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Mérida, November 9, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Venezuelan government publicly reinaugurated the George Washington Plaza in El Paraíso, southwestern Caracas, alongside the US embassy on Friday.

The ceremony commemorated the 250th anniversary of the US independence. The Caracas mayor’s office restored the 2,400-square-meter plaza, originally inaugurated in 1921, while also refurbishing Washington’s statue.

Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez led the state delegation, alongside ministers and municipal authorities.

“This year marks the 191st anniversary of diplomatic relations between Venezuela and the United States,” she highlighted to the press. “This reopening of the plaza is a tribute to Washington, an independence leader, a founding father. It serves as a heartfelt homage to his leadership and historical legacy.”

Rodríguez went on to claim that Washington was a source of inspiration for Venezuelan independence leader Simón Bolívar.

“For the children present here: it is important to know your country’s history, but also to recognize the heroes from other countries,” she concluded.

The commemorative gathering began with an official wreath-laying ceremony at the reopened public square. Local schoolchildren from the El Paraíso parish gathered at the venue, waving small US flags alongside Venezuelan ones.

As part of the official program, the Caribbean nation’s Simón Bolívar Youth and Children’s Symphonic Orchestra performed the US and Venezuelan national anthems, as well as classical pieces from its repertoire.

Heading the US embassy delegation, US Chargé d’Affairs John Barrett echoed Rodríguez in framing Washington as “a leader much like Bolívar.” 

“We should view that statue of George Washington with pride,” he said. “These two figures symbolize new friendship between the United States and Venezuela. And I want to thank all Venezuelans, as well as the president, for their support.”

The US embassy’s celebrations of the 250th anniversary of independence were originally postponed by the June 24 double earthquake.

On Thursday, Barrett hosted a formal diplomatic reception for international diplomats, business sector representatives, and high-ranking Venezuelan officials such as the President of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez.

“We accepted the invitation […] to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence,” he posted on his X account. “The close cooperation between our governments serves as a tool for the prosperity of all our people.”

Since the January 3 US military strikes and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, Washington and Caracas fast-tracked a diplomatic rapprochement that included the reopening of their respective embassies after seven years of broken ties.

The Venezuelan leaders’ friendly overtures towards the US contrast with the stances of the Maduro and Hugo Chávez governments. Both former presidents were adamant in condemning the US’ past and present role in imposing its interests at the expense of Global South countries. They also had to contend with recurring US-backed destabilization efforts, including coup attempts and economic sanctions.

Caracas’ renewed rhetoric was likewise on display at the XXX Ibero-American Summit, held on November 4-5 in Madrid, Spain. The Venezuelan delegation was led by newly appointed Foreign Minister Oliver Blanco.

“We are convinced that a more stable, more democratic, and more prosperous Venezuela, fully integrated into international markets, will contribute to the development of all of Ibero-America,” Blanco stated.

The Venezuelan official went on to tout an ongoing US-backed dialogue process with a sector of the opposition that is focused on judicial and electoral reforms, stressing that the South American country is undergoing a “democratic transformation” under the acting Rodríguez presidency.

“One significant agreement from this process is the renewal of the Supreme Court. […] We have requested technical assistance from the European Union to strengthen the rule of law and modernize our justice system,” he added.

Blanco additionally highlighted cooperation prospects and a “shared history” between Latin America and Spain. 

To mark the country’s participation in the Ibero-American Summit, state broadcaster VTV published an AI-generated spot hailing Spain’s “heritage” in Venezuela as a “cultural matrimony” and a “meeting of two worlds.” The narrative was markedly different from the discourse under Chávez and Maduro, who fiercely condemned Spanish colonialism, the genocide of native peoples, and the slave trade.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.

At least two bases in England hosting U.S. Air Force aircraft are operating under beefed-up security protocols, a U.S. official told us Monday afternoon. The official was responding to our questions about what appeared to be unusual aircraft movements out of RAF Mildenhall. It is unclear what spurred these measures, how long they have been in place or whether they are connected to an ongoing investigation into whether Iran was behind a security incident at RAF Fairford in September that reportedly prompted the hasty departure of B-1 Lancer bombers.

“Enhanced force protection measures are in effect across RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall,” the official told us. “We constantly assess a variety of factors that determine what measures we institute or modify to protect our installations, our people and their families. We are working closely with our host nation counterparts to minimize impacts from enhanced force protection activities and ensure the safety of U.S. personnel, their families and the local community.”

The official declined to say what steps were taken.

“For operational security reasons, we do not discuss specific force protection measures,” the official added.

RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath are both major hubs for the U.S. Air Force. Mildenhall’s host unit is the 100th Air Refueling Wing, which operates KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling jets. The base is also home to Air Force RC-135V/W Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft, Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft and MC-130J Commando II special operations cargo planes. Lakenheath hosts Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle and F-35A Lightning II aircraft.

Both bases also see frequent flights transiting to other locations.

As we noted earlier in this piece, the official was responding to our questions about unusual aircraft movements out of Mildenhall. They were first noticed by the @DefenceGeek open-source flight tracker account.

“Over the course of today, a number of US Air Force assets at RAF Mildenhall (EGUN) have made unannounced/unexpected movements to other locations, with several of those movements in motion presently,” DefenceGeek wrote on X. “The initial few this morning I assumed were due to heavy fog in the area, but other information is now suggesting something else… – Several KC-135s have moved to Spangdahlem (ETAD) or Prestwick (EGPK) – CV-22Bs have moved from Mildenhall to Lakenheath It remains unclear if there is an ongoing exercise or information of a potential threat (following the incident at RAF Fairford)…”

DefenceGeek also noted that RAF Lakenheath posted a notice this morning on Facebook urging vigilance in spotting and reporting drones.

“Our strongest security asset is an observant community,” the RAF Lakenheath Facebook post read. “Staying vigilant and reporting suspicious activity, including unauthorized drone activity, helps protect our Airmen, families and mission. If you see something unusual on or around the Tri-Base area, report it to Security Forces.”

It is unclear what connection, if any, the Lakenheath post has to the enhanced force protection status. U.S. Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE) declined to discuss security measures. The command oversees U.S. Air Force operations in Europe and Africa.

“U.S. Air Force aircraft rotate between installations and operating locations for a variety of reasons including training and real world requirements,” USAFE told us. “U.S. military aircraft are hosted in accordance with access, basing, and overflight agreements with our Allies and partners. Due to operations security, we will not provide further information on movement of assets.”

The departures from Mildenhall took place amid an ongoing flow of refueling tankers and other aircraft to the Middle East as President Donald Trump continues to mull whether to resume strikes against Iran. This afternoon, Trump wrapped up his meeting with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to discuss a flagging effort to resolve the conflict with Iran through diplomacy.

It should also be noted that in late November 2024, Lakenheath, Mildenhall and two other RAF bases hosting U.S. forces experienced drone incursions, which we were the first to write about.

As we mentioned earlier in this piece, security concerns about bases in England hosting U.S. Air Force aircraft and personnel were raised following an incident at RAF Fairford.

Like Mildenhall and Lakenheath, RAF Fairford is a major hub for U.S. military aircraft in the United Kingdom. It is a regular host of strategic assets, including bombers and U-2 spy planes. It also acts as a pit stop for other aircraft, including fighters, that are being ferried to and from the United States. Bomber strikes launched from Fairford were a central aspect of major U.S. combat operations against Iran earlier this year.

In late September, five men were arrested on suspicion of driving bomb-laden vans toward it. They were soon released on bail after no explosives were found, but two men were later arrested, one of who was “charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, which police earlier said they believed to be Iran,” according to the BBC.

A week after the security incident, U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers that had been deployed to RAF Fairford in the U.K. since Operation Epic Fury returned to their home stations, a U.S. defense official confirmed to TWZ at the time. The hasty movement was reportedly sparked by new Iranian threats against the base. As we previously reported, Tehran directly threatened RAF Fairford in July over its use as a base to launch attacks against Iran.

We can’t say for sure what prompted the enhanced security at RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall or whether the aircraft movements at Mildenhall are precautionary or just normal shifting of resources. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates when warranted.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

The decision comes after ​an OpenAI agent breached ​an Australian government website in June.

Australia will make it mandatory for artificial ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠intelligence companies to immediately report when their ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AI models go rogue and to open their models for evaluation, the government said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday the government had accepted all recommendations from a rapid review into the breach, which “include ⁠⁠mandatory AI company reporting when ⁠⁠it comes ⁠⁠to misaligned behaviour or cyber-incidents, and consideration of reforming criminal ‌‌law in cases of serious misconduct”.

“Australia is the first mover in this space, and we want to make sure that we continue to work so that we can reap the potential benefits from AI,” he said.

The decision comes after OpenAI-powered models hacked into an Australian government health data system in June, slipping past its digital defences and accessing files without authorisation.

Top AI firms have recently raised the alarm regarding the risk of humans losing control of their systems, calling for AI development to slow down to a pace that allows it to be safely regulated.

Earlier this year, Anthropic’s safety research scientist Evan Hubinger went so far as to say he believes there is a greater than 10 percent chance that AI could “kill all humans” within a decade.

Rapid incident notifications

The new Australian AI regulator will oversee security controls throughout the development and deployment of AI systems, identify and manage serious risks, and conduct independent ‌‌evaluations of AI models.

The AI standards would also mandate rapid notification to the government of incidents such as “misaligned behaviour” conflicting with developers’ intentions.

Australian government documents define frontier AI as the most sophisticated models at the cutting edge of current technological capability.

Albanese told OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman that the US company took too long to inform the government of the incident. OpenAI apologised for the breach and its slow response.

Inquiry recommends law changes

A government inquiry into the June breach made several recommendations, including that the government consider changing the law.

The proposed AI regulator would follow Australia’s appointment of an eSafety Commissioner in 2015. The office describes itself as the world’s first government agency dedicated to keeping people safer online.

Since December last year, the commissioner has been enforcing a world-first ban on Australian children younger than 16 holding accounts on popular social media platforms.

Age: 32 Country: Spain

Club: London City Lionesses Position: Midfielder

Putellas showed again this year why she is one of the most influential footballers in the world.

After 14 years with Barcelona, she delivered a spectacular final season with the club – helping them win four major trophies.

Her 14 goal contributions in 11 Champions League appearances helped her childhood club win the competition for the fourth time, and she remained a decisive figure bringing experience and leadership when it mattered most.

Putellas delayed announcing her move to London City Lionesses to avoid creating a distraction, but in July 2026 she completed that transfer, saying the club’s “women-only identity and ambition” were important factors.

Internationally, Putellas was instrumental in Spain retaining the Women’s Nations League in late 2025, scoring three goals against Sweden in the semi-finals before being named player of the finals as Spain defeated Germany 3–0.

Last month she was awarded a record-equalling third Ballon d’Or.

Thousands of people joined a silent march through central Krakow on Monday night, in memory of those killed and injured when a gunman went on a violent rampage at the weekend.

The crowd were led by Poland’s president and prime minister, the bitter political rivals putting on a rare show of unity after the country’s deadliest attack in modern times.

As they reached the historic Market Square, a bugler played from the tower.

Many people were carrying flowers or candles to leave at the shrines that now dot the cobblestones, one marking each spot where someone died.

Fiercely proud of its reputation for safety, Poland has been profoundly shaken by this attack. It has left people struggling to make some kind of sense of what happened.

The alleged gunman has been named as 24-year-old Michal Oksinski by local media.

Critically injured in a shoot-out with police, he did not regain consciousness and died in hospital early on Monday.

Initially, the interior minister claimed that Oksinski was driven by far-right, extremist views. The national prosecutor’s office now says that it’s too soon to say he was “inspired” by any ideology.

“The minister wanted to win domestic political points. That’s not responsible behaviour,” Dr Pawel Musialek of the Jagiellonian University suggests, in a country where politics is highly – and often viciously – polarised.

“So far we’ve seen no clear message that this guy was strongly ideological, and that it’s not more like something from the darknet.”

There’s been no mention of any letter or manifesto that Oksinski left. One neighbour told Polish news site Onet that the 24-year-old was a “bit of a loner” but few who knew him well have spoken publicly.

Most of Tuesday’s papers lead with the sentencing of the comedian Russell Brand after his conviction on charges of rape and sexual assault.

The Guardian, external, Daily Express, external and Daily Star, external all quote the judge’s sentencing remarks, in which he called Brand a “predator”.

The i Paper, external picks out another part of judge Joel Bennathan’s speech; when he described the comedian as “staggeringly arrogant”. Metro, external‘s front page features a picture of Brand, and below it one of his wife leaving court on Tuesday. “Still no remorse” reads the Sun, external‘s headline, while the Daily Mirror, external‘s says simply “10 years”.

The Daily Mail, external reports Brand is facing new abuse claims. The paper says police have received multiple reports of sexual abuse since the 51-year-old was convicted last week.

The Financial Times, external leads on Nvidia shares falling sharply after the tech firm said it would investigate claims its chief executive, Jensen Huang, had an affair with a suspected Chinese spy. £350bn was wiped off the company’s market value at one point, according to the paper.

The Guardian says President Trump and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, have thrown their support behind Huang. The Nvidia chief has admitted being “unfaithful” to his wife and apologised.

Cabinet Secretary Dame Antonia Romeo will today use her first speech in the role to call for a reimagining of the civil service, according to the Daily Telegraph, external. It reports that she will say changes are needed to address low public trust in the government, and the emergence of AI. The paper says her plans represent “the biggest overhaul of the British state in more than 170 years”.

The Times, external says researchers believe the gap between humans and chimpanzees may be smaller than previously thought. It reports that a team of scientists have found young chimps learn to speak by listening to and mimicking their elders. The study’s lead author is quoted as saying their findings suggest “there is still much to discover” about the primates.

Saudi forces intercept two missiles fired towards Riyadh, hours after reporting damage to key East-West pipeline.

The Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis has announced it intercepted two missiles fired towards the kingdom’s capital, Riyadh, and another aimed at its southern region.

Major-General Turki al-Maliki, a spokesperson for the coalition, blamed the Iran-backed Houthis for Tuesday’s attacks.

In a series of posts on X, he said a ballistic missile and a cruise missile were intercepted and destroyed over Riyadh, while a second ballistic missile was downed over the southern part of the country.

Multiple explosions were heard in Riyadh, according to the AFP news agency, and residents received text-message alerts instructing them to take shelter due to an “aerial threat”.

A subsequent message from the country’s civil defence agency said the danger had passed.

There was no immediate comment from the Houthis.

The strikes were the latest in a series of attacks on Saudi Arabia as fighting rages in Yemen between the Houthis and the country’s internationally recognised government, backed by Riyadh.

The coalition has supported a Yemeni government offensive to retake territory with air strikes, while the Houthis have repeatedly struck Saudi oil infrastructure, including refineries and storage facilities, with drones and missiles.

On Monday, the East-West oil pipeline in the Medina region was attacked again. A Saudi Energy Ministry official told the state-run SPA news agency the strike caused a “limited fire” that was extinguished. The official said that “pipeline operations were unaffected”.

No injuries or deaths were reported.

The pipeline is a vital route for Saudi oil exports due to Tehran’s restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz following the US-Israel war against Iran. The pipeline has come under attack several times as the war on Iran fuels a global energy crisis.

On Sunday, the Houthis also said they attacked Riyadh’s business district.

Saudi officials said falling debris from an “attempted attack” had caused minor damage to the Aramco Tower.

Images released by the SPA showed the deputy governor of the Riyadh region and other officials inspecting the building, with damage visible on several floors.

Donald Trump has said “Iran militarily is effectively over”, and said that there is “positive momentum” behind negotiations to end the Middle East conflict.

“We’re just keeping it the status quo,” the US president said on Monday. “And we’re doing that really at the behest of countries that are their neighbours.”

Addressing reporters from the White House press briefing room, Trump said that renewed US attacks on Iran were “highly unlikely” but that the US was “locked and loaded” should the circumstances change.

Iranian officials have repeatedly expressed doubts about Trump’s prior comments about resolving the conflict.

Responding to a question over why he would not officially declare an end to the war, Trump said that some of the Gulf allies could still face Iranian aggression.

“We have some great allies there and we have to make sure they’re not hurt,” he said, suggesting that the US naval blockade on Iranian ports was helping to make the region more secure.

This is not the first time that Trump has said the Iran war is “militarily” over, but the circumstances for him are different now.

The president has hinted at de-escalation in Iran after a bruising set of midterm election results for the Republicans last week, which senior figures including Vice-President JD Vance blamed on the Iran war.

Ahead of the midterms, Trump had said US forces conducted what he described as “minor strikes” on an Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz. However, in an interview with 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, the president said that he did not currently see “any reason” to escalate the conflict.

Harare, Zimbabwe – At around 5am on Friday, August 14, Methro Masunga, 28, was jolted awake by the sound of bulldozers and shouting municipal police officers. Outside, earth-moving vehicles were preparing to demolish homes in St Martins Extension, a suburb of Harare.

At first, Masunga thought the machinery had arrived for roadworks. Then she realised her home was among those marked for destruction.

“I thought they were here for some other business, probably land development or road grading; alas, they had been sent to destroy our homes. We tried to understand, but no one would hear us,” Masunga told Al Jazeera.

A single mother of three, Masunga had spent years saving to own a home. She worked part-time cleaning other people’s houses, putting aside what she could to buy a residential stand.

“I worked part-time jobs doing laundry and washing dishes in people’s houses for five years, saving where possible. So, when I came here, I paid the deposit and started monthly contributions,” she said, standing among the remains of her house.

Years of sacrifice reduced to rubble

Masunga began paying for her stand in 2015 and received an allocation in 2019. She says the arrangement was formalised through the city council in 2020, when residents began receiving official documents.

Her experience reflects a wider dispute over land allocations in Harare. Residents say they bought stands through council-linked processes and invested their savings in building homes. The municipality says it is enforcing planning regulations against structures built without the necessary approvals or on land not designated for housing.

The full number of people displaced by demolitions across Harare in 2026 has not been independently established. However, city council records seen by Al Jazeera list more than 5,000 houses facing demolition under 37 outstanding High Court orders. These figures concern properties targeted under the wider programme, not homes already demolished. A council task force has separately inspected 22,255 sites to identify structures on prohibited or unauthorised land.

Authorities say the demolitions are intended to address illegal construction, disputed land sales and development on sites reserved for public infrastructure. Residents argue that enforcement has also affected people who say they obtained allocation letters and agreements of sale through municipal processes.

Memory Chengeta, whose house in St Martins was also demolished, said residents were bewildered by the operation because of an earlier court order.

“There was a court order for them to stop demolitions. The municipal authorities came with no court order that overturned the previous judgement, but went ahead to destroy the properties,” she said.

A former street food vendor, Chengeta had saved to build a more stable life. She is now homeless. Some affected residents have returned to renting, while others, including Chengeta and Masunga, have remained in St Martins, putting up makeshift shelters rather than leaving the area.

Joachim Nhete also lost his home after using his retirement package to buy land and build a house. He estimates his investment at more than $10,000.

The legal question behind the demolitions

The dispute has raised questions about how residents acquired their stands and whether the council complied with existing court orders.

On October 29, 2025, Justice Happias Zhou issued a consent order in case HCH5444/25, setting aside demolition notices issued to named applicants in St Martins Extension. It barred the City of Harare from evicting those applicants or demolishing their homes without a valid court order. It also prohibited further development without written council approval.

The order did not automatically protect every property in St Martins. The available information does not establish whether Masunga, Chengeta or their specific properties were among those covered.

The council has maintained that it did not demolish properties protected by the order. Its spokesperson, Stanley Gama, told local media that the municipality was targeting structures whose owners had repeatedly been warned against building illegally.

“We are only demolishing structures built illegally whose owners were told and warned many times not to proceed with construction,” Gama said.

Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume told NewsDay on August 15 that residents with approved building plans should produce them during council inspections. He said the municipality had repeatedly warned residents to obtain the necessary documents but declined to comment on the legality of the specific demolitions in St Martins.

Harare’s principal housing director, Edgar Dzehonye, later said residents had been warned against building in the area because it had not been adequately serviced.

These explanations raise a separate question: whether residents who received council allocation letters and agreements of sale also had valid planning and building approvals. An allocation to occupy a stand does not necessarily establish that a house was authorised for construction. The status of the residents’ documents, the approved layout, and individual building permits are therefore central to determining whether the demolitions were justified.

Precious Shumba, director of the Harare Residents’ Trust, said the demolitions were particularly troubling because of the court order protecting residents allocated stands by the municipality.

“Despite that, the town planning department and legal officers in the Chamber Secretary’s Department issued directives to the Municipal Police to demolish the houses of St Martins Extension residents,” he said.

Zimbabwe’s Constitution, under Section 74, prohibits the eviction of people from their homes or the demolition of their homes without a court order made after considering all relevant circumstances. The National Human Settlements Policy also calls for alternative accommodation to be prepared before relocations and demolitions. Residents say they were not offered alternative housing.

Residents demand accountability

The controversy reflects long-standing problems in Harare’s land administration. A 2019 commission of inquiry chaired by Justice Tendai Uchena identified unauthorised land sales, weak administration and poor record-keeping by local authorities. It found that land barons had sold state land without authority, sometimes allegedly working alongside council officials.

Shumba said the Harare Residents’ Trust wrote to the president on July 22, 2026, calling for the publication of the report of the commission of inquiry into the financial affairs of the city of Harare. The organisation also wants the findings of the Justice Maphios Cheda commission of inquiry into the city’s governance crisis implemented.

David Jenje, chairman of the St Martins Residents Association and the St Martins Housing Happiness Pay Scheme, said residents had paid for their stands years before receiving allocation letters.

He said the council’s Education, Housing and Community Services Committee resolved in 2019 to expedite the allocation and servicing of the land.

“Most of the members had paid deposits of $5,000 as far back as 2018 … Allocations were made in July 2019 after completion of payment of intrinsic land value. All the allocation letters and agreements of sale were signed in February 2020. These demolitions were illegal,” Jenje said.

ZimRights, a human rights organisation, said the demolitions raised questions about the rule of law and accountability.

Harare South MP Trymore Kanopula called for a halt to further demolitions until the land allocations had been audited and investigated. He also urged the government to present the findings of the commission of inquiry into state land sales to Parliament.

Parliament’s speaker referred the matter to the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works for action.

Minister Daniel Garwe said the government did not carry out demolitions and could not interfere with court processes. He acknowledged that the Harare City Council had approximately 5,000 demolition orders and said the government had sometimes tried to delay demolitions while seeking solutions.

For Nhete, however, official interventions offer little comfort. His house is gone, and he says he has no insurance to recover his investment.

“Unlike some who had home insurance, I didn’t have one,” he said. “I cannot recover the loss and pain. My hope is in the courts of law that Harare City Council must be held accountable and pay us back.”

Kratos has provided an interesting update on the price of its Valkyrie drones. The uncrewed aircraft currently cost roughly $6 to $8 million, depending on their configuration and without certain mission systems installed. Though this is a more expensive price point than Kratos has said it has been aiming for in the past, it still puts Valkyrie firmly at the lower end of the cost spectrum for Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) type drones based on available information, while still providing relatively high-end capabilities.

Kratos’ President and CEO Eric DeMarco shared the new cost figures, as well as other new details about the Valkyrie program, during a recent quarterly earnings call. He also spent considerable time talking about his view that affordability will be a central key factor for prospective customers for CCA-type drones going forward.

“I would not want to be anyone else than Kratos with the Valkyrie, that’s in production, that comes off the line, ‘white tail,’ six million dollars or something like that, maybe eight [million dollars], depending on configuration,” DeMarco said at one point during the call. “Missionized is more.”

Some more context is necessary before any more discussion of these cost figures. DeMarco’s remarks here were part of a lengthy response to a question about Kratos’ view of potential U.S. opportunities for sales of CCA-type drones in the next year.

The U.S. Air Force has been operating a small number of XQ-58As since the type first flew in 2019, in support of research and development and test and evaluation activities. The Marine Corps also experimented with the XQ-58A and is now in the process of acquiring a fully missionized version of the Valkyrie for operational use through that service’s CCA program. Those drones are sometimes referred to as the MQ-58Bs. Northrop Grumman is technically the prime contractor for the Marine effort, which falls under the umbrella of the larger Marine Air-Ground Task Force Uncrewed Expeditionary Tactical Aircraft (MUX TACAIR) program.

XQ-58 Valkyrie first flight with the USMC

Kratos has also secured at least two other contracts for Valkyries from other still-unidentified customers. At least one of them is outside of the United States and took delivery of drones back in the third quarter of 2025. The company is known to be pursuing a bid to supply a version of the Valkyrie called the U740 to the German Air Force, or Luftwaffe, through a partnership with Airbus. The U740 made its first flight at an unnamed test facility in northern Europe last month.

At the time of writing, Valkyrie drones fall into two main categories, at least that we know of. These are rocket-assisted takeoff (RATO) versions, which lack landing gear, and landing gear-equipped conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) types that operate from traditional runways. The U.S. Air Force’s XQ-58As, as well as the European U740, are RATO types. The MQ-58Bs the Marines are acquiring are CTOL versions.

Kratos has also developed a special launch trolley so RATO drones can take off from a runway. No matter how they get into the air, drones in the RATO configuration land via parachute at the end of a sortie. CTOL drones can also be launched via the RATO method, but then land on a traditional runway.

Kratos Valkyrie Trolley Launch System

In March 2024, before the CTOL version was officially disclosed, Kratos told TWZ that there were at least five distinct subvariants of the Valkyrie. The company has been steadily working to expand the performance envelope of the core design since its first flight in 2019, too.

Going back to the matter of the Valkyrie’s unit price, DeMarco had put the figure at around $6.5 million back in 2023. The following year, he told TWZ directly that the price range for RATO versions, specifically, was between $4 and $6 million. At that time, he said the $4 million figure reflected economies of scale benefits from a production run of 100 drones. Kratos had said years ago now that it was hoping to eventually be able to drive down the price point to $2 million apiece as production ramped up. As of August, the company’s stated goal was to get to an annual production rate of 40 airframes by 2028.

As noted earlier, even at $8 million, Valkyrie’s unit cost is deeply at the lower end of the known spectrum for CCA-type designs.

General Atomics and Anduril are both on contract now to build batches of their respective FQ-42A Vengeance and FQ-44A Fury drone designs under the first phase of the U.S. Air Force’s CCA program, or Increment 1. The service has said that it is aiming to have at least 500 of those uncrewed aircraft in inventory by 2032. The Air Force also expects to acquire additional CCAs, which could be of entirely different designs, through a follow-on Increment 2. Kratos could potentially submit a bid for that competition.

The Air Force has said that it is targeting a $20 million average unit cost for Increment 1 CCAs once full-scale production is achieved, but what the actual price point will be remains to be seen. There has been talk previously of the price range of the designs we are seeing now being between $20 and $30 million. Anduril has said that each Fury will be cheaper than that, but has yet to provide a hard figure. At the time of writing, it is unclear whether General Atomics has yet shared any hard cost data of its own.

Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat, another CCA-type design originally developed for the Royal Australian Air Force and in limited production now, offers another point of comparison. In 2024, authorities in Australia said Boeing was aiming for the Ghost Bat’s unit cost to be “10 per cent of the cost of a crewed aircraft such as a[n F-35] Joint Strike Fighter.” At that time, this would have translated to between $8 and $10 million based on publicly available F-35 cost data. How that cost projection has evolved since then, and how it applies to the larger Block 3 version Boeing now has in development, is unknown.

“Affordability is gonna win,” Kratos CEO DeMarco said on the recent earnings call. “We build 150 to 200 jet drones every year. I think more than anyone else in the world, Kratos does [sic], target and tactical. And our bill of materials across the target drones and the tactical drones is substantially the same, which gives us leverage on the supply chain. No one can hit our price points, cost points. Can’t do it.”

“I believe we’re going to win ultimately globally, including in the U.S. because of capability and affordability,” he added.

DeMarco also highlighted last month’s first flight of the U740 variant as another reflection of potential foreign sales opportunities for the Valkyrie.

“We’re flying internationally. What does that mean? We had to get State Department approval,” he explained. “You don’t see anyone else flying internationally, do you? They talk about it. We’re going to fly here. We’re going to fly there. We’re going to build it here. We’re going to build it there. No one’s done it but us. That is a huge, ginormous competitive advantage for us with international customers because we can bring them airplanes and fly them for them on their ranges, and, heretofore, no one else can.”

All this being said, it is important to remember that, despite Kratos’ significant success with Valkyrie in recent years, the drone’s continued development has not been without hurdles. TWZ was the first to report on the crash of one of these drones in a still-unknown “test configuration” on August 4. That mishap occurred at the U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, a known hub for uncrewed aircraft testing.

“No one was injured in the incident. As safety is our top priority, flight test operations for this system have been paused temporarily in an abundance of caution while we investigate the cause of the incident,” Kratos told TWZ in a statement at the time. “Kratos has additional test systems ready once the investigation is complete.”

“We push the envelope across all of our system types,” Steve Fendley, President of Kratos’ Unmanned Systems Division, also subsequently told TWZ. “The other thing I can say is we are constantly increasing the capability of the system, both for what we think it needs to be, and in other cases to satisfy what a particular customer may want to do to satisfy a certain mission.”

The crash at Dugway did not come up at all during the recent earnings call, despite it having occurred during the quarter under discussion.

Furthermore, DeMarco’s comments underscore just how much the CCA market is heating up, and not just in the United States. There has been an explosion in the development of relevant designs in recent years globally. This extends to potential adversaries, too, especially China.

Kratos is clearly hoping that Valkyrie’s price point, together with other attributes of the still-evolving design, will help it continue to stand out in this still-growing field of major competitors.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

A YouGov poll completed on the eve of the 2026 midterm elections has found that Americans were far less likely to back candidates who supported the US-Israel war on Iran.

The poll, released on Monday, found that 44 percent of people said they were less likely to support candidates who backed the war, while just 13 percent said they were more likely.

That means a candidate’s support for the war was more than 3 times as likely to put people off as to win them over.

Another 26 percent, meanwhile, indicated the Iran war would not make much of a difference in their vote.

The economics of the war also factored into people’s choices. Some 56 percent of those surveyed said that the US should prioritise avoiding higher prices domestically over achieving US President Donald Trump’s military goals in Iran.

Meanwhile, 22 percent said the opposite: that the Trump administration should prioritise the war over higher costs.

The poll also asked who should decide when the war ends. A majority, 53 percent, said Congress should have the final say, while 29 percent said that the president should decide.

The US and Israel jointly launched the war against Iran on February 28. But Trump’s decision to bypass congressional authorisation for the war has raised constitutional concerns in the US.

Jonathan Guyer, the programme director at the Institute for Global Affairs at Eurasia Group, a risk consultancy firm, told Al Jazeera that the poll – which was conducted on his organisation’s behalf – indicated Americans were looking to Congress to be more assertive.

“The story of the [economic] tradeoff is really important, and then there’s this other story of where Congress has been: Why haven’t lawmakers, not just over the last year but over the last decade, played a bigger role as a backstop on reckless wars launched by presidents?” said Guyer.

“And I think these numbers show the public really wants Congress to play a bigger role and expects their lawmakers to hold power to account.”

Anti-war lane

The survey is the latest to underscore the unpopularity of the US-Israel war on Iran, which has killed thousands of people in Iran and contributed to surging prices, a top issue in the November 3 midterm elections.

Trump’s Republican Party suffered one of the most significant electoral setbacks in modern US history, with Democrats reclaiming both chambers of Congress with strong majorities.

Democrats also flipped key offices in states like Texas, once seen as a conservative stronghold.

Those results have advanced a debate over the war that is playing out in both parties, often pitting more hawkish establishment figures against newcomers opposed to foreign intervention and support for Israel.

In the wake of the “blue wave”, analysts have argued that Democratic voters may expect the party’s leadership to take firmer steps to rein in the president and bring the fighting with Iran to an end.

On Monday, Trump himself said “Iran militarily is effectively over”, though he declined to rule out any further military action. A US naval and land blockade around Iran also remains in effect.

Guyer said he anticipates that foreign policy and, in particular, US support for Israel is likely to emerge as a key dividing line for candidates in future elections, particularly the upcoming 2028 presidential election.

“I think it does create a lane for people like Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed, for the wing of the [Democratic] party represented by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who have a very strong position on this war and on the role of the US in the world that traditional Democrats have been largely silent on,” said Guyer.

A similar debate is also taking place on the political right.

Following the midterms, US Vice President JD Vance shared a lengthy social media post blaming his party’s implosion on the war.

Figures such as Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene have also criticised the war as a betrayal of Trump’s promise to end conflicts around the world.

While the YouGov poll found that Republicans were the only group more likely to vote for a candidate if they supported the president’s war, Guyer says that support has been “softening”.

“A third of Republicans say that backing the war made a candidate appealing, so it’s kind of small,” he said. “And 40 percent shrugged and say it made no difference.”

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

US President Donald Trump has said the FBI is probing Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s relationship with a woman accused of working for Chinese intelligence services.

Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump said law enforcement had began inquires following Jensen’s admission that he engaged in an extramarital relationship with a Chinese executive named Alice Huang.

“We’ll look into it. I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else,” Trump told reporters in a news conference.

“I think he will be in good shape.”

Trump said Huang told him earlier that he had “absolutely no idea” that the woman was an alleged intelligence agent.

“He said I had no idea that she was a spy, and I really believe him,” Trump said.

Asked when he first become aware of concerns about the relationship, Trump said it was “not too long ago.”

“I have been hearing about it and I have been reading a little bit about it over a period of time,” the US president said.

Nvidia, one of the world’s most valuable companies, on Sunday announced that it had opened a probe into its CEO’s relationship with the woman following media reports that US intelligence officials had determined that she was working for China’s Ministry of State Security.

Nvidia’s board of directors said it had no reason to believe that national security or company secrets were compromised, but that an independent inquiry overseen by outside counsel would examine “all available information”

More to follow…

A court in Honduras has delayed a verdict in a sex-trafficking case linked to the 2022 disappearance of Angie Pena, a case that has raised concerns about impunity in transnational crimes.

On Monday, Honduras’s judiciary cited the need to review evidence and wait for the return of a court interpreter, who was out of the country. The decision has been delayed until November 20.

The verdict was expected that same day. Critics framed the unexpected delay as yet another hurdle in a case that has drawn comparisons to the crimes of the late Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender in the US accused of running a sex-trafficking ring.

Four men, including two US citizens, are on trial for crimes related to Pena’s disappearance four years ago.

Harold Green and William James Murdock, both from the US, face human-trafficking charges. Another US citizen, Gary Lee Johnston, and Honduran citizen Gustavo Trejo are accused of criminal association.

Honduran authorities have also sought an Interpol notice for another suspect, US citizen Antony Frank Grayson.

The Honduran public prosecutor’s office said the suspects are part of a network involved in crimes including drug trafficking and sex trafficking involving minors.

It alleges police and at least one judge helped facilitate the criminal network, without naming the officials.

Defence lawyers, however, have denied the men’s involvement and requested an acquittal.

Pena went missing on January 1, 2022, after setting out on a jet ski from West Bay on the Honduran island of Roatan, while vacationing with her family.

Authorities initially focused on a rescue mission at sea, treating her disappearance as a possible accident.

But the case expanded into a trafficking investigation after Pena’s jet ski was found in Belize, some 170km (90 nautical miles) away.

In August 2022, authorities investigating the disappearance found a minor in the Roatan house occupied by Johnston, who was later sentenced to 32 years for commercial sex trafficking and child pornography in a separate case.

An analysis by Honduran media found that the country was mentioned more than 100 times in the Epstein files, including multiple references to Roatan, from where Pena disappeared.

“There are many more women and girls who have been victims of trafficking networks, and those cases are silenced, they go unpunished,” said Kenia Paz, a lawyer for the Legal Team for Human Rights, which represents Pena’s family.

Lawyers representing the family have questioned the lack of transparency in the investigation and in the trial, which was not open to the press or the general public.

Postponing the verdict “fuels the perception of impunity, increases public distrust in state security institutions, and prolongs the suffering and vulnerability of affected families”, said former Honduran Vice Minister of Security Julissa Villanueva in a post on X.

Dereck McNeil, a key protected witness, was killed in August, spurring further concerns about the case.

In videos made public after his death, McNeil alleged corruption within a special unit of the public prosecutor’s office known as the ATIC.

He accused the unit of leaking information about the case and being linked to drug-trafficking networks.

The ATIC director has denied any corruption and said that the unit has not been involved in investigating Pena’s disappearance.

Villanueva, the former vice minister, told The Associated Press that she believes prosecutors mishandled the case from the start, pushing a “tunnel vision” explanation of what happened.

“There are connections with other larger networks, and only by making them public will this family be able to get justice,” said Villanueva.

“It’s not just Angie. It’s all those women around Angie. There are many.”

US President made the remarks following a meeting with the Qatari PM in Washington, DC.

A lawsuit had sought to block border wall construction in the Big Bend National Park by targeting the waivers that sidestep environmental protections.

The United States Supreme Court has allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to build a border wall through a remote section of Big Bend National Park in West Texas.

In its decision on Monday, the court granted the government’s emergency request to lift a lower court’s injunction that had paused construction while the matter was litigated.

The injunction, it said, “impedes the Government from advancing its ‘compelling interests’ in border security and integrity”.

The border wall has long been a signature part of Trump’s platform to restrict immigration into the US.

During his first successful bid for the presidency in 2016, for instance, he rallied supporters with chants of “Build the wall!”

But the push to expand the border barrier through the popular national park has met pushback from conservationists, local officials and some members of Trump’s own Republican Party.

Big Bend National Park includes mountain ranges and desert that serve as a home to endangered species like the Mexican long-nosed bat.

Opponents say the plan to build the wall through the park would disrupt the ecologically and culturally significant landscape.

The Trump administration, however, has depicted the project as an urgent priority for national security and immigration control. It has described the Big Bend area as an artery for irregular border crossings and drug trafficking.

US District Judge Kathleen Cardone blocked the construction in October, noting that while the Big Bend sector makes up more than 25 percent of the US-Mexico border, it accounts for only 0.3 to 2.2 percent of migrant apprehensions.

“Therefore, if the Big Bend Sector is an area of high illegal entry, so is every other sector, and the waiver authority would apply to the entire US-Mexico border,” Cardone wrote.

The Supreme Court, however, said the government was “exceedingly likely to prevail” on its argument that Cardone lacked jurisdiction under the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which limits the ability of lower courts to rule on border barriers.

Under that law, district courts can only hear claims alleging a violation of the US Constitution. The Supreme Court found that the challengers’ claim did not qualify, writing that “there is no such thing as a ‘constitutional’ major-questions claim”.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only justice to indicate she would have denied the government’s request. She did not explain her reasoning.

The Center for Biological Diversity was among the plaintiffs who brought the lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, along with Friends of the Ruidosa Church and a local river guide and landowner.

The lawsuit challenged waivers used by the agency to fast-track border construction and sidestep environmental and conservation laws.

Without those waivers, plaintiffs said that construction would have to comply with laws such as the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act to alter the landscape in “one of the most remote and ecologically and culturally significant landscapes in the United States”.

During private meetings with survivors, Pope Leo XIV pledged to reinforce safeguards and listen to victims.

Pope Leo XIV has met with five survivors of clerical sexual abuse on the second day of his historic visit to Argentina.

The private meetings in Buenos Aires on Monday were the first of several talks the pope is planning to hold with abuse survivors during his 12-day tour of Latin America, according to the Vatican.

“The Pope spoke individually with each of them, listened to their words and to the painful stories of their experiences, as well as to their proposals for strengthening paths towards healing within the Church,” the Vatican said in a statement.

The closed-door meetings followed a historic open-air mass that drew an estimated 2.5 million people to Avenida del Libertador, a major boulevard in the capital, at the Monumento de los Espanoles. It was the country’s first papal liturgy in nearly 40 years.

The meetings with survivors respond to the pope’s desire to “express his closeness to those who have suffered”, build paths to healing and ensure the church is a safe and “spiritually healthy” place, the Holy See Press Office said in October.

Leo, the first pope born in the United States, has consistently met with survivors during foreign visits as part of a wider outreach aiming to repair global relations and restore the Catholic Church’s credibility. Lawsuits, widespread sexual abuse and cover-ups have sullied its reputation over the last three decades.

While clergy abuse cases are difficult to track globally, a 2021 independent inquiry found there were an estimated 216,000 victims of the French Catholic Church’s clergy alone between 1950 and 2020. Earlier research found more than 10,600 people were abused by Catholic priests in the US between 1950 and 2002, while Australia counted 6,875 victims of Catholic clergy, religious and lay church workers between 1980 and 2015, according to a 2019 German study.

During the meeting, which lasted more than an hour, Leo, 71, listened to victims’ testimonies and reiterated his pledge to strengthen safeguarding in the Catholic Church. Before being named pope, Leo served as president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

Argentina is the second stop on Leo’s three-country tour, which began in Uruguay and will wrap up in Peru.

His visit was the first by a pontiff since Pope John Paul II’s trip in 1987.

United States President Donald Trump has signalled that he considers the US-Israeli war against Iran “effectively” at an end, after meeting with mediators from Qatar.

In a surprise briefing on Monday, Trump reiterated his position that the US had destroyed Iran’s military. But his remarks suggested he faced pressure from allies in the Middle East to bring hostilities to a close.

“Iran, militarily, is effectively over. We’re just keeping it the status quo,” he said. “We’re doing that really at the behest of countries that are their neighbours.”

The US president clarified that the “status quo” would involve continuing the US naval blockade against Iranian ports, as well as the newly announced Task Force Iron Gate, which seeks to cut off trade by land and through the Caspian Sea.

“Much was discussed with respect to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump said.

“Most importantly, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and others would prefer the status quo, that we remain as is — in other words, a continuation of the greatest naval blockade in the history of our country. Probably in the history of the world.”

Trump’s comments come shortly after he and Vice President JD Vance hosted Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani at the White House to discuss the Iran war.

The prime minister posted on social media that he was “grateful for the positive discussions on reaching a deal and bringing peace to the region”.

It is unclear whether Trump’s latest statements significantly change US posture in the war. Trump himself declined to commit to any long-term ceasefire.

“I don’t guarantee anything,” he told the White House briefing room. “But if we do have to go back in, we are locked and loaded and ready to go.”

Iranian officials, meanwhile, dismissed Trump’s latest remarks as a distraction. Both sides have claimed victory throughout the conflict.

“The war on Iran has already wrecked the US government. But Washington flails like a desperate gambler,” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei wrote in a post on social media.

“FOLD YOUR HAND. STOP manufacturing FAKE NEWS about imaginary talks.”

Separately, through Iran’s state-aligned Tasnim News Agency, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had called for an end to the situation, which he described as “neither war nor peace”.

Pezeshkian added that Iran was open to further negotiations but would not be coerced. “We will not surrender to force and bullying,” he said.

Since the war on Iran began on February 28, the conflict has spilled into surrounding countries and roiled international trade.

Almost as soon as the US and Israel began their attacks, Iran moved to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for fossil fuels and fertiliser, among other goods.

Iran has also responded to US and Israeli strikes with missile and drone fire in countries like Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE, with many of the attacks targeting US military installations.

Other, related conflicts have since emerged. Saudi Arabia has renewed its fighting with the Iran-backed Houthis, and Israel began its occupation of southern Lebanon, as well as deadly airstrikes.

In the nearly nine months since the war began, the US offensive against Iran has grown sporadic, with intermittent exchanges of fire. In recent days, for instance, the Trump administration announced “minor strikes” against Iran’s Qeshm Island.

It also offered a $20m reward for the “information about Iran’s nuclear program, including its facilities, equipment, and associated personnel”.

After the Twelve-Day War in June 2025, Trump had claimed that Iran’s uranium enrichment programme had been obliterated. But he has since made curtailing Iran’s nuclear programme a central premise for the ongoing war.

Iran has long denied seeking a nuclear weapon, maintaining its uranium enrichment programme is for the purposes of civilian energy generation.

In his ruling on Monday, Sullivan said that a retrial would not unconstitutionally subject Clancy to double jeopardy, according to court documents obtained by the BBC.

“Although a mistrial may be expensive in both human and monetary costs, it is not to be avoided by intrusion into the jury’s domain,” he wrote.

He also said that the possibility that “an unreasonably stubborn or eccentric juror” could be seated is “an unavoidable risk of the jury system”.

“Because the court concludes that there was manifest necessity for a mistrial based on the jury’s deadlock, a retrial on the murder indictments does not violate Clancy’s right not to be placed in double jeopardy.”

Sullivan also denied a defence motion to see records of the lone holdout juror in the case and to question the juror under oath.

He said the defence failed to demonstrate that the records are needed for Clancy’s defence at any retrial, and that questioning the juror “would have been impermissibly coercive”.

The judge scheduled a hearing for 16 November to discuss scheduling a potential second trial. He previously suggested it could begin in March.

Ana Faguy contributed reporting.

The island has been split since 1974, when Turkiye invaded and seized the northern part after a coup by the Greeks.

Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders have agreed ⁠to open two ⁠new border crossings, coordinate emergency responses, and share archival materials as part of a United Nations-backed effort to resume ⁠peace talks on the divided island.

Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman jointly met with United Nations special envoy Maria Angela Holguin on Monday in the UN-controlled buffer zone that splits the island. The agreement is the first concrete sign of detente between the rivals after nearly a decade of deadlock.

The UN said in a statement that Monday’s meeting was “positive” and that the two leaders would talk again in the coming weeks in the presence of outgoing UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

“We are continuing this effort with absolute seriousness and one single goal: resuming the talks before the ‌end ‌of the secretary-general’s term,” at the end of the year, Christodoulides told reporters after the meeting.

Guterres began a new drive to try to resolve the more than five-decade-old conflict in the summer, suggesting new crossings could build trust and confidence. However, the two sides have since been disagreeing ‌over the ground rules for talks.

The move would bring the number of open crossings on the divided Mediterranean island to 11, according ⁠to media in Cyprus.

Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkiye invaded and seized the northern part in response to a coup instigated by the then-military government in Greece.

A previous power-sharing administration of Greek and Turkish Cypriots had fallen apart in 1963, and a UN Peacekeeping Force has monitored a 180km (112-mile) ceasefire line which splits the two sides since.

Only Turkiye recognises the northern part of the island as an independent republic. Ankara maintains more than 35,000 troops on Cyprus.

Decades of talks have repeatedly failed to reunify Cyprus, with the last official round collapsing in 2017. Greek Cypriots are against Ankara having any hands-on involvement; Turkish Cypriots say it is essential.

Last year, the north elected its first pro-unification leader since 2020, generating renewed hope.

President Erdogan announces an investigation after a crane collapsed into a furnace, triggering the blast near Izmir.

An explosion at a steel plant in western Turkiye has killed at least 16 people and injured 13 others.

The blast happened at 11:46am local time (08:46 GMT) on Monday at the HABAS factory in Aliaga, about 60km (37 miles) north of Izmir, which sits on the Aegean Sea in western Turkiye.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced an investigation and reported that two of the wounded were in serious condition.

Izmir’s governor said the explosion was caused by an overhead crane falling into a large industrial furnace while the boiler was being replaced.

Izmir Mayor Cemil Tugay said that the full number of dead and injured would only become clear once the rubble had been cleared.

Deniz Ulker, an eyewitness, said the explosion felt like an “earthquake”.

“When I looked at the factory across the street, thick black smoke was coming out. A fire broke out where the chimney was,” he said.

Workers’ groups say there is a long record of safety issues at the factory.

The Izmir chapter of Turkiye’s Labour Party, a small Marxist group, said it was “the third fatal incident” at the factory in three weeks.

Writing on X, it warned that seven employees had died in accidents at the plant in the past 10 years and said that maintenance requirements and safety standards were not being met.

The European Union and Azerbaijan were among those to send condolences.