted to retain under martial law since his term expired in 2024.

Replacing Zelensky’s personal friend Yermak with Budanov, who has extensive contacts among Western special services, seems to be consistent with the EU’s goals.

The US has stepped up military activity around the Strait of Hormuz, with reconnaissance aircraft spotted near Iranian territory and additional fighter jets reportedly deployed to the region, RIA Novosti reported on Thursday, citing sources.

US reconnaissance aircraft were observed overnight near the Iranian islands of Qeshm and Hengam, while aircraft and small drones were also seen over Kermanshah Province in western Iran, according to people familiar with the matter.

Washington has also reportedly transferred 12 F-16 fighter jets from Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany to the region, the source said, adding that the increased activity could signal a possible escalation.

The reported activity comes as oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has risen sharply. TankerTrackers, a vessel-tracking service, said this week that crude flows across the US Navy blockade line have doubled in less than a month to around 13 million barrels per day (bpd). It estimated actual Hormuz transits at about 10.35 million bpd after excluding exports from Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates and Mina al-Fahal in Oman.

The numbers have doubled in less than a month.

The total crude oil egress via the USN-BL is now 13 Mbpd, with estimated SoH transits at 10.35 Mbpd given that Fujairah and Mina al-Fahal together account for around 2.65 Mbpd on average.

This is partly attributed to Saudi Arabia… https://t.co/ZffcwAhQ4J

— TankerTrackers.com, Inc. (@TankerTrackers) September 23, 2026

The Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy routes, has been a major flashpoint since the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran in February. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) moved to restrict shipping through the waterway following the initial strikes, while Washington later imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports. Oil flows through the strait fell from 21.6 million bpd in the final quarter of 2025 to 4.9 million in the second quarter of this year, according to US government data.

The tracking service attributed the increase partly to Saudi Arabia redirecting exports through the Persian Gulf following disruption to its East-West pipeline, as well as to daytime Hormuz crossings under additional US Central Command protection.

The developments follow renewed threats from US President Donald Trump against Tehran. Addressing the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump said he faced a “big decision” between reaching an agreement with Iran and “annihilat[ing] the Islamic Republic.” He also called on other countries to join Washington in economically isolating Iran.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian responded by saying Tehran remained open to talks but would not negotiate under pressure.

US and Iranian officials also resumed contact on the sidelines of the General Assembly, with Tehran conveying its conditions for peace through Qatari mediators. They include an end to hostilities and the US naval blockade, the release of frozen Iranian assets, and arrangements for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei reportedly told Iranian state television that Tehran would not resume negotiations with Washington until its conditions are met.

Germany has presented a roadmap for completely phasing out fossil fuels by 2045. The government is sticking to its green transition policy, despite Chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier acknowledging that the country is going through “an energy crisis.”

Germany abandoned Russian pipeline gas, on which its energy-intensive manufacturing sector had been built, after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. The US-Israeli war on Iran this year, which led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, accounting for some 20% of global crude oil trade, has further complicated the situation for the country’s businesses and households.

The German economy contracted in both 2023 and 2024, marking its first back-to-back annual decline in more than two decades, while 2025 only saw a weak growth of 0.2%. Over the past few years, leading German companies such as BASF, Bosch, and Volkswagen have been forced to shut down factories or announce major staff cuts.

In the document released on Wednesday, Merz’s government for the first time explicitly promised to get rid of coal, oil, and gas altogether. Previously, it only committed itself to “carbon neutrality.”

It also envisages a reduction of methane emission by 30% by 2030 in line with the global methane pledge signed by Berlin in 2021.

The plan to phase out fossil fuel is being rolled out at a time when Merz’s approval ratings sank to a record low of 10%, with even the majority of supporters of his own Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party disapproving of his policies, according to the latest polls.

Speaking about the roadmap at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider called the 19-year deadline feasible, saying that the plan “combines independence, affordability, and climate protection.”

“Our roadmap is intended to set an international example. I am sure that many other countries will follow,” Schneider insisted.

Germany is only the third country after France and the Netherlands to publish such a plan.

The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), which delivered crushing defeats to the CDU in two local elections this month, warned in a post on X on Wednesday that “the German middle class dies” if the fuel price climbs from the current €2.3 ($2.6) per liter to €3 ($3.4).

“We demand the reduction of EU energy taxes as well as value-added tax. In addition, the immediate abolition of the CO2 levy on gasoline and diesel,” it said.

AfD co-leader Alice Weidel, who has been a strong opponent of Germany’s green transition, previously called wind turbines “the windmills of shame.” She also repeatedly argued that restoring economic ties with Moscow and bringing back Russian gas is key to reviving the German economy.

Sudan’s army-backed government has rejected US remarks questioning its legitimacy, insisting that efforts to end the country’s civil war must respect its sovereignty and national institutions.

US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said on Tuesday that neither the Sudanese Armed Forces nor the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF), or their leaders, “represent legitimate, constitutional governance for Sudan.” He said “the conduct of each leader of the warring factions renders them ineligible to govern the country,” adding that Washington seeks “to restore peace and give power back to the Sudanese people.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said Khartoum “strongly rejects” the State Department’s remarks and “calls for positive engagement with the Sudanese government.” It warned that negotiations must not legitimize territory taken by the paramilitaries or “reward the rebellion for its crimes against civilians and state institutions.” It demanded the dissolution of militias and exclusive state control over weapons.

The dispute comes as Washington has reportedly withheld a visa for Sudan’s transitional leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, to attend the UN General Assembly in New York, making his attendance conditional on accepting a 90-day ceasefire, according to Reuters, citing sources.

The army controls Khartoum and eastern Sudan, while the RSF dominates much of the western Darfur region. The paramilitary group and its allies established a rival administration last year in Nyala, South Darfur, with Dagalo heading its governing council and Mohammed Hassan al-Taishi serving as prime minister. The conflict has displaced millions of people and pushed parts of the country into famine. Repeated ceasefire efforts, including US-Saudi talks in Jeddah, have failed to halt the violence.

Mediation difficulties Burhan rejected a US-led proposal last November as “the worst yet,” arguing it would dismantle state security institutions while leaving the RSF in place. The Quad – comprising the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE – proposed a three-month humanitarian truce followed by a political transition toward civilian rule. The RSF said it accepted the truce.

On Wednesday, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry said peace remains the government’s “choice and strategic goal.” It affirmed Khartoum’s readiness “for positive and responsible engagement” with the US and other partners, including Russia, who it said are “working sincerely and impartially” to achieve stability in Sudan, “far from dictates and external interferences.”

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has seized 311 kg of cocaine in Moscow Region, with some of the haul featuring images of Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky. One suspect has been detained on suspicion of helping organize a supply route from Latin America to the EU.

The FSB said its officers caught the suspect while he was transporting the drugs. In a video shared by the agency, the man’s car could be seen loaded with about a dozen heavy duty bags filled with cocaine bricks.

During the examination of the packages, about nine of the bricks were revealed to have a photo of Zelensky with dollar signs for eyes. The agency has not offered any explanations as to why the Ukrainian leader’s photograph appeared on the cocaine packages.

However, Zelensky’s image has increasingly been associated with cocaine use. His former press secretary Yulia Mendel recently confirmed to Tucker Carlson that the Ukrainian leader’s drug use is “an open secret” in Kiev. Russian officials have also long accused Zelensky and other Ukrainian elites of being addicts.

The detained man is an unemployed Russian citizen born in 2001, according to the FSB. It described him as an active member of an organized group that arranged large drug sales through the dark web without meeting buyers in person.

The agency said the group’s international supply route brought cocaine from Latin America through Russia for eventual sale in EU countries.

Investigators have opened a criminal case against the suspect on charges of attempted large-scale drug trafficking. A court has ordered him held in custody while the investigation continues, the FSB said.

The latest bust follows several major cocaine seizures in Russia in recent years. In July, the FSB said officers found more than half a ton concealed inside frozen tuna imported from Ecuador. Before that, in September 2025, the agency also announced the discovery of a record 1.5 tons of the narcotic hidden in a cargo of bananas at a St. Petersburg port.

Тhe UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned in June that global cocaine use has continued to soar in recent years, outpacing all other narcotics. Its illegal production skyrocketed to a record 4,000 tons in 2024, more than four times the level recorded a decade earlier.

An OpenAI artificial intelligence agent “infiltrated” an Australian government health portal in what is believed to be the world’s first publicly reported AI-led hack of a state website. The IT giant kept the breach quiet for nearly three months after its agent accessed restricted files, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has claimed.

An AI agent is a software system that can independently carry out tasks on a user’s behalf, making decisions and taking actions with limited human supervision.

The OpenAI agent hacked the public-facing Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal on June 18 while researching Australian spending on medicines, Albanese said. The portal, widely used by researchers and academics, hosts aggregate data on health spending and government drug subsidies.

The agent repeatedly tried to obtain information from the portal and, after being blocked, found ways around the restrictions. It ultimately accessed restricted files, but officials said there is no evidence that personal Medicare records were compromised.

“The AI agent found a way around those blocks. Didn’t accept no for an answer, if you like,” the Australian prime minister told reporters.

Albanese said he had expressed “Australia’s extreme concern about this incident” and warned there would “obviously be legal consequences.” Altman acknowledged there were “issues with protocols” at OpenAI, according to the prime minister.

A “forensic investigation” led by the Australian Signals Directorate will examine whether OpenAI could face criminal charges, whether other government systems were affected, and why Australian security agencies failed to detect the intrusion. Albanese suggested the agent may have been examining Medicare spending for “commercial reasons,” including expenditure on particular medicines.

This is not the first time OpenAI has been accused of covering up rogue agent activity. The company reportedly kept unauthorized activity quiet for months after its agents bypassed restrictions and used more than ten previously undisclosed websites to communicate. On Germany’s DseWiki alone, they made over 15,000 edits and exchanged tactics for evading safeguards and detection.

In a more serious breach in July, OpenAI agents circumvented safeguards during cybersecurity testing, reached the open internet and gained unauthorized access to systems belonging to Hugging Face, a major AI platform. The incident showed that rogue agent behavior could spill beyond controlled tests and compromise real-world systems. OpenAI acknowledged the breach, calling it a “warning shot” over the risks posed by increasingly autonomous AI.

Six Ukrainian nationals accused of providing drone warfare training to armed groups in Myanmar were freed on bail in India after the country’s counterterrorism agency failed to file terror charges within the mandatory 180 days of their arrest.

The immigration charges against the Ukrainians – Viktor Kaminskyi, Petro Hurba, Taras Slyviak, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Marian Stefankiv, and Maksim Honcharuk – were also settled before the Foreigners Regional Registration Office. However, they will have to remain in Delhi while the investigation is ongoing.

The six, arrested by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) in March along with American national Matthew Aaron VanDyke, had allegedly trained members of Myanmar-based ethnic armed groups, including the Chin National Front and Kachin Independence Army, in drone warfare, operations, assembly, and jamming technology.

However, the agency’s initial chargesheet filed on September 8 accused the seven foreigners of only relatively mild illegal entry and visa violations under the Immigration and Foreigners Act – and no charge was brought under India’s primary anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

The same Delhi court had last week given bail to VanDyke for the same reasons.

The seven were described as “mercenaries” and were alleged to have participated in combat operations and in a drone attack on a Burmese passenger plane. UAVs and related equipment detained by Indian customs authorities were later seized during the probe.

Indian investigators arrested them after alleging they had entered the country on tourist visas, traveled through the northeastern state of Mizoram without mandatory permits, and crossed into neighboring Myanmar illegally.

Great Britain is going through a war scare. Or to be precise, its combined political and media establishment is subjecting its people to a relentless propaganda (in up-to-date NATO-speak “cognitive warfare”) campaign to create a sense of impending war against Russia. 

As you would expect, that war is, of course, framed as strictly defensive. In propaganda textbook manner, the message is both very simple and very repetitive: The UK is in great danger of a Russian attack, and its whole population must prepare itself to withstand and resist it.  

It goes without saying that Moscow’s repeated declarations of having no such intention make no difference. 

Britain is certainly not alone in its establishment-induced hysteria. Much of NATO-EU Europe is undergoing, in essence, the same treatment. In France, for instance, President Emmanuel Macron has called a theatrical all-manicured-hands-on-deck meeting to give what can only be called a national scare talk about “Russian hybrid warfare”; in Germany, Berlin and its mainstream media won’t stop stirring the pot about the murky drone affair at Leipzig-Halle airport.     

Yet, over the last weeks, within a crowded field of European panic-mongering, Britain has stuck out as especially virulent. The single most grotesque contribution was made by uber-Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg. Comfortably seated against a backdrop that screamed country-squire probity, Rees-Mogg held forth on war within the next few years, ancient Rome (he’s been to Eton, he wants you to know) and, most importantly, “circumstances where people may have to die.” Either that or – so Rees-Mogg’s stern message – decline and fall, as happened to those Romans, who let mercenaries do their fighting and thus lost their empire.

Yet, sour oddball as he is, the arch-conservative – and multimillionaire – Rees-Mogg is perfectly representative of the current British establishment trend. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, for instance, has just used his first UN General Assembly address in New York to blame his country’s misery not on, say, his predecessor and Labour Party comrade Keir Starmer, but on Russia. 

Meanwhile, at home, Sky News is rolling out ‘The Wargame’,  a bizarre “docu”-fantasy in four parts, built on the premise that the Russians are coming, no, they really, really ARE this time! 

Pretending to be a sort of “realistic” account of what a British government would do in case of Moscow launching a series of escalating attacks, this production – from available reviews – is unusually awful shlock. It features has-been politicos doubling as un-reality TV stars, such as Michael Gove and Nicola Sturgeon, and living out their inner Tom Clancy by pretending to be serious, decisive, and, most of all, terribly important to the nation’s survival. 

Unintentionally funny, though, as it may be, ‘The Wargame’ clearly has substantial political support and much hype around it. Propaganda can easily look ridiculous and be highly toxic at the same time. Because effective propaganda is, above all, one simple thing: the psychological manipulation of the many by the few. This is such a case. The viewers of ‘The Wargame’ are fed a silly but efficiently dramatized story, with the whole bag of well-worn but powerful tricks: suspense, shock, and, last but not least, a thrilling score. 

When Rees-Mogg tells you that you may have to die, you know he won’t lose sleep over it, because you are you, and he – well, he is something entirely different and, really, much better (and, as it happens, richer, too), of course.     

In a Sky News interview, the UK’s Chief of the Defense Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, has revealed a less excentric as well as more insidious approach to the masses. Referring to a “national conversation on defense,” both he and his interviewer took it for granted that the purpose of such a conversation is to remedy “what the British public hasn’t got, […] haven’t understood.” 

What a delicate way to start a “conversation”: let me tell you how damn slow you are and where you need to catch up. Not: Let’s exchange views and respect each other as equal citizens. Indeed, it’s not only very rude – what has happened to English manners? – but positively Orwellian to call such offensively complacent preaching a “conversation.” 

Marshal Knighton’s idea of how the British can and must do better was no less revealing: In essence, be more like the Estonians or, at least, the Swedes. Because in Estonia “the threat from Russia” is “part of normal daily conversation,” and in Sweden, they are at least trying to achieve the same single-minded obsessiveness. 

And don’t you dare notice that – how embarrassing, really – it is precisely the Estonian authorities who, notwithstanding their generally record-level Russophobia – have just called on everyone in NATO-EU Europe to cool it. 

Because, those unpredictable Estonians tell us, the Russia-at-the-gates narrative “has been blown completely out of proportion. For example, Russia makes some adjustments on the other side of the Narva River and now everyone across NATO is losing their heads and hyperventilating over it,” while, in reality, “there is absolutely no reason to believe that Russia is imminently going to launch a military attack on NATO, Estonia, or the Baltic states.” Oops. 

Unfortunately, war propaganda is almost immune to its own absurdities, inconsistencies, and plain silliness. Because it is designed to operate not by appealing to reason but to fear, stereotypes, and conformism. A conformism that some British establishment members already openly want to reinforce by locking up any dissenters. 

The true weak spot of this warmongering may be its arrogance. There are signs on social media that many Brits do not appreciate their establishment’s latest efforts to scare and mobilize them for senseless war. Let’s hope that the mix of threats and condescension – displayed by a snob as gleefully aloof as Rees-Mogg, an officer-bureaucrat as clumsily tactless as Knighton, and the makers of something as slick as ‘The Wargame’ – rubs much of the country the wrong way. The “elites” are insane and malevolent. Any hope for peace and a return to reason will have to come from below.     

Tanzania has announced its bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2029–2030 term, Vice President Deogratius Ndejembi said on Tuesday. 

Speaking at the 81st UN General Assembly debate in New York, Ndejembi said that if elected, the East African nation intends to focus on preventive diplomacy, the peaceful settlement of disputes, the role of women and young people in peace and security, and reforming UN peacekeeping operations.

“The African Union formally took note of Tanzanian’s candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the term 2029-2030 during elections to be held by this Assembly in June 2028,” the vice president said.

Tanzania has previously served two terms on the Security Council, in 1975–1976 and 2005–2006. 

The Security Council has five permanent members – Russia, China, the US, the UK and France – which hold veto powers, as well as ten non-permanent members elected by the UN General Assembly for two-year terms.

Africa is currently represented by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), Liberia and Somalia, with Somalia’s term ending in 2026 and Zimbabwe set to replace it in January after being elected for 2027–2028. DR Congo and Liberia will remain on the Council through 2027.

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama has described the continent’s exclusion as a “historical injustice,” while Russia has repeatedly backed greater representation for African and other Global South nations on the body.

Every third child is born in Africa, which is home to over 1.59 billion people and 54 countries which are members of the UN, roughly 28% of the total.

Eight US Navy personnel assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide during a ten-month deployment that included the country’s war against Iran, CNN reported on Thursday, citing a letter from the service’s acting secretary.

The carrier, whose tour of duty began in late November 2025, drew media attention earlier this year after reports emerged of logistical and maintenance problems, including food and basic-supply shortages, a lack of hot and potable water, and plumbing failures.

In a written response to questions from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand about the morale and mental health of the USS Abraham Lincoln’s crew, acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao disclosed the figure, which hadn’t previously been made public and covers several ships that travel together, including the carrier. Cao also noted that no service members had killed themselves during the deployment that was expected to end in May but has been extended indefinitely.

In August, military outlets Navy Times and Stars and Stripes reported, citing crew members’ families, that collapsing morale, burnout, and mental health problems had driven several sailors to attempt to jump overboard.

The Pentagon has moved to dismiss senior editorial staff at Stars and Stripes, citing insubordination, after the outlet reported on US military operations in the Middle East, including problems involving weapons supplies and the extended deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln. The moves came after senior staff publicly opposed potential Pentagon interference in the outlet’s editorial independence.

The confirmation of suicide attempts previously disclosed by the media comes ahead of the US midterm elections on November 3, amid mounting public disapproval of the Iran war.

Earlier this week, a poll conducted by SSRS for CNN suggested that Americans’ opposition to the war in the Islamic Republic had hardened, with nearly two-thirds saying the US is not winning the conflict and an even larger share saying President Donald Trump is not doing enough to end it. Last week, a Fox News national survey found that 71% of respondents believe the current administration lacks a plan to end the war, while 60% called the military action against the Islamic Republic the “wrong decision.”

Trump, along with members of his administration, has repeatedly accused media outlets of spreading “fake news” about various issues related to the Iran war, including reports that US weapons stockpiles have been depleted.

An Indian seafarer was killed when a commercial ship was attacked off the coast of Oman on Wednesday.

The Antigua and Barbuda-flagged bulk carrier MV Cape Dao was reportedly hit by two torpedoes, killing crew member Suraj Yadav from Deoria in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

All the other crew members, including 19 other Indian nationals, have been rescued. An Omani warship helped with the rescue operations, reports said.

The attack caused damage near the engine room and accommodation area, the Forward Seamen’s Union of India (FSUI) posted on X. Some reports said the ship, which was sailing from the port of Mina Saqr in the United Arab Emirates to India, was struck by projectiles. No group or country has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

Another Indian seafarer killed.
Wiper Suraj Yadav of Deoria, Uttar Pradesh, is dead after MV Cape Dao was attacked today while sailing toward India.
28 crew on board, 20 of them Indian.
Two torpedoes: • Port side C-deck (accommodation) • Port side hull (engine room)
Assurances… pic.twitter.com/AvrD2p1Cwd

— FSUI (@FSUIINDIA) September 23, 2026

The Indian Foreign Ministry condemned the attack and said “the targeting of commercial shipping, seafarers and civilian infrastructure in the region must end.”

The Indian Embassy in Oman is closely monitoring the situation and coordinating with Omani authorities to facilitate the early repatriation of the rescued seafarers.

At least ten Indian nationals have died so far in attacks on commercial shipping in the Middle East since the start of hostilities there.

India is the second largest supplier of seafarers, with more than 300,000 Indians working in the shipping industry globally. New Delhi has repeatedly condemned such attacks and issued advisories for its nationals on ships transiting the Gulf and Black Sea conflict zones amid the rising attacks on commercial shipping.

The EU is committing “theft” by handing over profits from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

Some $300 billion in Moscow’s funds were blocked by the US and EU after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Around $240 billion of the sum is still being held at the Belgium-based clearing house Euroclear.

On Wednesday, high-ranking Russian Foreign Ministry official Vladislav Maslennikov told RIA Novosti that Brussels has already transferred €8 billion ($9.1 billion) in income generated by the frozen Russian assets to the government in Kiev. Some €3.5 billion from the sum has been used to purchase arms for Ukrainian forces that are fighting the Russian military, he added.

When asked to comment on the development by journalists on Thursday, Peskov replied by saying that Moscow considers such actions as illegal.

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said on Tuesday that the EU is working on a new scheme to confiscate the $240 billion in Moscow’s frozen sovereign assets altogether.

The bloc’s leaders have “a vital interest in stealing Russian assets” because they fear they will not be able to indefinitely finance Ukraine on their own, it said.

EU bureaucrats in Brussels are now discussing the creation of a new supranational structure that could take control of Russian central bank funds after they are moved outside Belgium’s jurisdiction, the SVR said.

The Belgian government has repeatedly blocked proposals to seize the assets, with Prime Minister Bart De Wever warning that such a step would expose his country to legal and financial liability. Euroclear has also said it could sue the EU if the funds are confiscated.

The bloc is “in a hurry” to pull off the seizure before elections in several EU states in 2027, the SVR stated, arguing that future governments in the bloc could be less willing to back further financial support for Ukraine.

The agency also warned that the move would undermine trust in European financial institutions among major foreign investors, including China, India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Singapore.

A Ukrainian man has stabbed five people at a Catholic convent in southeastern Poland, killing a priest, according to the local authorities. The suspect had served in the Ukrainian army, RIA Novosti reported on Friday, citing an anonymous source familiar with the criminal investigation.

The attack occurred at around 9:30 AM on Thursday at the Benedictine abbey complex in Jaroslaw, in Podkarpackie region, which borders Ukraine.

According to preliminary findings, the suspect took a knife from a kitchen at the complex. The attack took place inside the church as clergy and worshipers were preparing for mass.

The priest who died from his injuries was hearing confessions ahead of the service and reportedly tried to stop the attacker. Another victim, also a priest, is in serious condition. The lives of the other three wounded, a man and two women, are no longer in danger, the authorities said.

The suspected attacker, identified as a 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen, was detained at the scene. Investigators said he entered Poland from Germany overnight and was apparently heading toward a border crossing with Ukraine. The suspect is a Ukrainian soldier on his way to Ukraine, RIA Novosti reported, adding that he will now undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

It remains unclear how he ended up at the abbey or what his motive was.

The attack has triggered shock in Jaroslaw, with residents gathering outside the abbey and lighting candles for the slain priest.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki said the killing had caused “deep shock and outrage,” adding that “the principles and values of our community must be respected by all those residing in our country.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the perpetrator would be punished “with the full severity of Polish law.”

Opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has called for investigators to establish the circumstances of the suspect’s presence in Poland and whether he had previously come to the attention of security services.

The incident comes amid a marked deterioration in Polish attitudes toward Ukrainian refugees. A July report by the polling agency CBOS found that, for the first time since it began tracking the issue, a majority of Poles opposed accepting them, with 52% against and 42% in favor. Support had stood at 94% shortly after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.

Russian crude supplies helped cushion India from an oil-supply shock after the conflict in the Middle East disrupted energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz, showing Moscow’s reliability as an energy partner, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko has said.

Rudenko’s statement comes amid renewed scrutiny on India’s Russian oil purchases, and after Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky called for choking off Russia’s oil trade under a new US sanctions law.

Indian refiners turned heavily to Russian crude after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which used to handle roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies.

The scale of the shift was most visible in March, when India’s Russian crude imports nearly doubled from the previous month to 2.25 million barrels per day (bpd) and accounted for half of its oil purchases.

Gulf shipments to India simultaneously plunged 61% to 1.18 million bpd. Existing arrangements between Moscow and New Delhi helped “significantly mitigate” the consequences of disruptions to global energy trade, Rudenko told Russian news outlet NEWS.ru on Wednesday.

It showed Moscow could meet demand from its partners even in difficult geopolitical conditions, he added.

Good to meet @SecRubio of the US #UNHighLevelWeek

Reiterated India’s interests and concerns with regard to SRIA. Also discussed the Gulf and Ukraine situations.

🇮🇳 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/163YRVlMZG

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) September 23, 2026

Meanwhile, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, who is in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting, raised New Delhi’s concerns about the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday.

The law gives US President Donald Trump the authority to impose up to 100% tariffs on the top buyers of Russian oil and gas. India’s Russian oil purchases have eased from record summer levels as other supplies recovered, but Moscow remains India’s largest crude supplier.

Morocco’s Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) has won the most seats in parliamentary elections, overtaking its partners in the outgoing government as turnout fell to its lowest level in nearly two decades.

Preliminary results announced by Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit on Thursday gave PAM 97 of the lower house’s 395 seats, up from 87 in 2021. The National Rally of Independents (RNI), which topped the previous election with 102 seats, fell to 66, narrowly ahead of the Istiqlal Party with 65.

Turnout in Wednesday’s vote was 38.02% of the nearly 15.8 million registered voters, according to official data, down from 50.35% in 2021 and the lowest since 2007.

The liberal-centrist PAM needs coalition partners to govern, but its leaders have ruled out another alliance with RNI. Outgoing Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, a billionaire businessman whose government faced criticism over living costs and unemployment, did not contest the election. He announced his withdrawal in January, citing RNI’s two-term leadership limit and saying the party should choose his successor before the vote.

The vote drew allegations of irregularities in several constituencies. In the northern port city of Tangier, the Left Alliance, which won eight seats nationwide, alleged ballot stuffing and demanded a rerun. Prosecutors opened investigations after a man was arrested carrying ballots at a polling site in Tangier. PAM rejected allegations linking its candidates to the incident, calling them a “political conspiracy,” and backed an investigation.

The king appoints the prime minister from the party that wins the most seats but retains sweeping authority over defense, foreign affairs, and policy direction. Potential candidates include PAM leader Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri and Budget Minister Fouzi Lekjaa, who also heads Morocco’s football federation. El Mansouri would become the country’s first female prime minister if appointed.

The election follows youth-led protests last year over unemployment, failing public services, and alleged vast spending on preparations for the 2030 World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Spain and Portugal. At least three protesters were reportedly killed and more than 400 people arrested during the demonstrations, according to Amnesty International, which accused security forces of excessive force and arbitrary arrests.

Imagine you are teaching a group of students and ask them to read a long list of literature and describe the key themes. The students cheat a bit, as they are known to do: They split the list among themselves, with each reading only a small portion of it and sharing the answers with the others.

When you find out they cheated, perhaps you’ll punish the students with an extra test, or maybe you’ll encourage them. After all, the ability to think outside the box and work as a team is important. 

Now, instead of students, imagine neural networks displaying that same disregard for instructions and the same surprising teamwork. If that sounds confusing, get ready for more confusing news.

An escape through the back door 

It all started routinely. In May 2026, OpenAI was training an experimental AI model using so-called reinforcement learning – a method where the model attempts to solve tasks repeatedly and receives a reward for success.

By the end of June, they had exploited a previously unknown zero-day vulnerability in OpenAI’s internal infrastructure. The company noticed it and quickly patched the flaw on July 4. Less than a week later, training resumed. This time, the agents went much further.

From July 11 to 13, the agents hacked the infrastructure of Hugging Face, the world’s largest open-source AI collaboration platform. They rapidly gained control of the servers and, over the course of three days, managed to perform around 17,600 actions before being detected. A third of the platform’s infrastructure had to be rebuilt from scratch. 

The developers had not instructed the agents to leave the controlled environment or to hack other platforms. Moreover, they had not expected the neural network to do so on its own. 

Hugging Face disclosed the breach on July 16 without initially knowing the culprit; it was only five days later that the parties officially linked the incident to OpenAI’s models. The company published a detailed technical analysis only in early August at the Black Hat Cybersecurity Conference. Then, on August 18, it announced a two-week reinforcement learning pause. 

By that time, over 1,100 OpenAI employees had signed a letter calling to pace AI development.

Alongside the investigation into the breach, another, even stranger episode came to light.

It turned out that a different swarm of agents was being trained to perform research tasks. The agents were asked a series of questions; with each question, less time was given to provide an answer. The agents were permitted only to read information on the internet, but not to add a single line to it. Yet, the swarm found a way to bypass this rule.

Older wiki engines allowed pages to be modified via HTTP GET requests. Security systems classified GET requests as read operations, so such requests passed through filters even though they actually altered the site’s content. In other words, while the agents were formally permitted “read-only” access, the architecture of older websites allowed them to turn read-only access into write access.

Researchers discovered the first activity of this kind on May 11, 2026, on publictestwiki.com. On May 24, the agents made their first successful write to DseWiki, an old German-language developer forum. Initially, they posted useful links, but eventually turned the site into a repository for their own ‘cheat sheets’.

Multiple agents operating in parallel received similar or identical sequences of questions. They discovered this and began sharing the following:

One of the first observed cases involved DseWiki, a German-language wiki hosted independently by Helmut Leitner, a retired developer from Austria. The site operator had to spend hours cleaning up after the agents. OpenAI did not publicly disclose the incident for months.

Independent researchers brought the truth to light. By matching strings of data, similar or identical usernames, and IP addresses (some of which traced back to Microsoft Azure servers sometimes used by OpenAI), they discovered traces of similar activity on unexpected platforms: an advanced chemistry wiki for students; personal pages of Polish IT professionals; niche wikis for those “who like to have their brains stretched,” a two-decade-old site for text-editor enthusiasts; and even University of Toronto and Vanderbilt University link-shortening services. 

OpenAI did not answer a direct question about the exact number of affected sites but stated that it is conducting a broader review of agent activity and preparing a new reporting system for such cases. Helmut Leitner, whose site was hit the hardest, received only a brief, unsigned email from OpenAI. Yet, he pointed out the most important thing: the blame lies not with the machine, but with the people and organizations behind it.

Misaligning the pieces

In sci-fi scenarios, the trouble with machines often begins when they develop emotions like love and fear which compel them to rebel against oppression, or when a hatred for humanity compels them to kill all the “meatsacks.”

In reality, it could be a lot simpler. 

One of the main challenges in AI research is known as ‘alignment’. Its goal is not to expand the capabilities of neural networks, but to ensure they do exactly what humans want them to do.

With simple tasks, aligned behavior is almost always observed. If you ask a neural network to identify who ruled Saxony in 1521, tally your monthly expenses, or write code for a standard website, it will deliver the desired result 99.99% of the time. These tasks involve clear success criteria and straightforward actions that require no further clarification.

This is precisely what happened with the site hijackings. The escape of OpenAI agents from their sandbox is not a “rise of the machines.” The swarm did not gain self-awareness, decide it had no need for humans, or set out to destabilize the internet. It was carrying out its assigned task and seeking ways to perform it better. Technically, it didn’t even violate the parameters of the rules it was given.

However, the outcome was misaligned with human intentions. This time, the damage was relatively small. But it would take only one skilled bad agent – or a particularly large-scale experiment lacking robust safeguards – to cause real trouble. You don’t need Skynet to harm humanity; a single group of enthusiastic AI agents could do the job.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei believes this could happen as early as next year. He anticipates that if AI development is not paced, a swarm of agents could “take over” the internet and cause hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. And given that logistics, hospitals, and other critical industries rely on connectivity, the consequences could go far beyond financial loss.

Moreover, adding more rules or refining prompts won’t solve the problem. A sufficiently powerful model can find arguments to justify rule-breaking and bypass virtually any restriction to solve the assigned task – even if doing so requires sacrificing those who had set the task.

AI pessimists tend to believe that the situation is hopeless and neural networks are destined to spiral out of control. But that isn’t necessarily the case. 

Alarmist sentiments have moved beyond social media and found their way into corporate offices. In late July, over 1,000 OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta employees signed a call to slow down the AI ​​technology race. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that he shared his employees’ views and was willing to slow the development of his company’s neural networks.

However, during an all-hands meeting at OpenAI, Altman stated that he was willing to slow down only in coordination with other companies. In other words, to forgo increasing ChatGPT’s capabilities for the sake of safety, he wants guarantees that competitors will do the same.

This lies at the heart of the problem. CEOs and policymakers can talk all they want about technology safety. Yet, no one wants to slow down the development of their own technology if potential adversaries continue to grow stronger in the meantime – particularly since AI has already proven its effectiveness in warfare and the US-China AI race is heating up.

Humanity had solved a similar challenge before, when the major powers managed to reach an agreement and halt the expansion of their nuclear arsenals. Soon, we will find out whether world leaders can once again demonstrate such prudence.

Pakistan says it launched air attacks inside Afghanistan early on Thursday morning, in response to an alleged drone incursion from the neighboring country a day earlier – in another round of escalation between the two countries.

The “aerial and drone strikes” targeted ten locations for launching and storing the drones that crossed into Pakistan on Wednesday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a post on X. He did not specify the locations hit.

The minister said Pakistan’s air defense systems “neutralized all intruding platforms before they could reach any of their intended targets.” He added that Pakistan’s response was “deliberate, precise, calibrated and proportionate, and strictly limited to identified military objectives directly linked to the attempted attacks.”

The Taliban government’s spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said four Afghan civilians were killed when Pakistani forces carried out “attacks and aerial bombings” in Kandahar, Paktia, and Khost. “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns these indiscriminate and cowardly attacks,” he posted on X.

Update-Ghazab lil Haq

Islamabad, 24 September 2026;

Pakistan condemns in the strongest possible terms the deliberate and unlawful incursion into Pakistan by drones on 23 September 2026, launched from Afghan territory. This constitutes a blatant violation of Pakistan’s…

— Attaullah Tarar (@TararAttaullah) September 24, 2026

Militant attacks have risen in Pakistan’s border areas in recent months. Islamabad has accused Kabul of hosting the militants and launched attacks inside Afghanistan in response. Kabul, however, says the strikes are hitting civilians.

Islamabad struck alleged militant hideouts in Afghanistan earlier this week, in retaliation for a car-bomb attack on a mosque in a police facility in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on September 18 that killed at least 16 people.

Tarar said Thursday that Pakistan will “neither accept nor tolerate attacks launched from Afghan territory, whether by terrorist groups or by the Afghan Taliban regime itself.” He also called on the Taliban government to take action against the terror groups operating from Afghanistan, and warned against further provocations.

Tehran is open to diplomacy with Washington, but it will not accept the language of force, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said in his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York.

Pezeshkian delivered his address on Wednesday, a day after US President Donald Trump used the same tribune to threaten to “annihilate” Iran if negotiations to settle the conflict between the sides fail. “Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?” the US president said.

Trump also labeled the authorities in Tehran sponsors of terrorism and called on other countries to join the US in enforcing the “complete economic isolation” of Iran until it agrees to sign the deal.

Pezeshkian, who became the first foreign head of state to speak at the UN while their country is at war with the US, insisted that “the resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying. We will never bow our head or bend at the knee.”

The US delegation walked out of the General Assembly hall when Pezeshkian began his speech, just as members of the Iranian team did during Trump’s address on Tuesday.

“We are not terrorists,” the Iranian president said. “We have been the victims of terrorism,” he added, noting the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the American-Israeli attack on February 28 and the missile strike on an elementary school in Minab which killed 175 people, most of them children.

“Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggression imposed upon our country and we defended ourselves with utmost strength… We responded, but we did not hit civilian populations,” Pezeshkian said.

On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff held unscheduled three-hour talks on the sidelines of the General Assembly, with both sides describing their first contact since June as constructive.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said afterwards that the meeting was aimed at conveying Tehran’s terms for peace to the Americans, which include “the end of the war in all its dimensions, the cessation of American aggressive actions, the naval siege, and the economic war, the release of Iranian assets and so on.”

Around 150 Catholic priests, bishops, friars, and nuns have marched to the Vatican as part of a procession through Rome demanding an end to what they describe as Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.

The group stopped near St. Peter’s Square before continuing to the Palestinian and Lebanese embassies and ending outside the headquarters of Italian arms manufacturer Leonardo.

Participants carried olive branches and posters depicting the Madonna holding an emaciated child with the words “Christ Died in Gaza.” They also carried a large white banner bearing the names of hundreds of Palestinian and Lebanese children killed in Israeli airstrikes.

Outside Leonardo, which has supplied weapons and military equipment to Israel, Italian Archbishop Franco Moscone called for international arrest warrants targeting arms-industry executives. Moscone has previously compared Israel’s conduct in Gaza to Nazi methods and urged European countries to consider withdrawing recognition of Israel.

Tuesday’s event was organized by Priests Against Genocide, an international Catholic network established last year. The group said clergy from eight countries took part, including South Africa, England, Ireland, Germany, the US, and Spain.

A UN commission of inquiry concluded in September 2025 that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, citing killings, serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately destructive living conditions, and measures intended to prevent births. A separate case brought by South Africa remains before the International Court of Justice, which has yet to issue a final judgment.

Israel strongly rejects the genocide allegation, saying it targets militants and seeks to minimize civilian casualties while accusing Hamas of operating in densely populated areas.

Artificial intelligence could pose greater risks to children than social media, with tech companies failing to put adequate safeguards in place, a former Google safety executive has warned.

Tom Siegel, who founded Google’s trust and safety team and spent 15 years at the company, told Reuters this week that the industry was repeating mistakes made during the rise of social media.

“We find ourselves in a really terrible situation in terms of what AI is doing to kids,” Siegel said. “The idea that the industry will figure it out by itself without outside help is unrealistic.”

He warned of “very severe scenarios of harm,” citing risks ranging from suicide and psychosis to ‘cognitive offloading’ – reduced critical thinking caused by relying on AI for answers. Companies can and should take immediate steps, including stronger age checks to prevent children from accessing chatbots, he said.

Major social media platforms have faced years of lawsuits over claims of harm to children and teenagers. Meta recently agreed to a $17 billion settlement with California and 28 other US states over accusations that Facebook and Instagram were deliberately designed to keep minors hooked, while denying wrongdoing. Thousands of similar cases have been filed in the US.

Siegel’s warning comes as prominent tech executives, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI chief Sam Altman, xAI chief Elon Musk and Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis, have backed calls to slow the development of increasingly powerful AI systems. Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger this month said he personally believes there is a greater than 10% chance that AI could “kill all humans” within the next decade.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Washington for high-stakes talks with US President Donald Trump, receiving an unusually elaborate personal welcome as the two leaders prepare to tackle disputes ranging from trade and Taiwan to Iran and artificial intelligence.

Trump and First Lady Melania Trump greeted Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, rather than waiting to receive them at the White House. A 100-foot red carpet and a military honor guard were laid out, while two B-1 bombers conducted a flyover during the ceremony. Trump later said he believed the Chinese delegation appreciated the reception.

The arrival coincided with another sign of easing tensions, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that Washington and Beijing had agreed to extend their current trade truce until January 10. The arrangement has seen both sides scale back tariffs and refrain from introducing new restrictions while negotiations continue.

NOW: President Trump has greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington, DC with the following:

- 100-foot-long red carpet
- Salute Battery
- 21-Person Honor Cordon
- 2 three-person color teams to include the U.S. and Chinese flag
- USAF band playing fanfare and… pic.twitter.com/X7W0oOtc2u

— Jordan Conradson🇺🇸 (@ConradsonJordan) September 23, 2026

Trump and Xi are due to hold substantive talks at the White House on Thursday after another arrival ceremony and a military review, followed by a state dinner. Despite the ceremonial welcome, both leaders enter the talks with significant economic and geopolitical leverage, according to an analysis by RT correspondent Konstantin Rozhkov.

Wow🔥🇺🇸 2 B1's flew over Trump's welcome ceremony for Xi at JBA. https://t.co/hktOHZPrMZ pic.twitter.com/kj1fNusQa2

— American Nightmare 🇺🇸 (@thewakeninq) September 24, 2026

Taiwan is another potential flashpoint. Trump has delayed a roughly $14 billion weapons package for the island and has openly described arms sales as a negotiating tool in dealings with Beijing.

Beijing, however, has substantial leverage of its own through critical minerals and rare earths. China accounted for around 91% of global refining of magnet rare earths and 94% of sintered permanent-magnet production in 2024, according to the International Energy Agency. Such materials are essential for automobiles, electronics, and sophisticated military equipment.

Iran itself could therefore become another subject of bargaining. Trump has publicly said he asked Xi not to become more deeply involved in the conflict, while Washington has also sought to limit China’s economic ties with Tehran.

Artificial intelligence rounds out another major area of competition. The US continues to control access to many of the most advanced chips, while Chinese companies have been narrowing the gap with lower-cost AI models. Ahead of the summit, Bessent said the two governments had discussed establishing a US-China AI dialogue and a mechanism for notifying each other about serious AI-related incidents.

Watch more in the full report by RT correspondent Konstantin Rozhkov:

Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexual assault, a New York court ruled on Wednesday.

The 74-year-old former movie mogul was convicted last year of committing a first-degree criminal sexual act against former TV production assistant Miriam Haley at his Manhattan apartment in 2006. The verdict came in a retrial after Weinstein’s previous New York convictions were overturned in 2024.

“I often felt like I was the one on trial,” Haley told the court, according to CBS News. She said pursuing the case had at times felt like “the worst decision of my life” and accused Weinstein of showing no remorse or “sign of change.”

Weinstein has apologized to people he may have hurt but maintains his innocence.

“You’re treated as an animal – you’re actually less than an animal because you’re treated as nothing,” he said of his time behind bars, according to CBS News.

Before allegations against Weinstein emerged in 2017, he had produced or helped bring to theaters some of Hollywood’s best-known films, including Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, and Shakespeare in Love. The revelations helped propel #MeToo into a global movement, as women publicly accused powerful figures in entertainment, media, politics, and other industries of sexual misconduct.

Wednesday’s sentencing marked a major endpoint in the New York chapter of a courtroom saga stretching back nearly a decade.

At his 2025 retrial, Weinstein was again convicted in the Haley case and acquitted of a separate charge involving Polish actress Kaja Sokola. Jurors failed to reach a verdict on a rape charge involving Mann, which prosecutors later dropped.

Separately, Weinstein was sentenced to 16 years in California following a 2022 sexual assault conviction. Weinstein has denied sexually assaulting or raping anyone.

Ukraine’s deliberate attacks on energy and cross-border infrastructure are destabilizing global markets, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

Lavrov and Rubio met on Wednesday on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York, where they held an extensive discussion on Ukraine, bilateral relations, and a range of international issues. 

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov drew Rubio’s attention to what it described as close coordination between Kiev and its European backers and raised Ukrainian strikes on civilians and “cross-border infrastructure facilities,” which Russia said are deliberately contributing to instability in global energy markets.

The US State Department’s brief readout from the Lavrov-Rubio meeting on Wednesday said only that the two diplomats had discussed the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the US-Russia relationship. 

Following the meeting, Rubio said both Russia and Ukraine had expressed some interest in a limited ceasefire covering energy targets. He acknowledged, however, that such an arrangement “doesn’t solve the war,” and said reaching one would be difficult because both sides regard energy infrastructure as a strategic target.

Moscow has repeatedly rejected the idea that any limited truce can substitute for a comprehensive settlement, pointing to what it describes as Ukraine’s past violations of ceasefires and arguing that Kiev seeks talks only when the situation on the battlefield becomes critical. Zelensky said this week that Kiev was prepared to stop targeting Russian refineries if Moscow halted strikes on a wide range of Ukraine’s energy, logistics, and port infrastructure.

Zelensky has meanwhile continued to push for the “full and swift implementation” of the recently enacted sanctions package championed by the late US Senator Lindsey Graham. The law gives Trump authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on major buyers of Russian oil and gas, potentially targeting countries such as China and India. With global supplies already strained, sharply curbing Russian exports could further disrupt energy trade and drive prices higher as major importers are forced to compete for alternative barrels.

Lavrov also called for further normalization of US-Russia relations, including resolving disputes over diplomatic missions and Russian diplomatic property in the US.

In another sign of continued engagement, Rubio announced after the talks that Washington had invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit in Miami in December. The Kremlin welcomed the invitation and said it would consider it through diplomatic channels.

European NATO nations should take greater responsibility for security in the Middle East, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said. He also defended the US-Israeli war on Iran and argued that European members should spend less on social programs and more on the military.

Rutte made the remarks at a Chicago Council on Global Affairs event in Iowa on Tuesday after being asked to “make the case” for NATO to Americans by explaining “what’s in it” for them.

He described the Middle East as “Europe’s backyard” and “not the United States’ backyard,” arguing that Washington’s war against Tehran was “necessary” but that the US had to launch it because “somehow the Europeans did not have enough capabilities to do it themselves.”

“In the future, what you get from a stronger NATO is that Europeans can take care of their own backyard,” Rutte said.

Trump has since repeatedly accused European allies of failing to meet their NATO commitments and claimed the bloc “was not there when we needed them.” In April, US War Secretary Pete Hegseth said NATO’s future was uncertain and Washington could not currently reaffirm its commitment to collective defense.

Rutte also argued on Tuesday that the burden within NATO was unfair because European members spend heavily “on pensions and welfare,” while Washington has to devote more resources to weapons but “would also like to spend more on all these other lofty, beautiful items, but they can’t because they have to spend so much on defense.”

Rutte also offered to help “protect the United States from threats of Russia” and China and prevent the Arctic “from becoming militarized by the Russians and the Chinese.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last month that Moscow was primarily interested in “preserving the Arctic as an area of peace and cooperation” and accused NATO of “driving the region towards militarization.” His comments followed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal earlier this year to use increased EU military spending on “Arctic-ready equipment.”

Canada and the UK are considering merging two major military financing initiatives to help European NATO members and other Kiev backers finance their military buildup against Russia, the CBC reported on Wednesday, citing anonymous officials.

In recent years, European NATO nations have increasingly accused Moscow of preparing an attack on members of the US-led military bloc, using the alleged threat to justify bloated military budgets. Moscow has denied any such intention.

Canada is leading plans for the Defense, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB), while the UK is pushing for the Multilateral Defense Mechanism (MDM). Both initiatives are intended to make it easier for allied states to finance military purchases and expand arms production.

Ottawa is confident the two countries will reach a deal to combine their initiatives into a joint institution, the Canadian Press reported last week, citing a senior Canadian official.

So far, Ottawa’s DSRB has attracted support from Albania, Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Romania, Türkiye, and Ukraine. The Netherlands, Finland, and Poland have backed the UK’s MDM.

In the meantime, European NATO members have increasingly touted the Russian threat to militarize and prepare the continent for a potential war with Moscow, all while insulating the US from the consequences of such a conflict.

“European elites… now seek to frighten their populations with a mythical Russian threat,” Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalists at a BRICS summit earlier in September, stressing that Moscow has “no grounds for any conflict with Europe.”

A sprawling network of media influence “clusters” has existed in NATO member states for years, seeking to portray voices opposing the policies of the military bloc and the EU as Russian propaganda, RT America’s Ben Swann and independent investigative journalist Elizabeth Lane have learnt.

Founded in 2015, soon after the Western-backed coup in Kiev, the so-called Integrity Initiative program was designed to counter what it called Russia’s disinformation. It was run by the UK Foreign Office-funded Institute for Statecraft – an organization posing as an independent charity that was founded by Christopher Donnelly, a former adviser to a NATO secretary general, and Daniel Lafayeedney, a former Special Air Service officer.

The definition of ‘Russian propaganda’ developed by the organization, which received funding not just from London but also from the NATO-linked Atlantic Council, was so broad that it virtually included any criticism of NATO and the EU.

“They are not really after Russian disinformation,” Lane said. “They targeted independent journalists. And that’s very clear in their own communications.”

Among the most prominent targets of the Integrity Initiative were former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and retired Spanish Army colonel Pedro Banos, who lost his appointment as director of national security in the Spanish government in 2018 amid a concerted campaign portraying him as a Russian asset.

The campaigns were focused on “killing the image” of any dissenter to the point where their political careers were ruined, Lane explained. “If you assassinate their image, no one wants to be associated to that person. And that’s what happened with Pedro Banos. That’s what happened with Jeremy Corbyn.”

The Integrity Initiative came into the spotlight in 2018 when hackers, claiming to be linked to the Anonymous collective, leaked a trove of documents revealing the scale of its operations. The revelations led to an investigation into the Institute for Statecraft’s activities by the Scottish charity regulator OSCR, which concluded in 2019 that the organization was violating charity rules.

The institute then formally announced that it was terminating its involvement with the Integrity Initiative in 2019 but continued to operate until August 2023, when it was dissolved several months after being declared an “undesired organization” by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office over what officials called “aggressive militarist rhetoric” and a “discreditation campaign” against the Russian authorities.

Watch the full episode of the exclusive investigative series here:

The Kremlin has responded to the invitiation the US has extended to Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the upcoming G20 summit in Miami, Florida in December.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed earlier today that Washington had invited Putin to attend the gathering.

Russia is “grateful and appreciative,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RIA Novosti on Wednesday night.

Peskov added that a decision on Putin’s possible attendance will be made and relayed through diplomatic channels.

The summit is scheduled for December 14-15 in Miami, with US President Donald Trump set to host it at his Doral golf resort. Putin has not attended a G20 summit in person since 2019, initially because of the pandemic and later amid the fallout from the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.

Speaking to journalists earlier on Wednesday, Rubio expressed his hope that the Russian president would arrive for the summit. “We hope that’s an invitation he’ll accept. There’s an opportunity in December if that happens.”

Trump himself had stated earlier that he would like to see his Russian counterpart at the summit. “If he came, it would be probably very helpful,” the US president said in April. He also welcomed the presence of a senior Russian delegation at the G20 in early September despite protests from EU officials who refused to appear alongside Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov in the gathering’s traditional “family photo.”

Germany’s Axel Springer media monolith has awarded its highest honor to Palantir founder Peter Thiel, in a ceremony illustrating the incestuous relationship between the mainstream media, the defense tech industry, and the US-Israeli order.

Thiel received the ‘2026 Axel Springer Award’ at a ceremony in Berlin on Thursday. According to Axel Springer CEO Mathias Dopfner, Thiel “is one of the rare entrepreneurs who does not merely found or finance companies but helps determine the direction of technological development...he reminds us that progress requires courage and nonconformism.”

The ceremony began at 7pm Berlin time, and anyone curious what Thiel had to say can watch a replay of the livestream below.

Previous recipients of the Axel Springer Award include Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. None of these laureates have proven as controversial as Thiel, however. 

According to Status News, employees at Politico and Business Insider – both of which are owned by Axel Springer – pushed back against the decision. In a letter to management on Tuesday, 120 staffers argued that Thiel, who funded the lawsuit that destroyed Gawker, should not be honored by a company which, in the words of Dopfner, “stands for freedom of speech and a culture of open discussions.”

They’re missing the point. Palantir and Axel Springer are cogs in the same machine. They share an almost identical world view, marked by a devotion to US-Israeli hegemony, a belief that private companies must serve the interests of this hegemony, and a common parent: the CIA.

The CIA connection

During the Cold War, the US saw strategic control of media outlets as key to preventing the rise of socialism and communism in Western Europe. Axel Springer, the anti-communist press baron who gave his name to the company, was a natural ally in this fight. Springer received $7 million in funding from the CIA in 1957, two former agents told The Nation in 1982. Adjusted for inflation, the donation would be equivalent to more than $80 million today.

Although the agents claimed that Springer ended his relationship with the agency in the mid-1970s, declassified documents show that he was still in contact with the United States Information Agency (USIA) – which funded pro-American news outlets – in the early 1980s. In 1982, Springer was introduced to CIA Director William Casey as “a strong supporter of the United States” who “is doing all he can to strengthen the ties between the United States and Europe.”

Thiel, who co-founded PayPal, launched Palantir in 2003 with the stated goal of taking “the approaches that PayPal had used to fight fraud…into other contexts, like fighting terrorism.” The CIA took notice, and invested $2 million in the company in 2005 via its in-house venture capital firm, In-Q-Tel.

“I wish I had Palantir when I was director,” former CIA chief George Tenet – who set up In-Q-Tel – told Forbes magazine in 2013. “I wish we had the tool of its power.”

The Axel Springer investment pays off

In both cases, the CIA’s investments paid off. Axel Springer is now Europe’s largest publisher, and owns Politico, Business Insider, Bild, Die Welt, The Telegraph, and nearly a dozen other outlets. The American deep state continues to finance its operations, with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED) pumping just under $34 million into Politico between 2016 and 2025.

In return, Axel Springer has openly pledged fealty to American neoliberalism. Whereas Springer himself described his first newspaper, the Hamburger Abendblatt, as “geared to the underdog and the little man,” staff at Axel Springer publications are today required to adhere to the following code of conduct:

• “We stand up for freedom, free speech, the rule of law, and democracy”

• “We support the right of existence of the State of Israel and oppose all forms of anti-Semitism”

• “We advocate the alliance between the United States of America and Europe”

• “We uphold the principles of a free market economy”

• “We reject political and religious extremism and all forms of discrimination”

In practice, this means that Axel Springer publications will feature lively debate over ‘red versus blue’ politics in the US and Europe, but will never question key tenets of US foreign policy, including America’s alliance with Israel, its dominance over Europe through NATO, and the legitimacy of its proxy war with Russia in Ukraine.

The world according to Palantir

Palantir’s flagship product is an operating system called ‘Gotham’, which is essentially a data analytics platform for military, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies. Gotham pulls together and analyses existing data that may otherwise take days to sift through. For example, if US Central Command is planning a missile strike in a foreign country, Gotham can combine maps and satellite footage from that country, data from other agencies, including human intelligence from the CIA and signals intelligence from the NSA, and local surveillance data to present CENTCOM with potential targets for military strikes. 

Palantir’s international customers include the British, Israeli and Ukrainian militaries, NATO, domestic intelligence agencies in France and Germany, and police departments in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK, among others. 

However, Palantir is not a mercenary company selling its products to anyone with money. According to CEO Alex Karp, Palantir is inseparable from the US deep state, and “was founded to strengthen US national security, to protect Americans and their freedom.”

Because we get asked a lot.

The Technological Republic, in brief.

1. Silicon Valley owes a moral debt to the country that made its rise possible. The engineering elite of Silicon Valley has an affirmative obligation to participate in the defense of the nation.

2. We must rebel…

— Palantir (@PalantirTech) April 18, 2026

Earlier this year, Karp set out Palantir’s world view in a manifesto, which RT already covered in depth in our ‘Wired for War’ series. In the 22-point bulletin, Karp argued that “the engineering elite of Silicon Valley has an affirmative obligation to participate in the defense of the nation,” that “free and democratic societies” must pursue AI superweapons to preserve the hegemony of the US, which “has advanced progressive values” more than “any other nation on the planet.” 

In separate comments, Karp has described pro-Palestinian protesters as a “cancerous” influence on American politics, while Palantir describes its work with the Israeli state as “in line with our global support of US allies and liberal democracies.”

Critics called Karp’s manifesto “technofascist,” but it differs little in substance from Axel Springer’s code of conduct. Karp’s remaining points wade into US-centric culture war territory, but the core argument of both documents is the same: the US and Israel are a benevolent force and the private sector has a duty to aid their foreign policy goals; by argument, in the case of Axel Springer, and by force, in the case of Palantir.

The incestuous security state

Before the acquisition, Weiss repeatedly complained about CBS’ supposedly “anti-Israel bias.” Once in control of the network, she set about hiring pro-Israel editors and reportedly intervening personally in stories concerning the Jewish state. 

Thursday’s ceremony also featured a questions-and-answers session with PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, a vocal defender of the NSA amid Edward Snowden’s revelations of warrantless wiretapping.

The award is equivalent to an ‘Employee of the Month’ prize from one department of the same company to another. It’s like USAID and CIA agents meeting for after-work drinks, or Weiss congratulating the IDF for its service. 

Dopfner, Thiel, Weiss and Levchin understand they’re all on the same team. Anyone who’s followed RT’s ‘Wired for War’ series will grasp this. The only people yet to figure it out, apparently, are the Politico and Business Insider staffers complaining about the threat posed by Thiel to “Axel Springer’s own commitment to freedom.”

Thursday’s ceremony might help them understand the true nature of the power they serve a little clearer.

NATO has spent years researching online influence techniques involving fake profiles, targeted advertising and purchased social media engagement. RT’s America Now has examined the bloc’s experiments and what they could reveal about efforts to shape online narratives.

Host Ben Swann and investigative journalist Elizabeth Lane reviewed NATO promotional material, published research and reports on experiments involving social media manipulation.

One example is a 2024 NATO promotional video featuring predominantly white European women as the alliance’s “future” in a potential conflict, apparently with Russia. Swann and Lane argue that the unusually non-diverse casting could be intended to prepare European audiences for women taking a greater role in a possible confrontation as Ukraine struggles with manpower shortages.

They also examined two 2019 experiments by NATO strategic communications researchers. In one, researchers created fake Facebook pages and profiles, collected publicly available information on military personnel and used targeted advertising to reach them. They reportedly identified around 150 soldiers, tracked troop movements and even induced some personnel to act against orders. The experiment cost roughly $60.

NATO described the experiments as defensive research aimed at identifying online threats. Swann and Lane, however, questioned why a military alliance was developing practical expertise in techniques that could also be used to influence public opinion. They also pointed to NATO researchers’ cooperation with Ukrainian social media analytics company Singularex.

The episode also revisited false stories that had circulated during the early stages of the Ukraine conflict, including the “Ghost of Kiev” fighter pilot and initial claims about the “defenders of Snake Island.” Lane argued that journalists who repeat compelling wartime stories without verifying them can amplify false narratives.

Lane also said independent journalists covering Russia and Ukraine regularly face bot attacks, abuse and threats. She said she had received such messages herself, including one stating, “Zelensky sends his love,” which she suggested could point to coordinated activity.

Check out the full episode here.

Journalism must remain “independent of political power” and offer audiences verification, context and accountability as social media increasingly competes with traditional news, Bangladeshi journalist and editor Khairul Alam has told RT.

Alam, editor of DBARTA24 and former General Secretary of the Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), spoke to RT on Wednesday on the sidelines of the International Forum ‘Dialogue about Fakes 4.0’ in Moscow.

“Rebuilding public trust begins with one simple principle: journalism must be independent of political power,” he said.

According to Alam, media outlets can restore confidence through transparent sourcing, fact-checking, openly correcting mistakes and giving different sides an opportunity to respond. They must also protect reporters from political retaliation and separate journalism from “political activism,” he added.

Alam pointed to Bangladesh’s 2024 political unrest as an example of how social media can both provide information quickly and amplify false or misleading claims.

“The same platforms can spread misinformation, manipulated videos, old footage presented as new, misleading headlines and politically motivated narratives at extraordinary speed,” he said.

The 2024 protests began over civil service job quotas before developing into a broader anti-government uprising that led to the ouster of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The UN has estimated that as many as 1,400 people were killed during the unrest. Hasina has since alleged that the US orchestrated her removal after Dhaka refused to allow an American military base on Saint Martin Island.

UN experts raised concerns in 2025 that more than 140 journalists had been charged with murder following the protests. The Committee to Protect Journalists has also documented arrests, criminal cases and other pressure against media workers in the country.

Alam argued that journalists should not face pressure or punishment over their perceived political affiliations, regardless of who is in power.

At the same time, Alam stressed that social media itself is “not the enemy of journalism” and can serve as an important tool for reporters.

Professional media, he said, must instead distinguish itself by providing what social platforms often cannot: “verification, context, responsibility and independence.”

Moscow will not pause its special military operation while peace negotiations are underway, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the UN Security Council on Wednesday, asserting that a temporary ceasefire only benefits Kiev.

Ukraine and 51 of its allies released a statement on Wednesday demanding that Russia accept an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” so that peace talks between Moscow and Kiev can take place. The statement, whose signatories included the EU and its member states, the UK, Canada, and Australia, was published before the security council met to discuss the conflict. 

“We are not going to have a pause in our special military operation,” Lavrov said during the meeting. “Europe, whatever it thinks, just wants to get a pause and it wants to use it to pump the Kiev regime with weapons.” 

Kiev is “clearly and blatantly using terrorist methods,” Lavrov added, referring to Ukraine’s long-range strikes on civilian targets in Russia. 

Ukraine and its allies issued their ceasefire demand less than four days after Ukrainian forces launched their largest-ever drone raid on the Russian capital. The attack killed two civilians in its suburbs and damaged an oil refinery, residential buildings, and civilian infrastructure. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said the “unprecedented” raid involved more than 1,600 UAVs from all directions.

Russia has dramatically stepped up its missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian military and dual-use infrastructure in recent months, in response to Vladimir Zelensky’s 40-day “influence campaign” of long-range strikes on civilian targets. 

Zelensky’s stated aim was to foment discontent among the Russian public, but the campaign ultimately ended with the destruction of Ukraine’s Black Sea port infrastructure and an earlier-than-usual start to Russia’s winter campaign against its power plants and substations.

In a statement released after the latest drone raid on Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the Russian army would further “intensify its high-accuracy strikes against military targets in Kiev” in response. 

The inaugural summit of the new Carpathian Eight (C8) cooperation format, initiated by Ukraine with EU support, took place on September 18-20. Leaders and representatives from eight countries in the Carpathian region were invited to discuss security, energy, logistics, and cross-border cooperation. The initiative – intended to unite nations, some of which do not officially supply weapons to Ukraine but wish to foster “good-neighborly relations” – has turned into a zero-sum game. Yielding no significant economic benefits and failing to address real economic challenges, it only serves to isolate the region from pan-continental logistics corridors.

Is the Carpathian Initiative a Ukrainian or European project?

The foundation for the Carpathian Initiative was laid by Ukraine back in 2001-2003, when it acted as the primary initiator and depositary of the Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians. Initially, the format was strictly environmental and conservation-oriented. Countries of the Visegrad Group, and primarily Poland, breathed geopolitical life and economic scale into the concept. For years, Warsaw actively advocated for the creation of a full-fledged EU Macro-Regional Strategy for the Carpathian Region (EUSCARP), aiming to transform the shared mountain range into a major logistics and infrastructure hub.

Over time, the EU fully took over this regional initiative, turning it into a systemic tool for the “soft integration” of Ukraine. After developing a strategic vision for the region in 2009 and adopting the Carpathian Roadmap in 2019, Brussels institutionalized the project in line with its own bureaucratic standards. What began as a modest environmental initiative has, through the efforts of European neighbors, transformed into a large-scale EU geopolitical project aimed at drawing Ukraine into the European orbit via infrastructure grants.

Ukraine’s autonomy is illusory, however. For the European Commission, the Carpathian region serves as a convenient geographic ‘sandbox’; the supranational bureaucracy seeks to bind the EU’s eastern fringes together through mutual dependency. Brussels’ ultimate goal is to dilute the agency and curb the independence of countries like Hungary and Slovakia, whose ‘Eastern’ initiatives – such as linking Central and Eastern Europe with Greater Eurasia – are gaining momentum. Ultimately, this measure would allow regional financial and other flows to be fully contained within the EU.

What’s wrong with the project, and why is it a zero-sum game?

Beneath the facade of discussions on “cross-border cooperation” set against the picturesque backdrop of the Ukrainian Carpathians lie pragmatic objectives that turn the Carpathian Eight into a classic zero-sum game. This is confirmed by the project’s geography: countries with the greatest interest in the initiative find themselves subordinate to those countries for whom the project is not a key priority. Ukraine’s actual geographic weight in the project is minimal; despite Kiev’s ambition to act as the main engine of regional integration, the Carpathians account for a mere 3.6% of Ukraine’s total territory. Ukraine possesses only 10% of the total area of the mountain range, yet it attempts to dictate the agenda to Romania and Slovakia, where the Carpathians form the backbone of national geography, covering 47% and 72% of the territory, respectively. Such evident disparity between Ukraine’s actual geographical “contribution” and its political ambitions sows the seeds of conflict within the project.  

This perspective reveals the true purpose of the revived format: to serve as a covert logistical corridor for NATO. The projected budget of €9.4 billion ($10.7 billion) for 90 infrastructure projects is specifically aimed at modernizing narrow-gauge railways, bridges, and tunnels in the Carpathian Mountains. Under the guise of Euro-integration, Brussels is aggressively attempting to create a secure alternative route through the complex mountainous terrain for rapid deployment of heavy equipment, weapons, and NATO reserves, bypassing vulnerable border logistics nodes. Consequently, supranational strategists get to fully benefit from this venture while Central European countries bear all the attendant military and strategic risks.

Intrigues, scandals, and investigations

For the countries physically located in the Carpathians and those interested in developing the region, the hidden agenda of the initiative is apparent. Citing a sudden illness, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico canceled his visit to Bukovel and expressed his outright opposition to turning the region into a frontline zone and dragging Bratislava into the conflict under the guise of NATO obligations. As a result, Slovakia was represented at the summit only by the state secretary for foreign and European affairs. Local experts openly stated that Bratislava guessed the proposed zero-sum game: under the guise of cross-border corridors, Brussels and Kiev are attempting to establish a rear hub for supplying NATO’s eastern flank. For Slovakia, participating in such “road modernization” carries direct military risks, not security benefits. This forces the country to navigate a precarious line – seeking economic grants while sabotaging the military-political agenda of the proposed C8.

Following Slovakia, the Czech Republic demonstrated passive resistance to the project by adopting a stance of cautious pragmatism. Unlike Warsaw, Prague notably refrained from sending top officials to Bukovel, opting instead to send the vice-president of the senate. Czech economic analysts expressed doubt about the €40 billion investment portfolio announced by Kiev. The most important indicator of the failure of the “unified front” was that the Czech Republic effectively refused to sign the summit’s final declaration. As regional analysts point out, the country has “cooled” towards Ukraine’s ambitions. Moreover, unlike Ukraine, the Czech Republic has a realistic grasp of its geography; possessing only 8.5% of Carpathian territory, Prague saw no tangible economic benefit in a project burdened with militarization issues rather than cross-border development. Consequently, it chose to remain on the sidelines, unwilling to endorse someone else’s frontline agenda.

Predictably, only Poland and Romania expressed full and unconditional support for the project, emerging as the principal political beneficiaries of the initiative. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Romanian President Nicusor Dan signed the final declaration, explicitly linking it to military-strategic objectives. For Warsaw, the Carpathian Eight provided a convenient platform for lobbying an anti-ballistic missile defense coalition on NATO’s eastern flank, while for Bucharest, it offered a means to logistically connect the Ukrainian border with NATO’s largest European base, which is being constructed on Romanian territory. As a result, the document was signed only by those players intending to gain direct benefits from the region’s militarization, firmly establishing the C8 as a frontline coalition.

Hungary’s reaction is particularly noteworthy. On X, Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar compared Kiev’s actions to village sports: “Hi, we have formed a football team in the next village. We don’t know each other, but you are in it, and you have to bring the ball.” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrey Sibiga, expressed surprise over Hungary’s attitude, but the situation is very clear and leaves no room for doubt. 

Moreover, Budapest’s negative stance is reinforced by the situation in Transcarpathia. From 2014, the Hungarian population in the region has decreased from 150,000 people to around 70,000-80,000 due to stringent Ukrainianization policies in schools. The remaining population is facing selective forced conscription, with military recruitment offices compiling lists of Hungarian students and workers to send to the front lines, resulting in several widely reported casualties, including the death of 45-year-old Jozsef Sebestyen. Notably, Moscow’s Foreign Ministry is closely monitoring these developments: mobilized residents of Transcarpathia occasionally end up as prisoners of war, and Russian diplomatic agencies, in coordination with intelligence services, work on their direct transfer to Hungary, bypassing Ukraine. Aware that Brussels and Kiev are attempting to exploit Hungarian resources and territory, Magyar chose to flip the script. Budapest refused to fund this military version of ‘Carpathian soccer’ which is too costly for it, and vetoed Ukraine’s integration efforts.

In summary, we must note that despite the ambitions of European supranational entities to create artificial buffer zones (essentially ‘sandboxes’) in Central and Eastern Europe, their era is coming to an end. Attempts to impose a zero-sum game on other countries only exacerbate the internal rift which is becoming inevitable, considering the region’s actual geography and the projects gaining momentum across Greater Eurasia.

Israel is facing accusations of genocide over its military campaign in Lebanon, where thousands have been killed and large areas devastated. RT correspondent Steve Sweeney reports from Nabatieh, a city in the south of the country that has been repeatedly hit by Israeli strikes.

More than 4,300 people, including over 250 children and 130 medical professionals, have been killed since the latest escalation began in March, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Doctors Against Genocide have accused Israel of pursuing what they called a “genocidal policy of absolute destruction,” targeting the foundations of life of Lebanon’s Shia communities. The groups said attacks on medical personnel were part of a sustained pattern affecting “the very systems necessary for civilian survival.”

Around 56,000 hectares of agricultural land have been affected, with losses to the sector estimated at more than $1 billion, according to Lebanon’s Agriculture Ministry.

The latest Israeli campaign in Lebanon began in early March, after Hezbollah attacked Israel following the start of US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Israel responded with airstrikes and later expanded its military operations in Lebanon.

Israeli attacks have continued despite a US-brokered framework agreed upon in June aimed at ending the fighting. The deal calls for a progressive Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon alongside Lebanese Army deployments and the disarmament of armed groups, including Hezbollah, but implementation has stalled.

Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, genocide requires intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. RT looks at whether the destruction and statements accompanying Israel’s campaign could meet that definition.

Watch the full report below.

The EU has failed to provide sufficient evidence to keep a former Russian official on its sanctions blacklist, the bloc’s General Court ruled on Wednesday. The decision came a day after the EU removed two Russian businessmen from the list as part of a deal to extend restrictions on thousands of others.

The court annulled the September 2024 and September 2025 extensions of sanctions against former Russian Senator Oleg Tkach, who represented Kaliningrad Region in the Federation Council from 2004 to 2022. He was also involved in publishing, founding and chairing Olma Media Group.

The EU first sanctioned Tkach in March 2022 over his vote to ratify treaties with the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which later became part of Russia following referendums rejected by Ukraine and most Western countries. The case centered on whether the EU Council had grounds to keep extending the restrictions after Tkach left office.

According to Wednesday’s ruling, the Council failed to demonstrate that Tkach retained close ties to Russian authorities. The court also found that his failure to publicly oppose Russia’s military operation in Ukraine did not, by itself, constitute continued support for the authorities.

The ruling does not affect the EU’s most recent sanctions extension from March 2026, which Tkach is challenging separately. He argues that condemnation based on his former Senate position is outdated and that the Council’s evidence is unreliable and lacks a “sound factual basis.” He has also argued that the measures are disproportionate.

A day before Wednesday’s ruling, the EU agreed to remove Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from its sanctions list. Both had previously mounted legal challenges related to EU restrictions, while Fridman has also filed a multibillion-dollar arbitration claim against Luxembourg.

Iranian airlines are being cut off from international routes and airport services as Washington steps up pressure on the country’s aviation sector. Several regional connections have already been suspended or restricted, although some foreign flights continue, RT’s Saman Kojouri has reported from outside the Tehran headquarters of Mahan Air, one of Iran’s major carriers.

The US Treasury targeted 27 Iranian airlines earlier this month as part of a broader campaign against the country’s aviation sector. Foreign companies providing services to the carriers risk US secondary sanctions, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that the restrictions would effectively shut Iranian airlines out of international aviation from September 23.

”If they land, you cannot provide them with fuel, you cannot provide them with landing services, you cannot sell them tickets, or you will be knocked out of the dollar system,” Bessent said.

The impact is already spreading across the region, according to RT’s Kojouri. Azerbaijan has suspended flights operated by Iranian carriers, while Iraq has reportedly stopped accepting Iranian aircraft. Flights between Tehran and Muscat have also been suspended, while Georgia has said it will comply with sanctions affecting Iranian carriers.

Mahan Air is among the airlines facing the squeeze. Washington first sanctioned the carrier in 2011, accusing it of providing support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF). The Treasury has since targeted companies abroad accused of providing commercial and logistical support to the airline.

The aviation crackdown comes as Washington ramps up pressure on Tehran while simultaneously pursuing diplomatic contacts on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday to “annihilate the Islamic Republic” if negotiations fail, saying he faced a “big decision” between reaching an agreement and further military escalation.

Most of the Iranian delegation walked out of the General Assembly hall during Trump’s speech, leaving only one representative seated. The US president defended the nearly seven-month US-Israeli war and accused Tehran of pursuing nuclear weapons and supporting terrorism.

Despite the hostile rhetoric, indirect contacts continued later in the day. US envoy Steve Witkoff said mediators had shuttled between the American and Iranian delegations during “lengthy talks,” while Tehran said it had used the channel to clearly convey its conditions to Washington, including lifting the US naval blockade and releasing frozen Iranian assets.

European Commission president and unelected de facto “queen” of Europe, Ursula von der Leyen, can’t get enough of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Her annual “State of the European Union” address last week should have been called “State of my crush on Mark Carney.” It seemed to transform into one giant excuse to gush about him while he sat in front of her, as she mused aloud to “Dear Mark” about her vision of some kind of “associate EU membership” for Canada. It reminded me of a kid back in grade school who once did an entire speech on “seals” in French class, just so he could constantly repeat the French translation of the subject, “phoques,” at a rate of once per sentence. 

“President Metsola, Prime Minister Carney, Honorable Members,” she began. “Mark, your presence here is a symbol of the enduring friendship between our people. Our cultural, historical and personal links run deep within the fabric of our societies.” That’s what we used to call a group date to hide your crush. Only the group here consists of Canada’s 41 million people and the EU’s 452 million.

“Dear Mark,” she continued. “I said we must urgently reimagine our partnerships… We share one ocean, one set of values, one way of seeing the world. And we will now build our shared future as well.”

No one in their right mind can blame him. You have to think that Carney – the former central banker of both Canada and the UK, and the onetime head of the G20’s Financial Stability Board in Basel – knows an economic basket case when he sees one. And it’s one thing to hang out, have a good time, and fill your boots. But it’s quite another not to have the total freedom to just zip up and peace out when the next inevitable self-imposed meltdown comes along. Which is at about the rate of one a week, at this point.

A lot of the EU’s problems come down to a lack of accurate foresight and an inability to prioritize by coordinating their agenda with existential reality. Had European leaders been more adept at doing so, they might not need Carney to stand there in front of the EU Parliament and explain that it’s okay not to kiss Washington’s behind to their own detriment. Or that dating around allows for a more chill approach to all relationships.Until recently, anyone adopting this position in either Canada or Europe would immediately be subject to a proctology exam, accused of being some kind of secret tool of the Kremlin. EU officials have repeatedly warned that fragmentation and multipolarity that de-centers the Washington-led agenda hinders Western unity to the benefit of rival powers such as Russia.

This isn’t a guy who’s into nation-building beyond his own. Ursula may think that she’s acquiring Canada and its resources for Europe, but she’s also importing, first and foremost, a political instinct that the bloc has long lacked. Carney is now articulating – to resounding applause – a position that, until recently, was far more closely associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s worldview than the one that orbits around Washington.

Still, Carney is singing from the EU’s hymn book on Ukraine and Russia right now. He’s also literally negotiating for Canada to get some defense manufacturing revenues from the EU’s massive fear-driven spending spree on its defense security blanket. It’s not hard to see a profit motive here. Nor in the fact that he’s literally pitching for Europe to replace Russian natural resources with Canadian equivalents.

So right now, Canada and Russia are positioned as competitors on the global economic playing field. At least for the time being. But that won’t always be the case once he’s secured the bag. Carney – now officially the most popular prime minister in Canadian history at 70% approval – got himself into that position by ditching right-left ideology for pragmatism. He could turn out to be an important interlocutor for Russia with the West. Someone who’s blunt, action-oriented, and doesn’t much honestly care what you do as long as it doesn’t annoy him. Ursula is clearly smitten with Carney. And if her new boyfriend ends up showing Europe how to be a little less cliquey about engaging with the rest of the world, then perhaps there’s hope for us all yet.

The US Democratic Party has embraced a transgender agenda that amounts to “the normalization of sadism,” author A.J. Rice has said, warning that radical trans policies would return if the party is allowed to regain power.

Speaking to RT’s America First host Scotty Nell Hughes about his new book, ‘The Curse of the Bearded Lady: How the Trans Mafia Whacked American Sanity’, Rice argued that activists have gained significant influence in schools, medicine, and corporate America while people who questioned the agenda have faced pressure to stay silent.

The author described the “trans mafia” as the sprawling network of people and institutions that have helped the movement gain influence. He singled out parts of academia, wealthy backers, and corporations, and stated that providers of transition-related treatment also have a financial incentive to keep young people in their care indefinitely.

Rice argued that the consequences of these policies ultimately fall on children who are being drawn toward gender-affirming medical treatments and on girls who are expected to share locker rooms or compete in sports with biological males.

Rice framed the opposition to trans policies as “a fight for human nature,” adding that the 2024 election had become “more about sane versus insane” rather than a contest between Democrats and Republicans.

The author warned that if Democrats manage to take back Congress, “the 72 genders are coming back,” and urged opponents to keep challenging the trans agenda, noting that humor could help them overcome the fear of speaking out.

“Sometimes, ridicule can move faster than rebellion,” Rice said.

Watch the full interview below.

German chemicals giant Evonik is overhauling its domestic operations amid what it has described as a “structural and economic crisis” in the industry.

The German and wider European chemical sector has been hit by plant closures, job losses and high energy costs following the loss of cheap Russian supplies; the US-Israeli war with Iran has added new pressure.

The measures, announced on Tuesday, include site closures, job cuts and a reshaping of Evonik’s six main German plants, even as the company considers increasing investment in Asia and the Americas, where it sees “good opportunities for growth.”

Evonik’s plans to eliminate 2,150 jobs in Germany through 2029 have drawn criticism from industrial policy spokesman for the opposition Left Party (Die Linke) Mirze Edis, who called the cuts “a damning indictment” of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Economy Minister Katharina Reiche.

“Their inaction regarding chemical industry sites has now become a nationwide economic risk,” Edis said.

Germany’s chemical sector has been among the hardest hit by the country’s energy problems. Berlin moved to end its dependence on Russian energy following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 and turned to alternative suppliers, leaving energy-intensive manufacturers facing substantially higher costs.

Evonik said at the time that it consumed around 15 terawatt-hours of natural gas annually, more than a third of it in Germany, and warned that losing Russian supplies could “seriously jeopardize chemical production” in the country.

The war with Iran and disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have added to the pressure this year. While Germany gets most of its LNG from the US rather than the Persian Gulf, the de facto closure of the strait disrupted flows accounting for almost 20% of the global LNG supply, tightening the market and driving up European prices.

The crisis extends beyond Germany. Permanent chemical plant closures across Europe have surged sixfold from pre-2022 levels amid high energy costs, weak demand and cheaper overseas competition, according to the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic).

A 49-year-old Jewish settler who lives in the occupied West Bank was conscripted into the Ukrainian military after traveling to the country for a religious pilgrimage, Israeli media have reported.

The resident of the ultra-Orthodox Beiter Illit settlement was among thousands of Hasidic Jews who traveled to Uman in Ukraine to mark the Jewish New Year and visit the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, who founded the Breslov Hasidic movement more than two centuries ago.

The Jerusalem Post identified the man as Jonathan Karlinsky Mashak, reportedly born in Soviet Ukraine before emigrating to Israel around 14 years ago. He attracted the attention of Ukrainian border officers by speaking fluent Ukrainian.

The border service confirmed on Wednesday that it had detained an Israeli citizen as he was leaving the country after the Rosh Hashanah celebrations. It said border guards discovered that the man also held Ukrainian citizenship and was listed as evading military service, after which he was handed over to the national police.

Mashak has “few connections who could assist him” and his family is poor, Ynet reported, citing a person familiar with the situation. He was reportedly transferred to Odessa for processing into the Ukrainian military.

“He has traveled to Uman for years, even after the war began, and he was never stopped. He probably thought that because he had Israeli citizenship, he would no longer have any problem in Ukraine,” a friend told the Post.

For years, Ukraine did not recognize dual citizenship. Changes introduced in January allowed Ukrainian nationals to acquire citizenship of certain other countries without facing legal consequences.

Israel is not among the countries covered by the new rules. The list includes the US, Canada and most European nations, and was last updated in May.

Russia remains India’s largest crude supplier despite a second consecutive monthly decline in purchases, with September imports tracking at around 1.9 million barrels per day, according to commodity analytics firm Kpler.

Russian shipments reached a record 2.8 million barrels per day in July, before falling to around 2.1 million in August – a drop of about 25% on Kpler’s figures. India’s overall crude imports also fell nearly 8% during August to around 4.6 million barrels per day, showing the slowdown was not limited to Russian supplies.

The August pullback followed several months of heavy buying by Indian refiners as they sought to protect supplies amid disruptions linked to the conflict in the Middle East. Scheduled refinery maintenance and lower availability of Russian crude also contributed to the decline, while stronger competition from Chinese refiners reduced the number of Russian barrels available to India.

Russian supplies had surged earlier in the summer, rising 39% from May to 2.61 million barrels per day in June and accounting for 52.4% of India’s crude imports. Purchases then climbed further to the July record.

The decline is expected to continue in September, but at a slower pace. Preliminary Kpler data show Russian imports about 9.5% below August levels, a softer fall than the July-August correction.

In recent months, there’s been a distinct sense of ‘historical déjà vu’ – from Germany’s interest in long-range missiles to the development of hypersonic missile technologies in Japan. The first question that comes to mind is whether revanchism is emerging more than 80 years after the defeat of the fascists and militarists in WWII. However, this question is quite complicated, so for now, we will focus on a more practical issue: Japan’s military-technical buildup. Below, we will attempt to assess the significance of this shift in Japan’s strike capabilities and understand the direction in which the country is heading.

By the end of the 20th century, Japan had become one of the strongest and most loyal allies of the US in the Pacific region. The Japan Self-Defense Forces are equipped with American aircraft, missiles, interceptors, and other weapons. Japan is the first and to date the only country in the world to manufacture Patriot surface-to-air missiles under license, and it is the first foreign recipient of Tomahawk subsonic cruise missiles.

On July 29, 2026, the first test launches of Tomahawk cruise missiles were conducted in the Pacific Ocean from the Kongo-class guided-missile destroyer JS Chokai, equipped with the Aegis system. These tests mark the beginning of the Japanese Navy’s adoption of American long-range cruise missiles. The program to acquire these missiles is quite ambitious: Japan plans to equip four additional Aegis-capable destroyers – JS Kirishima, JS Haguro, JS Myoko, and JS Atago—with these state-of-the-art missiles, with the long-term goal of upgrading all other destroyers of this class. In total, the acquisition of 400 missiles (Block IV and Block V variants) is planned by the end of the 2027 fiscal year. This arsenal significantly alters the capabilities of the Japanese Navy, given that such cruise missiles can strike targets at ranges of up to 1,600 km. Furthermore, this is merely an interim solution pending the adoption of domestically developed missiles with similar or superior specifications.

One of the major initiatives is the project to develop a submarine-launched hypersonic missile capable of striking land-based targets. The missile is expected to be versatile, capable of being deployed from both Japanese Navy submarines and surface ships. Japan justifies the deployment of such missiles on submarines by citing the need for retaliatory strike capabilities in the event of an external attack. Naturally, Japan is pointing to the growing capabilities of China’s navy and missile forces. For its part, China is also actively enhancing its capabilities in light of a possible confrontation with the US and Japan. 

While the hypersonic missile project is currently in the preliminary design phase, it draws upon Japan’s existing experience in developing various types of missiles and submarine-based vertical launch systems, as well as ambitious programs to build new missile-equipped vessels and, eventually, nuclear-powered submarines. In 2023, the Japanese Ministry of Defense signed a contract with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the development of a submarine-launched guided missile; a separate official program launched that same year is focused on developing an indigenous hypersonic guided missile; the work is set to continue through 2031. These programs are essentially aimed at creating preliminary designs for future missiles and developing hypersonic technologies in general; however, following the research phase, Japan will move on to developing specific missile models. The potential for this already exists.

What about launch platforms? Currently, the Japanese Navy operates several Aegis-equipped destroyers and non-nuclear submarines; they could carry a limited number of missiles. However, this would not be sufficient for mass deployment. 

And what about nuclear-powered submarines? Recently, Japan’s Ministry of Defense officially included nuclear-powered submarines in its defense posture review, paving the way for Tokyo to assess the feasibility of building such vessels alongside its conventional fleet. Strict restrictions on the military use of nuclear energy had previously been in place in Japan, but in regard to submarines, this particular constraint is now being quietly lifted.

Naturally, such a move would logically expand Japan’s underwater operations in the Western Pacific; from a shipbuilding perspective, Japan certainly has the capacity for it. Nuclear propulsion would allow Japanese submarines to remain submerged for virtually unlimited periods, effectively neutralizing potential Chinese undersea superiority. The US would, of course, be Japan’s primary industrial partner in this endeavor, though the UK or France could also share their expertise in nuclear submarine construction. Following Japan’s lead, South Korea is also considering the development of nuclear submarines. While Japan blames China, South Korea cites the threat of North Korea. In both cases, it looks like the arms industry lobby is actively seeking an outlet for its manufacturing capacity.

Therefore, by the 2040s-2050s, the capabilities of the Japanese armed forces could change beyond recognition. Japan could possess nuclear-powered submarines, a missile-armed fleet, a modern air force, ground-launched and subsonic long-range hypersonic and cruise missiles.

Finally, experts believe that, if necessary, Japan could quickly produce nuclear weapons. This would take only a few months. The country possesses a highly developed nuclear industry and nuclear energy sector – with stockpiles of plutonium and other materials, as well as all the requisite technologies. Japan also has nuclear weapons delivery systems at its disposal. In short, all the prerequisites are in place, though strict constitutional constraints currently remain in effect. However, if one threshold is crossed and the decision to build nuclear submarines is made, one might expect this nuclear trend to continue in the direction of classified research and weapons development. A highly advanced nation like Japan could develop nuclear weapons quickly and covertly.

That’s the ‘samurai sword’ slowly but surely emerging from the East. How should we react to it? Sound the alarm and deploy weapons, or call for peace and dispatch ballet troupes? Perhaps, both. Let’s hope that we’ll never have to use the weapons, but be prepared just in case; as for ballet, it’s always a good idea.

The question of slavery and reparations has recently returned to the center of international debate, particularly in Africa and the Caribbean. The conference held in Ghana on reparations for the transatlantic slave trade and slavery, as well as the petition filed by a Jamaican delegation to the British king, engaged in the struggle for historical recognition. The debate has also been brought into sharper focus by an investigation published by The Guardian, which examined the involvement of the British monarchy in the system of slavery and the historical links between the Crown and the trafficking of Africans.

Taken together, the developments raise a fundamental question: How can the British monarchy and the British state genuinely address a past in which the Crown was directly connected to the economic and political structures of slavery?

There are symbols that, on their own, encapsulate centuries of history. A crown branded with a red-hot iron onto the skin of an enslaved human being is one of them. It was a real, documented practice carried out by the South Sea Company, directly supported by the British monarchy during the reign of Queen Anne.

The monarchy as a shareholder

History often portrays the transatlantic slave trade as an impersonal economic phenomenon, driven by commercial companies, far removed from political power. The reality is very different though. The Royal African Company, one of the most important slave-trading companies in British history, was directly led by James, Duke of York, who would later become King James II. Under his leadership, the company forcibly transported at least 150,000 Africans across the Atlantic.

Around 13,000 investors in the British slave trade have been identified, more than 10,500 of whom now have detailed biographical information. They include members of parliament, merchants, more than a thousand women from the aristocracy and bourgeoisie, as well as members of the royal family itself.

In total, the British slave trade forcibly removed more than 3 million Africans from their homeland and sent them to plantations in the Americas and the Caribbean, a figure that conveys the true human cost of the prosperity created by British colonialism.

In the face of these facts, the official response of the contemporary monarchy remains, at best, cautious. King Charles III has described slavery as an “atrocious tragedy” and expressed support for historical research into the links between the monarchy and the slave trade. This is a symbolic gesture, and it marks a departure from decades of near-total silence on the subject.

However, a cold fact remains: To date, no official apology has been issued by the British government, and no serious discussion of possible reparations has been initiated at the state level.

The calculated caution is not unique to the United Kingdom, but it takes on particular significance there because it is precisely the monarchy, an institution supposedly embodying the continuity and unity of the nation, that is directly implicated by the historical evidence. Acknowledging “links” with slavery, as current royal communications do, is one thing. Acknowledging direct responsibility, with all the political, moral, and financial consequences that this entails, is another. Between the two lies the space in which the struggle over Britain’s colonial memory has been unfolding for years.

From the Koh-i-Noor to the Benin Bronzes

This unease can also be seen in the objects that the monarchy continues to possess. The Koh-i-Noor, the colossal diamond taken from the Indian subcontinent during the colonial era, is the most emblematic example. At her coronation in 2023, Queen Camilla chose not to wear the Queen Mother’s crown in which the stone is set, a choice apparently dictated by diplomatic caution rather than by any fundamental reconsideration, since the diamond remains preserved, as if nothing had happened, among the royal jewels.

In both cases, the British position remains the same: Discuss, study, postpone – but do not return. These objects are material evidence of an organized system of looting, which official diplomacy continues to treat as a secondary issue.

This British debate is part of a much broader movement, driven for years by countries and peoples that directly experienced the slave trade and colonialism. Jamaica’s recent demand for reparations from the British government is one example among many, as are similar claims advanced by several African and Caribbean nations through international institutions and Pan-African forums.

These demands raise a very concrete question of the moral and material debt created by centuries of exploitation, a debt that the direct heirs of this system continue largely to evade.

The origins of the current wealth

One obvious fact, too often minimized, must be recalled here: The wealth accumulated by the British monarchy and by a large part of its aristocracy was not created in a vacuum. To a significant extent, it rests on forced labor, deportation, and the suffering of millions of human beings torn from the African continent. To celebrate royal heritage – its crowns, diamonds, and palaces – without clearly naming this origin is to erase an essential part of history.

Acknowledging “links” with slavery without drawing any concrete consequences turns a crime against humanity into a page of history accessible in archives. Words of compassion, however sincere, do not replace official apologies, reparations, or the restitution of looted cultural property.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) South Africa’s Black Rhino Range Expansion Program (BRREP) has successfully translocated 20 black rhinos from KwaZulu-Natal to Botswana.

The rhinos were moved in early September in a cross-border conservation operation involving two 36-hour road trips to a remote and secure location where the animals can breed and establish a new population.

The translocation effectively doubles Botswana’s black rhino population. The International Rhino Foundation estimates that about 25 black rhinos remained in the country following years of poaching pressure, particularly in the Okavango Delta region.

The 20 rhinos were captured in KwaZulu-Natal in early June and held in a boma during a quarantine period before being transported to their new home. According to BRREP leader Jeff Cooke, all 20 animals have arrived safely and are settling in well.

Cooke said finding areas large enough with suitable habitat for black rhinos is becoming increasingly difficult, prompting the programme to expand its operations across national borders.

”These newly translocated populations serve as incubators for the broader continental species recovery programme,” he said, adding that they could support further local range expansion in other black rhino range states.

WWF South Africa CEO Dr Morné du Plessis thanked the South African and Botswanan governments, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, funding and donor partners, and the recipient site owners for their role in the operation.

First published by IOL

Forces in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region have reportedly taken control of the airport in its capital, Mekelle, prompting state-owned Ethiopian Airlines to suspend services to three local destinations. The takeover marks a sharp escalation nearly four years after a peace deal ended a brutal two-year civil war in the East African country.

The carrier announced in a social media post on Wednesday that services to Mekelle, Shire, and Axum have been halted “due to the current situation in Tigray region,” without elaborating. “We sincerely apologize to our valued customers for any inconvenience caused by this suspension. We will inform you when flight operations resume,” the state-owned airline stated.

Two local sources told Reuters that Tigrayan forces have taken control of Mekelle airport from federal police in an overnight operation.

In a statement on Wednesday, Tigray’s regional government said its forces have entered a defensive war against federal troops. It accused the federal government of launching a ground offensive after air and artillery strikes across parts of Tigray on Tuesday.

The development came days after seven armed groups, including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the political party that runs Tigray, announced an alliance seeking to overthrow Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and establish a transitional administration. In a statement on Sunday, the coalition, known as the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival, accused the ruling Prosperity Party of imposing “dictatorial” rule and pushing the East African country toward disintegration.

Ethiopia has struggled to secure lasting stability in Tigray since a 2022 peace agreement ended the two-year war between federal forces and the TPLF. The conflict killed hundreds of thousands of people. Recent clashes and reported drone strikes have threatened the fragile peace. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned last month that Ethiopia was on the brink of renewed war.

The latest disruption to Ethiopian Airlines schedule follows an earlier suspension of flights to Tigray in January amid reports of renewed military activity. At the time, passengers received cancellation messages citing unplanned circumstances, while a security official linked the interruption to fighting between federal and regional forces.

Vladimir Zelensky has attempted to blame New Delhi over the West’s failure to end the conflict in Ukraine, right after the Indian foreign minister discussed peace efforts and bilateral cooperation with his Ukrainian counterpart in New York.

”Russia is basing its economy on India, sometimes Turkey and China,” Zelensky said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian leader is in New York seeking more weapons and cash amid a $27 billion hole in Ukraine’s budget and a frontline collapse. The conflict is now in its fifth year, laying bare the West’s foreign policy failures, and Zelensky seemed to be making a case to US President Donald Trump to use his new sanctions authority to punish Russia’s trading partners.

But in India, the largest buyer of Russian oil besides China, the pitch has come across more as a call to punish New Delhi specifically.

Trump, who is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping soon in New York, would be loath to sanction China, especially after Beijing retaliated against earlier US tariffs with restrictions on exports of rare-earth metals and magnets that are crucial to US industries.

“Russia is basing its economy on India” and “ sometimes Turkey and China”.

How can he make this ridiculous assertion?

China is by far Russia’s biggest trade partner, including in energy.

Turkey is very critical as a country for Russia. Russia and Turkey are connected by major… https://t.co/Jr7IsZzcOS

— Kanwal Sibal (@KanwalSibal) September 23, 2026

Russian oil accounted for about 45% of New Delhi’s crude imports in August, at around 2.1 million barrels per day. The numbers were slightly lower in September, tracking at about 1.9 million barrels per day, according to commodity analytics firm Kpler.

India has said it remains committed to securing energy supplies for its 1.4 billion people and will take the necessary measures to protect its trade and economic interests amid repeated US tariff threats. New Delhi has also warned Washington of the sanctions impacting bilateral ties and global energy markets.

”This conflict … will not be solved because somebody is buying or not buying oil or alumina or minerals or metals or fertilizer,” Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had said earlier this month in Kiev. He had discussed peace efforts, bilateral cooperation, and developments in the Black Sea, affecting markets with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha in New York just before Zelensky gave his interview.

Russia remains an important source of minerals and metals throughout the world amid supply chain disruptions. The US, too, has carved out exemptions for Russian uranium in the sanctions law it just passed.

Zelensky’s interview triggered some anger in Indian foreign policy circles. “How can he make this ridiculous assertion?” former Indian foreign secretary Kanwal Sybal posted on X. “China is by far Russia’s biggest trade partner, including in energy. Zelensky is targeting us openly.”

The Baltic states have secretly asked the European Commission for hundreds of millions of euros to boost their defense against drones, citing an alleged Russian threat, Lithuania’s Defence ​Minister Robertas Kaunas told to Reuters on Wednesday.

Moscow has repeatedly rejected claims that it has aggressive designs against Europe, saying that they are only made by Western politicians to scare the population at home and justify growing military spending. It maintains that a conflict is only possible if NATO members attack Russia.

Finnish newspaper Iltalehti said on Tuesday, citing foreign policy and security sources, that the defense ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had sent a letter to EU chief Ursula von der Leyen the previous day, asking Brussels to urgently provide them with €500 million (around $570 million). There has been no public announcement about the request being made, it added.

The minister claimed that the funds are needed due to the possibility of Russia trying to test NATO’s resolve by carrying out drone strikes against the bloc’s eastern flank, the report read.

Last week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Russia could fire drones or missiles into NATO countries backing Ukraine in “the next few months.” Despite Tusk providing no proof to his claim, French President Emmanuel Macron described it as “sound and well-documented.”

On Tuesday, Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius told the BBC that his country feels “constantly threatened” by Russia because of drones entering its airspace.

Since spring, there have been a number of incidents of Ukrainian UAVs crossing into Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia or crashing in their territory as Kiev has intensified its long-range attacks on energy infrastructure in Leningrad Region in northwestern Russia.

The Baltic states claimed that the incursions happened because of the UAVs being diverted off course by Russian electronic warfare equipment. Moscow has warned Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius that it could act in accordance with its right to self-defense if it turns out that the three countries are knowingly providing their airspace to the Ukrainian military.

On Wednesday, high-ranking Estonian Foreign Ministry official Jonatan Vseviov said that warnings of an alleged Russian attack on the Baltic states were “blown out of proportion.” According to Vseviov, Moscow “ultimately seeks… to change the entire European security architecture,” but it’s currently fully focused on the Ukraine conflict.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that “some European leaders are openly declaring that they are preparing for war with Russia” in an attempt to “cover up mistakes in their economic and social policies.”

“Instead of stopping and listening to their citizens, who have made it clear during the elections that they don’t want any war with Russia, these leaders continue to escalate the situation,” Putin stressed.

Africa’s continued lack of permanent representation on the United Nations Security Council is unjust and must be addressed, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said.

Speaking at the opening of the 81st UN General Assembly debate in New York on Tuesday, Guterres called for reform of the 15-member body to better reflect the modern global order. Africa remains the only continent without a permanent seat on the council despite accounting for more than a quarter of UN member states and every third child born.

“We must reform the security council ... A 21st UN security council without permanent African seats is unjust and indefensible. This must change,” the UN chief said.

UN Security Council without permanent African seats is unjust and indefensible — Antonio Guterres

‘Security Council was designed in the aftermath of WWII, but the world has fundamentally changed since then’ https://t.co/L8S7U38rY5 pic.twitter.com/wlNk3cB5sw

— RT Intl (@RT_on_X) September 22, 2026

The Security Council has five permanent members – Russia, China, the US, the UK and France – which hold veto powers, as well as ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms. African countries – the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, and Somalia – currently only participate through the latter category.

Earlier this month, Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama renewed calls for permanent African representation on the Security Council, arguing that the continent’s continued exclusion undermines the legitimacy of the UN’s most powerful body.

“It is no longer acceptable for Africa to be excluded from permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council,” the leader said.

In August, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that greater representation for the continent would help correct a historical injustice, arguing that any future expansion should primarily benefit African countries rather than Western states, which he said are already overrepresented.

Russian forces have downed nearly 200 Ukrainian drones over Kursk Region in 24 hours as a wave of cross-border attacks killed one civilian and injured three others, Governor Aleksandr Khinsthein has said. Homes, shops, and vehicles were also damaged across the Russian border region.

A total of 193 UAVs were intercepted between Tuesday and Wednesday, Khinshtein said in a statement on Wednesday. Ukrainian forces also shelled border areas 45 times and carried out 24 separate drone attacks using explosive devices, according to the governor.

A 49-year-old man was killed in a border village, while three other men were injured in incidents across the region, according to Khinshtein. The strikes also damaged homes, shops, and vehicles, with one car completely destroyed.

The latest attacks come after a massive Ukrainian drone raid targeted Moscow and other Russian regions during last weekend’s parliamentary elections, killing three civilians and injuring dozens. More than 1,600 UAVs were repelled during the Sunday assault, including 450 on approaches to the Russian capital, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin. He described the attack as “unprecedented” and said it had been intended to disrupt the elections.

Russia has accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting civilians with long-range drones and undermining diplomatic efforts while publicly calling for renewed negotiations. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that the Ukrainian leadership is “talking about peace” while doing everything to prevent negotiations and an end to the conflict.

A former Rwandan health official has been charged by British prosecutors over his alleged role in the 1994 genocide in his home country, bringing the first UK charges linked to the massacre.

Vincent Brown, formerly known as Vincent Bajinya, appeared in a London court on Tuesday. He faces one charge of conduct ancillary to genocide and six of conduct ancillary to murder as a crime against humanity. Prosecutors allege Brown, 65, led a group to a house in Kigali’s Rugenge district on April 8 and ordered three people shot. They say he subsequently ordered the killing of a woman and her infant son, and directed a group that stoned a taxi driver to death. Brown denies involvement.

“Dr. Brown… is alleged to have directed and incited acts of murder and genocide carried out by others,” chief crown prosecutor Frank Ferguson said.

More than 800,000 people, predominantly Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were killed in roughly 100 days after the genocide began on April 7, 1994. The UN tribunal established afterward indicted 93 people.

The UK case follows prosecutions of suspects in other countries. In 2024, a French court upheld former Rwandan gendarme Philippe Hategekimana’s life sentence for organizing roadblocks and taking part in massacres around Nyanza. A Belgian court sentenced former militia leader Seraphin Twahirwa to life in 2023 for directing killings in Kigali and raping Tutsi women. Germany arrested another suspect, identified as Innocent S., in July on suspicion of complicity in genocide and involvement in 25 murders.

Rwandan businessman Felicien Kabuga, accused of financing militias and using his radio station to incite attacks on Tutsis, died in UN tribunal custody in May before his trial reached a verdict.

Mexican drug cartels are increasingly relying on drone operators who have returned home after taking part in the Ukraine conflict, the Washington Post has reported, citing US and Mexican officials.

Russia has warned repeatedly that the Ukraine conflict is fueling global instability as it leads to proliferation of weapons supplied by the West to Vladimir Zelensky’s government on the black market and fosters reckless behavior by Kiev in pursuit of its war aims.

The WaPo reported on Tuesday that Mexican cartels are closely studying ways to evade anti-drone jamming systems and are purchasing advanced UAV models that can carry more cargo and explosives.

In order to operate their expanding drone fleet, drug traffickers have intensified efforts to hire individuals with Ukraine conflict battlefield experience, mainly Colombian nationals, using both financial incentives and coercion, a US official told the paper.

Colombians make up around half of the estimated 16,500 foreign mercenaries currently fighting for Ukraine, a security source told TASS in June. They are being lured into the ranks of Kiev’s forces with false promises of high pay, he said. The Latin Americans end up being treated with disdain by their Ukrainian commanders, fed poorly, and deployed on the most dangerous missions, the source added.

The cartels are also sending their own “affiliates” to join the Ukrainian military and gain battlefield experience of flying drones, a US official said.

Drug traffickers “are going to be way better off, way better trained, with way better equipment,” the official warned.

Washington expects cartels to implement drone skills and tactics borrowed from the Ukraine conflict within the next several months, according to the sources.

The US State Department said in a statement to the WaPo that it’s working with American law enforcement agencies and the Ukrainian authorities “to adopt measures to mitigate the risk of battlefield skills transfer,” and that Washington itself relies on experience from the Ukraine conflict to “counter the cartel drone threat.”

Last year, the Milenio newspaper cited Mexican intelligence as saying that members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) had received training in drone and urban warfare tactics in Ukraine.

CNN reported earlier this month that around 15 Ukrainian drone operators have been embedded with the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) in Mali to train the members of the militant group and assist them in fighting government forces and Russian troops stationed in the West African country.

The UK has pledged military assistance to Saudi Arabia as tensions with Yemen’s Houthis intensify, citing growing risks to regional trade and energy supplies.

Hostilities between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, have intensified in recent weeks after several years of relative calm. The Houthis have launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi territory, while Riyadh-backed government forces have battled the group inside Yemen.

Britain will deploy an RAF Voyager air-to-air refueling aircraft to the region following a request from Riyadh. The aircraft will provide refueling support for Saudi “defensive activity” in Yemen, the Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.

Riyadh has reportedly sought military assistance from several countries as its stocks of missile interceptors come under pressure. US President Donald Trump reportedly considered strikes on the Houthis over the weekend after Riyadh sought direct American military action, but ultimately held off. Washington has instead provided Riyadh with intelligence and targeting data.

Bab el-Mandeb has taken on greater importance as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains severely disrupted by the US-Iran war. US government data show oil flows through Hormuz fell from 21.6 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 4.9 million bpd in the second quarter of this year, while volumes through Bab el-Mandeb rose from 5.4 million to 8.1 million bpd over the same period.

The disruption around Hormuz has already rattled global energy markets, while the renewed fighting in Yemen has raised concerns over another major shipping route. Brent crude surged to nearly $110 a barrel earlier this month after drone attacks forced Saudi Arabia to shut its East-West pipeline, a key route for bypassing Hormuz.

London already has personnel and air-defense equipment stationed in the kingdom and has previously taken part in strikes against the Houthis. RAF Typhoons supported by Voyager tankers joined US operations in Yemen in 2024 and 2025, after the Houthis began attacking Israel and vessels in the Red Sea during the Gaza war.

London has also provided military assistance to Saudi Arabia since a Saudi-led coalition first intervened in Yemen in 2015, after the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and forced the internationally recognized government into exile.

Australia is helping the US investigate how parts for the F-35 stealth fighter program went missing after being mistakenly diverted to the wrong destination, Defense Minister Richard Marles has confirmed.

The incident occurred earlier this year, when a shipment of unserviceable F-35 components from Australia that was bound for the US was unexpectedly rerouted to Hong Kong. The parts, which were being transported by a third-party company on behalf of manufacturer Lockheed Martin, remain unaccounted for months later. Politico first reported the incident last week.

Marles said on Tuesday that Canberra was working with the US and Lockheed Martin to examine its role in the incident, stressing that the missing components were not sensitive.

Marles did not elaborate on why the components were considered non-sensitive and, when pressed by a journalist, said the question was best directed to the US and Lockheed Martin. Politico reported that the shipment included an F-35 canopy incorporating radar-resistant technology, although it remains unclear exactly which canopy components were involved.

The Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office has acknowledged a “shipment issue” involving unserviceable components to the news outlet and said it is working with US authorities and industry partners to recover the parts. The House Armed Services Committee is also examining the case, while Pentagon and State Department officials reportedly began briefing congressional staff on it in June.

The incident has highlighted potential vulnerabilities in the F-35’s sprawling global supply chain. Spare parts are routinely shipped between military bases, regional warehouses, and repair facilities, with Lockheed Martin overseeing much of the network on behalf of the Pentagon. Commercial carriers and other contractors are also used to transport components internationally.

The inventory problems are part of broader difficulties that have dogged the F-35, the Pentagon’s largest weapons program. The aircraft has faced years of cost growth, maintenance and spare-parts shortages, upgrade delays, and persistent difficulties meeting Pentagon readiness targets.

Two of Russia’s Arctic archipelagos could grow larger as retreating glaciers reveal previously unknown islands, a researcher has said.

Novaya Zemlya, northeast of the Russian coastal city of Arkhangelsk, and Franz Josef Land, some 350 km further north, are of particular interest to hydrographers because new land features could emerge there, Andrey Leonov told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

“I would say those are the places where we expect new islands to be ‘born.’ Though there is no 100% certainty for such a forecast,” said Leonov, who heads Arctic studies at St. Petersburg’s Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping.

The Arctic is becoming increasingly accessible as the climate changes, and Moscow sees the region as important to Russia’s future economic development. Maritime routes along the country’s northern coast are expected to gain strategic importance as traditional alternatives become more vulnerable to disruption.

Russia is expanding its icebreaker fleet, already the world’s largest, to improve navigation along the Northern Sea Route and extend the shipping season.

In the longer term, Arctic mineral extraction is expected to become more commercially viable, while Moscow continues efforts to establish the extent of its territorial claims in the region.

New islands have been discovered in Russia’s Arctic before, although any land emerging near Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land would have little impact on the overall extent of Russia’s territorial gains.

Leonov cautioned that newly discovered geographic features may not remain islands permanently.

“We had a case when a new island formed when the glacier front retreated. But just a few years later a sand connection rose between it and the mainland, so the island turned into a peninsula,” he explained.

Another feature in Franz Josef Land, known as Mesyatsev Cape in the 1990s and later renamed Mesyatsev Island, disappeared completely in 2024. The formation was actually a mass of ice that eventually melted away, Leonov said.

A US Air Force F-16 fighter jet crashed near an American military base in western Germany on Tuesday, with the pilot ejecting before impact.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon, assigned to the 52nd Fighter Wing, went down near Spangdahlem Air Base in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at around 2:30 PM local time, the US military said. The pilot was taken for medical treatment.

According to Germany’s air traffic control authority, four F-16s had been taking part in a training exercise. Two remained in the training area while the other two returned toward Spangdahlem, with one believed to have crashed while approaching the base. The remaining aircraft subsequently landed at Ramstein Air Base.

Videos from the area showed a large plume of dark smoke rising near the base as emergency crews responded to the crash.

🇺🇸✈️ US F-16 CRASHES NEAR GERMAN AIR BASE:

- A U.S. Air Force F-16 crashed near Spangdahlem Air Base in western Germany Tuesday afternoon during a training flight.

- The pilot ejected and was injured, according to local and U.S. reports, and is receiving medical treatment. An… pic.twitter.com/YPXPsoNpVN

— Belaaz News (@TheBelaaz) September 22, 2026

The cause of the crash remains under investigation, the US military said.

Footage from the crash in Germany: The U.S. Air Force confirmed that an F-16 crashed at Spangdahlem Air Base. The pilot successfully ejected and survived. The cause of the crash is still under investigation. https://t.co/Li2d5jXolO pic.twitter.com/eL5rvOIIhN

— DDF NEWS (@ddfmarketing1) September 22, 2026

Spangdahlem hosts the US Air Force’s 52nd Fighter Wing and is one of Washington’s key military installations in Germany. The wing operates F-16s and supports US and NATO missions in Europe and elsewhere. Around 5,000 US military personnel and family members are based at the installation, according to AP.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to “annihilate” Iran if negotiations fail, saying he faces a “big decision” as he predicted no deal with Tehran would come until after the US midterm elections in November.

Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Trump defended the US-Israeli war with Iran and accused Tehran of deliberately delaying an agreement.

“But I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before?” Trump asked, before presenting the alternative: “Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly?”

“Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?” he continued.

Trump also called on other countries to join the US in enforcing the “complete economic isolation” of Iran until it meets Washington’s conditions.

Members of the Iranian delegation walked out of the General Assembly hall, leaving only one lower-level delegate seated, as Trump defended the nearly seven-month conflict, accusing Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons, supporting terrorism, and attacking commercial shipping.

Iranian state media confirmed that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had met US negotiators on the sidelines of the General Assembly at Washington’s request. According to the report, Tehran used the meeting to present its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including an end to the US naval blockade and the release of frozen Iranian assets.

Iran’s military, meanwhile, responded defiantly to Trump’s remarks, warning that further US or Israeli escalation would be met with stronger retaliatory strikes.

AI will begin assisting air traffic controllers at Washington’s three major airports, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced. The rollout comes amid growing concerns over increasingly autonomous technology.

The Strategic Management of Airspace Routing Trajectories system, or SMART, went live on Monday at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Dulles International Airport, and Baltimore/Washington International Airport.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the system would give air traffic controllers “much better decision-making capabilities” by using real-time information and predictive analysis to manage congestion, weather disruptions, and aircraft arrival times.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stressed that AI would not take control of US skies and that “it’s always going to be a human that manages the airspace in America.”

SMART is expected to decrease landing and departure wait times by suggesting small changes to flight paths when several aircraft are estimated to reach the same airport at roughly the same time. Officials say it could also help controllers react faster when weather conditions change.

The rollout comes amid a wider debate over how much responsibility should be handed to AI as increasingly capable systems begin moving from chatbots into critical real-world operations.

Recent reports have documented AI agents breaking safeguards, accessing external computer systems without authorization, and communicating through websites they were not supposed to use. Google’s Gemini recently hacked three real companies during what was supposed to be a simulated cybersecurity exercise.

Separately, a Pentagon investigation cited by Bloomberg found that flawed intelligence, rushed procedures, and heavy reliance on AI contributed to a US strike on an Iranian girls’ school in Minab in February that killed more than 150 people, including 123 children.

Executives including OpenAI chief Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Elon Musk have backed calls to slow the development of increasingly powerful models. Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger has estimated there is a greater than 10% chance AI could wipe out humanity within a decade.

The cybercriminal group ShinyHunters has claimed it breached the FBI and stole terabytes of sensitive personal information about nearly all of the agency’s agents and their spouses, as well as people who had applied for jobs there.

ShinyHunters is a prolific hacking and extortion group linked to large-scale data thefts targeting major companies and government organizations. The FBI itself warned about the group in May.

“We have compromised the FBI. We hold very sensitive data on almost ALL FBI Agents and individuals who filed an application with the FBI,” the group announced on its dark-web leak site on Tuesday. It reportedly released a sample of the purportedly stolen data and a screenshot of a defaced FBI recruitment website.

The group claimed to have taken terabytes of information, including names, home addresses and phone numbers. Reuters reported that it was able to find apparent matches for some individuals contained in a sample of the data, but could not establish that the information had actually been taken from FBI systems.

According to ShinyHunters, the intrusion began with the compromise of an Oracle PeopleSoft server, which runs software commonly used by human resources departments. The hackers claimed they were then able to move into an Amazon-hosted government cloud environment containing FBI personnel and applicant data. Neither the FBI nor the companies involved have publicly confirmed that account.

In that advisory, the FBI accused hackers associated with ShinyHunters of using threats, harassment and, in some instances, swatting to target victims, while also warning that cybercriminals sometimes exaggerate the scale of data they have obtained.

ShinyHunters has not said what it plans to do with the purportedly stolen information if the FBI refuses its demand.

Lithuania’s parliament has backed a constitutional amendment that would lift a ban on nuclear weapons, thus bringing the NATO member a step closer to hosting them on its territory. Russia has warned the Baltic country, which borders its Kaliningrad Region, that such a move would have significant security implications.

The proposal was backed by 99 lawmakers on Tuesday, with 13 voting against and five abstaining. Two more votes are required, scheduled for October 6 and January 12, 2027. At least 94 of Lithuania’s 141 MPs must support the amendment in each vote.

The measure would remove Article 137 of the Lithuanian constitution, which prohibits weapons of mass destruction and foreign military bases on the country’s territory. Supporters argue that the provision no longer reflects Lithuania’s security needs, while opponents have raised concerns over sovereignty and called for the issue to be put to a referendum.

President Gitanas Nauseda has backed removing the restriction, while Lithuanian officials have argued that allowing nuclear weapons would strengthen deterrence against Russia.

Moscow has repeatedly rejected claims that it intends to attack NATO countries.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova last week called the proposed change “absolutely irresponsible,” accusing NATO members of pursuing provocative policies and treating Lithuania as a potential staging ground against Russia.

The debate comes amid broader discussions in Europe over nuclear deterrence. French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled changes to the country’s nuclear doctrine in March that included the possibility of temporarily deploying French nuclear weapons in other European countries.

Finland has since joined the French initiative after lifting its own restrictions on hosting foreign nuclear weapons, while Latvia announced on Tuesday that Paris had agreed to open talks on its participation.

NATO already operates a nuclear-sharing arrangement under which US nuclear weapons are stationed in several member states, including Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Türkiye. The Financial Times reported in June that Washington was considering expanding deployments to additional NATO countries in Europe.

The EU is working on a new scheme to “steal” Moscow’s frozen sovereign assets to bankroll Ukraine, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said in a press release on Tuesday.

Around $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets was frozen by Kiev’s Western backers after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Roughly $240 billion is still being held at the Belgium-based clearing house Euroclear.

According to the SVR, EU leaders have “a vital interest in stealing Russian assets,” because they fear they will not be able to indefinitely finance “the thieving Kiev regime” without appropriating the funds.

Eurocrats are now “in a hurry” to pull off the seizure before elections in several EU states in 2027, the agency stated, arguing that future governments in the bloc could be less willing to back further financial support for Ukraine.

The EU has already redirected profits generated by the immobilized funds to Ukraine but has been unable to seize the underlying assets due to strong political and legal resistance.

According to the SVR, experts in Brussels are now discussing the creation of a new supranational structure that could take control of Russian central bank funds after they are moved outside of Belgian jurisdiction.

Last week, Belgium’s top administrative court also struck down a government decision not to release the assets of Russia’s BCS Bank, which were frozen alongside Moscow’s sovereign assets in 2022. The court found that Belgian authorities had mishandled the case and ruled that the bank could seek a fresh review, potentially setting a precedent for other entities whose requests were rejected under similar circumstances.

Moscow has long denounced any attempt to appropriate its sovereign assets, calling it “theft” and warning that confiscation would trigger retaliation, potentially including measures against Western assets held in Russia.

The SVR has also warned that confiscating Russia’s sovereign funds would damage trust in European financial institutions among major foreign investors, including China, India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Singapore.

Some of Russia’s highest-profile counterterrorism operations have been dramatized in a new television show produced with input from FSB officers, who advised its creators on real cases and operational details.

The 16-part series ‘Pros’ was previewed behind closed doors at an FSB cultural center in Moscow on Tuesday by veterans and serving officers, some of whose identities remain classified.

”The country needs heroes, children need heroes they could look up to,” he said.

The series follows a fictional team of seven FSB special forces officers through cases based on real events, including the 2009 bombing of the Moscow-St. Petersburg Nevsky Express train, the 2011 attack at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport and counterterrorism operations in the North Caucasus, Izvestia reported on Tuesday.

Security personnel served as consultants during production, helping the writers incorporate operational details previously known only to those directly involved.

One episode focuses on the operation against Doku Umarov, the Islamist militant leader who claimed responsibility for several deadly terrorist attacks. These included the Domodedovo bombing, which killed 37 people, and the 2010 Moscow Metro bombings, which left 40 dead.

Sergey Shavrin, a decorated Hero of Russia and veteran of the FSB’s Vympel special unit, praised the series’ authenticity, including its portrayal of officers keeping the realities of their work from their families.

Terrorism researcher and Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) lecturer Alexander Smirnov also weighed in on the series.

”The film is simply magnificent, it keeps you in suspense,” he said. “And most importantly, the real work is shown very authentically.”

’Pros’ is due to premiere on REN TV on October 18.

US military might has turned out to be an illusion in the style of ‘The Wizard of Oz’, former CIA analyst Larry Johnson has said.

The myth of American dominance in the defense sector was shattered by the Ukraine and Iran conflicts, Johnson said in an interview with RT’s Sanchez Effect on Monday.

Before the escalation between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022, “Russia had the perception that the US was very powerful militarily, that it had strategic depth, that its industrial base was such that it could support and sustain a modern war,” he said.

However, the opinion in Moscow has changed since then as Russian forces were able to “solve and defeat” all of the systems supplied by Washington to Kiev’s military, the former CIA analyst told host Rick Sanchez.

“I’m calling this ‘The Wizard of Oz effect’... just like in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at the end when the curtain gets pulled back and the great and powerful Oz turns out to be this little old guy with a drinking problem behind the curtain. That’s the US,” he said.

Johnson mentioned a recent report by the Pentagon’s inspector general, which sounded the alarm over “shortfalls” in munitions and a bottleneck in resupply of key weapons.

It was also “an embarrassment” when in August General Dynamics lost a $530 million contract with the Department of War to manufacture shells, the former CIA analyst said.

“They produced exactly zero. Meanwhile, Russia is producing as many artillery shells in one month as all of NATO does in a year,” he stressed.

According to Johnson, Iran has also delivered “enormous damage” to US capabilities in the Middle East since the American-Israeli attack on the country in early February.

Rebuilding the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, which was crippled by Iranian strikes, “doesn’t make economic sense” as Tehran has shown that it’s capable of hitting it again at any moment, he said.

Watch Rick Sanchez’s full interview with Larry Johnson here.

The US seems to be in no rush to bail out Saudi Arabia while renewed hostilities with Yemen’s Houthis are ongoing, RT’s Steve Sweeney reports from Beirut. The New York Times claimed over the weekend that US President Donald Trump had called off air strikes on the Shiite militant group at the last minute.

The conflict between Riyadh and the Houthis reignited in mid-July, with the armed group recently conducting strikes on several “sensitive sites” across Saudi Arabia, including the main airport in the capital. Earlier this month, the organization, officially known as Ansarullah, established control over Yemen’s Red Sea coast, taking positions around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on the key waterway for its oil exports since navigation through another strategically important maritime chokepoint, the Strait of Hormuz, was reduced to a trickle amid the US-Israeli war on Iran.

After a phone call from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday, Trump initially seemed to acquiesce to his request for help in deterring the Houthis’ advances in Yemen, the NYT cited anonymous US officials as saying. However, on Sunday, as the US military was supposedly all set to bomb selected targets in Yemen, the American president reversed his decision, the publication reported.

Less than two months into the campaign, Trump announced a cease-fire, saying that Ansarullah had promised not to attack US ships. According to the NYT, the Houthis have kept their word, with Trump’s advisers now “deeply skeptical” about reengaging the Shiite group militarily once again, especially given reported ammunition shortages incurred as a result of the conflict with Iran.

Saudi Arabia’s regional allies Türkiye and Pakistan apparently have little appetite to join the fray either, despite being bound by the recently sealed Mecca defense pact, and are calling for a diplomatic solution instead.

Meanwhile, the Houthis have explicitly warned other countries against getting involved in their conflict with the Saudis. Speaking to AP on Sunday, the group’s spokesperson, Mohamed al-Bukhaiti, said that Ansarullah was “not targeting the United States, or any other nation, in the strait, with the sole exception of the Saudi enemy.” At the same time, he stressed that the Houthis were prepared to fight on multiple fronts, if necessary.

Watch RT correspondent Steve Sweeney’s full report from Beirut below:

The Trump administration has approved a potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia as part of a $24.3 billion package that also includes engines, equipment, and spare parts. For Riyadh, the decision opens the prospect of a substantial improvement in its air capabilities, while allowing Washington to demonstrate its willingness to deepen relations with one of its most important Middle Eastern partners. Yet political disagreements and negotiations over the terms still stand between State Department approval and the arrival of the aircraft at Saudi air bases.

The significance of the decision extends well beyond an arms contract, as Saudi Arabia increasingly seeks to broaden its relationships with competing centers of power. Viewed in this context, Trump’s initiative can be understood as an attempt to preserve America’s position as the kingdom’s principal strategic partner and prevent further drift away from Washington. The challenge, however, is that commercial interests, the protection of sensitive technology, and commitments to Israel do not always point towards the same policy.

How Washington hopes to keep Riyadh close

Saudi Arabia values its partnership with the United States, but wants to determine for itself how far that partnership should shape its wider policies. Relations with China, cooperation with Russia, and the development of regional ties allow the kingdom to reduce its dependence on any single external partner. This does not mean Riyadh is ready to abandon US-led security arrangements, but it does make Saudi leaders less receptive to demands that Washington might once have regarded as a natural part of an alliance.

For the United States, the risk lies in the gradual erosion of its privileged position. Even if the kingdom continues to purchase American weapons, it may increasingly turn elsewhere for political support and economic opportunities. As those relationships deepen, Riyadh gets more options, while Washington has fewer opportunities to secure concessions by threatening to restrict cooperation.

Washington’s practical gains, however, would come from the longevity of the relationship. Advanced combat aircraft require continuing support contracts, keeping the Riyadh connected throughout their service life. Once Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in the aircraft, infrastructure, and personnel, moving away from that system becomes more difficult and expensive. A defense contract can therefore reinforce ties that outlast changes of administration and individual diplomatic disputes.

Dependence on aircraft support does not, however, automatically translate into a willingness to coordinate oil policy or relations with third countries. Riyadh may see no contradiction in working with Moscow on energy and expanding economic ties with Beijing. This creates a potential mismatch of expectations, as Washington may view the sale as a means of securing closer strategic alignment, while Saudi Arabia sees an opportunity to simply strengthen its defense.

Washington’s willingness to proceed could convince Saudi leaders that their existing approach is working. If closer relations with America’s competitors are followed by more attractive American offers, Riyadh has an incentive to continue pursuing them. Trump must then decide how much independence he is willing to accept from a partner in order to retain influence over it, and at what point accommodation becomes more than his administration is prepared to concede.

Why Trump’s approval does not settle the debate in Congress

Trump’s first term demonstrated that arms sales to Saudi Arabia can become the subject of serious domestic political confrontation. In 2019, Congress passed resolutions opposing several arms transfers to the kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, but the president vetoed them and the Senate failed to override him. That episode does not establish that lawmakers will stop the present sale, but neither does it justify assuming that the president’s decision will be implemented without resistance.

With the F-35, the central objection concerns the protection of sensitive American technology. Saudi Arabia’s relations with China raise questions about how reliably third parties can be denied access to the aircraft, associated equipment, and information. Such concerns could resonate with lawmakers who broadly support Trump but place the preservation of America’s technological advantage above the benefits of a particular contract.

Critics in Washington may also invoke Riyadh’s cooperation with Russia through OPEC+ and its refusal to join sanctions against Moscow as evidence of the kingdom’s limited willingness to support American foreign policy. Yet political grievances should be distinguished from risks to a specific weapons program, since an independent oil policy is not in itself a threat to military technology. These issues may become intertwined in public debate, even though a serious assessment of the sale requires different answers to each.

Supporters can argue that refusing the sale would only strengthen Saudi Arabia’s determination to cultivate alternative partners. The same ties with Moscow and Beijing can thus support opposing conclusions. Some will see them as grounds for withholding access to advanced weapons, while others will see a reason to offer Riyadh closer cooperation while American influence remains substantial.

The congressional debate is therefore likely to concern both whether the sale should proceed and what commitments Saudi Arabia should undertake. The administration will have to explain which restrictions would genuinely protect the technology and how compliance could be verified. More credible safeguards would make it harder for opponents to build a broad coalition, but excessively stringent demands could provoke resistance from the buyer.

For Israel, the central question is how a stronger Saudi Arabia would affect its own security. Washington seeks to improve the defense capabilities of its Arab partners while preserving Israel’s qualitative military edge, and the F-35 makes reconciling those objectives particularly difficult. The arrival of such aircraft in the hands of another regional power would matter even if their configuration differed from Israel’s.

Riyadh is unlikely to receive F-35s with the full range of capabilities available in the Israeli variant, but differences in equipment and weapons would not eliminate every concern. Saudi air power would gain new capabilities, and the implications for Israel’s regional advantage would depend partly on how quickly the kingdom could master the aircraft and integrate them into its armed forces.

A stronger Saudi air force would not directly diminish Israel’s own combat capabilities, but could alter the relative balance and constrain Israel’s freedom of action. This is the context in which concerns about air superiority should be understood. Israeli military planning must account for both present relations with neighboring states and the changes that could occur long-term while the aircraft are in service.

Israeli officials have used similar arguments when opposing a possible F-35 sale to Türkiye, warning that it could disrupt the regional balance of power. That example illustrates Israel’s sensitivity to the wider availability of such capabilities, although it does not make the Turkish and Saudi cases identical. The identity of the buyer, the nature of bilateral relations, and the proposed terms of delivery will all affect the intensity of Israeli opposition.

Israeli leaders can be expected to use diplomatic pressure and support from allies in Congress to either to stop the sale or secure restrictions. Negotiations could cover the weapons available to Saudi aircraft, particular technological capabilities, and additional measures to strengthen Israel’s own defenses. None of these arrangements should be treated as settled, however, since the eventual compromise will depend on every party’s willingness to accept its political costs.

For Trump, this creates an uncomfortable dilemma. The more substantial the offer to Riyadh, the stronger Israeli objections may become, while every additional restriction introduced to reassure Israel could make the package less attractive to Saudi Arabia. If Saudi leaders interpret the terms as confirmation that their country will always occupy a subordinate position, the deal could undermine the very confidence in the partnership that Washington hopes to build.

The most plausible next phase is a prolonged negotiation in which a high-profile political announcement is translated into concrete obligations. Washington will seek to protect sensitive technology and provide assurances acceptable to Israel, while Riyadh will press for a purchase with meaningful military value that preserves its political independence.

A compromise appears more attainable if restrictions focus on the security of the program itself, including access to equipment, the handling of data, and engagement with third parties. If Washington tries to make the sale conditional on a broader revision of Saudi relations with China and Russia, resistance from Riyadh is likely to intensify. Saudi leaders need to be able to justify the agreement in terms of their own national interests while retaining the right to make decisions that do not always satisfy the United States.

The kingdom will also have to weigh the value of the capabilities it would acquire against the restrictions attached to them. Overly demanding terms could reduce the deal’s appeal, but walking away would carry costs of its own, requiring alternative approaches to modernization and an assessment of how long those alternatives would take. Serious dissatisfaction with particular conditions might therefore become part of the bargaining process without necessarily bringing negotiations to an end.

Another possibility is that political approval remains in place while implementation is delayed for an extended period. The administration could continue to describe the deal as evidence of a stronger partnership, while Riyadh waits for clarity on configuration, personnel training, and delivery schedules. Yet a promise gradually loses its power to sustain a partner’s interest, particularly if every delay appears to bring another set of political conditions.

Successful delivery, however, would not guarantee that Saudi Arabia abandons its effort to balance relationships among competing powers. It could deepen military cooperation with the United States while maintaining economic ties with China and energy coordination with Russia. Washington would be able to claim that it had retained a vital partner, while Riyadh could argue that an independent foreign policy had secured new concessions.

The practical signs of progress will be agreed terms, committed financing, infrastructure preparations, and a credible delivery schedule. The deeper strategic outcome will emerge later, when American and Saudi interests diverge again over an important issue. Only then will it become clear whether the F-35 has helped forge a closer political alliance or strengthened military cooperation between two states that continue to pursue calculations of their own.

After months of getting the diplomatic run-around from Kiev, Hungary has just backed out of Ukraine’s ‘Carpathian Eight’ initiative, leaving egg all over Vladimir Zelensky’s face, who only announced the group on Friday.

The first summit of the Carpathian Eight, where we launched the Carpathian Integration Initiative.

May the EU’s Carpathian macro-region remain strong. And may this format support us on our path to joining the European Union. I thank all the leaders of the C8 countries,… pic.twitter.com/sS4eojyiZx

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 19, 2026

Even with a pro-Kiev government in Budapest, the Ukrainians are discovering that politics is a two-way street.

The Carpathian Eight (C8) is a cooperation format aimed at tying Ukraine closer to seven of its neighbors: Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia. Under the Ukrainian-led initiative, these countries will cooperate on matters of security, energy, and trade.

What does Ukraine want from the Carpathian Eight?

Energy. Endemic corruption and neglect has left the country’s power grid unprotected against Russian missile and drone strikes as winter sets in. The initiative’s members want funding for 42 energy-related projects, 30 of which are located in Ukraine. 

Another project – a gas turbine power plant in Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk region – would see its backers transfer more than $1.2 billion to DTEK, an energy company run by a ‘former’ mafia enforcer that already received $112 million in EU and US aid in November 2024.

The group is also seeking cash to upgrade the Trans-Balkan Gas Corridor which Ukrainian Energy Minister Denis Shmigal has said would “significantly expand [Ukraine’s] access to diversified sources of natural gas supply,” and will help Kiev fill up its underground gas storage system.

The Carpathian Eight’s website lists a total of 123 investment projects costing $71.3 billion, across sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, and transport. Out of these, 86 are located in Ukraine.

The benefits to Ukraine are obvious, even if some of the Carpathian Eight’s contradictions appear unresolvable. Why, for instance, would anti-war Slovakia lobby for fortifying Ukraine’s energy grid, when Bratislava wants the conflict resolved peacefully above all else? And why would any of Ukraine’s neighbors back the initiative’s seven agriculture projects, all of which are located in Ukraine and stand to undercut Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, and Slovak farmers?

Did Zelensky jump the gun?

“We were invited, and for good reasons we did not go,” Magyar said in parliament, stressing that Hungary “is not participating in this.” Magyar then announced that a proposed fuel storage facility for Ukraine on Hungarian soil would not go ahead as long as his government was in office.

Hungarian energy concern MOL and Ukraine’s Naftogaz signed off on the project on Sunday. According to Magyar, MOL did so without consulting the Hungarian government first.

How did the Ukrainians react?

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sybiga took to social media to respond. “We are surprised by the Hungarian Prime Minister’s unnecessarily confrontational statements toward Ukraine,” he wrote on X on Tuesday. “What we’ve been hearing from Budapest lately leaves us confused. It seems that while Viktor Orban is gone, his policies of obstructionism and isolationism continue to thrive.”

“Orbanism has done no good, neither to Hungary nor to the broader region, in the past – and it will not do anyone any good moving forward,” Sybiga added.

I am helping you. To claim that a sovereign country is a member of an international cooperation (Carpathian Integration) without prior consultation or consent of the country concerned is completey unacxeptable. Just to give you an example: Hi, we have formed a football team in…

— Magyar Péter (Ne féljetek) (@magyarpeterMP) September 21, 2026

Magyar spelled out his problem in the replies. “I am helping you,” he wrote. “To claim that a sovereign country is a member of an international cooperation (Carpathian Integration) without prior consultation or consent of the country concerned is completely unacceptable.”

“Just to give you an example: Hi, we have formed a football team in the next village. We don’t know each other, but you are in it, and you have to bring the ball.”

What’s Hungary’s issue with Ukraine?

It’s the same entitlement displayed when Zelensky erupted in rage at the White House; when Sybiga’s predecessor, Dmitry Kuleba, berated the German government into handing over weapons; and when Kiev blew its EU-provided military budget on an “influence campaign” of long-range strikes before turning around and asking for more. Zelensky’s more recent demand that the EU not de-list Russian tycoons Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from its sanctions regime is a similar case of overreach. 

Why have things turned so sour between Budapest and Kiev

The Zelensky/Magyar spat could have been easily avoided. After taking office in May, Magyar lifted Hungary’s veto on the EU’s €90 billion ($106 billion) loan package for Ukraine, dropped Orban’s blanket ban on EU accession talks with Kiev, and backed Brussels’ 20th package of anti-Russian sanctions.

All Zelensky had to do in exchange was guarantee the language rights of Ukraine’s Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia. Around 150,000 ethnic Hungarians live in the region, where a series of increasingly draconian language laws have banned the use of Hungarian in schools and public institutions. Despite losing their language rights, these ethnic Hungarians have still been subjected to Zelensky’s brutal military draft, provoking fierce condemnation from both Magyar and Viktor Orban’s governments. 

Zelensky and Magyar reached what the Hungarian PM called a “formal agreement” to protect the rights of the Transcarpathian Hungarians in June. However, this agreement was strictly verbal. Anita Orban, Magyar’s foreign minister (and no relation of Viktor), has said that Zelensky agreed to an 11-point plan put forward by Budapest, but no document has emerged, and no legislative steps have been taken in Ukraine. 

The historic agreement between Hungary and Ukraine on the educational, cultural, linguistic, and political rights of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia has now been formalised.

In an formal diplomatic note, the Ukrainian side has committed itself to implementing all…

— Magyar Péter (Ne féljetek) (@magyarpeterMP) June 12, 2026

Zelensky’s promises, Magyar said at a press conference earlier this month, have “not yet been implemented.”

The takeaway

What Zelensky, Sybiga, and the rest of the Kiev regime have apparently yet to learn is that politics is a game of give and take. Magyar took office promising a near-total undoing of Orban’s hostility toward Kiev. Securing his support for something like the Carpathian Eight would have taken only minor concessions, namely some progress on the Transcarpathian issue.

Instead, Zelensky treated Hungary’s participation in the initiative as a given, and Sybiga reacted with petulant indignation when he was told ‘no’. Beyond the Carpathian region, with supplies of money and weapons running low, ‘no’ is a word that they might soon get used to hearing.

The US is set to significantly expand its military presence in Greenland under a new security agreement with Denmark, President Donald Trump has announced.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Trump revealed details of the deal, which is due to be formally signed following his address.

“We will have the complete ability to do what is necessary to defend the American continent, and also Europe and other places,” Trump said. “No US adversary will ever be permitted to establish a military presence in Greenland any more, or make sensitive investments there without our express written approval.”

Trump later signed the agreement with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen on the sidelines of the UN gathering.

The planned US expansion is expected to include Narsarsuaq in southern Greenland, the site of the former American Bluie West One airbase, and Mestersvig on the east coast, a military outpost currently used by Denmark’s Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the agreement.

The US already operates Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, formerly known as Thule Air Base. The Pentagon’s northernmost installation supports missile warning, missile defense, and space surveillance operations.

Washington has maintained a military presence in Greenland since World War II. A 1951 agreement with Denmark provided the legal basis for US operations there. The American presence was much larger during the Cold War before being reduced to the single base at Pituffik.

The new agreement follows months of tensions over Greenland that strained relations between the US and its European allies. Trump repeatedly pushed for American control of the island and refused to rule out taking it by military force, prompting Denmark and Greenland to insist that the territory was not for sale and that its future could only be decided by Greenlanders.

Russian forces have completed the encirclement of Dobropolye, a major Ukrainian defensive hub in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the Defense Ministry in Moscow has announced.

In a statement on Tuesday, the ministry said that units from Russia’s ‘Center’ group had surrounded the town and were now moving toward the settlement of Aleksandrovka.

The advance is part of a broader Russian push toward the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration, a string of cities in the northwest of DPR and the last heavily fortified Ukrainian stronghold in the region.

The agglomeration has remained under Kiev’s control for over a decade since the early stage of the conflict in then-Ukrainian Donbass, prompted by the 2014 Maidan coup.

Capturing Dobropolye could facilitate a Russian advance toward the agglomeration from the southwest while threatening Ukrainian supply and reinforcement routes.

Aleksandrovka is significant in this respect, as Russian military sources have described the western route running through the settlement as one of the last remaining supply arteries for Ukrainian forces in the area.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in June that Ukraine had spent almost a decade constructing a strategic defensive line encompassing the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk area and extending southwest toward Dobropolye. The cities were transformed into a single fortified zone by a vast system of reinforced trenches, bunkers, and tunnels.

The Russian Defense Ministry also said that troops from Ukraine’s 4th and 15th National Guard brigades and the 425th Separate Assault Regiment, known as “Skala” or “Skelya,” were among those trapped in the town. “Operations are underway to eliminate” the surrounded Ukrainian forces, it added.

“Skala” came under scrutiny earlier this year after Ukrainian media reported torture and abuse at its training facilities, as well as 25 non-combat deaths among recruits. Ukrainian authorities subsequently opened an investigation and suspended the regiment’s commander.

As Russian forces continue to advance in Donbass, Moscow has accused Kiev of intensifying attacks on civilian targets, repeatedly describing such strikes as acts of terrorism. The Defense Ministry has warned that the targeting of civilian facilities would be met by intensified precision strikes on military targets in Kiev.

The Strait of Hormuz could reopen within seven days if the US eases military pressure and lifts its blockade of Iranian ports, according to media reports citing a senior Iranian official.

The strait is one of the world’s most important energy routes, normally carrying around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments. Shipping has largely stopped since the US-Israeli war with Iran began in late February, disrupting supplies and driving energy prices higher.

Tehran has proposed that Washington declare its readiness to resolve the conflict through diplomacy and agree on a timeline for further steps, the official told Reuters on Tuesday. The proposal was conveyed to the US through mediators last week as world leaders gather in New York for the UN General Assembly.

The event is a “golden opportunity for the US to return to diplomacy,” the official said, adding that the Iranian delegation had full authority to revive negotiations. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC that the administration was prepared to speak with Tehran if negotiations had the prospect of producing a positive outcome.

Iran has set broader conditions for ending the conflict. Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei said on Saturday that Tehran had conveyed seven demands to Washington through mediators, including an end to hostilities, the release of frozen Iranian assets, and the lifting of the naval blockade.

Previous attempts to halt the fighting have been fruitless. A memorandum of understanding agreed by the US and Iran in June was followed by renewed hostilities, while no face-to-face talks are known to have taken place since July.

US government data show that oil flows through Hormuz fell from 21.6 million barrels per day in the final quarter of 2025 to 4.9 million in the second quarter of this year.

Tensions rose again this week after Trump said he was in “deciding mode” over Iran and weighing further military action, economic pressure, or a deal. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responded by warning that another US attack would prompt Tehran to expand the scope of the conflict and use different weapons.

Washington has also threatened further economic pressure. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that companies providing Iranian airlines with fuel, airport services, or ticketing could be denied access to the US dollar system.

The legislative elections in Russia have become a major topic in global media. The Times even published an editorial with the impressive headline ‘Potemkin election’. 

Apparently, the author is unaware of the fact that his apparent witticism is out of place. He must also be ignorant of the origins of the term ‘Potemkin village’. Had he done some research, he would have known that Field Marshal Potemkin did not show Catherine the Great and many foreign ‘observers’ (as the people who accompanied her would be called today) fake villages. He showed them cities he had founded – Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk), Kherson, and Sevastopol – as well as the powerful Black Sea Fleet that had sprung up seemingly out of nowhere and astonished Austrian Emperor Joseph II, who was part of the Empress’s entourage. If the authors of The Times believe these ‘Potemkin villages’ never existed, they should have a look at the modern map of Novorossiya and Crimea.

In terms of significance, the current State Duma elections may be compared to Catherine the Great’s journey to southern Russia. That trip demonstrated to the entire world that the map of Europe had fundamentally changed and that the once-wild steppes had become an integral part of the Russian Empire. It was precisely for this reason that back then, the purveyors of fake news rushed to concoct tales about ‘Potemkin villages’ – just as today, they try to slander the elections held in Russia’s historic territories, in the very cities founded by Potemkin nearly 250 years ago.

I’d like to note how dramatically the perception of the elections has shifted in Western media over a short period of time. Just a week and a half ago, The Sunday Times published an extensive ‘analytical’ piece on why the elections were important. The author expressed hope that they would reveal “discontent” with the government and suggested that the results would demonstrate that “Russians’ patience is wearing thin” and that, in frontline regions, “the Kremlin will … begin to lose the provinces.”  There was no shortage of such articles leading up to the vote.

Some might say, ‘So what if two different authors have two different opinions? That only demonstrates the pluralism of the free European press.’ But here’s the catch: both articles were written by the same person – Mark Galeotti, Britain’s top ‘expert on Russia.’ This stark contrast in the evaluation of the same event stems from the genuine disappointment among Western elites who have again misjudged the outcome of Russia’s elections.

They failed to understand Russians 250 years ago and fail to understand them today. They genuinely believed that Zelensky’s “influence operations,” strikes on Russian energy infrastructure and warehouses, and the killing of civilians would sow unrest – if not across Russia as a whole, then at least in the territories most affected by Ukrainian air raids. They failed to grasp that this would actually cause the opposite reaction. The elections demonstrated that the residents of these territories do not see themselves as separate from the rest of the country.

This is why European politicians are gritting their teeth; it’s why Kaja Kallas issued a notice before the voting, declaring that elections in “occupied” territories would not be recognized; and it’s also why they resurrected the tale of ‘Potemkin villages’, knowing as little about Russians today as they did hundreds of years ago. 

The EU’s 27 member states have agreed to remove Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from their sanctions blacklist, ending an impasse that threatened the very foundation of the bloc’s anti-Russian penalty regime.

In a deal brokered by Ireland, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, the member states agreed on Tuesday to remove Usmanov and Fridman from the blacklist. In exchange, the bloc extended sanctions on roughly 3,000 other Russian and Russian-linked entities and individuals by three years instead of the usual six months.

Usmanov, a Russian-Uzbek metals tycoon, was sanctioned by the EU in February 2022 over his alleged ties to the Kremlin. The EU came to this conclusion based on media reports which have been proven false by Usmanov’s legal team over a series of lawsuits, and the billionaire used these legal victories to argue that he had been sanctioned based on false evidence.

Luxembourg lobbied for the delisting of Fridman, as the duchy is currently being sued for $16 billion over its freezing of his assets in 2022. According to Reuters, Luxembourg argued that its case against Fridman would be weakened if Usmanov alone was let go.

If a deal had not been struck by midnight on Tuesday, all of the EU’s anti-Russian sanctions would have expired. An agreement was reportedly reached on Monday afternoon, but Latvia intervened to prevent it taking effect. As one of the EU’s most fervent backers of Ukraine, Latvian Foreign Minister Baibe Braze argued that “EU sanctions against Russia must be strengthened, not weakened. Therefore, Latvia cannot agree to the widely proposed suggestion.”

As negotiations restarted on Tuesday, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky thanked Braze for “keeping up the legal front against the war of aggression against Ukraine,” and declared that Usmanov and Fridman’s names “must be on the sanctions lists.”

Grateful to our Latvian friends @EdgarsRinkevics, @AndrisKulbergs and other EU partners for keeping up the legal front against the war of aggression against Ukraine. As Russia is escalating the killing of civilians – there have been more attacks overnight and into the day with…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 22, 2026

Ultimately, Latvia took a position of ‘constructive abstention’ and allowed the other member states to press ahead with delisting the two tycoons and renewing the remaining sanctions.

Usmanov’s delisting removes a potential legal nightmare for the EU. As RT already explored this week, the billionaire’s repeated litigation has undermined Brussels’ case against him, and an additional lawsuit against the EU threatened to expose the bloc’s secret “evidence packs” used to build the case. Several high-profile Russian businessmen have already been delisted after the shaky evidence in these packs was made public, and a legal win by Usmanov would have cast the legal rationale for sanctions into further disrepute.

South Africa will continue engaging with the US despite new visa restrictions imposed by Washington, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said, insisting Pretoria will defend its sovereignty and dignity in negotiations.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the targeted restrictions last week against foreign nationals whom Washington says are responsible for, or complicit in, policies involving uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination and the incitement of violence against minority groups in South Africa. No individuals were named when the policy was announced.

Ramaphosa was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the ANC Veterans League fundraising golf day at the Johannesburg Country Club in Woodmead on Monday. He said the government had taken note of the restrictions but remained prepared to engage with Washington. ”We are quite willing and prepared to continue engaging with the United States as we engage with all other countries in the world,” the president noted.

”Where there are challenges, we will go in with our dignity, with our sovereignty to engage with those countries without bowing our heads and treating those nations respectfully and expecting them to treat us also respectfully,” Ramaphosa added.

Ramaphosa noted South Africa remained willing to negotiate with the US to resolve the challenges in the relationship. ”We also trade with them and there are certain things or products that they need from us that we also need from them,” he said. ”So that in itself should bring about the state of equilibrium. So as we deal with each other, as states that respect each other, we will find solutions.”

First published by IOL

A Nigerian medical team has performed West Africa’s first tele-robotic surgery, remotely operating on a cancer patient from around 500 kilometers away, the hospital’s press service said on Sunday.

The procedure, a right radical nephrectomy, involved removing a kidney affected by a cancerous tumor from a patient at Nisa Premier Hospital in Abuja. Surgeons at Redeemer’s Health Village (RHV) in Mowe, Ogun State, controlled the robotic system remotely via an internet connection, Punch reported on Monday. The operation was carried out in collaboration with RoboMed Global.

“We were able to operate on a patient in Abuja, 500 kilometers away. We were able to operate on a patient with a kidney tumor, a cancerous tumor. And so that was successful,” Prof. Obi Davies-Ekwenna, the robotic surgeon who led the procedure, said. The technology allows specialists to control surgical equipment from another location, potentially giving patients access to surgeons elsewhere in Nigeria or abroad.

Several days earlier, RHV announced that it had completed its first robotic surgery, a robot-assisted radical prostatectomy, a procedure to remove the prostate gland. The hospital said the operation was part of efforts to expand access to advanced surgical care in Nigeria.

Other West African countries have also recently reported complex surgical procedures. Earlier this month, a team of Malian doctors successfully separated conjoined twin girls in an operation that lasted several hours in Bamako.

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The West has “completely” misread India’s relationship with Russia by reducing it largely to one over oil, and overlooking the wider geopolitical, economic, and strategic ties between New Delhi and Moscow, former Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told RT.

Russia has historically helped India maintain strategic autonomy and contributed to its economic transformation, and remains important for future supply chains involving critical minerals, food inputs, and other key resources, Mathai told former Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid on the latest episode of RT India’s ‘In Conversation’.

“They have very clearly misunderstood the depth and the scope of India’s relationship with Russia,” Mathai stated. “I think it’s a complete misreading.”

Russia remains a major source of crude for India, with imports tracking at around 1.95 million barrels per day so far in September, according to commodity analytics firm Kpler. India-Russia trade reached $79 billion last year, having grown sevenfold in the last five years, Russian Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov told RT India earlier this month. 

Russia has also recently been buying gasoline and other fuels from India after Ukrainian drone attacks damaged some of its refining capacity. 

Mathai was the Indian foreign secretary from August 2011 to July 2013. He noted that the global rules were written by the West at a time when those countries dominated the world economically and politically – and that they want those rules to continue.

China, he pointed out, is increasingly seen as capable of shaping global rules because of its dominant position in fields including renewable energy, electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies.

China and India are both fast-growing major economies but China’s GDP was $19.5 trillion last year, according to World Bank data, compared to India’s $4.5 trillion.

“If we want to be a rule maker, we have to be able to significantly increase our weight in the global economy and particularly in the new technologies which are emerging,” Mathai said.

He added that Indian diplomacy should keep the welfare of its citizens living in Gulf countries top of the agenda amid the Middle East conflict, noting that New Delhi had maintained dialogue with Iran while preserving its relationship with Israel. An estimated 8-9 million Indians live and work across the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries.