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US says it is attacking IRGC targets following ‘attempted attacks’ on ships in Strait of Hormuz.

The United States military says it is conducting new strikes against Iran as fighting renews between the two countries.

The Middle East-based Central Command (CENTCOM) of the US military said on Tuesday that it was hitting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets.

“The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region,” CENTCOM said.

Iran has previously responded to similar US attacks, so the strikes risk sparking a new cycle of fighting.

Iranian semiofficial news agency Tasnim reported explosions in the south of the country, including in Konarak, Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island.

Tuesday’s strikes follow an exchange of attacks on Sunday when the US military struck Larak Island in southern Iran and Tehran retaliated with missile launches against a base housing American troops in Jordan.

The fighting on Sunday saw the first attacks by both countries since July. The administration of US President Donald Trump had said that it was shifting its strategy from military strikes to intense economic pressure on Iran.

The US has imposed a naval siege on Iranian ports while threatening Tehran’s trade partners with secondary sanctions.

But Iran continues to assert its control over Hormuz – a major artery for the global energy trade. However, in recent weeks, Trump and his aides have said that the US is managing to get millions of barrels of oil through the strait daily despite the Iranian blockade.

Still, attacks on ships around the strait have been reported almost daily.

On Monday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said an oil tanker was hit by three “unknown projectiles” while transiting through Hormuz.

More to come…

Departed Labour Party leader now plans to focus on international affairs.

Former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced he is to stand down as a member of parliament.

Starmer said on Tuesday that it was the “right time” to resign as the MP for the Holborn and St Pancras seat in London after 11 years, triggering a by-election. The announcement comes six weeks after his resignation as the United Kingdom’s premier, having lost the support of ruling Labour Party MPs.

“It is now time to step aside and focus on other issues: international affairs including defence, security, trade and technology in a fast-changing world,” Starmer wrote on social media.

As party leader, Starmer led Labour to a historic 2024 landslide after 14 years of Conservative rule. However, within two years, U-turns, cuts, a diplomatic scandal, pressure from the radical right-wing Reform UK, and the challenge of Andy Burnham – who became Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade – eroded Starmer’s authority, and he was forced out.

Starmer had previously said he would remain ‌as a lawmaker until the next general election. But he told the Camden New Journal, a local newspaper in his North London constituency, that he had changed his mind and intended to leave UK Parliament after 11 years, six of those as leader of the party.

The newspaper did not give a timeframe for when an election would be held for ⁠Starmer’s seat in the constituency of Holborn and St ⁠Pancras.

Despite his dwindling popularity at home, foreign affairs were seen by some as Starmer’s strength, particularly for the strong relationships he formed with EU leaders in the wake of Brexit, especially French President Emmanuel ⁠Macron, with whom he established the so-called Coalition of the Willing in support of Ukraine.

Starmer comfortably kept his seat in the 2024 election with a majority of over 11,500 votes, though Andrew Feinstein, an independent candidate who campaigned primarily around his opposition to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and Labour’s support for it, took nearly 19 percent of ballots.

Burnham’s accession has led to ‌a ‌bounce in the polls for Labour, though he faces tougher challenges ahead, with Parliament resuming on Tuesday.

Buenos Aires, Argentina – In the La Boca neighbourhood, home to the Boca Juniors stadium and a place which lives and breathes football, people are taking turns to be photographed in front of huge murals depicting football legend Lionel Messi holding the 2022 World Cup.

Across the city, monuments have been illuminated in Argentina’s blue and white in honour of the national hero, who has announced his retirement from international football after two decades during which he was transformed from young prodigy to national icon.

On Monday, football clubs around the country were singing songs for Messi and mounting banners showing him holding the World Cup he helped to win for his country. The Argentine Football Association is planning a farewell match to thank him for his extraordinary service.

Messi announced his departure from the national team this week on social media with a handwritten letter that he says he wrote two days after losing the World Cup final against Spain this year. He said he had “nothing else to give”.

“It was a decision that hurt – and still hurts deep down – but I understand that the time has come,” he wrote on Instagram on Monday.

While the news has not come as a total surprise – Messi is 39 years old and has recently lost his father, Jorge Messi, who played a crucial role in his career – fans are nevertheless devastated.

“We are going to continue loving Messi, not just for football but for his humility, for who he is; that’s the most important thing about Messi,” fan Sebastian Luna tells Al Jazeera. “It’s football; it’s over, but Messi will always be in our hearts”.

Some are calling for his number 10 jersey to be retired along with him. Alas, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) rules won’t allow it – the team has already tried.

‘Like a bucket of cold water’

Messi played six World Cups for Argentina, and for years, he struggled with constant criticism for failing to win one.

The ⁠former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain forward, who now plays ⁠for Inter Miami, has been repeatedly compared unfavourably with the football legend Diego Maradona – who also helped Argentina win one World Cup in 1986. But that all changed when Argentina won in Qatar, propelling Messi to the status of national symbol for all Argentinians across political and social divides. Now, they have two heroes to celebrate.

“I saw Maradona; I saw many players – Kempes – but Messi is superlative,” says fan Carlos Sciata in Buenos Aires. His retirement is “like a bucket of cold water, but well, it was something that could happen, especially after his father’s death. But we are going to miss him a lot. There is no one else like him,” he adds.

The record eight-time Ballon d’Or winner became his country’s record appearance maker and scorer, with 125 goals in 207 games, ⁠having transformed a complicated relationship with the national team into a story of redemption and triumph.

Tributes have poured in since his announcement on Monday.

Angel Di Maria, who played alongside Messi in their FIFA 2022 World Cup triumph in Qatar, said it was “so hard” to know fans will not be able to see the talismanic forward in the sky blue and white colours of Argentina any more.

“I only know that I was born in the right century to be able to see you, enjoy you, and on top of that, to share all these years with you on the national team,” Di Maria declared.

Rodrigo De Paul, Messi’s Argentinian teammate at his Major League Soccer club Inter Miami, applauded the record eight-time Ballon d’Or winner’s “unconditional love” for the country.

“Just thank you, the greatest of all time, thank you for making us so, so happy, you can’t imagine how many smiles you brought!!” he added.

“You are eternal.”

Enormous void

Despite hoping for a final triumph at the World Cup this year, Argentina lost 1-0 to Spain in the final.

Now, Argentina is preparing for what comes next.

Messi’s departure leaves an enormous void for football fans, and questions are being raised about the future of coach Lionel Scaloni and the team he built around the star player.

Off the pitch, Argentinian football is facing problems of its own, with the Argentine Football Association (AFA) under investigation amid serious allegations of corruption and financial irregularities.

But for today, it is all about saying goodbye at the end of an era. Messi represents a collective source of happiness in a country that has endured economic and political upheaval.

The one man who makes all Argentinians proud summed it up in his farewell message on Monday: “I leave with the ‌peace ‌of mind and pride of having given you – alongside my teammates – moments we once only dreamed of,” he wrote.

UCLA fires Martin Jarmond

UCLA has fired athletic director Martin Jarmond and appointed longtime Lakers executive Tim Harris to replace him as chief executive and director of athletics.

UCLA chancellor Julio Frenk announced the change on Monday, ending Jarmond’s run of more than six years that included a stunning move to the Big Ten Conference, a string of conference championships outside of football and a significant financial deficit.

“UCLA Athletics currently carries a significant financial deficit, and its current path is not sustainable,” Frenk wrote. “Now is the moment to build a model for Athletics that protects the breadth of our program, creates new opportunities for student-athletes and coaches, and supports itself through the revenue it generates. I believe UCLA should help lead the transformation of intercollegiate athletics: our future must be shaped by purpose — not by pressure.”

Frenk cited the rapidly evolving college landscape, including the soaring costs associated with the name, image and likeness athlete compensation era, while announcing the need to shift to Harris’ leadership. Harris is a UCLA alum who spent more than 35 years helping run the Lakers’ business operations. Frenk announced Harris is accepting the job on “pro bono basis.”

“Tim will develop a new strategy to grow revenue through partnerships, licensing and other ventures, while ensuring that our student-athletes and coaches have the required support to compete at the highest level,” Frenk wrote in a letter to UCLA fans while outlining a new direction for the athletics program.

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Angels interim GM discusses his plan

From Bill Shaikin: In two months as the Angels’ interim general manager, John Mozeliak has reoriented the team’s draft selection priority from “closest to the majors” to “best available,” traded one-third of the major league roster to seed a barren minor league system, fired three coaches and completed a restructuring of the front office.

On Monday, he has scheduled the first meeting of the new leadership group in baseball operations.

We’ll get to that restructuring, but none of the decisions so far resolve two of the most compelling questions in Anaheim: Who is going to be running the Angels next year? And, with this year’s Angels flirting with the first 100-loss season in franchise history, are the Angels going to be much better next year?

To the latter question: Probably not.

“With the starting pitching we have, if we have the ability to be more consistent with our offense, you can definitely squint and see a better club out there,” Mozeliak told me. “But it’s going to take a few pieces to do that.”

Uh oh. That sounds discouragingly like the Angels of the last decade: We’re undermanned, but we want to be competitive, so we’ll sign a few lower-tier free agents and hope we can sneak into the playoffs with an 83-win season. In the real world, the Angels clinched their 11th consecutive losing season before the calendar turned to September.

Mozeliak has said he did not believe that the Angels need to rebuild, that the resources available to a team in the second-largest market in the majors should preclude outright tanking. In theory, that should mean that Mozeliak could trade José Soriano for shortstop Arjun Nimmala, 20, now the Angels’ top prospect, comfortable that owner Arte Moreno could buy a quality free agent to replace Soriano in the starting rotation.

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Angels end losing streak

Vaughn Grissom drove in four runs, rookie Walbert Ureña pitched seven strong innings and the Angels ended a seven-game losing streak with a 10-1 victory over the sloppy New York Yankees on Monday night.

Mike Trout had a two-run single and Christian Moore drove in a pair of runs as the Angels won at home for the first time since Aug. 15. Ureña (9-9) gave up five hits with no walks and eight strikeouts.

Elmer Rodríguez (0-3) failed to make it out of the fourth for the Yankees (78-60), giving up four runs and four hits with three walks over 3⅔ innings. It was the shortest of his six career starts since making his major league debut in April.

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Angels box score

MLB standings

Angel City defeats Boston

Prisca Chilufya scored a pair of goals as Angel City snapped a six-game winless streak with a 5-2 win over the Boston Legacy at Gillette Stadium on Monday night.

The match featured four goals in the first 18 minutes. Ally Sentnor scored for Angel City (8-8-5) in the fifth minute with a hard strike from just outside the box.

Some three minutes later, Sammy Smith added her own long strike for the Legacy that bounced to the far post out of reach of goalkeeper Angelina Anderson.

Angel City regained the lead with Chilufya’s first goal that got a slight deflection before getting past goalkeeper Laurel Ivory in the 14th minute.

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Angel City summary

NWSL standings

This day in sports history

1923 — The United States wins its fourth consecutive Davis Cup by beating Australia four matches to one.

1946 — Patty Berg wins the U.S. Women’s Open golf title by beating Betty Jameson in the final round.

1971 — John Newcombe becomes the first top-seeded man to lose in the first round of the U.S. Open when he loses to Jan Kodes, 2-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-3.

1972 — American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer beats Russian champion Boris Spassky 12.5-8.5 in Reykjavik, Iceland; most publicized world title match ever played; Fischer 1st American to win title.

1973 — George Foreman knocks out Jose Roman at 2:00 of the first round in Tokyo to retain the heavyweight title.

1977 — Renee Richards, the 43-year-old transsexual who fought for more than a year for the right to play in the women’s singles of a major tennis championship, is beaten in the first round by Virginia Wade, 6-1, 6-4. Tracy Austin, at the age of 14 years, eight months, 20 days, becomes the youngest player to play in the U.S. Open, defeating Heidi Eisterlehner, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, in the first round. Austin’s mark is broken in 1979 by 14-year-old Kathy Horvath.

1984 — Willie Totten of Mississippi Valley State passes for a Division I-AA record 536 yards and nine touchdowns in a 86-0 rout of Kentucky State. Jerry Rice catches 17 passes for 294 yards and five touchdowns and breaks his own Division I-AA record for receiving yards.

1987 — Fifteen-year-old Michael Chang beats Paul McNamee, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, to become the youngest man to win a match at the U.S. Open.

1989 — Chris Evert becomes the first 100-match winner in 108 years of U.S. tennis championships. Evert, playing her final U.S. Open, beat Patricia Tarabini 6-2, 6-4.

1993 — Goran Ivanisevic and Daniel Nestor play the longest tie-break in the history of the U.S. Open (38 points). Ivanisevic wins the first-round match 6-4, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (18).

2007 — Appalachian State 34, No. 5 Michigan 32. Julian Rauch’s 24-yard field goal with 26 seconds left puts the Mountaineers ahead of the Wolverines and Corey Lynch blocks a field goal in the final seconds to seal one of college football’s biggest upsets.

2012 — Eureka (Ill.) College quarterback Sam Durley passes for 736 yards in a 62-55 victory over Knox to break the NCAA single-game passing record. Durley completes 34 of 52 passes and throws for five touchdowns, including two in the final two minutes as the Red Devils close the Division III game with 17 unanswered points.

2014 — Kei Nishikori outlasts Milos Raonic in a five-set marathon that ends at 2:26 a.m., tying the latest finish in U.S. Open history.

2015 — Indiana’s Tamika Catchings scores 13 points, and the Fever beat the Connecticut Sun 81-51 to reach the playoffs for a WNBA-record 11th straight season.

2021 — Cristiano Ronaldo breaks the world record for goals scores in men’s international football with his 110th and 111th goals for Portugal in a 2-1 World Cup qualifying win over the Republic of Ireland.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1906 — The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1 in 24 innings. Jack Coombs of the Athletics and Joe Harris of the Red Sox pitched all 24 innings. Coombs fanned 18.

1930 — Wes Ferrell of Cleveland beat the St. Louis Browns 9-5 for his 13th straight victory.

1931 — Lou Gehrig hit his third grand slam in four days as the Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 5-1.

1945 — The Philadelphia Phillies, behind Vince DiMaggio’s grand slam, beat the Braves 8-3 in Boston. It was the fourth grand slam of the year for DiMaggio to tie a major league mark.

1958 — Vinegar Bend Mizell of the St. Louis Cardinals set a National League record by walking nine batters and tossing a shutout. Mizell beat Cincinnati 1-0 in the first game of a doubleheader.

1963 — Curt Simmons of the St. Louis Cardinals allowed six hits, drove in two runs with a triple and stole home plate in a 7-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Simmons’ steal of home is the last by a pitcher.

1967 — Cincinnati’s Bob Lee walked Dick Groat with the bases loaded in the 21st inning to give the San Francisco Giants a 1-0 victory at Crosley Field.

1975 — Tom Seaver struck out Manny Sanguillen in the seventh inning to become the first pitcher to strike out at least 200 batters in eight consecutive seasons. Seaver recorded 10 strikeouts in the Mets’ 3-0 triumph over Pittsburgh.

1986 — Oddibe McDowell and Darrell Porter of Texas hit back-to-back pinch hit homers in the ninth inning off Boston reliever Steve Crawford, but the Rangers fall to the Red Sox 6-4.

1998 — Mark McGwire broke Hack Wilson’s 68-year-old National League record for home runs in a season, hitting his 56th and 57th in the St. Louis Cardinals’ victory over the Florida Marlins.

1999 — Twenty-two of baseball 68 permanent umpires found themselves jobless, the fallout from their union’s failed attempt to force an early start to negotiations for a new labor contract. Under the deal mediated by U.S. District Judge J. Curtis Joyner, the union agreed the 22 “will provide no further services.”

2002 — Miguel Tejada hit a game-ending three-run homer to power Oakland to a 7-5 win, Oakland’s 18th straight victory, over Minnesota.

2007 — Clay Buchholz threw a no-hitter in his second major league start, just hours after being called up by the Boston Red Sox. Buchholz struck out nine, walked three and hit one batter to give the Red Sox a 10-0 victory over Baltimore.

2008 — Arizona’s Stephen Drew and Seattle’s Adrian Beltre became the first players to hit for the cycle on the same day since Bobby Veach of the Detroit Tigers and George Burns of the New York Giants did it on Sept. 17, 1920.

2014 — Cole Hamels and three Philadelphia Phillies relievers combined to pitch a no-hitter, beating the Atlanta Braves 7-0. Hamels pulled after six innings. Relievers Jake Diekman, Ken Giles and closer Jonathan Papelbon each pitched a hitless inning to finish off the fourth no-hitter in the majors this season.

2018 — South Korea wins its third straight baseball Gold in the Asian games as they beat Japan 3-0.

2019 — Justin Verlander of the Houston Astros strikes out 14 batters as he throws his third career no-hitter in a 2-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

At the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the Israeli government made no secret of its intention to forcibly transfer Palestinians from the enclave and urged the international community to support its plans for what it called ‘resettlement’.

“Europe has a long history of assisting refugees fleeing conflicts,” Danny Danon and Ram Ben Barak wrote in 2023 in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal. Describing participation in forced transfer as “a moral imperative”, Danon and Ben Barak suggested that countries accept as much as 10,000 people each to “alleviate the crisis”.

Had the suggestion been accepted by enough countries, Israel would have been granted its current greatest wish – to ethnically cleanse Gaza in full complicity with the international community. As things stand, the international community refused the Israel suggestion on grounds of breaking international law, while getting on board with Israel committing genocide. The real reason behind the stance, however, was that governments would rather witness large-scale massacres of Palestinians from a distance than accept refugees.

US President Donald Trump is now promoting Israel’s strategy. “You’re talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing. You know, over the centuries it’s had many, many conflicts, that site. And I don’t know, something has to happen,” Trump said during a 20-minute meeting with reporters on Air Force One.

OPINION: Israel’s use of domicide to further its colonial endeavours

“It’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything is demolished and people are dying there,” Trump added, in his usual vague rhetoric. “So I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”

Trump raised the idea with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi. Gaza was deemed “interesting” – for real investment purposes, of course. One must not forget Jared Kushner’s plans for Gaza – beachfront properties. And, while the Biden administration dragged its feet on forced displacement, the genocide happened under its watch and with full collaboration. Which means that the previous administration paved the way for Trump to echo what Israel insisted upon since the start of the genocide – Palestinians are slated for displacement, one way or another.

Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, stated he will be working “to prepare an operational plan and ensure the realisation of President Trump’s vision.” But it’s best to call it the Israel vision, even if Trump is the President promoting forced transfer as a humanitarian necessity. The Israeli vision is colonial, fits in with genocide and the concept of Zionism’s Greater Israel. Real estate investments facilitate the Zionist concept. And what better way to promote rebuilding Gaza, even if for Palestinians, rebuilding Gaza means the total opposite?

As Palestinians return to their homes, Trump’s suggestion of forced transfer should be considered incitement to ethnic cleansing. The world is obliged to heed what is happening right after the ceasefire and the gradual return of Palestinian refugees to Gaza. Palestinians want to remain – it is their right – and that is all that matters.

OPINION: Could the head of the world’s highest court be a judge with Zionist tendencies?

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

For about a month, the United States had refrained from attacking Iranian targets as the Trump administration turned toward economic warfare against the Islamic Republic. However, that changed last night when U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) struck what it said were Iranian rocket launchers preparing to fire naval mines into the Strait of Hormuz. The problem is that mine-deploying rockets are not a common capability, so much so that the statement seemed bizarre at first glance. But it just turns out that Iran does claim to have such a system and that system would have a glaring application in the current state of play of the conflict. In fact, it would be absolutely critical to do exactly what CENTCOM did, blowing them up prior to launching, because if they didn’t, the final and very fragile energy lifeline between the Persian Gulf and the world could be severed at the worst possible time.

“I can confirm that earlier today U.S. forces struck two Iranian launchers on Larak Island,” Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, CENTCOM’s spokesman, told us Sunday evening. “Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.”

The U.S. strikes against the launchers on Sunday spurred Iran to respond with ballistic missile attacks on a Jordanian air base housing U.S. troops. Jordanian officials said all eight missiles were intercepted, and no casualties or damage was inflicted.

Hawkins did not specify what exact type of rocket launcher was struck or whether this was the first time CENTCOM had seen Iran use this type of system to launch sea mines.

Though CENTCOM won’t comment on what kind of system was attacked, Iran did tout just this kind of a system last year with exactly the kind of range needed to be a huge problem for the U.S. and its allies. This system uses a variant of the Fajr-5 rocket that is converted with a sea mine warhead.

You can see a video of that system below.

The clip shows the rockets being fired from a truck-mounted multiple launch rocket system (MLRS). The video later cuts to nose cone-shaped mines that appear to float on the surface above the spent missile body, however, little is known about the Fajr-5 sea mine warhead conversion process that allows them to be delivered by rocket.

We also don’t know the full extent to which Iran has developed and/or fielded this particular capability, or whether it has other options for similarly deploying naval mines by rocket. Neither Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) think tank, nor the Ambrey maritime security firm has seen any indication that Tehran has used an MLRS to launch sea mines in the past.

At the same time, “the Fajr-5 is an Iranian calling card, a 333mm caliber rocket that can reportedly travel 75 km carrying between an estimated 90 to 170 kg warhead, depending on the payload,” Taleblu, an expert on Iranian weapons systems, told TWZ.

The Fajr-5 is an established design that traces its roots back to the 1990s and has been evolving since then. “The Fajr class was initially designed as unguided artillery rockets, though Iran claims to have developed a guided version,” Taleblu added.

In general terms, being able to seed naval mines via artillery rockets would offer several advantages for Iran, most immediately by offering an alternative to traditional maritime mine-laying platforms. The destruction of Iran’s naval forces was a top stated objective for the U.S. military during the opening phases of the conflict earlier this year. Iranian vessels, including ones capable of laying mines, were heavily targeted. Still, Iran has retained a large number of its smaller boats that can be used for seeding minefields.

Regardless of what boats they have left, mining the area that actually matters most would be impossible to do as any vessel approaching the southern coast of the Strait of Hormuz would be destroyed. It’s through these tight and complex littorals that a reduced flow of commercial vessels are still traveling, under the kinetic umbrella of the U.S. and its Gulf state allies. The Fajr-5, fired from Iranian controlled islands in the strait, has the range to land in these waterways, seeding mines without risking any boat crews or other platforms. If the rocket-delivered mines splash down, the de-mining process would have to begin, which can be arduous and last weeks, potentially shutting down all shipping.

With that in mind, Iran’s weapon is remarkably relevant to the situation, assuming it works. But even if it doesn’t, it could still pose a risk to mariners even if its efficacy is questionable.

Furthermore, being able to turn any launcher for Fajr-5s (and/or potentially ones for other types of artillery rockets) into a naval mine layer rather than having to rely on specialized systems would be a boon unto itself. Artillery rockets and launchers are something Iran had deep stockpiles of before the war with the United States and Israel started earlier this year. How many naval mine rockets Iran might have, and whether it might be possible to convert existing types to that configuration, are open questions.

Using a road-mobile launcher would also give Iranians a ‘shoot-and-scoot’ option for deploying naval mines where the launch could be exposed only for a short period of time. This, in turn, would create additional targeting challenges for U.S. forces. It is possible that, as it does elsewhere, Iran has constructed tunnels under Larak Island to hide these systems, as well. 

Overall, the “deployment of naval mines by missile significantly speeds up the deployment process, improves the ability to penetrate airspace, and increases the standoff distance between the minelayer and the field, making it the least risky minelaying method,” a piece published by the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC) think tank last year, which also highlighted Iran’s apparent demonstration of the Fajr-5-based capability, noted.

While the Fajr-5’s estimated payload capacity is “light compared to U.S. or Chinese naval mines,” the mines the rockets could deliver “are still heavier than diver-delivered limpet mines and could conceivably disable a ship if struck by enough mines from the field,” the piece added. “Most importantly, this field could be delivered rapidly and with little warning. Even though the explosive capacity of this mine individually is small, the psychological impact from inflicting minor damage on a small number of merchants could still be enough to force shipping companies to avoid the area.”

“Though it’s a bit unconventional, using a rocket launcher again signals that the regime is sensitive to cost and risk, and is trying to deploy mines in a way that doesn’t put as much personnel at risk as by dropping them overboard,” Taleblu posited. “It was reported in the military exercise over a year ago that the regime had used an MLRS system like the Fajr to deploy these, but I haven’t seen significant video confirmation of this most recent round.”

With all this in mind, the point about “psychological impact” mentioned in the CIMSEC piece could be particularly relevant in this case. By launching the attacks on Larak Island, CENTCOM has in a way given credence to Iran having a real capability to launch mines via rocket into the Strait of Hormuz. That threat by itself could be enough to cause commercial ship crews, their corporate operators, and insurance companies to think twice about attempted transits.

This is exactly the issue that President Trump, among others, has repeatedly sought to downplay, including multiple times just within the past week.

“We’re taking them in,” Trump told Glenn Beck last week. “The mines are gone. You probably saw that, we put it out yesterday, all the mines. We got rid of the mines. But the strait, it’s functioning, it’s a functioning strait. Uh, yes, every once in a while, there’ll be a drone or a rocket or something shot, but it is a very functioning strait.”

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“Last week, CENTCOM completed clearing sea mines from the strait’s international shipping routes,” Hawkins, the CENTCOM spokesman, told us yesterday. “U.S. forces are monitoring the area closely and remain prepared to protect the free flow of commerce through this essential waterway.”

“The U.S. military has achieved a major milestone in the Strait of Hormuz,” Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM’s commander, stated last week. “We have successfully cleared sea mines in the strait’s international shipping lanes that were laid months ago by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Internationally recognized transit routes in the strait are free of Iranian sea mines, thanks to the incredible work of the U.S. military.”

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Smoke from forest and peatland fires burning across Indonesia has pushed air quality in parts of Malaysian Borneo to hazardous levels, triggering a surge in respiratory illness and forcing the cancellation of outdoor Independence Day celebrations.

The smoke – drifting from fires in Kalimantan in the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo – has settled over the Malaysian state of Sarawak, on the same island, for much of August. It has also reached peninsular Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore.

It is the region’s worst haze episode since 2015, when fires in Indonesia exposed tens of millions of people to toxic smoke and caused more than 500,000 people to suffer respiratory ailments.

On Tuesday, six areas in Sarawak recorded hazardous air quality, with readings above 300 on Malaysia’s Air Pollutant Index. Anything above 100 is considered unhealthy. In Kuching, the state capital, the index hit 407, while in Serian, a town close to the Kalimantan border, it hit 408.

Mia Emylia Hassan, 33, a mother of two in Kuching, said the smell of smoke was inescapable.

“The air here is very thick,” she said. “It smells like smoke, and it’s just white all over.” Visibility from her house, she said, had dropped to about a kilometre, or roughly half a mile. “We have not seen blue sky for over a month,” she said.

The haze arrived in early August, shortly after her 10-month-old daughter came home from the hospital after a lung infection. “She’s not healing properly because her lungs are still developing,” Hassan said. “She’s been on medication this whole month, and she has been coughing and vomiting.”

Twice, the family has had to rush the infant back to the emergency room because she could not breathe.

“It’s a mini heart attack for us every time,” Hassan said.

Asthma cases surge

Malaysia’s Ministry of Health has reported a sharp rise in illness nationwide. During the week of August 23 to 29, asthma cases climbed to 1,811, up from 219 the previous week, the ministry said on Saturday, while conjunctivitis cases also rose to 720, from 146.

In peninsular Malaysia, Karen-Michaela Tan, an asthma patient who lives near the capital, Kuala Lumpur, said that a week after the haze thickened, she was “wheezing audibly” and “breathless when climbing stairs”. The 52-year-old said she needed two nebuliser treatments back to back to stop the wheezing, along with a heavy dose of steroids.

“Doctors are erring on the side of caution when it comes to asthma patients, choosing to up dosages rather than risk a patient being hospitalised for shortness of breath,” she said.

Her house is sealed, and two purifiers run continuously. Still, “I battle throat scratchiness and nasal dryness even with these measures”, she said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a regional bloc, has activated a Level 3 transboundary haze alert – its highest – for the southern part of the region. The alert signals a high risk of severe cross-border haze. ASEAN cited an increase in fire hotspots and prolonged dry weather, fuelled by an intensifying El Nino weather pattern.

The toxic smoke has forced Sarawak to cancel its outdoor Independence Day celebrations on Monday, and officials warned that worse restrictions could follow. Any area where readings cross 500 will be placed under a local emergency, and all public and private offices will be closed, the deputy premier, Douglas Uggah Embas, told reporters. “Only essential services will be allowed to operate,” he added.

In Kuala Lumpur, where skies were grey for most of the month, the haze thinned enough to reveal blue sky for the first time in a week, just as the Independence Day parade got under way early in the morning.

Schools, too, have been hit hard. Under Ministry of Education rules, outdoor activities are suspended when the index reaches 100, and schools must close at 200. On August 20 and 21, nearly 600 schools in and around Kuching shut, affecting some 200,000 primary and secondary students. And on August 28, 30 more schools in Sarawak closed, keeping more than 4,000 children at home.

This week, schools are closed for the Independence Day holiday.

Youth sport has been affected, too. Yap Kai Jinn, 31, a coach at Square One Football, a Kuala Lumpur academy, said the club had cancelled all training sessions and matches since last week.

“Along with our parents, we decided that it is not healthy; it is not safe for our players to play under these conditions,” he said. “For now, we are looking for an enclosed area to do sessions, and for outdoor, we have to wait and hope that the weather gets better.”

Fires surge in West Kalimantan

The toll of the haze has been far heavier in Indonesia.

The country’s deputy health minister, Dante Saksono Harbuwono, told reporters on Monday that some 13,500 people were treated for respiratory infections in July and August, while about 5.5 million people on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra have been directly exposed to smoke.

Borneo is the world’s third-largest island and is divided between Indonesia, which controls the southern two-thirds as Kalimantan; Malaysia, whose states of Sarawak and Sabah run along the north; as well as the sultanate of Brunei.

According to the Indonesian government, fires between January and July burned more than 200,000 hectares (about 494,000 acres), an area three times the size of Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, across Borneo and Sumatra. Nearly 95,000 hectares (about 235,000 acres) burned in July alone.

And despite efforts to control the blazes, the fires continue to surge in parts of Indonesian Borneo.

Hotspots in West Kalimantan nearly doubled on Monday, rising by 3,553 to 7,377, while the number of active fires rose by 88 to 104, and visibility fell below a kilometre, said Berton Panjaitan, an official at Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency. In Central Kalimantan, hotspots declined by 147 to 5,244, while fire spots increased by 16 to 72, he said.

Cities in Kalimantan have recorded hazardous air, too.

Readings in Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan reached 780 on Monday on the air quality index used by IQAir, a Swiss company that monitors pollution data. Pontianak in West Kalimantan reached 593.

The fires are largely set on purpose, analysts say, with plantation companies and smallholders alike burning rainforest and carbon-rich peatland to clear ground for palm oil, farming, and pulp and paper production. The practice is illegal, and Indonesian police said last week that they had arrested 72 people suspected of setting recent fires.

Super El Nino

Researchers warned people in Southeast Asia to brace for a long fire season.

El Nino – the naturally occurring pattern that shifts winds, air pressure and rainfall worldwide – appears headed for “super” strength, said Helena Varkkey, a specialist on transboundary haze at Universiti Malaya.

In Southeast Asia, she said, “the intensifying El Nino means hotter and drier conditions”, so “any fires that happen will have a bigger and longer regional impact”.

Jayaprakash Muralitharan, a Malaysian atmospheric scientist, said the worst was still ahead.

Haze conditions are “going to be severe and longer, because the hot weather started much earlier last year”, he said. “El Nino came in and made conditions drier. Now you have the extreme drying of the peatland.”

And peat can make fires stubborn, he said. What looks extinguished on the surface can smoulder underground for weeks and flare up again, and nothing short of sustained rain will soak the soil enough to put it out.

Until the rains arrive, Muralitharan said, there is little to be done.

“Human intervention now is only a temporary solution. It would go on until end of September or October when the rain comes in. I hope that rain comes in by then.”

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has made a surprise appearance at United States-hosted G20 finance talks in North Carolina, sparking frustration and dismay among European ministers and officials.

Siluanov’s appearance at the talks in Asheville on Monday marks the first time the minister, who was appointed in 2011, has attended a G20 meeting in person since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

He held a bilateral meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, with Russia’s Ministry of Finance saying the two men discussed financial cooperation within the G20 framework.

A US official said the meeting focused on US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine.

Asked about the invitation to Siluanov, Trump told reporters: “We like getting along with everybody. One of the reasons I’m so successful, I get along with everybody.”

European officials, however, criticised the move.

Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski said he was unhappy to see Moscow represented, although he recognised the right of G20 hosts to invite guests.

“We do not trust Russia. They lie constantly, and you need to be really, really cautious while discussing with them,” ⁠he told the Reuters news agency, stressing that Russia was the aggressor in its conflict with Ukraine.

“So for me, it would be very difficult to have any kind of conversation with Russia.”

‘Troubling’ signal

German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said the US’s decision to welcome Siluanov sent a “signal I find troubling”.

He said he told Siluanov during a plenary session that Moscow had to end the war and “that we clearly support Ukraine”.

He also said Europe was preparing a further package of sanctions against Russia and hoped for close cooperation with Washington on the measures.

European ministers and central bankers also opposed appearing with Siluanov in the traditional G20 “family photo”, European officials said. The photograph was ultimately taken without the Russian minister.

Klingbeil said European officials, including European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, had discussed Russia’s involvement on Sunday and agreed that maintaining an avenue for dialogue could allow them to deliver a frank message to Moscow.

“However, the mere fact that the Russian finance minister is back – after, I believe, four G20 meetings without Russian participation – indicates an attempt at normalisation, and that makes it all the more important for us to push back,” he said.

Siluanov’s appearance marked a sharp contrast with the G20 meeting in Washington, DC, in April 2022, when his virtual participation prompted officials from Canada, the United Kingdom, the US, and the European Central Bank to walk out.

White House defends talks with Russia

Asked about Siluanov’s attendance, White House spokesman Kush Desai told the AFP news agency that the Trump administration had been working with Russia to push for a deal that “would stop the endless bloodshed that the president has really condemned”.

“The president and the administration will never shy away from talking with the folks we need to talk to, to further that,” he said. “That’s what we’re working on here at the G20.”

Separately, Reuters and AFP, citing sources familiar with the Washington-Moscow talks, said Bessent had made clear that the US would not provide Russia with economic relief until war in Ukraine was over.

Trump has pushed Moscow and Kyiv to reach a deal to halt the fighting, but an initial 28-point plan that largely adhered to Russia’s demands was criticised by Ukraine and European governments.

The US, which currently holds the rotating G20 presidency, did not invite South Africa, last year’s G20 host, to the gathering. Poland, which is not a permanent G20 member, was invited.

Certain reporters from major US newsrooms, including The New York Times and Bloomberg News, were not granted credentials to cover the gathering.

The decision was condemned by the National Press Club, which said that “no administration should be allowed to handpick the press corps that scrutinizes it”.

The two-day meeting comes as global debt levels have reached a record of nearly $353 trillion and the global economy faces an energy shock triggered by the US-Israel war on Iran. The talks also come amid rising tensions over China’s large trade surplus and uncertainty over the effects of a surge in artificial intelligence investment.

Tunis, Tunisia – More than 15 years after Tunisians rose up to topple longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, familiar grievances are again being heard on the streets from north to south.

A slogan from the 2011 revolution is being heard again: “employment, freedom and national dignity”.

This time, those demands are being fuelled by water cuts, electricity outages, rising prices, medicine shortages and a struggle to make ends meet, problems increasingly affecting Tunisians across social and economic divides.

But the anger is unfolding in a very different political environment.

The discontent comes as Tunisia marks five years since President Kais Saied suspended parliament, dismissed the government and began ruling by decree, moves he described as necessary to end years of political paralysis and corruption.

Many Tunisians welcomed the move at the time, frustrated with a political system that had failed to address the country’s economic problems after the 2011 revolution.

Five years later, many of those grievances remain while the political space for challenging those in power has narrowed sharply.

Old demands, new anger

The decade that followed Ben Ali’s ouster brought competitive elections and greater space for political parties and civil society, but it also brought frequent government changes, political disputes and little improvement in the lives of many Tunisians.

Unemployment remained high, particularly among young people and in the country’s interior. Public services remained weak while rising prices continued to put pressure on household incomes. By the end of 2020, unemployment stood at 17.4 percent, according to the World Bank.

Tunisia also faced serious security threats, including attacks and political assassinations, adding to economic pressures and hitting sectors such as tourism.

Those frustrations helped Saied build support as an outsider promising to break with the traditional political establishment and what many Tunisians saw as a dysfunctional system.

On July 25, 2021, Saied suspended the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, dismissed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and lifted parliamentary immunity. He said he was acting to address a national crisis.

His opponents described the move as a coup.

Saied later dissolved parliament and oversaw the adoption of a new constitution in 2022 that significantly strengthened presidential powers.

Since then, opposition figures, journalists, lawyers and activists have been jailed or prosecuted in cases that rights groups describe as politically motivated. Civil society has faced increasing restrictions while critics have said institutional checks on presidential power have been weakened. Human Rights Watch, for example, has described the “conspiracy case” as part of a broader crackdown on dissent.

What is the “conspiracy case”?

The case centres on allegations by Tunisian authorities that opposition politicians, lawyers, activists and other public figures were involved in a conspiracy against state security and sought to destabilise the country and undermine the government. The defendants included figures from different parts of the political spectrum.

In April 2025, a Tunis court sentenced 37 defendants to prison terms ranging from four to 66 years. Human Rights Watch described the case as politically motivated and criticised the trial for failing to provide adequate due-process protections.

On November 27, 2025, a Tunis appeals court upheld convictions against 34 of the 37 defendants, sentencing them to between five and 45 years in prison, and acquitted three.

Human Rights Watch and other rights groups continued to criticise the proceedings and describe the case as part of a wider crackdown on dissent.

The authorities reject those accusations and maintain that the defendants were prosecuted for serious offences against state security.

But the political transformation has yet to produce the economic turnaround Saied promised.

Unfulfilled promises

Many of Tunisia’s economic problems predate Saied. Years of underinvestment, financial pressures and ageing infrastructure have left public utilities and other state services struggling to meet demand.

But those failures have become harder to separate from Saied’s record because he came to power promising that a stronger state could overcome the weaknesses of the old political system.

This summer, temperatures approached 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of Tunisia, pushing electricity demand to record levels. Kairouan reached 49.8C (121.6F) on Thursday, according to the Tunisian Observatory for Weather and Climate. The Tunisian Company of Electricity and Gas introduced rotating power cuts in several regions, and the outages affected water-pumping stations in some areas.

Some people reported going days without running water. Bottled water shortages added to the pressure. Long queues formed outside shops and water trucks delivering supplies to some areas.

For Rebh, a 40-year-old cleaner from Tunis, the demands are not about luxuries but about being able to afford and access the basics of everyday life.

“People are tired. They are choosing to cross the sea and die [trying to reach Europe] instead. I hope we can stand together and find a solution now,” she told Al Jazeera. “We are not asking for the impossible. This is about water and electricity. We want to live as humans. We are feeling dead while we’re still alive.”

For many Tunisians, the shortages are part of a broader squeeze on purchasing power that has made it increasingly difficult to afford basic necessities.

The extreme heat has also put pressure on an already strained health system as doctors warned of increased pressure on emergency departments.

The point, however, is not that Saied created Tunisia’s economic problems. He did not.

The question is whether the more centralised system he built has delivered the more effective government he promised.

A shrinking space for dissent

For journalist Manel Derbali, the change has been visible not only in the media but in the wider public space.

After the 2011 revolution, she said, Tunisians gained a new ability to speak openly and access information. Despite the protests and political turmoil of the period, journalists felt they were not alone in challenging those in power.

“After years of censorship and police repression, everything opened up. The journalist felt that the street was with you in one way or another,” Derbali said.

She said journalists also had channels to raise concerns about their working conditions and make proposals to officials, including through parliament and ministries, while access to decision-makers remained possible.

“After July 25, all of these spaces became closed,” she said.

Derbali said journalists now struggle to obtain even basic responses from government institutions with official bodies sometimes leaving requests unanswered for months.

“Unfortunately, history is repeating itself, and we have returned to relying on citizens’ videos to investigate and verify information,” she said.

Her account reflects a broader concern among critics of Saied that the institutions and public spaces that emerged after the revolution have been steadily weakened.

Could economic anger become political?

The current protests are not limited to Tunisia’s traditional opposition.

The Nafas movement, which has organised recent demonstrations in Tunis, seeks to bring together political parties and independent figures beyond the country’s established opposition to Saied. Its protests have also attracted citizens who had not previously taken part in political demonstrations.

Rabii Qassem, a member of the Nafas collective, said comparisons between the past five years and the decade after the revolution should not be reduced to whether Tunisia was simply better or worse before Saied.

“I’m not saying that Tunisia between 2011 and 2021 was paradise,” he said. “There were very serious crises: unemployment, corruption, economic fragility, political conflicts and a failure to achieve a large part of the revolution’s goals.”

But according to Qassem, that period also brought gains, including greater freedom of expression and protest, a stronger civil society, a more diverse media and elections that allowed for peaceful transfers of power.

“After July 25, the economic and social problems that already existed were not solved,” he said. “They were joined by a decline in political checks and balances, freedoms and the space for civil society.”

For Qassem, many of the demands raised in 2011 remain unresolved.

“Where is employment? Where is the water? Where are the public services? Where is the dignity?” he asked.

He said economic hardship and political repression have been increasingly feeding into each other as people struggling with rising prices and deteriorating services have also found fewer avenues to express their frustration.

That does not mean Tunisia is experiencing another 2011.

Many Tunisians remain wary of the political parties and politicians who dominated the decade after Ben Ali while Saied continues to have supporters who blame that period for years of economic stagnation and political instability.

Nor does every person angry about a water cut, electricity outage or rising price necessarily oppose the president.

But the protests show how economic and political grievances can increasingly overlap.

Before 2021, Tunisians could blame a democratic political system they saw as ineffective for failing to improve their lives.

After 2021, Saied dismantled much of that system and promised that a stronger presidency would deliver better government.

Five years later, many of the same grievances remain.

The difference is that the avenues for challenging them have become narrower.

“Employment, freedom and national dignity” was a demand of the revolution that ended Ben Ali’s rule.

Fifteen years later, Tunisians are again asking for jobs, basic services and greater freedoms – but now from a president who came to power promising to address the failures of the system that followed the revolution.

Arsenal have one of the best squads in Europe.

The Gunners spent £250m last summer bringing in eight players as they won the title and have already spent about £200m this year, turning Piero Hincapie’s loan deal into a permanent one (£34.5m), signing Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle United (£75m), Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge (£34m) and bringing in Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa (£55m).

“That is what we need,” Arteta said, speaking to Sky Sports when asked about his squad depth.

“The players that come in make the difference. All of them contributed to create more dominance and more momentum.

“The level of focus and the way they want to contribute to the team, that is going to be decisive in the season.”

Arsenal‘s strength in depth cannot be understated, but one area they may still look to strengthen in is the forward area.

The Gunners have been on the hunt for an elite forward to lift their attack and still could be active on Tuesday’s deadline day.

They had an unsuccessful pursuit of Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr, while they also have a long-standing interest in Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez.

“We are trying to improve the squad and until tomorrow night we will try to do it,” Arteta said.

“I have been disconnected from the world for the last 24 hours because my energy has to be on the match, but I will get back on it now.”

When pushed about a deal for Alvarez, Arteta said: “I don’t know, that’s for the people upstairs.”

Whatever happens in Arsenal‘s search, they are going to be hard to keep off the top of the table with Arteta at the helm.

Rights groups warn that armed groups are increasingly recruiting children to their ranks through social media.

Three minors were among those killed in a Colombian military air strike on cocaine-trafficking rebels last week, authorities said, as President Abelardo de la Espriella intensifies operations against armed groups.

The August 27 bombing in the southern Guaviare department was the deadliest military operation since de la Espriella took office earlier this month. The National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences said that 10 people in total were killed in the operation. The Ministry of National Defence reported that two of the victims were 15 and another was 16.

The victims allegedly belonged to a dissident faction of the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that rejected a 2016 peace agreement with the government.

De la Espriella, a right-wing leader and ally of United States President Donald Trump, said on Monday that another bombing in the same area killed eight members of a FARC dissident group led by commander Ivan Mordisco. It is not known whether any minors were among the dead.

“The bandits, who for decades have recruited minors to turn them into combatants or human shields, must pay for these crimes that violate International Humanitarian Law,” he wrote on X.

The Defence Ministry said on Monday that 24 suspected rebels have been killed in military operations since de la Espriella took office.

The strikes come as child recruitment by armed groups is again rising in Colombia, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report published last week.

At least 1,500 children have been recruited by armed groups since 2021, with 625 cases reported in 2024, according to the report.

The watchdog said that criminal and rebel groups are using social media to recruit children, including to carry out increasingly dangerous tasks, such as operating drones loaded with explosives. They also reported that algorithms on platforms including Meta and TikTok “appear to have actively promoted” content encouraging children to join rebel groups.

“Armed groups in Colombia are recruiting children with impunity,” said Juanita Goebertus, HRW’s Americas director. “Protection systems are failing, and social media platforms have become a more effective recruiting ground.”

Meta and TikTok told HRW that they prohibit content promoting violence and had removed accounts flagged by the organisation.

The decision replaces a temporary order issued earlier this month.

A divided United States Supreme Court has allowed the White House to continue construction on a $400m ballroom project as lawsuits play out, a win for President Donald Trump as he flexes unprecedented executive power and remakes the capital in his image.

The apparent 5-4 decision replaces a temporary order that allowed construction earlier this month, shortly before a court-ordered halt would have gone into effect.

The temporary order was signed by US Chief Justice John Roberts, assigned to handle appeals from the capital. But he publicly disagreed with the latest decision, writing a strong dissent that referenced historical figures and calling the project “likely unlawful” because it has not been approved by Congress.

“Today’s decision is no victory for the separation of powers.” Roberts wrote. The court’s three liberal-leaning justices agreed.

The majority did not decide the legality of the project, but found that a preservation group likely did not have the legal right to challenge it. The unsigned opinion also cited the national security concerns that the government says the project would address.

The lawsuit will return to lower courts, but documents say that key portions of the project could be complete within months – a quick timeline compared with a typical legal case.

The Trump administration asked the justices to intervene after federal courts found the project must halt because it did not have congressional approval.

The lawsuit from the National Trust for Historic Preservation argued that Trump has no unilateral authority to undertake the work, which has included demolishing the East Wing. The group’s lawyers accused the White House of trying to “outrun the courts” by accelerating construction.

In lower courts, the Trump administration has argued that the president has total authority to renovate the White House and other federal buildings. Government lawyers said the ballroom project must be completed due to national security concerns, though those were not an initial focus when Trump announced the work and said it would be funded by private donations.

“This case involves an extraordinary ⁠and unlawful injunction that will halt the ongoing construction of the integrated military complex, including a totally secure ballroom space, at the East Wing of the White House, which is vitally required by national security,” the lawyers wrote in an August 14 filing.

The administration has said that crews are working 20 hours a day on the planned 8,400 square metre (90,000 square foot) ballroom. The framework is expected to be completed in November, and much of the facade done by April, with full completion slated for August 2028, according to court documents.

US District Judge Richard Leon ordered a stop to aboveground construction of the planned ballroom in April, though the order would allow work on bunkers and military installations below ground to continue. Leon was nominated by former President George W Bush, a Republican.

The ruling was suspended but later upheld by a divided appeals court panel. Two judges appointed by Democratic presidents found the project was for Congress to decide and “not a matter for Executive self-help”. A third judge, appointed by Trump, found that the preservationist group that challenged the project had no legal right to sue.

Solicitor General D John Sauer also made that argument to the justices and said the decision halting the work was “extraordinary and unlawful”. He said the completion of the project was “vitally required by national security.”

The administration has scored a series of other victories on the high court’s emergency docket, though the justices have ruled against some of the president’s signature policies after fuller review.

The demolished East Wing housed the first lady’s offices and the White House movie theatre. It was originally built in 1902, during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, and greatly expanded in 1942, during Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency.

Manchester City have opened talks with Chelsea in their bid to sign midfielder Enzo Fernandez.

In what is set to be one of the key narratives on transfer deadline day, City have set the wheels in motion towards what would be one of the most expensive deals of the summer.

It is understood Chelsea want a minimum of £120m for Fernandez and talks are under way as both clubs negotiate a price.

Fernandez, 25, worked with City manager Enzo Maresca during the Italian’s reign at Chelsea.

Maresca is keen to work with the Argentina international again, while Fernandez is open to a move to City.

Manchester City have agreed a deal worth up to £65m to sign Iliman Ndiaye from Everton.

The clubs reached an agreement on a deal worth a guaranteed £60m plus a further £5m in add-ons for the Senegal winger.

The news comes after Tottenham agreed deals with Everton on Friday night for Ndiaye to join the London club, with Richarlison moving the other way in a separate transfer.

However, sources are indicating Richarlison failed to agree personal terms with former club Everton, who are understood to have made a £35m offer for the Brazil forward.

As a result, Tottenham have been unable to proceed with the Ndiaye transfer.

In an emotional statement on Instagram on Monday, Richarlison said: “After everything I’ve been through in the last few years, I’ve decided that never again will anyone decide my future for me.

“If they reach an agreement between Spurs and Everton, I will return to my beloved club.

“My intention was to go back to the place where I was very happy, yes, but the negotiations happened only in the way certain people wanted, and it will no longer be like that.

“Despite all this turmoil, I am under contract at Spurs and will remain at the club’s disposal.”

Tottenham are now in talks to sign Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk on a season-long loan.

Manchester City’s deal for Ndiaye comes after an £80m move for Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo looked set to collapse on Monday.

City had opened talks with Liverpool over a deal for the Netherlands international, with the Reds willing to sell Gakpo, providing they could sign a replacement.

Liverpool completed the signing of France forward Bradley Barcola from Paris St-Germain for a fee worth up to £123m on Monday, but want another attacking player if Gakpo were to leave.

The Anfield club had targeted moves for Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh and Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr but the valuation of both players has proved problematic.

Liverpool are now expected to keep Gakpo, 27, unless they are able to revive a deal for a new winger before Tuesday’s deadline.

One person has died and 15 remain missing or unaccounted for after flash flooding swept through parts of the Grand Canyon, the National Park Service (NPS) has said.

The flood hit Bright Angel Canyon and the Phantom Ranch area on Saturday afternoon, wiping out footbridges and propelling boulders downstream.

The body of a 46-year-old man was found on Sunday evening near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River, the park service told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner. Sixty-two people have so far been airlifted out of the area.

“The whole thing was terrifying,” said Nikki Baggs, 41, who was among those to be airlifted out of the bottom of the Grand Canyon with her two friends.

“It was a beautiful day and then people were screaming, running,” she told the BBC.

Baggs said she and her friends had just dropped off their belongings at a cabin in Phantom Ranch – a remote lodge at the bottom of the Grand Canyon – when they decided to venture out to enjoy the nice day. Before they knew it, a flood of water was sweeping through the area.

As soon as the rain hit, Baggs and her friends headed toward higher ground, where they sat at a picnic table, before rangers yelled to them to run again to a different ledge, where they waited with others for hours before they were evacuated at around 21:30 local time (04:30 GMT).

Baggs said she and her two friends had been looking forward to a steak dinner at Phantom Ranch – but were now just grateful to be alive thanks to a swift response from park rangers.

“It was a really uniquely co-ordinated effort,” she said. “That’s what made us feel safe about all of it in an unsafe situation.”

Baggs said she and her friends watched from higher ground as bridges were swept away.

Others had previously voiced their opposition to the Met’s plan to commemorate Galliano.

Julie Menin, speaker of New York City Council, said, external: “After my numerous and lengthy meetings and conversations with the Met, I am pleased that they have agreed to not honour John Galliano.

“From the beginning, I have told them that I strongly disagreed with this decision, and at this rising time of antisemitism, it had served as a gut punch to the Jewish community.

“This is the correct decision, as the harm and pain this was causing was simply unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, which aims to counter antisemitism, said that with antisemitism at “crisis levels”, honouring Galliano would be “misguided”.

“Even Galliano ultimately recognised what the Met should have done from the start,” he added. “This was the wrong move at the wrong moment. Timing matters.”

Galliano is regarded by some as one of the greatest fashion designers and returned to the fashion industry following his conviction, serving as creative director of Margiela for a decade until 2024.

Wheat prices have risen sharply amid disruptions to Black Sea exports as the Russia-Ukraine war continues and as changing weather patterns cause droughts that have sharply reduced production.

Over the past month, Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks on each other’s grain terminals on the Black Sea. With Russia the world’s largest wheat exporter, and Ukraine among the top 10 grain-producing countries, these attacks have taken their toll on global wheat and grain supply.

Chicago wheat futures, the global benchmark for the grain market, hit a three-year high on Friday, before nudging down 0.54 percent on Monday to $7.79 per bushel by 02:00 GMT. Authorities in Russia’s Rostov region called a state of emergency on Friday after announcing that port closures and navigation disruptions in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea basin have led to a pile-up of agricultural products at farms.

Meanwhile, the rising temperatures and lack of rain have threatened to cut this year’s wheat harvest in South Africa’s Swartland, which produces about 20 percent of the country’s wheat.

Here’s what we know:

What impact is the Russia-Ukraine war having on prices?

Over the past month, strikes on ports, vessels and grain facilities amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict have disrupted grain terminals and forced shippers to delay or cancel cargo loadings during the peak export season.

While Russian missile attacks have impacted Ukraine’s grain exports, Ukraine’s drone attacks in the Sea of Azov have also sharply curtailed Russian shipments of both grain and wheat. At the same time, attacks on Russia’s Novorossiysk and Taman ports have increased shipping costs out of its Black Sea ports.

According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure, in July, Ukraine suffered 35 Russian attacks on vessels in port, 22 at sea and 67 on port facilities. By comparison, the total number of vessel strikes for the whole of 2025 was just 14.

On Friday, Kyiv’s agricultural minister said recent Russian air attacks have destroyed around 90 percent of retailers’ food logistics. With transport of wheat curtailed, prices have risen, raising fears of food insecurity around the world.

Joe Glauber, a research fellow emeritus in the director general’s office at the International Food Policy Research Institute, said that the issue, therefore, is less the amount of wheat being produced and more about the cost of getting it to buyers and consumers.

“There’s plenty of wheat in Russia and Ukraine, and ultimately that wheat will make it out on to the market. But right now it can’t, or it comes out with a very high cost, and so wheat prices have reflected that,” he told Al Jazeera.

“There’s a lot of wheat in the world…it’s not a question of availability, it’s a question of affordability,” he added.

Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, usually spends around $3bn per year on importing wheat. In the first half of 2026, it sourced more than 82 percent of its stock from Russia and Ukraine.

In Asia, second-largest wheat importer Indonesia bought $361m of wheat from Ukraine and $102m from Russia between 2023 and 2024, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity. Indonesia usually sources between 15 percent and 20 percent of its wheat from the two countries.

An official at Indonesia’s Flour Millers’ Association told Reuters last week that current stocks can meet immediate food-grade wheat requirements. “But we don’t have abundant or excess supply. We have to look at other origins such as Bulgaria, Australia, Romania and Argentina for cargoes that do not get shipped from Russia and Ukraine,” the official said.

How does climate change fit into this?

Besides the war in Ukraine, droughts and drier weather patterns have taken a toll on wheat production and contributed to rising prices.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), as of July 1, the US, also one of the biggest wheat exporters, is forecast to yield “46.7 bushels per acre, down 0.1 bushels from last month and down 8.2 bushels from last year’s average yield of 54.9 bushels per acre”.

“If realised, the United States yield would be the lowest since 2015,” the USDA said.

In a report updated on August 14, the department wrote: “This year’s small crop is a product of long-term decline in US wheat acreage and widespread drought impacts on HRW [Hard Red Winter wheat] production in the Great Plains States. Total wheat supplies are forecast down 13 percent from the previous year, with larger beginning stocks dampening the effect of the smaller crop.”

For Canada, the world’s sixth-largest wheat producer, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service found that for the 2026-2027 production year, total production is forecast to be 34.6 million metric tons (MMT) – also 13 percent lower than the year before – due to reduced planted area and a return to lower-than-average yields.

Amid the heatwaves that have hit European countries over the past three months, wheat production in the bloc has also reduced. According to COCERAL, the European association of trade in cereals, oilseeds, rice, pulses, olive oil, oils and fats, animal feed and agrosupply, the excessive heat is expected to reduce grain crops in 2026 by around 9 million tonnes to 286 million tonnes.

In a report published in July, COCERAL said: “The weather has started to affect corn pollination in the southern half of France and in Hungary. More damage is expected from the forecast heat in other parts of the EU.”

The El Nino weather pattern is also expected to bring drier-than-usual conditions to the Southern Hemisphere this year, with South Africa and Australia expected to experience droughts as a result.

What can be done to mitigate all this?

While the Russia-Ukraine war continues, in July 2022, the year the war started, a Black Sea Grain Initiative was brokered to allow for the safe exports of grain, food and fertiliser from Ukrainian ports to stabilise and lower global food prices.

While that agreement held, more than 1,000 ships full of grain and other foodstuffs left Ukraine, according to the EU. However, Russia ended the agreement in July 2023.

The answer to the current crisis is far from easy, experts say.

Bringing prices down now would necessitate a major shift in war strategy by both Russia and Ukraine, while the impact of climate change could be mitigated by governments implementing policies including improving water management on farms through the use of reservoirs to support drought-affected crops and reduce the loss of production.

Moreover, Glauber explained, while alternative routes exist to ship out grain from Russia and Ukraine, they are costly, adding that a return to a possible Black Sea Grain Initiative “would help calm wheat markets a lot”.

One answer may be for other countries to step in.

According to Glauber, during the 2022 global grain price surge, other wheat producing countries such as India exported more to make up for shortages.

“India, for example, had record exports in 2022. It’s probably less likely this year, just because of El Nino and other other factors affecting them, but they could also provide more wheat. I think the world wheat market proved very resilient in 2022, and I expect we’ll see the same in in 2026,” he said.

Greece signs $3.5bn deal with Israel to acquire its first multi-layered air defence network by 2029.

Greece has signed a $3.5bn defence deal with Israel to provide its first integrated “multi-layered” air defence network.

Israel said the agreement, negotiated over three years, is one of the largest in the country’s history..

Engineers will set up an aerial defence shield for the Greeks, integrating three Israeli systems, including the SPYDER system, produced by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the BARAK MX system, made by Israel Aerospace Industries and David’s Sling air defence technology, an Israeli defence ministry statement said on Monday.

The agreement comes as Israeli weapons’ exports are soaring, despite widespread criticism over its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza and other wars in Lebanon and Iran.

Israeli weapons exports reached record highs with more than $19bn last year, a 30 percent increase from 2024, according to official data.

“Modern conflicts have already altered the parameters of military defence and deterrence,” Greece’s Defence Minister, Nikos Dendias, said in a statement after the agreement was signed.

“Technology, ballistic missiles, satellite communications, unmanned systems, cyber threats, hybrid forms of warfare and the interconnection of fields of operations have long rendered pre-existing defence doctrines completely unrealistic,” he said.

Reporting from Athens, Al Jazeera’s John Psaropoulos said the systems could counter a range of aerial threats.

“The SPYDER and David’s Sling are short-to-medium-range air defence missile systems. They fire missiles to intercept incoming aircraft, cruise missiles and large drones. The BARAK can do all these things, but it also intercepts incoming ballistics,” he said.

Separately, Greece signed a $30m deal with Israel for Rafael’s Drone Dome system, “to defend strategic sites against UAVs and drones and to reinforce existing defences”.

Europe’s changing security landscape

Greece is the second European Union member to agree to buy the David’s Sling system, after Finland.

“This is Greece interpreting the lessons from the war in Ukraine, which has changed the nature of armed conflict and realising that it needs much stronger air defences to intercept whatever might come in from the East.” Psaropoulos said.

“Now that the war in the Gulf has reawakened Iranian animosity towards US allies in Europe, there is a perceived threat from there as well as from other countries in the East,” Psaropoulos added.

Greece spends nearly 3.5 percent of its gross domestic product on defence, a higher proportion than ⁠many NATO allies due to its long-standing dispute with neighbouring Turkiye.