Multiple media outlets reported that the co-pilot accused of attacking the captain of a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv had previously been barred from flying in Oman or removed from a flying job over concerns about extremist views. The reports identif…
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said Thursday that armed factions must hand their weapons to the state by June 30, 2027, setting a new deadline after groups backed by Iran said they were not bound by any timetable. Zaidi said October 1 marked “a serious beg…
MI5 warned UK academics on Wednesday to review ties with a Chinese technology institute, saying the organisation funds research that could improve Beijing's espionage capabilities. The UK's domestic intelligence service said it had detected “very strong ties”…
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev urged Europe on Wednesday to start talks with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, warning that military support for Kyiv would not be enough and that Moscow's nuclear threats should be taken seriously. “We must start talking…
Unknown projectiles struck three ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said Wednesday. UKMTO said the vessels included a crude oil tanker and two other ships. It had earlier described one of the vessels…
An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon wounded a Lebanese soldier and three civilians, Lebanon’s army said on Wednesday. The army said the soldier was seriously wounded when an army vehicle was targeted in Nabatieh al-Fawqa. Lebanon’s state-run National News A…
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia would consider using “all types of weapons” if its Kaliningrad exclave was attacked, while insisting Moscow had no intention of attacking anyone. “If it comes to a direct attack on the Russian Federat…
A ship in the Strait of Hormuz was struck by an “unknown projectile” on Monday evening, sparking a fire that was later extinguished, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said Tuesday. UKMTO said the crew were safe and the vessel was underway. I…
NATO and European Union leaders backed Estonia on Tuesday after Tallinn said an investigation found Russia ordered an August 15 arson attack on Milrem Robotics, an Estonian defence company that makes ground drones used in Ukraine. The Kremlin rejected the acc…
Iranian official Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tuesday that no regional infrastructure would be safe if Iran's security was not guaranteed, state media reported. Ghalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator and parliament speaker, said in video released by state TV: "In…
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, called South Korea “despicable” after Seoul demanded an official apology over a Demilitarised Zone landmine blast that wounded three South Korean soldiers. Pyongyang has denied being behind the blast…
A Russian jet-powered drone struck a Ukrainian village near the Polish border on Monday and damaged a checkpoint, a Ukrainian regional official said. Roman Romaniuk, the acting governor of Ukraine's western Volyn region, said on Telegram that the strike hit n…
Russian authorities on Monday seized the Russian assets of German wholesaler and food retailer Metro, the latest in a series of business takeovers involving companies from countries that back Ukraine. A decree signed by President Vladimir Putin put the Russia…
Heavy fighting involving fighter jets and drones broke out Monday in Baidoa, Somalia, between government forces and supporters of ousted South West State governor Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen. A local resident, Hussein Abdifatah, said there were clashe…
A reported Myanmar military airstrike on a market in western Rakhine state has killed 50 people and injured 58, local volunteers said Tuesday, as families searched for bodies around the charred site. Witnesses said the military's air force raided the riversid…
Poland will allow its fighter planes and helicopters to shoot down foreign aircraft detected by radar under special wartime defence measures, Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk said Monday. Tomczyk said the change would let a pilot or operational commande…
Saudi strikes in Taiz killed nearly 30 Houthi fighters and eight civilians, multiple Houthi sources told AFP on Sunday, as fighting in Yemen escalated after a truce broke down. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree accused Saudi Arabia of launching two air ra…
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Sunday that they seized a US unmanned underwater vehicle in the Strait of Hormuz, where Tehran has maintained a blockade during the Middle East war. The Guards' naval forces said in a statement carried by state TV that they ca…
Russian strikes on Ukraine killed five people, Ukrainian authorities said Sunday, including one person in Kyiv, three in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and one in the Odesa region. President Volodymyr Zelensky said three people were killed in night-time str…
Schools across Riyadh are moving to remote learning for a week after parents received messages saying Saudi authorities had ordered schools to remain closed, according to emails seen by AFP. The messages, sent on Sunday, said schools had just been informed by…
Millions of Sudanese who have returned to Khartoum after the army recaptured the capital last year are facing power cuts, water shortages, damaged buildings, limited jobs and gaps in medical care. About four million people fled Khartoum after war broke out be…
Russian and Ukrainian strikes killed at least 16 people over the previous 24 hours, officials on both sides said Saturday, as the war continued in its fifth year. Ukrainian authorities said Russian strikes killed at least six people in northeastern Sumy, in Z…
A militant attack on a security check post in northern Pakistan killed at least 11 people and wounded 18 others, police and rescue officials said Saturday. Saifullah Khan, a police official in Dera Ismail Khan, said a suspected suicide bomber rammed an explos…
The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthis said Saturday that its air defences intercepted and destroyed two drones launched toward the Riyadh area and two ballistic missiles targeting Khamis Mushait in southwest Saudi Arabia. The coalition described th…
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday that Tehran wanted to return to a June memorandum of understanding with the United States, after China called for the agreement to be revived. Pezeshkian wrote on X that “Iran shares this approach and underscore…
Sweden held its first overnight air-raid shelter exercise this week, with 37 volunteers spending Thursday night in a concrete bunker in the western municipality of Grums. The exercise comes as Sweden has been increasing battle readiness since Russia's 2022 in…
European Union countries have agreed to release 6.6 billion euros, or $7.5 billion, from a fund linked to arms supplied to Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Friday. The money comes from the European Peace Facility, which reimburses member stat…
Saudi Arabia said Friday that it, Turkey and Pakistan will hold chiefs of staff talks on supporting the kingdom after increased attacks by Yemen's Houthis. Turkey's defence ministry said Turkey's chief of general staff would travel to Saudi Arabia on Friday t…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said US President Donald Trump had made a “final decision” to give Ukraine a Patriot license.
Finland and Sweden scrambled fighter jets on Thursday to identify Russian aircraft flying over the Gulf of Finland, Finland's air force said Friday. The Finnish air force said Quick Reaction Alert jets from both Nordic countries identified a Russian detachmen…
Ethiopian federal forces clashed overnight with Tigray rebels as they tried to repel an assault on Abala, a town in the Afar region, a humanitarian source told AFP on Friday. The source said there was heavy fighting overnight and that federal forces stopped t…
The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said Thursday that its forces intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by the group, thwarting attacks on the Saudi cities of Taif and Yanbu. Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki wrote on X that “escalations and…
Polish Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said Thursday that a fire at a Starlink satellite communications station in central Poland was an act of sabotage, while an investigation into the cause continued. Gawkowski told Polish public broadcaster TV…
Pakistani strikes in Afghanistan, including in Kandahar, were a warning to the Taliban government's leadership, analysts said, after Islamabad said it hit 10 targets and the Afghan government reported four civilian deaths. Pakistan's Information Minister Atta…
Russian attacks killed at least two people in Kyiv on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, after authorities issued a missile alert and the capital was hit by multiple explosions. AFP journalists heard more than 20 blasts after Ukraine’s Air…
A resident said an airstrike hit Kandahar in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, reporting the sound of a jet, a large explosion and a fire in the centre of the city. Afghan military and government officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.…
Several Nigerien soldiers were killed and others wounded on Wednesday in fighting near the Malian border, Niger's defence ministry said. The ministry did not give an exact death toll. It said soldiers trying to intercept stolen livestock encountered a large c…
Lewis Hamilton said Wednesday he wants Formula One to hold its Qatar and Abu Dhabi races as scheduled despite the continuing conflict involving Iran, while saying he trusts Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali to judge the risks. The Bahrain and Sau…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian President Vladimir Putin at the United Nations of using fighters from 47 countries in Moscow’s war against Ukraine. Zelensky said Russia had used citizens from countries including Ghana, Nepal and India i…
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have asked the European Union for extra funding for anti-drone defences, Lithuanian Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said Wednesday, citing fears of hybrid attacks from Moscow. Kaunas said the three Baltic states had jointly appr…
Israeli ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter said his son was the soldier injured in a car-ramming attack on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank. Leiter identified his son as Neria in a post on X. He said Neria had continued to serve in the reserves…
At least 45 merchant vessels have been attacked over the past 12 months in parts of the Black Sea that were not previously listed as high-risk areas, maritime risk expert Ambrey said on Wednesday. Ambrey said no strikes were recorded in those areas in the pre…
Russian strikes on the Kyiv region have reached an intensity not seen since March 2022, according to an AFP analysis of figures from the ACLED conflict monitor. The area around the Ukrainian capital came under fire 118 times in the first 18 days of September.…
An Indian sailor was killed in an attack on the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged cargo ship Cape Dao in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, Omani and Indian authorities said. Oman's Maritime Security Centre said the vessel was attacked 2.5 nautical miles off Oman's…
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday it has been denied access to visit prisoners of war held in Russian detention since 2024. The ICRC said it had visited more than 9,800 prisoners of war on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict fr…
A cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz was struck by an unknown projectile on Wednesday, leaving the ship on fire and adrift with two casualties reported, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said. UKMTO said the vessel’s company security offic…
Russian strikes across Ukraine killed at least seven people Wednesday, including two in Kyiv, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN General Assembly that Ukraine would hit Russian heating and energy facilities this winter. Kyiv officials said…
Ethiopia’s army said Thursday that it had killed 272 Tigrayan rebel fighters after a renewed offensive spread into the neighbouring Amhara and Afar regions. The Ethiopian National Defence Force said in a Facebook statement that forces of the Tigray People’s L…
Thousands of people in Gaza are sheltering in damaged buildings that officials say could collapse, as reconstruction remains stalled after nearly three years of war between Israel and Hamas. Gaza's civil defence says 2,000 buildings across the territory are a…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was ready to halt strikes on Russian energy sites if Moscow agreed not to attack Ukraine's energy system. “We are ready for any kind of format of energy ceasefire” if Russia agrees to “not attack our energy…
Britain will rework its deal to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after US President Donald Trump again criticised the agreement, UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said Wednesday. The agreement would hand back the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius w…
Central African Republic's defence ministry said Tuesday that troops backed by Russian allies freed eight people, including children, who had been abducted during an attack in the country's southeast. Local authorities said one civilian was killed and 11 peop…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said Tuesday that US troops are returning to Lithuania after several months without a US military presence in the Baltic state. Nauseda said US troops would continue to be stationed in Lithuania and thanked US President Do…
European governments and officials are warning that Russia could escalate its conflict with Ukraine beyond the battlefield and target Kyiv's supporters elsewhere in Europe. Western leaders have warned of a rise in Russian covert operations, including drone fl…
Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said missing F-35 fighter parts diverted from Australia to Hong Kong were not sensitive, and confirmed Canberra was helping investigate the incident. Politico reported that a shipment of F-35 parts, including a canop…
Yemen's Houthis said a Saudi attack on a prison in Yemen killed nine people.
Yemen's Houthis said Tuesday that Saudi strikes in the northwest of the country killed two civilians and wounded three members of the same family. The Iran-backed group's news agency, citing the Houthi health ministry, said a mother and child were killed in s…
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened Tuesday to force all Gaza City residents south if any Israeli soldier or civilian is abducted in the future. Speaking at a memorial for the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Katz said “the entire city of Gaza” would be evacu…
Saudi Arabia's civil defence agency briefly issued a danger alert in Najran Province on Tuesday, warning people in the southern region near Yemen to remain indoors and avoid open areas. The agency said the National Early Warning Platform had issued the warnin…
French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that France would send soldiers, radars and defence systems to help protect Saudi Arabia's Yanbu oil terminal from attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis. "We are going to send military assets, meaning soldiers,…
Britain has agreed to provide defensive air-to-air refuelling for Saudi warplanes after increased attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis, the UK government confirmed late Monday. A British RAF Voyager tanker is expected to help refuel British-built Typhoon ai…
Britain and the United States test-fired a torpedo from an uncrewed undersea vessel for the first time, the UK government said Monday. London said the live firing took place in UK waters last week as part of the AUKUS alliance with Australia. The UK governmen…
An Ethiopian UN peacekeeper has died from wounds suffered in an ambush in eastern Jonglei state in South Sudan, the United Nations said on September 21. The attack happened at the end of August in an area that has been a focus of recent conflict between South…
The head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council asked US President Donald Trump for American support against the Iran-backed Houthis during a Sunday call, a source in Rashad al-Alimi's office told AFP. The office source said Trump did not promise military…
Ukraine has renewed calls for a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians from Russian-occupied Oleshky in southern Kherson region, accusing Russia of creating a humanitarian crisis there. Oleshky lies on the bank of the Dnipro River on a section of the fro…
At least 12 people were killed and dozens were injured in violence in western Ethiopia near the border with South Sudan, Doctors Without Borders said. The medical charity, also known as MSF, said its teams at Kule health centre in Ethiopia's Gambella region r…
Australia said on Monday that it protects classified defence technology and has robust export controls after Politico reported that F-35 fighter jet parts from Australia were diverted to Hong Kong. Politico said the shipment included a canopy with radar-resis…
At least three civilians were killed and four injured in apparent Pakistani airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan, the UN mission in Afghanistan said, after Islamabad said it had hit “terrorist hubs” along the border. Taliban deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat sai…
The US State Department restricted American government employee travel to the Saudi cities of Taif and Yanbu on Sunday, citing the ongoing security situation in the kingdom. The department said US government employees who work in Saudi Arabia now require spec…
Yemen's Houthis said Sunday that Saudi Arabia launched 28 strikes over the previous 24 hours on Taiz, Al-Jawf and Marib governorates, as fighting with Yemen's Riyadh-backed government continued. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the Saudi air force u…
Russia said Sunday its army would continue and intensify high-accuracy strikes against military targets in Kyiv, in response to what it described as Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow during three-day parliamentary elections. Russia's defence ministry accused…
Seven Ethiopian armed groups have announced an alliance aimed at overthrowing the federal government, but analysts said deep rivalries and the army's advantages could limit its effect. The Ethiopian Peoples' Forces Alliance for Survival brings together the ma…
Iraqi Kurdish counterterrorism forces said explosions heard on Sunday near Erbil airport resulted from military training and security activities and posed no danger. AFP journalists heard an explosion near the airport, which hosts US-led coalition troops in I…
US President Donald Trump said Yemen's Houthis have agreed not to fight the United States, Fox News reported Sunday, as the Iran-allied group increased pressure on US ally Saudi Arabia. Fox News reporter Trey Yingst cited Trump as saying Washington is “in con…
An Israeli settler died after being shot in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, and Israel's military said it arrested the suspected gunman. Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikvah said the man died of wounds from a shooting near the Israeli settlement of Neveh Tzuf…
Gaza health officials said Saturday that Israeli fire killed at least four people in Gaza, including a 10-year-old girl and the son of a senior health official. Gaza's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority, said the girl died from wounds susta…
The Saudi-led coalition said Saturday that Yemen's Houthis fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh at dawn and that Saudi air defences intercepted and destroyed it, after residents reported blasts in the Saudi capital. A coalition spokesperson wrote on X that the…
British defence sites recorded 340 security incidents involving drones over or near them in the 12 months to August 2026, The Independent reported Saturday. The newspaper said the figure compared with 250 incidents in 2025 and 126 the previous year. Britain's…
The United States warned that hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis could escalate rapidly after a missile attack targeted Riyadh for the first time since the Yemen conflict resumed. The US State Department said the military conflic…
Syrian authorities said Saturday they arrested Walid al-Fallah, described as one of the main leaders of a cell involved in the deaths of three security force personnel in Al-Sanamein, in the southern province of Daraa. State news agency SANA reported that int…
An attack on a police headquarters in northern Pakistan has killed at least 31 people, including 16 police personnel, and injured more than 100, a senior police official told AFP on Saturday, as fighting continued inside the compound. Attackers stormed the Ol…
Saudi Arabia's civil defence agency lifted an air raid alert in Riyadh about half an hour after residents were warned of a “hostile aerial threat” and AFP journalists heard two explosions early Saturday, September 19. The warning reached residents shortly bef…
North Korea dismissed a UN atomic watchdog resolution renewing demands that it halt nuclear activities, saying it has “no effect” because Pyongyang is not an International Atomic Energy Agency member, state media KCNA reported Saturday. A North Korean foreign…
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that he had ordered a plan to protect France's critical infrastructure and sensitive defence and technology sites from drone and cyberattacks after warning of a growing Russian “hybrid” threat. “The Russian hybr…
The European Union said its Red Sea naval mission has raised the alert level of its vessels because of the Houthi threat to shipping in the waterway. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Operation Aspides would continue escort duties after what she called…
An armed group killed at least 14 people and abducted more than 10 others in Walga town in central Ethiopia earlier this week, an NGO conflict tracker and a resident told AFP. Jalale Getachew Birru of ACLED said a group identifying itself as the Fano militia…
Russia summoned Britain's charge d'affaires in Moscow on Friday over UK arms supplies to Ukraine, accusing London of a confrontational stance and warning of possible countermeasures. Russia's foreign ministry said British envoy Danae Dholakia was given a “str…
The Kremlin on Friday defended Moscow's takeover of local businesses belonging to Switzerland's Nestle, France's Auchan and other companies, saying their links to countries that support Ukraine were one factor in the decision. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov…
Ethiopia's federal army said on Friday, September 18, that nearly 300 Tigray People's Liberation Front fighters had surrendered to forces along the Tekeze corridor in northwestern and western Tigray. The army said the fighters included divisional officers and…
A tanker was hit by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, causing a fire that was later extinguished, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said. UKMTO said the company security officer of a vessel reported the strike. The British ma…
A French police officer has been detained while awaiting trial after being arrested on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack, a judicial source and a source close to the case told AFP. The 35-year-old officer was arrested on the street on August 23, accord…
The United States has approved a proposed $24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35 stealth warplanes to Saudi Arabia, the State Department said, but the deal still needs approval from US lawmakers. The State Department notified Congress of the proposed sale on Thursday.…
Finland completed an EU maritime security exercise in the Baltic Sea on Thursday, with border guards practising how to take control of a suspicious ship after suspected damage to undersea infrastructure. About 300 Finnish and Polish security officials took pa…
Palestinian herder Mohammed Emar has turned caves in Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank into a home for his family after the Israeli army demolished his two houses. Emar, 33, smoothed the rough limestone floors with concrete, whitewashed the cave walls a…
United Nations investigators said on Thursday that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe the United States committed war crimes against civilians in Iran, while also accusing Iran's government of gross human rights violations against protesters. In a rep…
Fighting between the Houthis and Yemeni government forces and their Saudi backers killed 63 people in 24 hours, military sources from both sides told AFP on Thursday. A government official said at least 23 government soldiers were killed in missile and drone…
Russian missile and drone attacks overnight wounded 18 people in Kyiv, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said Thursday, after authorities in the Ukrainian capital warned of a missile threat. AFP journalists heard about a dozen strong explosions in the city in the early…
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday proposed setting up a “European Security Council” involving partners such as Britain and Ukraine, as Europe responds to security risks linked to Russia. “For a long time, we have discussed a lead…
Two women were killed near their home in Tamenglong district in India's northeastern state of Manipur, police said Wednesday, bringing civilian casualties linked to ethnic strife there to 10 in the last three weeks. Police superintendent Lanmiyo Luikham said…
Ukrainian officials said a Russian drone strike on a minibus near the front line in southern Ukraine killed five people and wounded at least seven on Wednesday. Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Oleksandr Ganzha said on social media that the bus was hit by a d…
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that Israel would resume full-scale war in Gaza to eliminate Hamas and then implement a plan to remove Palestinians from the territory. Katz, responding to criticism from another right-wing contender ahead o…
Yemen's Houthis released footage on Wednesday that they said showed the targeting and downing of a Saudi F15 fighter jet over Marib province. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the Iran-backed group shot down the aircraft while it was carrying out wha…
Gaza authorities said Wednesday that 12 children were among 21 people killed when an apartment building collapsed in Gaza City after being damaged in earlier Israeli strikes. The six-storey building, which had four apartments on each floor, collapsed overnigh…
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun is due to travel to Washington from Thursday to Saturday for talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with investment negotiations and a possible deployment to the Strait of Hormuz on the agenda, Seoul's foreign min…
Stefan Thumann, the head of German defence technology company Donaustahl, told AFP he is living in hiding because of a suspected Russian assassination plot linked to his supply of drones to Ukraine. Thumann, 39, said authorities first warned him last December…
US military plans for a $500 million port project in Palau have raised local fears about war risk and environmental damage in the Pacific archipelago. The project would expand a crumbling wharf built by Japan during World War II so it can berth US Navy ships,…
The United States embassy issued an advisory on Tuesday urging travellers to reconsider travel to Saudi Arabia, citing security and legal risks after Riyadh issued alerts in Mecca and other areas amid Houthi attacks. The advisory warned of risks including Ira…
Saudi King Salman condemned Yemen's Houthis as a "terrorist militia" on Tuesday after Saudi authorities said the group tried to target Mecca last week, a claim the Houthis have denied. The 90-year-old monarch praised Saudi armed forces and security services f…
Naqaa Hamed, a Palestinian-American journalist, was detained by Israeli authorities on Tuesday at the Tequ' checkpoint in Bethlehem as she returned from reporting in the occupied West Bank, her sister and a colleague said. Her sister, Fatima Bajes Salem, wrot…
Security and local sources told AFP on Tuesday that Malian soldiers and Russian paramilitaries executed at least 10 civilians over the weekend in central Mali, with bodies placed in sacks and dumped in water. Sources contacted by AFP gave a toll of between 10…
The US war in Iran has left the United States with strategic munitions shortfalls and exposed bottlenecks in resupplying ammunition, the Defense Department’s inspector general told Congress. In a mandatory report covering Operation Epic Fury from February 28…
Pakistan's prime minister on Wednesday condemned in the “strongest possible terms” an alleged Houthi attack on Mecca, adding to criticism of the Yemeni rebel group over alleged attacks in Saudi Arabia. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation also condemned wh…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said Tuesday that NATO fighter jets shot down a drone after it entered Lithuanian airspace. “A drone that just entered Lithuanian airspace was destroyed by NATO fighter jets,” Nauseda wrote on X. He said such readiness was…
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on September 14 that a Russian strike on a Warsaw-bound passenger train near Ukraine's border with Poland showed President Vladimir Putin was “desperate” and would not deter Kyiv's Western backers. “The strike on a passe…
President Volodymyr Zelensky fired Ukraine's prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko on Monday amid accusations that Kravchenko took bribes, allegations he denies. Zelensky announced the dismissal in a government decree and said on Telegram that “there is only o…
Premature and underweight babies in Gaza are sharing incubators as hospitals run short of space, oxygen and specialist equipment, doctors and UN agencies say. At Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, Hatem Dhahir, head of the neonatal department, said there was no o…
Ukraine's state railway said Sunday that Russia was carrying out a “systemic” attack on the country's rail network, warning of possible evacuations and delays. The railway service said on social media that its monitoring centre and staff were on high alert ac…
Poland and Ukraine denounced Russian strikes close to the Polish border on Sunday after officials said a Kyiv-Warsaw passenger train was hit about two kilometres from Poland. No casualties were reported in that strike. Ukraine's state rail operator, Ukrzalizn…
A merchant vessel was struck in the Strait of Hormuz early Sunday, killing one person and injuring three, Qeshm city governor Amir Teymouri said, according to Iranian state TV. Teymouri said the vessel was hit around 5:00 am local time, or 0130 GMT, off the c…
Yemen's Houthi fighters said they used drones and missiles to attack the Sharurah military base in southern Saudi Arabia, giving new details of a claimed strike but not specifying when it happened. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree wrote on X that the att…
The renewed war in Yemen has displaced at least 76,000 people, the UN's International Migration Organization said Saturday, as people fleeing Houthi gains on the Red Sea coast put further pressure on Aden. The IOM said the displacement figure had quadrupled o…
Iraq closed three border crossings with Iran on Saturday after a drone attack on a Saudi pipeline that both Riyadh and Baghdad said was launched from Iraq, officials told AFP. An Iraqi security source and a government official said authorities ordered the clo…
China on Monday rejected reports that Chinese entities supplied Iran with satellite images of a military base in Jordan before and after an Iranian strike killed three US soldiers. The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend, citing unnamed American off…
Russian strikes killed at least seven people and wounded almost 60 across Ukraine on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said, as President Volodymyr Zelensky called for a stronger response from allies. Ukrainian officials said two people were killed in the souther…
Schools in 10 northern communes in Benin will remain closed on Monday, September 14, as the school year begins elsewhere in the country because of security concerns, authorities said Saturday. Education authorities told AFP there were concerns about jihadist…
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said three members of the country's security forces and five gunmen were killed in clashes on Saturday in southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province, state television reported. State television initially said four gunmen had been kil…
German security officials suspect a member of Russian military intelligence helped plan an attempted “hybrid attack” involving an explosive-laden drone at Leipzig airport, Welt Am Sonntag reported Saturday. The newspaper said officials believe a Russian ident…
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun pledged to seek Israeli withdrawal and reconstruction during an unannounced visit to southern Lebanon on Saturday, after Israel captured and blew up a nearby Hezbollah position. Official Lebanese media said Aoun arrived in Nabat…
Syrian state media said violence erupted Friday in the northern Kurdish-majority town of Kobane as residents protested over the killing of former Kurdish fighter Sami Shekhmous Hiso. Syrian state television said “outlaws” attacked police cars and carried out…
North Korea said it conducted a “firepower attack drill” with long-range artillery and missiles on Saturday, after South Korea reported multiple ballistic missile launches from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan. The Korean Ce…
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Friday that any deployment of European troops to Ukraine would amount to “a war against Russia”, Russian news agencies quoted him as saying. “At the moment, they say they are considering how to send troops onto Ukrainia…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged US President Donald Trump's administration on Friday to impose new sanctions on Russia immediately over recent deadly strikes on Ukraine, as he said he planned to meet Trump in late September. “Sanctions need to be…
The Israeli military said Friday it “categorically rejects” allegations in NAZA, an Israeli-made documentary about AI-powered mass killing of civilians in Gaza. The 80-minute film, by Oscar-winning Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, uses conver…
German prosecutors on September 11 charged seven suspected members of Hamas over an alleged plan for a deadly attack in Germany or Austria targeting Israeli representatives, Jewish people or pro-Israeli individuals. Prosecutors alleged that Hamas had been pla…
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the Middle East has no need for a US “policeman,” adding to his criticism of Washington during a period of heightened pressure on Tehran. Pezeshkian had said Friday that pressure on Iran from the United States had reac…
More than 2,000 people fleeing fighting in Yemen have arrived in Djibouti this week, the International Organization for Migration said Sunday, as Houthi fighters expanded their control along Yemen's Red Sea coast. The UN migration agency said the first arriva…
Six missiles struck the port in Yemen's Red Sea city of Mocha on Friday, a Yemeni government official said, without specifying where they came from. “Six missiles targeted the Mocha port,” the official said. Mocha is now under Houthi control. Earlier on Frida…
US President Donald Trump rejected a request from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for strikes against Houthi fighters in Yemen, Axios reported Thursday, citing two unidentified US officials. Axios reported that the Saudi crown prince called Trump on Th…
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said an early morning Russian drone strike on a petrol station in the Ukrainian capital killed two people and hospitalised four on Friday. “There are now two killed in the morning attack on the Kyiv gas station,” Klitschko said on…
Saudi Arabia launched two airstrikes on Friday targeting Mocha airport in Yemen, Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV said, after the group seized the Red Sea port city during an offensive around the Bab al-Mandab Strait. A local government official later told AFP that s…
An adviser to Iran's supreme leader praised a Houthi advance in Yemen as a “resounding victory” after the Tehran-backed fighters seized a key island in the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait. “Congratulations on this resounding victory, Ansar Allah,” Mohammad Mok…
A group in northern Yemen tried to use Anthropic's Claude chatbot to build guided rockets and missiles, the US artificial intelligence company said in a report on illegal uses of its systems. Anthropic said it had “identified a cell of threat actors based in…
Israel said on Friday it was prepared for more strikes on Hezbollah after blowing up what it described as a large tunnel network beneath the Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon. “We are ready and prepared to continue the campaign, to continue striking Hezb…
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Thursday that their navy targeted a US unmanned surface vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. The Guards said in a statement carried by their Sepah news outlet that the vessel was a Saildrone Explorer-type sea drone. The statement a…
War-related objects found in the Black Sea more than doubled in six months as Ukraine and Russia increasingly use unmanned drones, maritime risk firm Ambrey said Thursday. Ambrey said 56 objects were discovered in the Black Sea basin between March and August,…
Mali's army said its Dioura military camp in the central Mopti region came under attack on Thursday, with military and local sources telling AFP that jihadists targeted the strategic base. Fighting broke out in the morning around the military station, which s…
Myanmar's People's Defence Forces claimed responsibility on Friday for a drone raid at Mandalay airport, saying they targeted Russian-made Yak-130 fighter jets stationed by the runway rather than the civilian airport. The military-backed government said six “…
Ukrainian authorities said a Russian strike on a shopping centre in Pavlograd, central Ukraine, killed at least five people and wounded 67 on Thursday, including eight children. Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said Russian forces struck the shopping centre i…
Yemen's internationally recognised leader Rashad al-Alimi urged Arab and other nations on Thursday to help protect the country's coasts after the Iran-backed Houthis seized control of the key Red Sea city of Mocha. Alimi, who heads Yemen's Presidential Leader…
US-led anti-jihadist coalition forces have begun withdrawing from Iraq's Kurdistan region before a September 30 deadline to end their mission in the country, Kurdish and Iraqi officials said Thursday. Kurdistan's interior minister Rebar Ahmed said the forces…
Analysts say Iran is intensifying confrontational actions against the United States to raise the political and economic cost of the war for President Donald Trump before US midterm elections on November 3. The assessment follows several Iranian moves in and a…
British-led sanctions over Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank may embolden Israel's right ahead of elections, analysts and a European diplomat said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to strengthen his right-wing base bef…
Sudan's army said it shot down drones belonging to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on Thursday after explosions were heard over the capital Khartoum. “Our air defences engaged and shot down all of the militia's drones that attempted to target areas in n…
Yemen's Houthis have launched a ground assault around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, raising risks around a Red Sea chokepoint used for oil shipments and trade between Asia, Europe and North America. The strait connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden in the Ind…
Russia's FSB security service said on September 10 that it had detained a Russian security guard working at Britain's embassy in Moscow, alleging he was recruited for a Ukrainian false-flag plot against British diplomats. The FSB said the guard had been hired…
Australian marketing executive Alexander Csergo was sentenced by a Sydney court on Thursday to three years and six months in jail after being convicted of reckless foreign interference over reports compiled for Chinese intelligence. A court official said Cser…
Palestinian officials said Israeli strikes killed nine people in Gaza on Thursday, including a family of four in the northern Gaza Strip and five people in the south. An official at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City said four members of the Ahmad family, includi…
Canada announced CAN$350 million, or US$260 million, to strengthen Ukraine's air defences as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Calgary on Thursday. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the support alongside Zelensky and said Canada and Ukraine ha…
Singapore's Internal Security Department said Thursday that Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, identified by US prosecutors as a senior figure in an Iran-linked Iraqi armed group, applied three times for visas to visit Singapore in 2023 and 2024 but did not…
Kim Jong Un praised North Korean commanders and soldiers taking part in “overseas military operations” during remarks marking the country’s founding anniversary, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday. Kim thanked the troops in comments for…
Yemen's Houthi rebels launched several ballistic missiles and drones toward cities in southern Saudi Arabia, the Saudi-led coalition said Wednesday. Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said the launches were aimed at Khamis Mushait, Abha and Jizan. His statem…
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz told Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday that Israeli troops stationed in southern Syria would not withdraw. Katz made the remarks during a visit to the soldiers with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We are he…
Ukraine's special forces said they struck two gas condensate processing facilities in Russia's Arctic Yamalo-Nenets region on Wednesday, in what they described as their deepest attack inside Russia since Moscow's Ukraine offensive began in 2022. Russian offic…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran's Islamic republic was close to collapse during a Wednesday visit to Israeli troops on the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, drawing condemnation from Damascus. Netanyahu, who visited with Defence Minister Israel…
Five teachers kidnapped from a teacher training centre in Wum, in Cameroon's English-speaking west, have been released, state-owned media and a local education NGO said Thursday. The teachers were seized Tuesday in an attack on the centre that also killed a p…
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Wednesday that Israel was “not planning to expel or to deport anyone from Gaza Strip”. Speaking in Ljubljana before the opening of an Israeli embassy in Slovenia, Saar said Israel would not oppose someone leaving Gaza…
A suspected underground Iranian nuclear site at Pickaxe Mountain has seen a surge in construction this year, according to a review of satellite imagery published Wednesday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Washington-based think tank…
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he believes the Iran war will end “immediately” after the United States votes in midterm elections in November. “I think the war will end immediately after the election,” Trump told journalists, saying Iran “can't ho…
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that Sunni cleric Mohammad Nezhati had been killed in a northwestern province, blaming what they called separatist groups and saying the killing was aimed at stoking divisions between Sunnis and Shias. The Guards…
Irish police said Wednesday they were investigating a reported drone sighting over the Irish Sea as security preparations continue ahead of a visit by US President Donald Trump. Police in Dublin said they were investigating an “alleged sighting of an unconfir…
A Panama-flagged fuel oil tanker was struck in Iraqi territorial waters on Wednesday, causing hull damage, Iraq's transport ministry said, as maritime monitors reported a series of vessels coming under fire in the wider Gulf region. The ministry said the tank…
Dozens of South Koreans protested in Seoul on Wednesday against a possible troop deployment to the Strait of Hormuz, as the government considers whether to contribute to US-backed security efforts in the waterway. About 60 protesters, according to an AFP esti…
Russia's defence ministry said Wednesday that its forces shot down 596 Ukrainian drones overnight, while a regional governor said four people, including a child, were killed in Novorossiysk in the southern Krasnodar region. Krasnodar governor Veniamin Kondrat…
A Russian drone strike killed two civilians and wounded three at the Starokozache international road checkpoint on Ukraine's border with Moldova overnight, Odesa regional governor Oleg Kiper said Wednesday. Kiper said the casualties were civilians who were ne…
Russia's new long-range jet-powered drones are straining Kyiv's air defences, flying higher and faster than the conventional attack drones Ukraine has become used to intercepting. Moscow has launched waves of the drones at the Ukrainian capital in recent week…
Pakistan police are installing reinforced nets over buildings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to protect against militant drone attacks, borrowing a low-cost tactic seen on the Ukrainian battlefield. The nets are stretched several metres above police compounds…
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday they fired missiles at the US Al-Azraq air base in Jordan in retaliation for American strikes on Iranian oil tankers, while Jordan's army said it shot down 18 missiles from Iran. Jordan's army said its air defences e…
Iranian local media reported on Tuesday that two explosions were heard in Jask, a southern Iranian port city near the Strait of Hormuz. Fars news agency reported that the explosions were heard at around 21:45 and occurred in two stages a short distance apart.…
Mehr news agency reported on Tuesday that several explosions were heard on Iran's Kharg Island in the Gulf, where most of the country's oil is exported from. “The sound of several explosions was heard in parts of Kharg Island a few minutes ago,” Mehr said. It…
Saudi authorities said danger had passed on Tuesday after issuing brief alerts warning of potential danger in three areas near the Yemen border. The civil defence said a warning had been issued through the National Early Warning Platform for Najran province.…
Foreign ministers from eight Arab and Muslim countries welcomed Britain's decision to ban imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory and urged other countries to take similar steps. The ministers from Jordan, the United Arab Emirat…
The US military said Tuesday that one of its underwater drones malfunctioned and carried no sensitive data after Iran claimed its forces captured an American unmanned submarine in the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command spokesperson Captain Tim Hawkins said…
Romanian authorities said Tuesday they had detained a Russian citizen accused of filming and photographing military sites in the NATO country to prepare for an act of sabotage on Moscow's orders. Prosecutors said the 40-year-old Russian citizen was accused of…
The United States imposed sanctions Tuesday on 36 targets linked to Iran's aviation sector, including 27 Iranian airlines, as Washington increased economic pressure on Tehran during the US-Iran war. The US Treasury Department said the action targeted “all rem…
Germany is sending Ukraine more Patriot air-defence interceptor missiles from its own military stockpiles, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on September 8, as Kyiv pressed supporters for urgent supplies against Russian drone and missile strikes. P…
Cluster munitions killed or injured at least 1,063 people worldwide in 2025, most of them in Ukraine, the Cluster Munition Coalition said in its annual report on Tuesday. The monitor said casualties from the weapons were recorded across nine countries, making…
A drone strike blamed on Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces killed 13 people outside a courthouse in the army-held central town of Umm Rawaba on Tuesday, a medical source at the local hospital told AFP. The medical source said 22 injured people were be…
The European Union said on September 8 that it had agreed to let Ukraine use part of a 90-billion-euro ($105 billion) loan to buy US-made Patriot air defence missile systems. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen welcomed what she called an agree…
Psagot winery co-founder Yaakov Berg said his Israeli settlement business would keep operating and expand after Britain led allies in trade curbs on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Berg told AFP at the Psagot winery in the settlement of Shaar B…
A local commander in Iran's Basij paramilitary force was killed on September 8 in what Tasnim news agency described as a terrorist attack in Sistan-Baluchistan province. Tasnim identified the commander as Abdolraouf Eshaghi, a commander in the Parud district,…
Greece has deepened defence ties with Israel by buying the Achilles Shield air defence system in a three-billion-euro ($3.5 billion) deal, while Athens tries to preserve its relations with other Middle Eastern countries. The contract, negotiated for more than…
The Red Cross called for urgent steps to de-escalate Yemen-Saudi fighting as more than 500 people have been killed since the Houthis began a campaign last Thursday to control the Bab al-Mandab Strait, according to an AFP tally based on sources from both sides…
Drone strikes in Ethiopia's Tigray region killed three civilians and an unknown number of Tigrayan fighters early Tuesday, conflict monitor ACLED told AFP. ACLED said seven strikes targeted buses unloading Tigrayan soldiers in the Hintalo region, south of the…
The Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday rejected a petition by rights groups seeking to halt development of a settlement east of Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank. The court said it had dismissed a motion aimed at delaying publication of tenders for the pro…
Israeli forces killed 28-year-old Abdul Karim Muhammad Khader Suleiman during a raid in Aqraba in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, with Palestinian and Israeli accounts sharply differing over the circumstances. The Palestinian health ministry said Suleiman…
Ethiopia is manufacturing drones at two domestic factories as federal forces use drones against insurgents in several regions, analysts and conflict monitors say. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed inaugurated SkyWin Aeronautics Industries in Addis Ababa in March 2025…
The UK government said on September 8 it will commit £100 million ($135 million) to strengthen Ukraine's air defences before winter, including Patriot missiles. The UK defence ministry said the contribution to a NATO programme supporting Kyiv will also includ…
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said Tuesday that Russia launched a major missile and drone attack on Kyiv shortly after US peace envoys visited the capitals of both countries to try to restart talks on ending the war. Sybiga said on social media tha…
Renewed fighting in Yemen has killed more than 500 people, mostly combatants, according to an AFP tally based on sources from each side, as the Houthis said Saudi Arabia struck Yemen after the group targeted Saudi oil facilities. Houthi-run Almasirah TV said…
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky told Axios that US envoys said Russia was ready to negotiate toward a settlement of the war in Ukraine. Zelensky said Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held separate weekend talks with Ukrainian and Russian leaders as Wash…
The Houthis said Friday there was “no cause for concern” for free navigation through the Bab al-Mandab Strait after their advance around the Red Sea shipping route. Yemen's Houthis seized Mayyun Island in the Red Sea on Friday, completing their takeover of th…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators could meet as early as September to discuss ending the war, hours after a Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv killed three people, according to the capital'…
Angelina Jolie visited a boxing club in Kharkiv during a trip to Ukraine, the Boxing Federation of Ukraine and the club's owner Pavlo Chyshko said Monday. The federation posted a photo showing Jolie and her son Knox at the Spadkoyemets boxing club. It said Kn…
Renewed fighting between Houthi rebels and pro-government forces in southwest Yemen has forced nearly 20,000 people to flee their homes, the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday. Abdusattor Esoev, the IOM's chief of mission in Yemen, said the…
Sweden will spend seven billion kronor, or $730 million, to buy US-made HIMARS rocket artillery for its military, the government said Monday. The government said the acquisition would give the Swedish Armed Forces greater long-range capacity and allow them to…
Gunmen killed 10 people and kidnapped at least 40 others in a village in northwest Nigeria, according to a security report prepared for the United Nations and seen by AFP, and a local resident. The Sunday raid targeted Tofa town in Sokoto state's Rabah distri…
French Foreign Legion soldier Jose Olger Melo Charry escaped Colombian guerrilla captors by overpowering a guard and jumping into a river while his hands were tied, a senior Colombian military source told AFP. Melo Charry, a Colombian citizen serving in the F…
Oman's navy said on September 7 that it rescued 16 crew members from the Saudi-flagged oil tanker SIDR, which Iran attacked a week earlier in the Strait of Hormuz. Oman's Maritime Security Centre said a Royal Navy of Oman vessel provided logistical support to…
The International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors voted Wednesday to refer Iran to the UN Security Council over what a resolution called Tehran's nuclear non-compliance. Two diplomats told AFP the resolution was adopted by 23 votes in favour, three…
A United Nations expert warned Monday that large-scale rubble removal in parts of Gaza under Israeli control could erase evidence of alleged atrocity crimes and hinder the recovery and identification of human remains. Francesca Albanese, the UN special rappor…
Nickolay Mladenov, a senior official in the US-backed Board of Peace, said Monday that lack of progress in Gaza and rising violence in the West Bank were making a two-state solution “practically impossible”. Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza under th…
Israel threatened a "full-scale war" against the Palestinian Authority on Monday if it determined that PA security forces or related bodies were preparing an October 7-style attack against Israeli forces or settlements. Defence Minister Israel Katz said Prime…
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has scrapped plans for an expert defence panel that had been due to launch Monday, after opposition led by Italy, officials said. Kallas had announced plans last week for a group of senior former defence officials, includin…
Yemen's Houthis said Monday that seven people were killed and seven wounded in Saudi airstrikes on a prison in Al-Hazm in northern Yemen, part of what they described as wider Saudi air and missile strikes across the country as fighting intensifies near the Ba…
A fire damaged an electricity substation in Berlin's Moabit area early Monday, and German police are investigating whether sabotage or a technical fault caused it. Police said emergency services were alerted in the early hours. A construction site and part of…
Israel on Monday accused Hezbollah of repeatedly violating a ceasefire agreement, while Lebanese state media reported that 11 people were killed in overnight Israeli strikes in a southern village. Israel's foreign ministry wrote on X that Hezbollah was carryi…
Ecuadoran fishermen said a joint US-Ecuador counter-narcotics operation removed them from their boat at sea on September 2 before the vessel was destroyed. Eduardo Holguin, 41, told AFP he was aboard the Conquista 2 when a speedboat “full of soldiers” pulled…
The United States is preparing to mark 25 years since the September 11, 2001 attacks, with President Donald Trump due to pay his respects at the Pentagon while other senior political figures attend the main ceremony at Ground Zero in New York. Vice President…
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country should develop its navy into a nuclear-armed force, state media reported Monday, as maritime drills involving Japan, South Korea and the United States opened. Kim made the remarks at the Sunday commissioning of…
Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon have killed at least 29 people since Friday, Lebanese authorities and official media said, and Lebanon's army said Israeli escalation threatened a framework deal. Lebanon's National News Agency said an Israeli drone targete…
Iran will double the price of petrol for its highest-use tier to 10,000 tomans per litre from September 8, government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said Sunday. The increase applies only after a consumer has used the first 110 litres in a month. Mohajerani l…
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday that a new “prohibited zone” outside the Strait of Hormuz would cover parts of the Sea of Oman and the Arabian Sea, with exact coordinates to be announced later. Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi told state television…
Authorities in western Libya have arrested five people, including foreigners, over a recent string of drone attacks on a major energy complex, the Tripoli-based government said Sunday. The government said the group was part of a “sabotage cell” that also plan…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the evacuation of some settler outposts in the occupied West Bank that are illegal under Israeli law, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on September 6. “To my knowledge, Netanyahu has given the instru…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that he and Ukraine's negotiating team were coordinating next steps after weekend talks with US and European officials on efforts to end the war. Zelensky said Ukraine was preparing further meetings and commu…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that talks with US envoys visiting Kyiv had a “positive assessment”, but that the war with Russia appeared likely at the moment to continue into winter. Zelensky said Ukraine hoped to reach agreements with it…
US envoy Steve Witkoff said Russia and Ukraine both need to make compromises to end more than four years of war, after holding talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “It's going to take both sides to make some…
Palestinian football officially resumed this week with the first tournament organised by the Palestinian Football Association in three years, mixing celebration with mourning after the Gaza war. The association named the comeback tournament the "1,000 Martyrs…
Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least seven people on Sunday, Lebanon's health ministry said, as President Joseph Aoun urged the United States and the wider international community to help stop the attacks. Israel said it targeted Hezbollah oper…
A Ukrainian presidency source told AFP that a claim President Volodymyr Zelensky's plane was almost hit by a drone was exaggerated, after Moldova said a Russian drone alert had delayed flights including the Ukrainian leader's departure for Oslo. Norwegian Pri…
US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee accused Britain's government of antisemitism on Saturday after British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband described conditions in Gaza as “horrific” and said London had to act. “The Brits have lost it. The Jew hate of their go…
The Pentagon is using lie-detector tests in an investigation into leaks about US munitions stockpiles, The New York Times and CBS News reported. The New York Times reported late Friday that about 50 members of the military's Joint Staff were being required to…
Satellite images appear to show likely oil slicks near the Strait of Hormuz after US strikes on tankers suspected of links to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, according to experts who analysed the images. Images from the European Copernicus programme taken on Wedn…
Hungary will continue granting protection to newly arriving Ukrainian men fleeing conscription, despite a European Union policy change that excludes some draft-age men from temporary protection. A government decree that entered into force on Sept. 5, 2026, sa…
The UN migration agency said at least 46,000 people have been displaced since fighting escalated in Yemen last week, more than double the roughly 18,500 it reported on Tuesday. The International Organization for Migration said the displacement had taken place…
An attack on a military base in South Sudan killed 26 people, including six attackers. William Deng Wol, the state information minister, said armed men attacked the base in Warrap on Friday, killing 16 military and police personnel and four civilians. He said…
US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Saturday that Israel's government is responsible for the safety of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and should impose “severe consequences” over violence. Huckabee spoke during a visit to Turmus Ayya, a West Ba…
A drone attack on a Colombian military garrison in the Catatumbo region killed three soldiers, the defense ministry said Saturday, raising the earlier official toll from at least two dead. Authorities had earlier reported at least two dead and five wounded in…
Iranian media reported several explosions near Iran's major oil hub of Kharg Island in the Gulf on Saturday, days after renewed fighting broke out between Iran and the United States. Fars news agency said its correspondent heard blasts but saw no smoke. SNN n…
A Russian strike on Kamianske in southeastern Ukraine killed four people and wounded five, Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said Saturday. Ganzha said one of the wounded was a 30-year-old woman in intensive care.…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that the war with Russia appeared likely at the moment to continue into winter, after talks in Kyiv with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner ended without an announced breakthrough. Zelensky said Ukr…
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to make a deal to end Moscow's war against Ukraine, a day after the Kremlin described a Putin-Trump phone call as constructive. Putin “is wanting to make a deal, and if Zelen…
Israeli strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon killed four people and wounded 32 others, Lebanon's health ministry said Saturday, raising an earlier toll. The ministry said those killed in Friday's strikes included an 18-year-old woman. It said several women…
Ukraine's emergency service said Russia resumed strikes on the Kyiv area late Monday after a three-day halt in attacks expired, reporting drone attacks on Boryspil and Fastiv districts. “Russians attacked Boryspil and Fastiv districts with drones,” the State…
Israel has asked Lebanon for information on the remains of Lebanese Jews kidnapped and killed during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, a demand raised in recent Lebanon-Israel talks. A person close to the negotiations said Israel gave Beirut a list of Jewish ind…
The United Nations rights office warned Friday that Israel's forced displacement of Palestinians from three West Bank refugee camps could amount to the crime against humanity of forcible transfer. The UN report said an Israeli operation launched in the north…
The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions Friday on Turkish lender Golden Global Bank and its subsidiaries over alleged ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while the bank denied the accusations. The Treasury said Golden Global Bank and its su…
Croatia said Friday it will buy South Korean K239 Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers worth 544 million euros, or $632 million, as part of a military modernisation drive. A government statement said the defence ministry will procure the launchers, associated eq…
A senior official in Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally said France would “turn off the tap” to Ukraine if the party came to power, triggering criticism from rival French politicians. Louis Aliot, National Rally vice president and mayor of Perpignan, ma…
Ukraine said a Russian drone hit the headquarters of its SBU security service in central Kyiv on Friday, September 4, while Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least 12 people were wounded. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the drone struck the SBU's central…
A Russian drone struck Ukraine's SBU security service headquarters in central Kyiv on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, and the city mayor said at least 12 people were wounded in the attack on the city centre. Zelensky said the drone hit th…
The World Health Organization said one of its main warehouses storing humanitarian medical supplies in Ukraine was destroyed in an air attack in the Kyiv region early Thursday. The WHO said access to the site remained restricted because of heavy smoke and saf…
US President Donald Trump said on September 3 that he would ask Europeans to repay American aid provided to Ukraine under the administration of his predecessor, Joe Biden. Trump wrote on Truth Social that “Hundreds of Billions of Dollars” had been given to Uk…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said deputy heads of security agencies will be dismissed after a shootout between rival agencies in Kyiv left several officers injured. The gunfight between the military intelligence agency, known as the GUR, and the Sta…
Israeli police said Friday they killed a Palestinian man in central Jerusalem after he attempted to attack officers with a knife. Police said security forces killed the man overnight near Damascus Gate, an entrance to Jerusalem's Old City, and that his death…
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Friday that Israeli forces had captured the Ali al-Taher ridge from Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, calling it the completion of a phase of securing Israeli control in what Israel describes as its security zone. Hezbol…
South Korea has sent a fact-finding team to assess conditions in the Strait of Hormuz, its defence ministry said Tuesday, while saying no decision had been made on any troop deployment to the strategic waterway. The ministry said the team was sent to examine…
Ukraine's western Zakarpattia region has become a rare wartime refuge, with residents of Berehove describing nights without explosions, no wartime curfew and few air-raid alerts while Russian strikes hit other parts of the country. The region, in the Carpathi…
Colombia's forensics authority said Friday that six minors have been killed in airstrikes on guerrilla groups since President Abelardo de la Espriella took office on August 7, a day after a judge ordered restrictions on bombings where children may be present.…
Syrian authorities said Thursday that security forces foiled an escape attempt by Alaa Zahreddine, described as a key associate of an Assad-era general and militia figure. Security forces in the Damascus countryside said Zahreddine was a close associate of Gh…
US President Donald Trump said Friday that he calls the Iran war a “military conflict” and described it as “small potatoes” for the United States, a day after Vice President JD Vance said he would not describe the conflict as a war. “A lot of people don't cal…
West Bank settler violence and settlement expansion are straining Israel's relations with Western allies before Israel's October elections, with Britain and France signalling possible moves against settlement activity. Britain's foreign secretary on Tuesday p…
European governments are struggling to find effective responses to alleged Russia-linked hybrid attacks, as intelligence officials warn of sabotage risks and analysts say traditional diplomatic tools have had limited deterrent effect. Denmark's intelligence a…
Syria has begun destroying Assad-era chemical weapon materials, and an international watchdog has verified the irreversible destruction of 42 aerial bombs by Syrian authorities, a senior UN official said Thursday. Izumi Nakamitsu, head of the UN disarmament o…
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Thursday set out a plan to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and send them abroad. Speaking ahead of close-fought Israeli elections, Ben Gvir said the plan aimed for 250,000 Palestinians t…
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Kyiv on Thursday for talks with Ukrainian officials on Black Sea shipping and food security, Ukrainian authorities said. Ukraine described the trip as Jaishankar's first standalone visit to the country.…
A Ukrainian man will go on trial in Germany on October 14 over the 2022 bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia with Europe, the Hamburg Higher Regional Court said. Serhii Kuznietsov will face trial in Hamburg in proceedings expected to last u…
Foreign fighters and support networks are strengthening Sudan's warring parties and worsening violence against civilians, a UN-backed independent fact-finding mission warned Thursday. The mission said foreign involvement was increasing the military capabiliti…
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it transferred five people released from Israeli detention to Lebanon, with one person moved on Thursday and four more on Friday. The ICRC said it acted at the request of the relevant parties. Israel said Thur…
Clashes between Yemen's Houthis and government forces near the Bab al-Mandab strait have killed 129 people, according to an AFP tally based on military and medical sources, as the Houthis push toward the Red Sea gateway. Fighting erupted Thursday after the Ho…
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on September 3 that Russia has no current need to mobilise more men for its offensive in Ukraine, rejecting speculation about another military call-up. “There is no scenario today that would require mobilisation,” Putin t…
Kuwait's Iranian community is facing new pressure as the Middle East war brings repeated Iranian strikes on the Gulf state and heightens sensitivity around links to Iran. A Persian restaurant in Kuwait City removed the words “Iranian cuisine” from its title e…
Somalia's federal government said its army repelled an attack on Baidoa on Thursday, September 3, after forces loyal to ousted South West State governor Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen launched an assault on the key city. The fighting began around 4:00 am…
Israeli police arrested a 19-year-old suspect on Thursday in a weekend attack by Israeli settlers on the West Bank village of Qusra, near Nablus. Police said the suspect, described as a resident of the Samaria area in the northern West Bank, had been taken fo…
German authorities said defence company offices in Munich were targeted in an overnight arson attack, and two Bulgarian nationals were later arrested. Police said they suspected a “political background” to the attack. No major damage or injuries were reported…
Russia will close branches of Germany's Goethe Institute in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg in response to Germany ordering the closure of a Russian cultural centre in Berlin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday, according to the s…
Palestinian officials said the Israeli army killed two teenagers in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday night, while the Israeli military said troops opened fire during what it called a violent riot. The Palestinian health ministry identified the dead as Omar…
Danish counterintelligence chief Emil Graesholm said Russia is preparing sabotage operations targeting Denmark's defence industry and urged companies in the sector to strengthen security. Graesholm, head of counterintelligence at the Danish Security and Intel…
Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration said Thursday it had deployed vessels to monitor Chinese ships operating in waters east of Taiwan. The CGA said it acted after the China Coast Guard announced another “routine law-enforcement patrol” off Taiwan's east coast…
The United States and Australia have agreed to expand the US military presence in Australia and speed up defence cooperation, both governments said after talks in Washington. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles agr…
Russia said Friday it had asked the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization to condemn Ukraine's warnings that Russian airspace is becoming dangerous because of Ukrainian drones. Russia's foreign ministry said it sent a protest note to ICAO's chief, ca…
The World Food Programme said two trucks carrying UN food aid in Sudan were destroyed in an aerial attack outside Dilling, in South Kordofan state, on Sunday. The agency said the trucks were carrying 50 metric tonnes of food to Kadugli, where WFP supports nea…
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States is negotiating with Ukraine over licenses to produce Patriot interceptors, but he said any such deal would not solve Kyiv's short-term air defense shortages because factories would take years to build.…
Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot pushed back on Wednesday against renewed EU efforts to use frozen Russian central bank assets to fund Ukraine, saying Belgium's opposition had not changed. Most of the roughly 200 billion euros, or $230 billion, in froze…
US President Donald Trump suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz the “Trump Strait” on Wednesday, then later played down the idea when asked whether he was serious. Trump wrote on Truth Social that the United States had the waterway “under U.S.A. control” an…
Ukraine will introduce a two-tier air-raid alert system after repeated Russian strikes disrupted Kyiv and other cities, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday. Zelensky said public warning systems would be revised and two levels introduced for specifi…
Finland is investigating a possible territorial violation after a drone was found washed up on an island shore in the Porvoo archipelago in the Gulf of Finland, authorities said Wednesday. The drone was found Tuesday in southern Finland, less than a two-hour…
Lebanese authorities arrested five people accused of planning attacks against the forces of Syria's new government on the Syrian coast, a Lebanese judicial official said Wednesday. The official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said those detained w…
Eight Islamic and Arab countries said Israeli ministers' plans to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip would jeopardise a US-backed peace plan, issuing a joint condemnation on Sunday after a US envoy denied Israel intended forced displacement. The foreign…
Hamas called on Arab and Muslim countries on Friday to oppose proposals by Israeli ministers to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and send them abroad. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said statements by ministers in Israel's government about displacement p…
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said an Israeli drone strike killed one person and wounded another in the southern city of Nabatieh on Wednesday, while Israel said it hit Hezbollah infrastructure after an attack targeting its soldiers. The agency sai…
Around 5,000 US sailors and Marines from the USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in Thailand on Wednesday for their first port call in 286 days at sea. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier docked at Laem Chabang, north of Pattaya, for five days of rest and recreation…
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that economic pressure on Iran could push Tehran into “desperate steps”, while warning that any Iranian attack on Israel would bring a major Israeli response. Katz told a ceremony for defence ministry employe…
Two Ukrainian soldiers known by the callsigns Ice and Khomochka held a ritual wedding on a hillside by a river near Ukraine's eastern front, exchanging vows before fellow soldiers in a ceremony that blended Slavic traditions and Orthodox Christianity. The cou…
A Japanese-run NGO has become effectively the only foreign-funded reintegration programme for Islamist fighters still operating in Somalia after other donors reduced support. Yosuke Nagai's organisation, Accept International, works with imprisoned Al-Shabaab…
Syria is recording an average of one casualty from unexploded ordnance every six hours, the mine-clearance charity HALO Trust said, as war remnants continue to kill and injure civilians and soldiers across the country. International organisations and NGOs led…
At least five Israeli activists were injured last week after settlers forced them from Jannatah, near Bethlehem, where they had gone to help protect a Palestinian family. About 30 activists, many of them religious Jews, travelled to the occupied West Bank to…
Ukraine said Wednesday it had formally notified the International Civil Aviation Organization that Russian airspace was not safe, following repeated Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian territory. The ICAO, a United Nations agency that regulates and sets standa…
Iran's army said Wednesday it targeted US forces at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain with suicide drones, Iranian state media reported, as Tehran launched strikes targeting American interests across the Middle East. State media reported that the army said it ha…
Kuwait's foreign ministry called overnight strikes by Iran a “direct threat” to the Gulf state's security and stability Thursday, after Kuwait's army said its air defences were intercepting missile and drone attacks. The ministry said the strikes threatened “…
Ukraine has formally told the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization that Russian airspace is “not safe” amid the war, shortly before the agency called on member states to ensure the safety of civilian aircraft. ICAO said Wednesday that “long-range we…
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged “full solidarity” with Germany on Tuesday after Berlin said Moscow was behind an explosive-laden drone incident at Leipzig airport in August. Rutte wrote on X aft…
Iranian authorities said an alleged US strike on a wedding gathering in the southern coastal town of Kuhestak killed five people and wounded nearly 70, while Washington said it was investigating and had not accepted responsibility. The dead included a four-ye…
Iranian state media said Tuesday that four projectiles hit areas in Chabahar and Konarak counties in southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province, east of the Strait of Hormuz. The official IRNA news agency cited provincial official Ali Khalilabadi for the report…
Military experts from Ukraine will join a new initiative to advise European countries on how to close gaps in the continent's defences, the European Union said Tuesday. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said advisers from Ukraine, Britain and EU nations wou…
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf urged citizens on Tuesday to reduce petrol use, saying Iran needed to save gasoline as it struggled to import enough fuel because of a US naval blockade. Ghalibaf, who is also a top negotiator, made the appe…
German media reported Wednesday that police have identified two suspects linked to an attempted “hybrid attack” involving an explosive-laden drone at Leipzig airport last month. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily and public broadcasters NDR and WDR said one suspe…
The European Union is planning a mission to advise and train Lebanon's armed forces, including on border and maritime security, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said after the bloc's defence ministers met in Ireland on Tuesday. Kallas said planning was pro…
Russia's advance in eastern Ukraine gained pace in August after several slower months, but remained far below earlier years of the invasion, an AFP analysis of Institute for the Study of War data showed. The analysis found that Russian forces made a net gain…
A car bomb outside a police station in Los Patios, northeastern Colombia, killed a 23-year-old Venezuelan man and injured 11 other people, including two police officers, authorities said. Local police commander Colonel Jimmy Belalcazar attributed the Monday n…
The World Health Organization warned Tuesday that Gaza's approaching rainy season could worsen public health risks for people living in crowded tent camps surrounded by rubble, rubbish and overflowing sewage. WHO representative Reinhilde Van de Weerdt said wa…
Palestinian officials said Israeli settlers tried to set fire to parts of the Nur al-Din Zanki Mosque in Bazzaryah, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, on Tuesday. The Palestinian ministry of religious affairs described the incident as a criminal attack. A…
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces captured the head of Hamas's internal security apparatus in Gaza during a Tuesday ground operation in western Gaza City, where Palestinian health officials said Israeli strikes killed four people. Netanyah…
NATO chief Mark Rutte vowed “full solidarity” with Germany on Tuesday after Berlin said Russia was responsible for an explosive-laden drone incident at Leipzig airport last month. Rutte said after talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz that NATO would keep stre…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused security officials of deliberately not waking him on the morning of Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, intensifying a political fight over responsibility for the security failures that preceded the assault. Netan…
The USS Abraham Lincoln docked at Laem Chabang, south of Bangkok, on Wednesday for a five-day port call after 286 days at sea, bringing around 5,000 US sailors and Marines to Thailand for rest and recreation near Pattaya. Rear Admiral Robert Loughran, command…
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said EU defence ministers made no concrete progress on Tuesday in securing fresh interceptor missile pledges for Ukraine, while insisting that alleged Russian “hybrid attacks” would not scare Europe away from supporting Kyi…
A fire broke out at Russia's Baltic port of Ust-Luga after a drone attack, Leningrad regional Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said Tuesday. “Damage has been recorded in the Ust-Luga port area as a result of the drone attack, and there is a fire,” Drozdenko said…
A Kyiv stage adaptation of the Odyssey written and performed by service members from Ukraine's Azov military corps uses drones, radios and memories of Mariupol to recast Homer's story around the war and missing captives. The production is a collaboration betw…
Russian strikes on Kyiv and surrounding areas killed at least four people on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said. The Kyiv city military administration said three people were killed in what it called an enemy attack on the capital. Regional military officials s…