TODAY

The plant’s last external lines were severed in September in attacks that Russia and Ukraine blame on each other.

Repair work has started on damaged off-site power lines to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant following a four-week outage, the United Nations nuclear watchdog has confirmed.

The work began after local ceasefire zones between Ukrainian and Russian forces were established to allow the work to proceed, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said in a post on social media platform X on Saturday.

“Restoration of off-site power is crucial for nuclear safety and security,” Grossi said.

“Both sides engaged constructively with the IAEA to enable complex repair plan to proceed.”

The Russian-appointed management of the occupied plant, in one of the war’s most volatile nerve points in southeastern Ukraine, confirmed the maintenance work, saying it was made possible by “close cooperation” between the IAEA and Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

The Russian Defence Ministry will play a key role in ensuring the safety of the repair work, the plant said on Saturday via its Telegram channel.

The plant is in an area that has been under Russian control since early in Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and is not in service, but it needs reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.

It has been operating on diesel generators since September 23, when its last remaining external power line was severed in attacks that each side blamed on the other. The IAEA has repeatedly expressed alarm about the nuclear plant, which is the biggest in Europe.

The Associated Press news agency reported earlier this week that the IAEA is proposing to restore external power to the plant in two phases, quoting a European diplomat briefed on the proposal by Grossi. A Russian diplomat confirmed some aspects of the plan.

Both diplomats spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the confidential negotiations publicly.

During the first phase, a 1.5km-radius (1-mile-radius) ceasefire zone would be established to allow repair of the Dniprovska 750-kilovolt line, the main power line to the plant that has been damaged in an area under Russian control.

During the second phase, a second such ceasefire zone would be established to repair the Ferosplavna-1 330-kilovolt backup line, which is in area under Ukraine’s control.

Grossi held talks with both Kyiv and Moscow last month. He met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on September 29 at the Warsaw Security Forum, following meetings in the Russian capital with President Vladimir Putin on September 25 and Rosatom Director General Alexei Likhachev on September 26.

The IAEA warned that if diesel generators fail, “it could lead to a complete blackout and possibly causing an accident with the fuel melting and a potential radiation release into the environment, if power could not be restored in time”.

Ukraine’s foreign minister accused Russia on Sunday of deliberately severing the external power line to the station, to link it to Moscow’s power grid.

A top Russian diplomat this month denied that Russia had any intention of restarting the plant.

Cameroon-flagged tanker issues distress call about 60 nautical miles (110km) south of Yemen’s Ahwar in Gulf of Aden.

A ship has caught fire in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen after being struck by a projectile, the British military said, with one report suggesting its crew was preparing to abandon the vessel.

The incident on Saturday comes as Yemen’s Houthi rebels have maintained their military campaign of attacking ships through the Red Sea corridor in solidarity with Palestinians under fire in Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.

The Houthis did not immediately claim an attack, though it can take them hours or even days to do so.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) a centre issued an alert about the vessel, describing the incident as taking place some 210km (130 miles) east of Aden.

“A vessel has been hit by an unknown projectile, resulting with a fire,” the UKMTO said. “Authorities are investigating.”

The maritime security firm Ambrey described the ship as a Cameroon-flagged tanker that issued a distress call as it passed about 60 nautical miles (equivalent to 110km) south of Yemen’s Ahwar while en route from Sohar, Oman, to Djibouti.

It said radio traffic suggested the crew was preparing to abandon ship, and a search-and-rescue effort was under way.

Ambrey said the tanker was not believed to be linked to the target profile of Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis.

The group has launched numerous attacks on vessels in the Red Sea since 2023, targeting ships they deem linked to Israel or its supporters.

The attacks have disrupted trade flows through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.

But no attacks have been claimed by the rebel group since the ceasefire began in Gaza on October 10.

The rebels’ most recent attack hit the Dutch-flagged cargo ship Minervagracht on September 29, killing one crew member on board and wounding another. The Houthi campaign against shipping has killed at least nine mariners and seen four ships sunk.

Israel has repeatedly struck what it says are Houthi targets in Yemen in recent months, killing dozens of Yemeni civilians. The Houthis have fired missiles towards Israel, most intercepted, but some breaking past Israel’s much-vaunted US-supplied air defences and causing injuries and disruptions at airports.

On Thursday, Israel claimed responsibility for killing the Houthi military’s Chief of Staff Muhammad Abd al-Karim al-Ghamari.

The Houthis said in a statement that the conflict with Israel had not ended and that Israel will “receive its deterrent punishment for the crimes it has committed”.

In August, Israel said it targeted senior figures from the group, including al-Ghamari, in air strikes on the capital Sanaa that killed the prime minister of Yemen’s Houthi-run government and several other ministers.

It has been a week since the ceasefire was announced in Gaza. When we heard the news in the occupied West Bank, we celebrated. We felt relief and hope that the genocide is finally over. But we also realised that there is no ceasefire for us.

The daily violence we have been subjected to for decades is showing no signs of abating. Since October 7, 2023, the brutality of our occupier has only intensified. Today, life in the West Bank has become almost impossible.

Violence, dispossession and paralysis

After the ceasefire deal was announced, a friend’s little daughter cheered; she then asked to go with her grandparents to pick olives. He told her that it would be difficult to do, to which she responded, “Why? Isn’t the war over?”

How do you explain to a child that the war ending in Gaza does not mean Palestinian families in the West Bank still can access their land to harvest olives? People still cannot reach their groves because of barriers set up by the Israeli military or they fear attacks by Israeli soldiers and settlers, or both.

There are daily violent assaults on Palestinian farmers and their land. Since October 7, 2023, there have been 7,154 attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestian people and property – some of them deadly.

Almost 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army and settler mobs, including 212 children; more than 10,000 Palestinians have been displaced. Settlers and soldiers have destroyed 37,237 olive trees since October 7, 2023.

Even life in urban areas has become unbearable.

As a resident of Rawabi, a city north of Ramallah, I, too, feel the suffocation of the occupation every day.

If I need to travel outside my city to run errands, shop, obtain official paperwork, or anything else, I could get stuck at a checkpoint for hours and never make it to my destination. There are four iron gates, a military tower, and a barrier between Rawabi and Ramallah; they can make the 10-minute trip between Rawabi and Ramallah last an eternity.

Throughout the West Bank, there are 916 Israeli barriers, barriers and iron gates, 243 of which were constructed after October 7, 2023. These open and close at the Israeli army’s whim, meaning a Palestinian can get stuck at one barrier for hours. This disrupts every aspect of life – from family visits to urgent medical care to school attendance and transportation of goods.

We have also been denied access to Jerusalem and thus our freedom of worship at Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Few Palestinians are given the special permits needed to enter the city. We last had access to Jerusalem more than 20 years ago. This means an entire generation of young people know nothing about the city except from the pictures and stories told by their parents and grandparents.

Even at night, the Palestinians are not left alone by the occupation. Any Palestinian home may be subject to a raid by the Israeli army, with soldiers breaking the front door, terrorising the family inside and detaining without charge some of its members. Neighbours would, too, be terrorised with Israeli soldiers firing tear gas canisters for no reason, just to cause more suffering.

The right to a normal life—to worship, to spend quality time with friends and family, to move freely, to access regular medical care and education —are all denied to the Palestinians in the West Bank.

The spectre of annexation

Over the decades since the occupation of 1967, Israel has managed to control almost half of the land of the West Bank. It has done so by constructing settlements and confiscating land from its Palestinian owners by declaring it either “state land” or “military zone”. The theft of Palestinian land accelerated after October 7; at least 12,300 acres (4,9787 hectares) were seized in two years.

In many cases, confiscated land is used to establish new settlement outposts or to expand existing settlements.

Settlement construction in the West Bank is not random. Rather, land is selected in a way that encircles Palestinian villages and towns, creating a settlement belt around them that prevents any form of geographical continuity between Palestinian territories, thus thwarting the dream of a future state.

To maintain these illegal settlements, Israel has also laid its hands on the West Bank’s natural resources. It has seized almost all water resources. This has ensured a massive water reservoir in the West Bank to serve the settlement expansion.

For the Palestinians, this has been disastrous. They are now almost completely dependent on Israeli water company “Mekorot”, which gives very small quotas of water to densely populated Palestinian areas, while settlers receive several times the Palestinian share per capita.

Every summer, when drought settles in, Palestinians are forced to buy extra water at exorbitant prices from Mekorot. Meanwhile, Palestinian wells and rain water tanks are often attacked and destroyed.

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli government has accelerated its efforts to carry out annexation. We feel that the seizure of Area C – an area established by the Oslo Accords where Israel has full civilian and security control – is imminent. This would mean razing Palestinian villages and communities and expelling people towards Area A, which constitutes just 18 percent of the West Bank. Area B will follow. The process of forced expulsion has already started with Bedouin communities in the two areas.

This is our reality here in the West Bank. While peace conferences and meetings were held and peace in the Middle East is declared, we know nothing of it. Every day, every hour, every minute, we are harassed, intimidated, dispossessed and killed.

For decades, Israel has rejected political solutions and pursued a policy of controlling land, people, and resources. It has continued to wage war on us even when its bombardment has stopped. The only way to achieve true peace is to acknowledge the occupation and end it.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Follow our live build-up with team news ahead of our comprehensive text commentary stream at the Premier League match.

The AFE said replica demonstrations will take place at the remaining La Liga games this weekend.

Real Madrid head coach Xabi Alonso, whose side play at Getafe on Sunday, said: “We are against the [Miami] match. We believe it distorts the competition.

“There hasn’t been unanimity or consultation for it to be played on neutral ground. The protests are positive, and that sentiment is positive.

“We believe it could happen if there were unanimity, but that’s not the case.”

The AFE has not asked Barcelona and Villarreal players to participate in the protests to avoid it being “interpreted as a possible measure against any club”.

It said: “In the face of La Liga’s constant refusals and unrealistic proposals, the Spanish Footballers’ Association categorically rejects a project that does not have the approval of the main players in our sport and demands that the employers’ association create a negotiating table in which all information is shared and the exceptional characteristics of the project are analysed, the needs and concerns of the footballers are addressed, and the protection of their labour rights and compliance with current regulations are guaranteed.”

The BBC has contacted La Liga for comment.

Confirmation of the Miami game followed a decision by the Italian football federation (FIGC) to sanction a Serie A match between AC Milan and Como to be played in Perth, Australia, in February.

On Friday Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said: “My players are not happy. I am not happy. But La Liga decided that we will play this game.”

Real expressed opposition when the fixture was announced, saying the consequences would be “so serious”, while Uefa “reluctantly” approved the move.

This week RFEF president Rafael Louzan said the move was “good for football”, while Barcelona president Joan Laporta said the match will “definitely be a great show”.

The final public viewing event in the western city of Kisumu has been preceded by deaths and injuries on previous days.

Dozens of people have been injured at a memorial event in Kenya’s western city of Kisumu as huge crowds gathered to view the body of revered former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, local media reported.

The injuries occurred on Saturday at Jomo Kenyatta International Stadium despite authorities deploying military units, police and aerial surveillance to prevent a recurrence of deadly and chaotic incidents that marked earlier memorial proceedings on Thursday and Friday.

Kenya Red Cross teams treated people who fainted from fatigue and distress, evacuating casualties as crowds surged inside the venue. Odinga’s body was being transported to his ancestral home in nearby Bondo for burial on Sunday, drawing tens of thousands throughout the region.

The additional precautions were put in place after violence and chaos killed at least five people during memorial proceedings for the 80-year-old opposition leader and statesman, who collapsed during a morning walk in India’s Kerala state on Wednesday.

Siaya Governor James Orengo urged restraint as arrangements progressed for transporting Odinga’s body to his ancestral home in Bondo, approximately 60km (40 miles) west of Kisumu, where the latest disruptions had occurred.

“I really entreat members of the public and the community in general to maintain the peace during this period,” Orengo told local media.

Thursday’s initial viewing descended into bloodshed when security forces fired weapons and tear gas into crowds surging towards a pavilion where Odinga’s coffin had been placed, killing at least three people at a Nairobi stadium.

A day later, panic swept through mourners exiting Friday’s state funeral service at a separate venue in the capital, triggering a crowd crush that killed two more and sent 163 to medical care.

Huge turnout has characterised every stage of the mourning period since Odinga’s body returned home on Thursday, with supporters walking nearly 30km (20 miles) from Nairobi’s airport to escort his remains.

Friday’s state ceremony drew tens of thousands who sang, danced and waved handkerchiefs as they celebrated a figure many affectionately called “Baba” – the Swahili word for father.

Dignitaries including President William Ruto and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud attended the service, where Odinga’s relatives pleaded for peaceful proceedings.

His brother Oburu told mourners: “Raila should not be teargassed in death. He has been teargassed enough when he was alive.”

Former United States President Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan, honoured Odinga as “a true champion of democracy” who “endured decades of struggle and sacrifice for the broader cause of freedom and self-governance in Kenya”, in a post on X.

Obama noted that Odinga “was willing to choose the path of peaceful reconciliation without compromising his core values”.

Odinga never became president despite five attempts spanning three decades, but shaped Kenya’s democratic evolution more profoundly than many who held that office and has led to an outpouring of grief nationally and across Africa.

He spearheaded the country’s return to multiparty politics in the 1990s and drove the passage of a landmark 2010 constitution that distributed authority away from centralised executive power.

Members of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) have voted to postpone approving a plan to curb shipping emissions, after United States President Donald Trump threatened to impose sanctions on countries that supported the measure.

The vote on Friday set back plans to regulate the shipping industry’s contributions to climate change by at least 12 months, even though the Net Zero Framework (NZF) had already been approved by members of the London-based IMO, a United Nations body, in April.

The decision to formally delay adopting the framework until late next year came a day after President Trump took to his Truth Social platform, saying: “I am outraged that the International Maritime Organization is voting in London this week to pass a global Carbon Tax.”

“The United States will NOT stand for this Global Green New Scam Tax on Shipping,” he said, telling countries to vote against the plan.

Washington also threatened to impose sanctions, visa restrictions and port levies on countries that supported the deal.

In advance of this week’s meeting in London, about 63 IMO members who had voted for the plan in April were expected to maintain their support for curbs on emissions, and others were expected to join the initiative to formally approve the framework.

Following Trump’s social media threat, delegates in London instead voted on a hastily arranged resolution to push back proceedings on the matter, which passed by 57 votes to 49.

The IMO, which comprises 176 member countries, is responsible for regulating the safety and security of international shipping and preventing pollution on the high seas.

Since returning to power in January, Trump has focused on reversing Washington’s course on climate change, encouraging fossil fuel use by deregulation, cutting funding for clean energy projects and promising businesses to “drill, baby drill”.

‘A missed opportunity’

A spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres called Friday’s decisions “a missed opportunity for member states to place the shipping sector on a clear, credible path towards net zero emissions”.

The International Chamber of Shipping, representing more than 80 percent of the world’s fleet, also expressed disappointment.

“Industry needs clarity to be able to make the investments needed to decarbonise the maritime sector,” the chamber’s Secretary-General Thomas Kazakos said in a statement.

Disappointed, but still very much Committed! https://t.co/7P192kAvCx

— Thomas A. Kazakos (@ThomasKazakos) October 17, 2025

Ralph Regenvanu, the minister for climate change for Vanuatu, said the decision to delay the vote by 12 months was “unacceptable given the urgency we face in light of accelerating climate change”.

“But we know that we have international law on our side and will continue to fight for our people and the planet,” Regenvanu added.

Leading up to Friday’s decision, China, the European Union, Brazil, Britain and several other members of the IMO had reaffirmed their support.

Countries that opposed the measures included Russia and Saudi Arabia.

A Russian delegate described the proceedings as “chaos” as he addressed the plenary on Friday after talks had lasted into the early hours.

Argentina and Singapore, two countries that had previously voted in support of the framework in April, were among those that voted to postpone introducing it this week.

If it had been formally adopted this week, the Net Zero Framework (NZF) would have been the first global carbon-pricing system, charging ships a penalty of $380 per metric tonne on every extra tonne of CO2-equivalent they emit while rewarding vessels that reduce their emissions by using alternatives.

The framework plan is intended to help the IMO reach its target of cutting net emissions from international shipping by 20 percent by 2030 and eliminating them by 2050.

Climate change is already beginning to affect shipping and the safety of seafarers, including by changing ocean currents and causing more frequent and severe storms.

Proposals to reduce reliance on dirtier bunker fuel in the shipping industry include using ammonia and methanol, as well as fitting cargo ships with special sails.

Iran also expresses commitment to diplomacy as landmark 10-year nuclear deal with Western powers officially ends.

Iran has said it is no longer bound by restrictions on its nuclear programme as a landmark 10-year deal between it and world powers expired, though Tehran reiterated its “commitment to diplomacy”.

From now on, “all of the provisions [of the 2015 deal], including the restrictions on the Iranian nuclear programme and the related mechanisms are considered terminated,” Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Saturday, the day of the pact’s expiration.

“Iran firmly expresses its commitment to diplomacy,” it added.

The deal’s “termination day” was set for exactly 10 years after the adoption of resolution 2231, enshrined by the United Nations Security Council.

Officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the agreement between Iran and China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States saw the lifting of international sanctions against Iran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear programme.

But Washington unilaterally left the deal in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term in office and reinstated sanctions. Tehran then began stepping up its nuclear programme.

Talks to revive the agreement have failed so far, and in August, the UK, Germany and France triggered the so-called “snapback” process, leading to the re-imposition of the UN sanctions.

“Termination day is relatively meaningless due to snapback,” Arms Control Association expert Kelsey Davenport told the AFP news agency.

Ali Vaez, the International Crisis Group’s Iran project director, told AFP that while the nuclear deal had been “lifeless” for years, the snapback had “officially buried” the agreement, with “its sorry fate continuing to cast a shadow over the future”.

Western powers and Israel have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, a claim Tehran denies.

Neither US intelligence nor the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said they found any evidence this year that Iran was pursuing atomic weapons.

Nuclear talks between Iran and world powers are currently deadlocked.

“Iran remains sceptical of the utility of engaging with the US given its history with President Trump, while Washington still seeks a maximalist deal,” Vaez told AFP.

On Monday, Trump said he wanted a peace deal with Iran, but stressed the ball was in Tehran’s court.

Tehran has repeatedly said it remains open to diplomacy with the US, provided Washington offers guarantees against military action during any potential talks.

The US joined Israel in striking Iran during a 12-day war in June, which hit nuclear sites, but also killed more than 1,000 Iranians, including hundreds of civilians, and caused billions of dollars in damage.

Angered that the IAEA did not condemn the attacks and accusing the agency of “double standards”, President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a law in early July suspending all cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog and prompting inspectors to leave the country.

For its part, the IAEA has described its inability to verify Iran’s nuclear stockpile since the start of the war “a matter of serious concern”.

The three European powers last week announced they will seek to restart talks to find a “comprehensive, durable and verifiable agreement”.

Iranian top diplomat Abbas Araghchi said during an interview last week that Tehran does “not see any reason to negotiate” with the Europeans, given they triggered the snapback mechanism.

President Volodymyr Zelensky appears to have come away empty-handed from a White House meeting after US President Donald Trump indicated he was not ready to supply sought-after Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.

Zelensky said after the cordial bilateral that he and Trump had talked about long-range missiles, but decided not to make statements on the issue “because the United States does not want an escalation”.

Following the meeting, Trump took to social media to call for Kyiv and Moscow to “stop where they are” and end the war.

The Trump-Zelensky meeting came a day after Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone and agreed to meet him in Hungary soon.

Zelensky believes using Tomahawks to strike at Russian oil and energy facilities would severely weaken Putin’s war economy.

While Trump did not rule it out, his tone at the White House on Friday was non-committal.

“Hopefully they won’t need it, hopefully we’ll be able to get the war over without thinking about Tomahawks,” the US president said, adding: “I think we’re fairly close to that.”

He described the weapons as “a big deal” and said that the US needed them for its own defence. He also said that supplying Tomahawks to Ukraine could mean a further escalation in the conflict, but that discussions about sending them would continue.

Asked by the BBC if the Tomahawks had prompted Putin to meet Trump, the US president said: “The threat of that [the missiles] is good, but the threat of that is always there.”

The Ukrainian leader suggested his country could offer drones in exchange for the Tomahawks, prompting smiles and nodding from Trump.

Zelensky also complimented Trump on his role in securing the first phase of a peace deal in the Middle East, suggesting the US leader could build on that momentum to help end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

After the meeting, Zelensky was asked by a reporter outside the White House if he thought Putin wanted a deal or was just buying time with the planned meeting with Trump in Budapest.

“I don’t know,” he said, adding that the prospect of Ukraine having Tomahawks had caused Russia to be “afraid because it is a strong weapon”.

Asked if he was leaving Washington more optimistic that Ukraine would get the Tomahawks, he said: “I am realistic.”

The Ukrainian leader also appeared to suggest he would be amenable to Trump’s suggestion of stopping the war along the current front line.

“We have to stop where we are, he is right, the president is right,” Zelensky said. He added that the step after that would be “to speak”.

He later posted on X, saying that he had called European leaders to share details of the meeting with Trump, adding that the “main priority now is to protect as many lives as possible, guarantee security for Ukraine, and strengthen all of us in Europe.”

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the call with European leaders was “productive” and promised that “the UK will continue to send humanitarian aid and military support”.

While Trump had shown an openness to the idea of selling the Tomahawks in recent days, Putin warned that such a move would further strain the US-Russian relationship.

On Thursday, Trump said “great progress” was made during a phone call with Putin, with the pair agreeing to face-to-face talks soon in Hungary – although no date has been set.

Asked by a reporter on Friday if he was concerned Putin might be playing for time by agreeing to a new summit, Trump said: “I am.”

“But I’ve been played all my life by the best of them, and I came out really well. So, it’s possible, a little time, it’s alright. But I think that I’m pretty good at this stuff. I think that he wants to make a deal,” he said.

When asked by another reporter whether Zelensky would be involved in the prospective talks in Budapest, Trump – who was sat beside the Ukrainian president said there was “bad blood” between Putin and Zelenksy.

“We want to make it comfortable for everybody,” Trump said. “We’ll be involved in threes, but it may be separated.” He added that the three leaders “have to get together”.

The US president said his call, the first with Putin since mid-August, was “very productive”, adding that teams from Washington and Moscow would meet next week.

Trump had hoped a face-to-face summit in Alaska in August would help convince Putin to enter into comprehensive peace talks to end the war, but that meeting failed to produce a decisive breakthrough.

They spoke again days later when Trump interrupted a meeting with Zelensky and European leaders to call Putin.

Back in Ukraine, the BBC spoke on Friday to a couple repairing the small store they own in a suburb of Kyiv, after it was obliterated by Russian missiles last month.

When the store-owner, Volodymyr, was asked about Trump’s forthcoming summit meeting with Putin, he began to say: “We appreciate all support”.

But he stepped away as tears welled up in his eyes. After a long pause, he composed himself and started again.

“Truth and democracy will win, and all the terrorism and evil will disappear,” he said. “We just want to live, we don’t want to give up, we just want them to leave us alone.”

Sikorsky has unveiled a new, fully uncrewed version of the Black Hawk helicopter with a completely transformed front end that swaps out the cockpit for clamshell doors. Depending on how it is configured, what has been dubbed the U-Hawk can move thousands of pounds of outsized cargo internally and slung underneath, deploy uncrewed ground vehicles, and fire dozens of “launched effects” like surveillance and reconnaissance drones and loitering munitions.

A U-Hawk demonstrator, converted from an ex-U.S. Army UH-60L, is on display at the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) main annual conference in Washington, D.C., which opened today and at which TWZ is in attendance. Sikorsky, now a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, also refers to the design as the S-70 Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), with S-70 being the company’s internal model number for H-60 variants.

The U-Hawk leverages the company’s past work on a Pilot Optional Vehicle (OPV) version of the Black Hawk, which has been flying for years, as well as its MATRIX autonomy flight control software. Development of MATRIX first began more than a decade ago and was buoyed early on by support from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) through the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program.

“A lot of our customers said, hey, I need to be able to move things into theater, and I need to be able to move them in mass. And a lot of the drones out there may be able to carry 100 pounds, may be able to carry 500 pounds,” Rich Benton, Sikorsky Vice President and General Manager, told TWZ and other outlets during a press call earlier this month. “We look introspectively, what do we have? Well, we actually have an autonomous Black Hawk today, our OPV, optionally piloted. But why couldn’t we just take the cockpit out of that and make that a UAS?”

“We conceived this idea [the U-Hawk], believe it not, at the last AUSA, talking to some of the folks from the Army and other services,” Igor Cherepinsky, Sikorsky Innovations Director, also told TWZ and other outlets during a separate call ahead of the opening of today’s conference. “We procured the [underlying UH-60L] aircraft towards the beginning of this year.”

It took Sikorsky roughly 10 months to go from “concept to reality,” according to a company press release. The goal is for it to take flight for the first time next year. The U-Hawk has, so far, been an internally funded effort.

The U-Hawk adaptation of the Black Hawk does do much more than simply remove the pilots and offers significantly greater capability than crewed versions for certain missions. The design also features a different hardware backend for the MATRIX autonomy package and a revised fly-by-wire control system compared to the previous OPV Black Hawk, which we will come back to later on.

Still, the most eye-catching features of the new uncrewed version are its new front section and revised internal arrangement.

“We have completely removed the cockpit, the pilot, and also the crew chief stations of the aircraft,” Ramsey Bentley, Sikorsky Advanced Programs Business Development Director, explained while speaking alongside Cherepinsky. “This gives us the entire cabin and cockpit area for either a logistics operation or mission support operations.”

Sikorsky says the U-Hawk will also be able to “self-deploy” out to a range of 1,600 nautical miles and have a total unrefueled endurance of 14 hours. The press release today also says the uncrewed Black Hawk can “carry internal fuel tanks for increased range or extended time on station,” but it is unclear if this is required to meet the stated range and endurance figures, although that seems likely. Increased range while carrying a useful payload still opens up significant new opportunities, especially for operations across the broad expanses of the Pacific, but also elsewhere.

Payload-wise, Sikorsky expects the uncrewed Black Hawk to be able to carry up to 7,000 pounds internally or 9,000 pounds slung underneath, or a mix of both up to a maximum rating of 10,000 pounds. The company says this is roughly in line with the payload capacity, by weight, of a standard crewed UH-60L. For helicopters, in general, the maximum allowable payload on any particular sortie is also heavily dependent on environmental factors like altitude and temperature.

The U-Hawk’s revised configuration gives it approximately 25 percent more physical space inside for cargo and/or other payloads compared to existing UH-60 variants. This is important as payloads often have dimensional restrictions, as well as weight-based ones. Some cargoes that would have been previously slung underneath could be carried internally, which would drastically increase the range at which they could be delivered.

“The payload, I think, is what really distinguishes this from competitors. … So one can start to imagine the missions that that U-Hawk can begin to solve,” Beth Parcella, Sikorsky Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, noted while speaking together with Vice President and General Manager Benton. “Everything from delivering swarms of drones, from launched effects ‘quivers,’ carrying cargo in a contested logistics environment, driving on and off uncrewed ground vehicles, operating in a counter-UAS function, [and] roll-on and roll-off of supplies.”

“So there’s a tremendous amount of flexibility with this aircraft,” she added.

When it comes to “launched effects,” or LEs, this is a catch-all term that the U.S. military currently uses to refer to uncrewed aerial systems that can be fired from other aerial platforms, as well as ones on the ground or at sea. Sikorsky and its parent company, Lockheed Martin, are currently using the Army’s requirements for three tiers of short, medium, and long-range launched effects as a baseline for the development of the launch ‘quivers’ and what gets loaded in them. LEs in all three categories could be configured to perform surveillance and reconnaissance and electronic warfare missions, as well as be employed as loitering munitions or act as decoys.

“What this quiver does is, depending upon the size of the launched effect, it’s able to hold 24 to 50 different launched effects in the back of the aircraft,” Bentley said. “The quiver is actually designed for what would be the Army short-range and medium-range-sized LEs. The long-range [ones] probably ends up going out on the [stub] wing, like you’ve probably seen [in] some other demonstrations.”

Bentley also noted that the quivers will be able to carry mixed loads of different types of LEs at once, including types developed by other companies.

Parcella did not elaborate on the potential “counter-UAS function” for the U-Hawk, but indicated that it could be tied to its launched effects capabilities. The U-Hawk might be able to carry other types of weaponry, as well as electronic warfare systems, that could be employed against hostile drones, as well as other targets.

As noted, general cargo-carrying is also envisioned as a key role for the uncrewed Black Hawk. Sikorsky says the U-Hawk will be able to carry up to four U.S. military-standard Joint Modular Intermodal Containers (JMIC), spread between the main cabin and slung underneath, compared to the two that existing Black Hawk variants can lug around today. It will also be able to carry a single one of the standard ammunition ‘pods’ used in the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), as well as a pair of Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) in their launch canisters, according to today’s press release. The Army operates both the M270 and M142. The Marine Corps has HIMARSs, as well, and is also fielding NSM in a ground-launched configuration.

The U-Hawk’s clamshell doors allow for the loading and unloading of cargo even while the rotors are still turning. There is also a folding ramp to help ease the process, as well as allow for the deployment of UGVs.

All of “this is designed to do direct support of the maneuver commander. So, as the Army is conducting an air assault, you would envision the U-Hawk flying ahead of the soldiers,” Bentley explained. “As the U-Hawk comes into the landing zone area, first it dispenses launched effects out of the sides of the aircraft, out of our launched effects quiver. And then it lands, it disembarks the UGV, and then the aircraft departs. And this is done ahead of any soldiers putting boots on the ground.”

“You’ve probably heard about Gen. [James] Rainey, the AFC [Army Futures Command] commander, talking about metal-on-metal first contact,” Bentley said. “This is Sikorsky focused on that commander’s need, the soldiers’ need, to put these launched effects, UGVs, and UAS in the battle space, ahead of us, putting soldiers in harm’s way.”

The U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps are also both especially interested in using vertical takeoff and landing-capable uncrewed aircraft for logistics missions, including the resupply of forces in higher-threat areas. The Marines are already pursuing a multi-tier family of Aerial Logistics Connector (ALC) platforms, and have started to field drones to meet the lowest-end Tactical Resupply Unmanned Aircraft System (TRUAS) requirement. 

Bentley also said the company envisions U-Hawks performing non-military missions, including supporting wildfire fighting and disaster relief operations. A number of civilian operators already fly crewed H-60 variants in these roles.

Regardless of the missions it is configured for, Sikorsky is designing the U-Hawk to provide all of its capabilities with minimal training and sustainment requirements. Sikorsky says individuals without aviation-specific skill sets can be readily trained to operate the uncrewed Black Hawk via touchscreen tablet-like devices. The MATRIX system has a demonstrated ability to get platforms like the OPV Black Hawk between set waypoints in a highly autonomous manner.

“Upshot of this is that you can operate this aircraft with a minimally trained operator, and a tablet, if that’s what you want. We [are] obviously also providing a way to be integrated into [a] bigger airspace picture, be it civil or military airspace, where one can exercise more control over the aircraft,” Cherepinsky explained. “If you tell it to go from airport A to airport B, for example, and it knows it’s in civil airspace, it will take the right routes, follow the right civil procedures. If it knows it’s a military airspace, it will do what it thinks is right for the military airspace.”

“In some cases, [it] may not be what exactly — what you want. So, we’re providing this level of adjustable autonomy where you can have a local operator on the ground, for example, operating the aircraft as a crane, right, moving around the field, moving things around the field, loading the aircraft,” he added. “You can hand it off to a more central UAS command, where they have a lot more fine detail over … speeds, altitudes, and whatnot. It’s really, really up to our customer how they want to operate these vehicles.”

Sikorsky is also presenting U-Hawk as a very cost-effective option, even compared to what it previously demonstrated with the OPV Black Hawk.

“Our S-70 OPV aircraft has been flying for a number of years,” Cherepinsky said. “It’s optionally piloted. It’s [a] human-rated fly-by-wire system. It’s our autonomy system. It comes at a certain price point.”

He pointed out that many of the systems of the OPV demonstrator utilized available components sourced from existing suppliers rather than ones designed with that aircraft specifically in mind. This included the hardware used to run the MATRIX system, which he described as being more than what Sikorsky necessarily wanted or needed for that application. As he mentioned, the systems also had to meet standards for an aircraft designed to carry humans, which is not something U-Hawk has to take into account at present.

“On the U-Hawk, we actually did a lot more vertical integration,” according to Cherepinsky. “We designed our own vehicle management computers, our actuation, and the price point of the entire system, not just the aircraft, is much, much lower. As an example, our vehicle management computers are 10s of 1000s of dollars, not hundreds, as they are on a human-rated aircraft.”

The current cost proposition for the U-Hawks also includes savings from reusing existing UH-60L airframes. The U.S. Army has been steadily retiring these versions and selling them off as it acquires newer, more capable M variants. The Army had been working to bring some 760 L models up to an improved standard called the UH-60V, but axed plans for further conversions last year as part of a larger shakeup in the service’s aviation priorities. As such, hundreds more UH-60Ls are expected to become available in the coming years. Other older H-60s that could be turned into uncrewed versions might become available as other operators around the world begin upgrading their fleets, as well.

“We certainly can [build all-new U-Hawks]. It all depends on the economics and price point,” Cherepinsky said.

It is worth noting that the U.S. Army is currently envisioning future air assaults, especially in the context of a potential future high-end fight with China in the Pacific, stretching over distances beyond what the U-Hawk could cover. The ongoing war in Ukraine also continues to offer particularly good examples of how growing threat ecosystems are increasingly imposing significant operational limitations on the use of crewed helicopters. The pursuit of launched effects within the Army and elsewhere across the U.S. military directly reflects increasingly more capable and long-range adversary anti-air capabilities. The Army also notably canceled plans to acquire a Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA), which was set to be a crewed helicopter of some kind, last year, citing threat concerns and plans to focus more on uncrewed platforms.

“So, I’ll tell you up front, I can’t be specific on the things we’re doing to address survivability. And survivability has been an issue for aviation, for vertical aviation, for a long time,” Benton said during the previous press call in response to a direct question from this author about what might be in the works to help uncrewed and crewed Black Hawks address growing threats going forward. “We are leveraging the entire power of Lockheed Martin … what is [sic] the technologies that Lockheed Martin has and can bring to bear to provide survivability on those aircraft. Those are the things we’re continuing to look at.”

At the same time, crewed helicopters are not going away, and tradeoffs will have to be made. For many missions, the U-Hawk removes the biggest risk factor in terms of combat losses, a human crew, while also offering a significant boost in some capabilities. The uncrewed Black Hawk also proposes a way to do all of that at a lower cost that also leverages extremely well-established logistics and sustainment chains. This is particularly significant for the U.S. Army, which expects to continue flying H-60s on some level through at least 2070.

U-Hawks could also take over certain missions in lower-threat environments from crewed platforms, presenting the potential for additional operational flexibility and cost benefits. Being able to autonomously move even a few hundred pounds of critical cargo, such as spare parts, between far flung and remote locations separated by many hundreds of miles, without the need for a fully qualified aircrew, could be a boon even in lower threat areas. The fact that it can move much larger loads internally, without the range penalties of sling loading, is an even bigger sell. All this could be done without adding a new type to the Army’s shrinking helicopter fleet and leveraging the H-60/S-70’s global supply chain is also a very attractive factor, as well. Those same attributes underscore the sales potential of the uncrewed Black Hawk to non-military operators, too.

“We’re really excited. And honestly, some of us are thinking, gosh, why didn’t we think about this five years ago?” Parcella said on the press call earlier this month.

Update:

We got a walk-around tour of the U-Hawk on the floor of the Army Association’s symposium, check it out here.

Contact the author: [email protected]

The country is hit by some 20 storms and typhoons a year, striking disaster-prone areas where millions live in poverty.

Thousands of residents of a Philippine island have fled their homes along the Pacific coast as weather experts warned of coastal flooding ahead of the approach of Tropical Storm Fengshen, rescue officials said.

The eye of the storm was forecast to brush past Catanduanes, an impoverished island of 270,000 people, later on Saturday with gusts of up to 80km/h (50mph).

Fengshen will bring heavy rainfall, along with a “minimal to moderate risk” of coastal flooding from 1.2-metre (3.2-foot) waves being pushed ashore, the government weather service said.

More than 9,000 residents of Catanduanes moved to safer ground, the provincial disaster office said, in an often-repeated drill on the island that has previously been the first major landmass hit by cyclones that form in the western Pacific Ocean.

The Catanduanes provincial government ordered local officials to “activate their respective evacuation plans” for residents of “high-risk areas”, including the coast, low-lying communities and landslide-prone slopes, rescue official Gerry Rubio told the AFP news agency.

The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons each year, striking disaster-prone areas where millions of impoverished people live.

Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful as the planet warms due to human-driven climate change.

Fengshen comes as the country is still reeling from a series of major earthquakes and typhoons that killed dozens of people in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, at least 79 people were killed in a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in Cebu province in the central Philippines.

Days later, another earthquake struck, this time a magnitude 7.4 off the coast of the southern Philippines, killing at least six people and triggering a second, magnitude 6.9 quake later in the day. Tsunami warnings were issued after each earthquake.

In late September, several people were killed and thousands were evacuated from villages and schools in the northern Philippines, while offices were closed, as Typhoon Ragasa struck.

South Korea has banned citizens from going to parts of Cambodia amid growing concerns over the country’s scam industry.

Dozens of South Korean nationals who had been detained in Cambodia for alleged involvement in cyberscam operations have been returned home and placed under arrest, according to South Korean authorities.

Officers arrested the individuals on board a chartered flight sent to collect them from Cambodia, a South Korean police official told the AFP news agency.

“A total of 64 nationals just arrived at the Incheon international airport on a chartered flight,” the official said on Saturday, adding that all of the individuals have been taken into custody as criminal suspects.

South Korea sent a team to Cambodia earlier this week to investigate dozens of its nationals who were kidnapped into the Southeast Asian nation’s online scam industry.

South Korean National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac previously said the detained individuals included both “voluntary and involuntary participants” in scam operations.

On Friday, Cambodian Ministry of Interior spokesman Touch Sokhak said the repatriation agreement with South Korea was the “result of good cooperation in suppression of scams between the two countries”.

Online scam operations have proliferated in Cambodia since the COVID-19 pandemic, when the global shutdown saw many Chinese-owned casinos and hotels in the country pivot to illicit operations.

Operating from industrial-scale scam centres, tens of thousands of workers perpetrate online romance scams known as “pig-butchering”, often targeting people in the West in a vastly lucrative industry responsible for the theft of tens of billions of dollars each year.

Pig-butchering – a euphemism for fattening up a victim before they are slaughtered – often involves fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes that build trust over time before funds are stolen.

Parallel industries have blossomed in Laos, the Philippines and war-ravaged Myanmar, where accounts of imprisonment and abuse in scam centres are the most severe.

An estimated 200,000 people are working in dozens of large-scale scam operations across Cambodia, with many scam compounds owned by or linked to the country’s wealthy and politically connected. About 1,000 South Korean nationals are believed to be among that figure.

On Tuesday, the United States and United Kingdom announced sweeping sanctions against a Cambodia-based multinational crime network, identified as the Prince Group, for running a chain of “scam centres” across the region.

UK authorities seized 19 London properties worth more than 100 million pounds ($134m) linked to the Prince Group, which markets itself as a legitimate real estate, financial services and consumer businesses firm.

Prosecutors said that at one point, Prince Group’s chair, Chinese-Cambodian tycoon Chen Zhi, bragged that scam operations were pulling in $30m a day.

Chen – who has served as an adviser to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and his father, long-ruling former Prime Minister Hun Sen – is also wanted on charges of wire fraud and money laundering, according to the UK and US.

Still at large, he faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

The move by the UK and US against the Prince Group came as South Korea announced a ban on travel to parts of Cambodia on Wednesday amid growing concerns over its citizens entering the scam industry.

South Korean police have said they will also conduct a joint investigation into the recent death of a college student in Cambodia who was reportedly kidnapped and tortured by a crime ring.

The South Korean student was found dead in a pick-up truck on August 8 in Cambodia’s southern Kampot province, with an autopsy revealing he “died as a result of severe torture, with multiple bruises and injuries across his body”.

Welcome to Bunker Talk. This is a weekend open discussion post for the best commenting crew on the net, in which we can chat about all the stuff that went on this week that we didn’t cover. We can also talk about the stuff we did or whatever else grabs your interest. In other words, it’s an off-topic thread.

The caption to this week’s top shot reads:

TIRANA, ALBANIA – SEPTEMBER 16: View of the interior of the Minister of Internal Affairs’ office within Bunk’Art 2, a Cold War-era museum located near the Ministry of Interior in Tirana, Albania, showcasing the design, security features, and atmosphere of the period, offering insight into the secretive operations of the Albanian government during the Cold War, on September 16, 2024, in Tirana, Albania. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Also, a reminder:

Prime Directives!

• If you want to talk politics, do so respectfully and know that there’s always somebody that isn’t going to agree with you. 
• If you have political differences, hash it out respectfully, stick to the facts, and no childish name-calling or personal attacks of any kind. If you can’t handle yourself in that manner, then please, discuss virtually anything else.
• No drive-by garbage political memes. No conspiracy theory rants. Links to crackpot sites will be axed, too. Trolling and shitposting will not be tolerated. No obsessive behavior about other users. Just don’t interact with folks you don’t like. 
• Do not be a sucker and feed trolls! That’s as much on you as on them. Use the mute button if you don’t like what you see.  
• So unless you have something of quality to say, know how to treat people with respect, understand that everyone isn’t going to subscribe to your exact same worldview, and have come to terms with the reality that there is no perfect solution when it comes to moderation of a community like this, it’s probably best to just move on. 
• Finally, as always, report offenders, please. This doesn’t mean reporting people who don’t share your political views, but we really need your help in this regard.

The Bunker is open!

For more than two years, India’s northeastern state of Manipur has been beset by violence between two ethnic groups, the Meitei and the Kuki-Zo.

With nearly 260 people killed and about 60,000 displaced, the Indian government has taken control of the state in a bid to restore order.

In what has been described as a civil war, both sides accuse the other of committing atrocities.

New Delhi has pledged to disarm the warring factions and restore peace to the region.

101 East examines how the ethnic conflict in Manipur is affecting the lives of common citizens on both sides of the divide.

George Santos, serving a prison term on charges of fraud and identity theft, had been held in solitary confinement.

United States President Donald Trump has said that he will commute the sentence of former Republican Representative George Santos, who was serving a prison sentence for fraud and identity theft.

In a social media post on Friday, Trump acknowledged that Santos had made mistakes. But he celebrated Santos as a strong supporter of the Republican Party and noted that family and friends had raised concerns over the former lawmaker’s conditions in prison.

“George Santos was somewhat of a ‘rogue,’ but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

“At least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!”

Trump added that Santos has been “horribly mistreated”, citing his isolation behind bars: “George has been in solitary confinement for long stretches of time.”

Santos became a well-known political figure after his election victory in 2022, when he flipped New York’s 3rd Congressional District from Democratic control to Republican.

Election observers noted it was one of the first times an openly gay Republican had won a seat in the House of Representatives.

But news reports quickly revealed that Santos had fabricated key details of his life story, and by December 2022, investigators had started to delve into his business dealings.

After a congressional committee found evidence that Santos had violated federal law, including by deceiving donors and stealing from his own campaign, the House of Representatives voted to expel him. Santos was less than a year into his term.

By 2024, Santos had entered into a plea deal with prosecutors to avoid a trial over the allegations. He was sentenced in April for deceiving donors and misleading 11 people, including members of his own family, into giving money to his campaign.

But Santos, a vocal Trump supporter, quickly began a push for the president to commute his prison time, claiming that his punishment was politically motivated.

Trump has also depicted himself as a victim of unjust persecution at the hands of political enemies. He is known to use the power of presidential pardon on behalf of his supporters.

At the beginning of his current term, for example, Trump controversially pardoned nearly all of those charged with participating in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. That attack was part of a bid to violently overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost.

Santos and his allies have also drawn attention to his placement in solitary confinement. Though cells meant to maximise isolation are common in US prisons, critics argue they constitute “cruel and unusual punishment”, given their connection to mental health issues and heightened risks of suicide.

Santos entered the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, New Jersey, on July 25. He has written several columns about his experience with solitary confinement since then, reiterating his appeal for Trump to show mercy.

“I am not asking for special treatment. I am asking to be treated as a person – with attention, dignity, and the care any human deserves when in distress,” he wrote in an opinion column.

“And yes, I renew my plea to President Trump: intervene. Help me escape this daily torment and let me return to my family.”

Here are the key events from day 1,332 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is how things stand on Saturday, October 18, 2025:

Fighting

• Ukrainian shelling killed two adults and a 10-year-old child in Russian-occupied Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed governor of the region, wrote in a post on Telegram.
• Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Sumy region killed a 38-year-old man and injured four others, the regional administration wrote in a post on Telegram.
• Russian attacks also injured at least eight people in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions, according to local officials.
• Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces claimed a Ukrainian drone attack destroyed an oil depot and a gas treatment plant in Russian-occupied Crimea on Friday night.
• The Russian-installed governor of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, said that a Ukrainian drone attack damaged several electrical substations in the Russian-occupied region, according to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency.
• Russian forces shelled Ukraine’s Chernihiv region 68 times in a 24-hour period, causing fires at a logging company and damaging residential areas, Regional Governor Vyacheslav Chaus said.
• Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called for relevant United Nations bodies to condemn the Ukrainian attack that killed Russian war correspondent Ivan Zuyev and seriously wounded his colleague in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region on Thursday.

Politics and diplomacy

• United States President Donald Trump met his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday, telling reporters he was optimistic about ending the war. “I think we have a chance of ending the war quickly if flexibility is shown,” Trump told reporters.
• Zelenskyy congratulated Trump on his “successful ceasefire” in the Middle East, saying that while “Putin is not ready”, he is confident that with Trump’s “help, we can stop this war, and we really need it”.
• Trump did not commit to Zelenskyy’s request for Tomahawk missiles, which are precise, long-range projectiles that Kyiv is seeking in order to strike deep into Russia, saying doing so “could mean big escalation”.
• Trump also told reporters that Zelenskyy will “be in touch” during upcoming negotiations in Hungary, where the US president will meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
• Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said his country would allow Putin to attend the planned summit with Trump in Budapest, despite the Russian leader facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), which Hungary is in the process of leaving.
• Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s investment envoy, proposed building a “US-Russia link via the Bering Strait” in a post on X, also suggesting that the undersea tunnel connecting Russia and the US could be built together with billionaire Elon Musk’s The Boring Company.
• Asked about the tunnel proposal on Friday, Trump said it was “interesting”, while Zelenskyy said: “I’m not happy with this idea.”
• United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a call with Zelenskyy after his White House meeting, where he “reiterated their unwavering commitment to Ukraine in the face of ongoing Russian aggression”, according to a summary of the call published by Downing Street.

Regional Security

Piastri had looked to be struggling compared with Norris since the start of practice and was a good chunk off the Briton in all three qualifying sessions.

Norris said: “Disappointed not to be on pole but not a surprise for us to be just a bit slower than the Red Bull lately.

“A little couple of bits here and there I could have improved on and caught a few bumps a little bit wrong, that’s the difficulty of this track. Otherwise, all happy.”

Piastri said: “A pretty scruffy lap. Just didn’t really get it together. In some ways, I feel a bit fortunate to be third. The pace in the car is good. It’s nothing major, just been a bit of a messy lap and hopefully I can tidy it up tomorrow.”

The sprint offers eight points for the winner down to one for eighth place.

The stand-out performance in qualifying came from Hulkenberg, the first time he has qualified in the top 10 all year, and the best Sauber performance of the season.

Their previous top grid position was seventh for team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto in Hungary at the start of August.

“Satisfied, happy, as you might imagine,” the German said. “P1 looked too good to be true. We weren’t sure if it was the real deal but we were able to continue that trend. Hopefully we can hang on to it this weekend.

“The pace was just there. The car seemed to be fast and in a good window, hit the sweet spot, I think that’s all.”