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India defeat Bangladesh by 114 runs to book women’s cricket final against Sri Lanka, who beat Pakistan by eight wickets.

Smriti Mandhana has become the highest run-scorer in women’s T20 international cricket, guiding India to a crushing win over Bangladesh in an Asian Games semifinal in Japan.

The recently crowned Asian champions defeated Bangladesh by 114 runs on Sunday as Mandhana’s fellow opener Shafali Verma hit her maiden T20 hundred at the Korogi Athletic Park ground in Nagoya.

Mandhana scored 37 off 19 balls with five fours and two sixes in her side’s 195-4 in 20 overs and, in the process, went past New Zealand all-rounder Suzie Bates’s 4,758 runs at the top of the all-time list to stand on 4,788 runs from 171 innings.

Earlier this month, Mandhana reached the top of overall run-scoring charts in women’s international cricket after smashing a record-breaking 124 off 64 balls in the Women’s Asia Cup in Dubai.

Mandhana overtook former India captain Mithali Raj, who had been the top international scorer with 10,868 international runs, during her match-winning innings against Hong Kong on Thursday.

Verma was the star on the day for India in the Asian Games semifinal, scoring 100 not out off 49 balls with three fours and nine sixes. She reached her hundred off the final ball of the 20-over innings and was clearly emotional as she took off her helmet and raised her bat in celebration towards her applauding teammates on the boundary.

India then restricted Bangladesh to 81 in 15.4 overs.

The 50-over world champions will meet Sri Lanka on Tuesday in the gold medal match, which will be a replay of the Asia Cup final from last Sunday, when India won a record-extending eighth title.

Sri Lanka advanced to the final after their captain Chamari Athapaththu led them to an easy eight-wicket win over Pakistan with more than two overs to spare.

The island nation hunted down the 178-run target with 13 balls to spare as Athapaththu led the scoring with 83 not out.

Earlier, Pakistan were asked to bat first and, with half-centuries from Ayesha Zafar and Shawaal Zulfiqar, they posted a total of 177-4 in 20 overs.

Zafar, who hit the joint third-fastest fifty for Pakistan in WT20Is off 27 balls, shared a record stand of 115 with Zulfiqar, which is the second-highest in the format for Pakistan and the highest for the third wicket.

Pakistan were able to score 27 runs off the last three overs as their all-rounder captain Fatima Sana hit two fours and one six in her 12-ball 20.

In reply, Sana broke Sri Lanka’s 36-run opening stand in the fifth over, bowling out Imesha Dulani for 27. Athapaththu, who hit seven fours and six sixes in her 50-ball knock, joined forces with Hasini Perera (42) to form a match-winning 95-run partnership off 56 balls.

Nashra Sundhu provided Pakistan the breakthrough in the 14th over, with Sri Lanka requiring another 47 runs off the last six overs, but Athapaththu’s quickfire stand of 47 off 23 balls with Harshitha Samrawickrama (17 not out) took their team over the line with 13 balls to spare.

Pakistan will play Bangladesh for the bronze medal, also on Tuesday.

Lisandro Brusco is an Argentine political scientist and Palestine solidarity activist with a track record in geopolitical analysis and journalism focused on Global South struggles. He has contributed as a columnist to international media outlets such as Hispan TV, El Salto, Alma Plus TV, and Huellas del Sur, and is a prominent organizer at Masar Badil. In this exclusive interview, Brusco shares his perspective on the genocide in Palestine, analyzes the expansion of Zionism in Latin America, and outlines the challenges facing anti-imperialist internationalism.

Venezuela recently announced the establishment of consular relations and “technical cooperation” with Israel. The rapprochement began with the arrival of a military-humanitarian contingent days after the June 24 earthquake. How can we explain that an army that destroys hospitals and schools and murders people in Gaza would travel to other countries to portray itself as a lifesaver?

What we saw in Venezuela after the double earthquakes, and in Colombia as well, is part of the Israeli colonial regime’s “humanitarian washing” policy. This involves sending humanitarian contingents to aid the civilian population following a natural disaster. The genocidal state of Israel seeks to restore the image it has lost, especially since October 7. On a global scale, its mask has slipped. People began to see, especially in the West, what the State of Israel was doing to the Palestinian people, even before October 7. After October 7, what we call a “televised genocide” became even more evident. Much credit goes to the press and grassroots journalists, many of whom have been killed, especially in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has lost the legitimacy it once enjoyed in global Western opinion as a democratic state, as a state constantly under attack by neighboring nations, by Arab countries. All those myths are crumbling.

“Humanitarian washing” is an attempt to say, “Here are the good guys coming to show solidarity with this population.”

How is it possible that a regime – which has destroyed more than 70% of the infrastructure in the Gaza Strip,  which blows up hospitals, schools, and mosques, which has destroyed the agricultural production capacity, the very little the Gaza Strip had, which blocks the entry of humanitarian aid, could turn around and send so-called humanitarian contingents to other regions?

Some of these contingents include soldiers who have even been accused of genocide and are wanted for arrest.

How can this happen? Because governments complicit in this genocide allow these troops to enter their territories. Unfortunately, this is happening in Latin America.

This entire whitewashing mechanism is also applied on social media. In 2025, Israel invested $1 billion in PR firms, influencers, digital diplomacy, artificial intelligence, and so on. The settler-colonial regime needs to control search engines to steer information in its favor and create a permanent stranglehold on social media, so that the public consumes fake news it produces.

Israel’s influence in Latin America has been linked to the sale of surveillance technology and “combat-tested” weaponry used against the Palestinian people and on other fronts. As Venezuela normalizes its relationship with Israel, what are the main risks you see?

The Zionist lobby in Latin America operates in tandem with imperialist interests in the region. It is very important to highlight this premise in order to analyze the situation correctly and implement sound political strategies.

This is not a recent development: that organic link already existed between the Israeli colonial entity and the ecclesiastical-civil-military dictatorships that were imposed by blood and fire across Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s.

They were not individual Zionist links with each dictatorship, but with the imperial project being imposed on the region: Operation Condor, the US policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean aimed at quelling the revolutionary movements that were taking shape. Israel sold weapons and provided military training to those dictatorships.

The process continued with the so-called democratic transitions of the 1980s and gained new momentum following the US “War on Terror” offensive beginning in 2001. Today we also see this expressed in a clear strengthening of the ties between the Zionist movement, the State of Israel, and US imperialism.

This is not about particular interests, nor is there any intention to create a situation in Latin America similar to that in Palestine. Israel has no plan to build settlements in the region. Here, Zionism continues to support the capitalist imperialist interests of the United States.

We see this in the trade agreements that various governments have signed with Israeli surveillance, arms, and extractive companies.

For example, the Israeli state-owned water company Mekorot advises various provincial governments in Argentina on water management. Similarly, the Israeli company XtraLit is involved in the extraction of lithium, a strategic mineral for contemporary capitalism. Another example is Navitas Petroleum, an oil company that also extracts resources in Argentina.

The focus of these Israeli companies is the same as that of global capitalism: resources. And to ensure the extraction of resources, they need repression; that is why they have military companies, surveillance software, and so on.

Because what Israel has historically sold to the world is repressive technology tested on the ground. Who can better vouch for military tools than the genocidal regime par excellence?

Obviously, there is a political landscape in the region that facilitates all of this: governments like we have in Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Ecuador. These are governments subservient to imperialist interests, which even create regional and global political structures such as the Isaac Agreements – signed by the Milei administration – that are set to expand to other nations. All of this goes hand in hand with military initiatives such as the Shield of the Americas.

The presence of Zionism in Latin America is a political concern for anti-imperialist activists: there is a hegemonic bloc that is coming for our resources, our territories, to plunder, pollute, and destroy our land. We must fight this bloc.

Having been on the ground in the West Bank, you describe how the machinery of home demolitions, checkpoints, and the violent expansion of settlements operates on a daily basis. How is the settler-colonial project sustained economically and militarily, and what role does the complicity of the international community play?

Israel is sustained, to a great extent, by the United States, international banks, and European powers such as Germany. Without US support, Israel would not have lasted a week in the recent war against Iran. The US Congress, driven by the Zionist lobby, had to approve emergency funds to support Israel’s military defense.

On the other hand, the settlements in the West Bank are sustained economically by state support from the Israeli regime, through subsidies – largely contributions from multinational corporations, ranging from investment funds to Zionist foundations such as the Jewish National Fund.

And the international community, such as the United Nations, has historically legitimized and normalized this occupation, not only through the resolution that allowed for the establishment of the State of Israel, but also by failing to take action against Jewish settlements in the West Bank, despite declaring them illegal.

It is worth noting that when the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, there were just over 150,000 settlers in the West Bank. Today there are approximately 700,000. There are entire cities that are illegal settlements, with industries, schools, police stations, and so on.

The UN member states are also doing nothing. They could sever trade and diplomatic ties with this genocidal entity, but even the powers that proclaim themselves anti-hegemonic fail to do so.

The only sovereign state that has no ties to the Israeli regime and whose political goal is the destruction of this colonial entity is the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is the only country that has advocated for the destruction of the Israeli occupation of Palestine since 1948.

In short, there is no political initiative by the international community to at least halt the advance of illegal settlements in Palestine. Recently, although the systematic aggression against Gaza continues, the Zionist entity is making much greater inroads in the West Bank through its settlers.

Settler civilians – the vast majority of whom are armed – set fire to Palestinian homes and fields, kill grazing animals, and prevent Palestinian children from going to school. All of this takes place under the protection of the Israeli occupation army. The situation is desperate, and often – with a few honorable exceptions – Palestinians feel that they are on their own.

In the West Bank, you spent time alongside local families. In the face of Israeli violence, how do the Palestinian people sustain their daily lives, their culture, and their resistance in the face of this ongoing occupation?

It is a question as important as it is difficult to answer, because from our perspective it is hard to understand how the Palestinian people sustain their daily lives, their culture, and their resistance in the face of such genocide and ongoing occupation.

As with all anti-colonial struggles, there is a fundamental factor that the colonizers fail to consider as a variable: the Palestinian people’s deep connection with their land. This goes far beyond a purely utilitarian view; it is an ancestral, cultural, social, and historical bond. That is why, despite the brutal attacks of the Zionist occupation, the Palestinian people have no intention of leaving their territory.

Getting them to leave is the primary objective of the Zionist movement: a project of ethnic cleansing that has failed to do so for over 100 years, despite Western support. As time goes on, the Israeli regime faces increasingly severe crises, while the Palestinian population remains steadfast on its land.

We must bear in mind that there is also a deliberate effort to destroy written historical records, civil registries, libraries, and universities. All of this is part of a very clear mission to erase the written history of the Palestinian people. In the face of this, memory is preserved and expressed through oral history – the stories that refugees pass down to new generations.

Therein lies the idea of return and liberation, symbolized by the key. This goes far beyond the material property that families once owned in what is now the State of Israel. The key embodies the history of a people, of a family, their tradition of struggle, their connection to the land, and their origins. It is not conceived in terms of private property, but rather from a social and historical perspective.

That is why, in every refugee camp – whether in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan, or Syria – each family preserves not only the key but also its customs and identity. If we ask a third- or fourth-generation Palestinian refugee, born in Beirut, where they are from, they will immediately name the Palestinian village razed in 1948 from which their family hails. That identity remains extremely strong even several generations later. That is why there is such brutal repression against the refugee camps, because that is where the revolutionary spirit is preserved.

This tradition is sustained in large part by the daily efforts of families and, in a very special way, by the educational role of women. They are the ones who pass down oral history to children and take charge of their education, especially in contexts where children are prevented from attending school due to Israeli checkpoints or settler attacks.

Alongside this collective memory, Palestinian society draws on solidarity and community resilience. Facing daily policies of apartheid, displacement, torture, home demolitions, and mass incarceration, the community responds collectively. Committees of prisoners’ family members are organized, and when a home is slated for demolition, the community mobilizes to ensure that the family is not left homeless.

In the face of apartheid and ethnic cleansing, resistance is practiced in daily life.

In your writings, you address the essence of the Zionist colonial project and the imposition of permanent control structures in Gaza. What plans does the Israeli government have in store, together with Trump’s Board of Peace, for Gaza?

The Board of Peace is yet another of the many tools of the Israeli colonial regime. In this case, it was proposed by the United States, just as others came from the British Empire, just as the UN hatched a plan to create the State of Israel on Palestinian territory.

These are proposals imposed by the West to ensure the expansion of the State of Israel – as a Zionist project – across all Palestinian territory and beyond.

Thus, the Board of Peace is a strategic policy of the Zionist movement, a tool for administering this occupation, denying the genocide, and imposing a supposed stability built upon the total massacre of the Palestinian people.

We’ve seen this story before, even in Oslo in 1993. At that time, there was talk of building a Palestinian state, of economic growth, of foreign investment, of an economy integrated into the region, and of the creation of a so-called Palestinian Authority.

Far from that, the result was a territory that became even more controlled, more occupied, more fragmented, and more bombed. The Palestinian Authority, it is now undeniable, serves the occupation, collaborating in the repression of those who oppose normalization and the recognition of the State of Israel.

So, I’ll say it again: Trump’s Board of Peace has nothing to do with peace. It serves to uphold the policy of exterminating the Palestinian population and destroying homes, farmland, water supply systems, roads, hospitals, schools, markets, refugee camps, and so on. All the infrastructure that supported daily Palestinian life in the Gaza Strip has now been destroyed.

And this Board of Peace proposes the reconstruction of this territory. Reconstruction for what purpose and for whose benefit? Who will manage this reconstruction? Who will control food supplies and productive land? This Board of Peace goes hand in hand with a plan for the total colonization of the Gaza Strip and total control over its territory, with the possible establishment of a Palestinian governing body in the future.

But in reality, just like the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, what it will guarantee is the occupying power’s control over that territory, along with a supply of cheap labor.

For years, progressive governments in Latin America firmly condemned Israel, and in some cases even severed ties. In the current climate, where realpolitik prevails and the normalization of the Zionist regime is advancing, what challenges do solidarity movements face in sustaining support for the Palestinian cause?

From a communications perspective, the role of grassroots solidarity movements with Palestine is central. We saw this beginning on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian journalists and media workers in Gaza and Lebanon became military targets of the Israeli colonial regime, in response to the threat that was beginning to emerge in the battle of ideas, in the battle for the hearts and minds of the people.

Communication work is strategic when it comes to fostering critical thinking and a revolutionary, solidarity-based practice that breaks with the commodified conception of news to uphold the basic principles of informing the public.

On the other hand, the role of international movements – both in the West and in West Asia, as well as in the countries of the Global South – is fundamental. What the Al-Aqsa Flood operation did was precisely to mobilize and awaken many peoples who were dormant and to show that the enemy is not invincible.

We can launch our own political initiatives, including military ones, to create crises in these genocidal, criminal, and occupation projects that exist today in West Asia and throughout the world.

One key question to address from a solidarity perspective is: How do we bring these national liberation resistance movements together? We must approach this from an internationalist perspective. For example, any victory for the movements organized around the Axis of Resistance that directly confront imperialism – the United States and Israel – is a victory for the peoples of Latin America who face the same enemy. This is the Guevarist conception that any defeat of imperialism anywhere in the world is a victory for the peoples.

It seems to me that this solidarity bond must be organic and strategic when considering the building of international fronts that break the capitalist domination that prevails in much of the world.

If revolutionary governments came to power in Latin America and truly severed ties with the Israeli entity, that would weaken all those fronts involved in the sale of arms, technology, etc,. and set a precedent for other peoples around the world.

And that is the way to support the Palestinian cause, which is the cause of liberation and return. We, too, must instill in public opinion and in our discussions with all organizations the conviction that Palestine will be free from the river to the sea. Today, we cannot reconcile the liberation of the Palestinian people and their return with the existence of the State of Israel.

We need to build political, organic, and genuine solidarity that focuses on projects of national liberation and collective emancipation. And it seems to me that the Al-Aqsa Flood has, in a way, established precisely that: that the best way to change the status quo is by dealing real and tangible blows to colonialism and imperialism.

Selected by Beijing in 1996, Tung Chee-hwa’s tenure shaped post-handover Hong Kong during a turbulent political era.

Hong Kong has given a state funeral to Tung Chee-hwa, its first post-colonial leader, only the third time the city has granted such an honour since Britain returned it to Chinese rule in 1997.

Senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials bid farewell to Tung at the Hong Kong Funeral Home in North Point on Sunday, a day after a public vigil that drew dozens of political and business figures.

Tung, Hong Kong’s first chief executive, died on September 8 at the age of 89.

Members of the public could pay their respects by signing condolence books at three community halls until Sunday noon.

The funeral committee, made up of 87 members, was chaired by Shi Taifeng, a senior Chinese Communist Party Politburo member and vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top political advisory body, underlining the level of official backing from Beijing.

Shi attended the funeral alongside Xia Baolong, Beijing’s top official for Hong Kong and Macau affairs; current chief executive John Lee; former chief executives Leung Chun-ying, Carrie Lam and Donald Tsang; and other political and business figures, reported government-funded Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK).

Lee and Leung were among the pallbearers who carried Tung’s coffin, draped in China’s national flag, from the hall to a hearse, which headed to Cape Collinson Crematorium.

A shipping tycoon with little political experience, Tung was selected in 1996 by a Beijing-appointed committee to become Hong Kong’s first leader after the 1997 handover from Britain.

Tung led the city through the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2003 SARS outbreak, and mass protests that year forced him to shelve proposed national security legislation.

He was re-elected unopposed in 2002 but resigned in 2005, midway through his second term, citing poor health, in a move widely seen as driven by Beijing’s loss of confidence in him.

He went on to serve as a vice chairman of the CPPCC until 2023.

Two business leaders, industrialist Ann Tse-kai and tycoon Henry Fok, who both served as vice chairs of the CPPCC, were given state funerals in 2000 and 2006, respectively.

Chinese state media described Tung as a “renowned patriot”, while his successor, Tsang, called him “an easy-going, gentle and refined man with a broad-minded outlook and far-reaching vision”.

Critics recalled his tenure as marked by governance struggles and public discontent that never fully recovered after the financial crisis.

Far-right AfD defeated German chancellor’s CDU in recent Saxony-Anhalt state election, casting doubt on his future.

Voters in the eastern German states of Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are heading to the polls as far-right and far-left gains threaten to affect the political standing of Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

About 2.5 million people are eligible to vote in the city-state of Berlin, Germany’s capital, and nearly 1.3 million in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Sunday. Polling booths in both states – traditionally seen as more left-leaning – opened at 8am local time (06:00 GMT) and will close at 6pm (16:00 GMT).

Pressure on Merz has been mounting after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) delivered a major defeat to his Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) party two weeks ago in the key state of Saxony-Anhalt. The AfD fell just short of an absolute majority, which would have allowed it to govern on its own.

And after just 16 months in power, Merz’s approval ratings have plunged to about 14 percent, the latest polls suggest, as he struggles to push through promised economic and social welfare reforms with his centre-left coalition partners, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), raising doubts among fellow party members whether he can continue to lead.

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Merz’s party is an onlooker to the main battle between the SPD’s popular state premier Manuela Schwesig and the AfD’s lead candidate, former radio presenter Leif-Erik Holm.

While the AfD was polling at 36 percent against the SPD’s 37 percent, Merz’s CDU, at just 6 percent, was dangerously close to the 5 percent hurdle needed to stay in the state parliament, according to public broadcaster ZDF.

Reporting from a polling station in Schwerin, Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane said there was “very much all to play for” in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

“The race between the AfD here and the Social Democrat government is very close indeed,” he added, pointing out to the recent opinion polls.

In  Berlin, the CDU is running a tight race against the far-left Die Linke (The Left), which promises drastic measures to solve a dire housing crisis and is popular with young people.

Regional elections would not usually draw much interest outside Germany, but the AfD’s success in Saxony-Anhalt, which it sees as the first step towards winning federal elections due in 2029, has sent shockwaves through Europe.

“Saxony-Anhalt was certainly a revolution for the German party system,” Florian Hartleb, a professor of international relations at Modul University in Vienna and an expert on far-right movements, told Al Jazeera.

Hartleb said the AFD had been “fundamentally excluded” from the power system, with the other political parties trying “everything” against it in recent years. “But it didn’t work out,” he said, citing voters’ dissatisfaction over migration, the economy and social inequality.

Merz has reportedly scheduled a crisis CDU meeting and cleared his calendar to deal with potential aftershocks from Sunday’s elections.

Joshua Van earned a unanimous decision (49-46, 49-47, 50-45) win over his Brazilian opponent to cement his reign.

Joshua Van put on a striking masterclass to secure a unanimous-decision win over Alexandre Pantoja and retain his flyweight title in UFC 331 in Los Angeles, as the 24-year-old from Myanmar settled the score with the former champion after their first fight ended with a freak injury.

Undisputed flyweight champion Van cemented his reign atop the 125-pound (56.7kg) division, defeating the Brazilian via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-47, 50-45) in the main event on Saturday night.

Pantoja had suffered an accidental elbow dislocation 26 seconds into their first fight in December last year, resulting in Van becoming the UFC flyweight champion without an outright win over the Brazilian, who had reigned over the division for at least two years.

Van, the first UFC champion from Myanmar, defended the belt against Tatsuro Taira in May but was left waiting to seal his status as the best in the division as 36-year-old Pantoja recovered from the injury.

“A lot of people said that was an accidental win … well, doubt me now,” Joshua said after his second title defence, which extended his professional MMA record to 18 wins and two losses.

Pantoja took Van down in the first round before landing heavy punches and knees in a fiery exchange, as Van retaliated with a slicing elbow.

“You’re too good to brawl with this guy,” Van’s coaches told him during the break, suggesting a more tactical approach.

Van peppered Pantoja with left-handed jabs in the second round and rocked the Brazilian with a fluid combination of punches in the third. Pantoja controlled the fourth round as he took Van down but was unable to submit him.

In the final round, Van stalked Pantoja and knocked him down with an overhand right, securing the win on the judges’ scorecards.

In the co-main event, Armenian contender Arman Tsarukyan staked his claim for a shot at the lightweight title when he pinned Mauricio Ruffy to the cage, rocked him with a left elbow and knocked him out with a right elbow with four seconds to spare in the first round.

“I knew my time would come, so I was patient,” said Tsarukyan, who extended his win streak to six fights, as he called for a bout with champion Justin Gaethje.

In featherweight action, former four-time, two-division Bellator champion Patricio Pitbull (38-9 MMA) earned his first UFC stoppage win, dismantling South Korea’s Dooho Choi via total knockout (TKO) within three minutes and 28 seconds of the opening round.

Brazil’s Pitbull overwhelmed Choi with sharp volume striking before landing a devastating right hand that forced the referee to step in and stop the contest. Pitbull snapped a three-fight finishing streak for Choi, a promotional mainstay who has competed under the UFC banner since 2014.

In the heavyweight division, Sean Sharaf pulled off one of the year’s most stunning upsets, needing just 12 seconds to shock Gable Steveson with a first-round TKO.

Steveson entered the Octagon as a massive betting favourite, but Sharaf caught him immediately in the opening exchange, unleashing a blistering flurry of strikes that forced a lightning-fast stoppage. The 12-second finish marked the third-fastest knockout in UFC heavyweight history.

A visibly frustrated Steveson refused to remain inside the Octagon as Sharaf had his hand officially raised, while Sharaf celebrated the landmark victory in front of an electric crowd.

Moscow mayor reports intercepting 1,600 drones during ‘unprecedented’ attack, accusing Ukraine of election interference.

At least two people have been killed and a major refinery has been damaged as hundreds of drones targeted the Russian capital, Moscow, and its surrounding region on the final day of the country’s parliamentary elections.

Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Sunday that more than 1,600 drones had been intercepted and shot down, 450 of which were heading for Moscow.

He also accused Ukraine of attempting to interfere with a tightly controlled three-day election that is set to tighten President Vladimir Putin’s 26-year grip on power.

“The unprecedented attack was clearly planned with the aim of disrupting the elections. The enemy did not succeed,” he said on Telegram.

Moscow regional Governor Andrey Vorobyov said on social media that a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man were killed in two separate locations.

A fire triggered by a drone crashing into a 21-storey building forced the evacuation of 400 people, Vorobyov said.

The strikes come as Kyiv has intensified its long-range drone campaign against Russia, particularly targeting energy infrastructure to cut off a vital source of Kremlin revenue used to fund its war effort, now in its fifth year.

“A facility on the territory of the Moscow Oil Refinery has been damaged,” Sobyanin added, saying that no casualties were reported so far and emergency services were on the scene.

The major refinery has already been hit by Ukrainian strikes in recent months.

The latest strike follows claims by US President Donald Trump on Monday that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to target each other’s energy facilities.

It also comes as Russians vote in the country’s first parliamentary elections since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, igniting a war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. Moscow has also organised voting in parts of Ukraine that it has seized in the four-and-a-half-year war.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Air Force Command reported that Russia launched 138 drones of various types across the country overnight, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

It added that air defences managed to shoot down or neutralise 101 of them.

Yemen’s Houthi movement, formally known as Ansar Allah, has released imagery that it says shows the downing of a Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 fighter over Marib governorate. The material includes photos of the wreckage of an F-15 on the ground. At this stage, the fate of the two crew members is unclear. The incident comes amid a major escalation in fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

A video of what Ansar Allah says is the successful shootdown of the F-15 shows the typical ground-based forward-looking infrared (FLIR) systems we have seen in use by air defenses in Yemen previously, and, more recently, in Iran.

After a period of relative calm following the 2022 truce, fighting has intensified in recent weeks, with Houthi forces making significant advances against Saudi-backed Yemeni government positions, including around the strategically important coastal areas of Marib and Taiz. The group has also stepped up missile and drone attacks against southern Saudi Arabia, targeting military and energy infrastructure while strangling the kingdom’s ability to move oil through the Red Sea. The Houthis have further declared the Bab el-Mandeb closed to Saudi oil traffic, directly challenging one of Riyadh’s key energy-export routes.

Prior to the release of imagery, earlier today the Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed that Houthi forces had shot down a Saudi F-15 while it was conducting operations in support of Saudi-backed forces in Marib. Saree said the aircraft was engaged by a locally manufactured surface-to-air missile, although he did not identify the weapon. Reuters likewise reported that the Houthis had claimed the shootdown but that the claim had not been independently verified.

Saree also claimed that Houthi air defenses subsequently engaged formations of Saudi F-15s and Eurofighter Typhoons that entered the area while attempting to locate the downed aircraft. According to the Houthi account, those aircraft were forced to withdraw. That portion of the claim has likewise not been independently verified.

Saudi Arabia has not, at the time of writing, publicly acknowledged the loss of an F-15. Reuters reported that the Saudi-led campaign had intensified considerably in recent days, with Saudi aircraft striking targets across Yemen while the Houthis have launched missiles and drones toward Saudi territory.

The aircraft appears to be an F-15SA, the most advanced variant of the Eagle operated by the Royal Saudi Air Force. Specifically, it appears to be tail number 5539, assigned to the 55th Squadron based at King Khalid Air Base.

The Royal Saudi Air Force received 84 of the new-build F-15SA. Meanwhile, the 68-strong fleet of earlier F-15S aircraft has been upgraded locally to a similar standard, also known as F-15SR (for Saudi Retrofit). Aircraft 5539 is understood to be among the latter.

The reported shootdown highlights the continuing threat posed by Houthi air defenses, which have proven considerably more capable and difficult to suppress than their improvised appearance might suggest.

As TWZ has previously detailed, the Houthi air-defense network includes mobile surface-to-air missile systems, repurposed infrared-guided R-73 and R-27 air-to-air missiles, and Iranian-derived systems such as the Saqr/358.

Of particular concern is the group’s use of passive infrared sensors for detection, tracking, and missile cueing. Unlike conventional fire-control radars, these sensors do not provide an aircraft’s electronic-warfare systems with an early warning that it has been detected or targeted. TWZ has noted that this combination of mobility and passive sensing can create a difficult problem even for highly sophisticated combat aircraft, with the Houthis having previously demonstrated the ability to threaten U.S. crewed and uncrewed aircraft.

That capability does not mean that Houthi air defenses constitute a conventional, integrated air defense network comparable to those operated by major state militaries. However, they can still be effective through a combination of concealment, mobility, passive detection, unconventional employment of missiles, and the difficult operating environment over Yemen.

Previous Saudi aircraft losses attributed to Houthi air defenses during the Yemen war from 2015 to 2022 include several helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and drones. Total Saudi losses to all causes in the conflict amount to around a dozen helicopters, five jets, and as many as 30 drones. A Saudi F-15 crashed in the Red Sea at the start of the war in 2015 and Eagles were also reportedly engaged and damaged by Houthi surface-to-air missiles in 2018, although they returned safely.

Video footage that emerged in 2021 shows Saudi troops on the ground watching an F-15 swoop in a relatively low level to knock down a Houthi Qasef-series suicide drone:

Saudi F-15 shooting down a Houthi Qasef-2K

In the past, Houthi forces have come close to engaging U.S. F-35s and have repeatedly demonstrated an ability to bring down MQ-9 Reaper drones. If the Saudi F-15 loss is ultimately confirmed, determining precisely how the aircraft was detected, tracked, engaged, and hit could therefore provide valuable insight into how this unusual air defense architecture is being employed against Saudi and other combat aircraft.

As we discussed at the time, the clear risk posed by Houthi air defenses is likely the main factor behind Saudi employment of a Chinese-made short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) in the current fighting with Yemen.

The timing of the reported shootdown is also notable. It comes amid a sharp escalation in the conflict, with Saudi Arabia conducting air operations against Houthi positions in Yemen and Ansar Allah launching missiles and drones toward targets inside Saudi Arabia. Reuters reported that the Houthis had attacked the Saudi Red Sea port of Yanbu and a southern airbase at Khamis Mushait, while Riyadh has reported intercepting Houthi drones.

The F-15 incident also follows a separate confrontation over an alleged Houthi drone attack near Mecca. Saudi authorities said their air defenses intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone south of Mecca before it entered the restricted airspace over the city. The Houthis denied targeting the holy city.

Meanwhile, there are reports that U.S. officials met representatives of the Houthis in Oman over the weekend, with the Houthis apparently telling the U.S. officials that they had no intention of attacking American vessels and that they remained committed to the 2025 ceasefire with ​the United States unless they stepped in on behalf of Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom reportedly requested exactly this in recent weeks but was denied.

For the moment, the most that can be established from the available imagery is that a Saudi F-15 was destroyed, with Ansar Allah claiming responsibility.

This is a developing story and will be updated as additional imagery, official statements, or other independently verifiable information becomes available.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has told the Sunday Telegraph that the prime minister is “fiddling while Europe is at risk of burning”, external in the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hybrid warfare. She said the government must stop pretending we live in a “carefree world” and increase defence spending. She accuses Andy Burnham of being a “people pleaser” and adds “difficult choices cannot be avoided through dither and delay”.

The Sunday Times says the head of Britain’s elections watchdog has said that he is considering slashing spending limits, external. Vijay Rangarajan, the chief executive of the Electoral Commission, believes it is essential that the rules are “fit for purpose” and maintain public trust in election financing. The move, if implemented, could affect Reform UK’s ability to spend £72m recently given by two crypto-billionaires.

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Princess Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, accuses the King of “gaslighting”, external him. The earl’s book, serialised in the Daily Mail, has produced a series of allegations about the Royal Family’s response to his sister’s death. He described the King’s response to his claims as “below the belt” and says his late sister would be “cheering from theh rafters” at his book.

The Independent carries polling which, it says, shows that rejoining the EU, external is supported in all but four constituencies in Great Britain. The paper quotes a YouGov poll which suggests it was by far the most popular option, when voters were presented with different options regarding the government’s future relationship with Brussels.

The Sunday Express says the seizure of illegal knives, external by UK Border Force in the first six months of this year almost exceeded the total number of blades taken by the organisation in the whole of 2025. The figure amounts to almost 3000, around 15 a day on average. The Ben Kinsella Trust, an anti-knife crime charity, tells the paper that the numbers illustrate the scale of demand for the banned weapons.

Morocco’s Justice and Development Party (PJD) went from a decade of being the main political beneficiary of the country’s post-2011 reforms to suffering a dramatic electoral defeat in 2021.

The party won 107 of the 395 seats in Parliament in the November 2011 election, after protests that year called for political reform, greater accountability and a more responsive government. Its leader, Abdelilah Benkirane, became head of government.

Morocco’s 2011 constitutional changes expanded the formal powers of Parliament and government while retaining significant authority for the monarchy. The king appoints the head of government from the party that comes first in the House of Representatives, while he chairs the Council of Ministers, where strategic orientations of state policy are considered.

In the 2016 election, the PJD increased its seats to 125, but Benkirane spent months unable to form a governing coalition. In March 2017, King Mohammed VI ended his mandate and appointed Saadeddine Othmani to replace him. The PJD remained in government until its electoral collapse four years later.

In the September 2021 election, the party fell from 125 seats to just 13, losing 112. The National Rally of Independents (RNI) won 102 seats and became the largest party.

How much of the comeback rests on Benkirane?

Benkirane’s return raises another question: How much of the PJD’s comeback is being built around him?

A recent Al Jazeera Studies analysis describes Benkirane as a political “brand” whose long public career, media presence and direct communication style have created a personal profile that can function as electoral capital for the party.

It examines whether his visibility and personal appeal can help the PJD rebuild after its 2021 collapse.

Benkirane remains one of Morocco’s most recognisable political figures. But his return does not by itself show that the PJD has rebuilt its support.

The party lost 112 seats in 2021; its task now is to turn the attention generated by its leader into support for the party itself.

A broader programme

The PJD’s 2026 programme contains 467 measures across five broad areas: identity and family; political and institutional reform; public services and social protection; the economy and employment; and foreign policy.

It calls for greater transparency in public procurement, rules addressing conflicts of interest and illicit enrichment, and improvements to public services. It also highlights housing, social protection, food, water and energy sovereignty.

Its programme foregrounds practical issues such as prices, jobs, schools, hospitals and corruption.

Saad al-Sabahi, 38, who works with the PJD’s regional secretariat in Casablanca-Settat, said the programme was developed through studies, consultation meetings and proposals submitted through an online platform.

“These commitments cover a range of sectors and areas affecting the lives of the Moroccan people,” he told Al Jazeera, pointing to political participation, fighting corruption, public education, healthcare, employment and economic sovereignty.

“These commitments, among others, form the basis of the agreement between the party and voters. We will work to fulfil and implement them with integrity and competence,” al-Sabahi said.

What changed after 2021?

The PJD says one of its main lessons from the 2021 defeat has been the need to reorganise internally and examine more critically its years in government.

“The party was able to overcome its crisis following its extraordinary and regular congresses, and after Secretary-General Abdelilah Benkirane took over the leadership,” al-Sabahi said. “The party also reorganised its internal affairs through communication and the renewal of its structures.”

The party’s own assessment of the 2021 defeat includes criticism of its political and organisational choices. It has also accused unnamed actors of undermining democratic choice and pointed to what it describes as electoral corruption and disinformation.

Those are the PJD’s explanations for the result, rather than independently established findings. But the scale of its losses forced the party to confront how far its record in government had separated it from parts of its former support base.

That matters particularly when it comes to younger voters.

Imane Traifi, 37, of the PJD Youth, said the party needed to create sustained opportunities for young people to take part in political life rather than treating them simply as voters during election campaigns.

“We are keen to ensure that young people move from being recipients to becoming participants, initiators and people who take on responsibility,” she told Al Jazeera.

The ghosts and crocodiles

However, a question for any future PJD government is not only what it would seek to change, but what it could change once in office.

Benkirane repeatedly referred to “ghosts and crocodiles” as a metaphor for powerful or hidden interests that he said had obstructed his government when it was in power.

The clearest example is the party’s position on Israel.

The PJD has campaigned against Morocco’s normalisation with Israel and continues to support the Palestinian cause. Its 2026 programme explicitly calls for opposition to normalisation. Yet Morocco restored diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020 while the PJD was in government and Saadeddine Othmani was head of government.

The PJD opposed the move, while Othmani later defended it as a state decision and said Morocco’s support for the Palestinian cause remained unchanged. The agreement went ahead in December 2020 as part of a US-brokered deal that included Washington’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.

Six years later, the relationship has moved further. On September 16, Morocco and Israel agreed to elevate their diplomatic missions to embassy level and appoint ambassadors, while also expanding air travel and advancing economic and trade agreements.

The PJD reaffirmed its opposition to normalisation and cooperation with Israel the following day, describing its position as longstanding.

But it also leaves a question for the party’s return: If such forces were powerful enough to constrain the government then, what has changed?

Has the PJD developed a different understanding of the limits of government authority or will it find itself once again beset by “ghosts and crocodiles”?

The limits of government power

The PJD has made clear on several occasions that the change it seeks is from within Morocco’s existing political and constitutional system, rather than a challenge to the monarchy itself.

Benkirane has repeatedly reaffirmed his support for the monarchy while arguing that elected institutions should play their role in governing and improving the country.

That distinction is important to understanding the PJD’s return. Its opposition to policies such as normalisation with Israel sits alongside its acceptance of a constitutional and political framework in which the monarchy retains a central role in strategic state decisions.

Under the constitution, the king chairs the Council of Ministers, which considers the strategic orientations of state policy.

That applies not only to Israel but to other areas where major policy decisions remain closely tied to the monarchy.

For the PJD, rebuilding means more than recovering the seats it lost in 2021. It means showing what it learned from a decade in government, what it can deliver and how it would avoid the political costs of its collapse.

Al-Sabahi said the party wanted to regain what he described as the gains citizens had previously enjoyed.

“We will work to restore the gains that citizens previously enjoyed and to restore their dignity and rights,” he told Al Jazeera.

Yassine Elachiri, a member of the National Bureau of PJD Youth and the party’s National Council, said the relationship with younger Moroccans had to be built over time rather than during campaigns.

“Earning the trust of a new generation of young people cannot be reduced to electoral mobilisation or short-term campaigns in the run-up to voting day,” he said. “Rather, it is a cumulative process built on sustained engagement, guidance, training and creating opportunities for young people to participate actively in public affairs.”

“Our goal is not simply to reach young people at the moment of an election, but to build a lasting relationship with them based on trust, training and active participation,” Elachiri said.

PM Anthony Albanese asks Apple CEO Tim Cook to back Canberra’s online safety laws to ‘keep Australians safe’.

The Australian government is seeking support from global tech giants as it works to strengthen the country’s online safety laws and artificial intelligence (AI) regulations.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who met Apple CEO Tim Cook at the tech company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, on Saturday, said that “Australia can’t do it alone” when it came to protecting children from the dangers of the internet.

“We spoke about what we’re doing to protect children from online harm and the work ahead,” Albanese wrote on social media.

“We’re putting stronger rules in place to keep Australians safe online,” he said. “And now, big tech companies like Apple are stepping up too.”

Albanese, who is also in the United States for the United Nations General Assembly, used his trip to call for stronger AI regulation after dire safety warnings from industry leaders.

Australia will introduce new standards for AI by the end of the year, he said.

In a video posted to his X account, Albanese said his Labor government is “making sure technology works for Australians”, and not the other way around.

In a post on X, Cook also said he shared with Albanese new “strong and intuitive controls to help keep kids safe online”.

New Australian legislation unveiled this month would place a “duty of care” requirement on the firms behind popular platforms, such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, and allow users to turn off their algorithms.

The draft laws will be introduced to parliament later this year after consultation with social media companies, industry bodies and civil society groups.

The opposition Liberal-National Coalition opposes the bill “in its current form”, according to a statement published on September 10, saying that it “contains inadequate safeguards for free speech and journalism, and leaves too much power in the hands of the Communications Minister”.

Australia implemented legislation barring children under 16 from social media platforms last year as part of a world-first crackdown designed to protect children from online bullying and “predatory algorithms”.

However, data last month found that Australians under 16 continued using social media apps such as Instagram and TikTok despite the ban.

The Pentagon has reached an agreement with Lockheed Martin to lay the groundwork for stepped-up production and delivery of new AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missiles (JATM) to the U.S. military and allied air arms in the coming years. The AIM-260 is still in development, but the head of the Air Force Test Center also touted efforts to further accelerate that work just earlier this week. From the start, the U.S. military has presented JATM as especially critical for ensuring China, with its own growing array of longer-range air-to-air missiles, does not gain an edge in future air combat.

The new framework agreement announced today “is critical to ensuring long-term demand signals flow to key suppliers, allowing Lockheed Martin and the munitions supply chain to invest in manufacturing capacity, workforce, and production efficiencies,” according to a Pentagon press release. “It establishes a framework for future Multi-Year Procurement (MYP) of JATM, executing congressional authority to secure the nation’s highest-priority missile systems.”

“This agreement forms the foundational agreement for a multiyear procurement contract, pending Congressional approval, that provides long-term demand to strengthen and expand the defense industrial base for the program,” according to a separate release from Lockheed Martin.

In response to questions from TWZ, the Pentagon declined to comment on the projected number of JATMs covered under this agreement, as well as estimated costs and delivery schedules.

U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors are expected to be the first types to fly operationally armed with AIM-260s. Integration on other platforms, such as variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the Air Force’s forthcoming F-47 sixth-generation fighter, is expected to follow. JATM, which is designed to have the same general form factor as the existing AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), has been discussed as part of the arsenal for the Air Force’s future Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones, as well.

The releases today from the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin confirm that the new framework deal also includes planned foreign military sales of AIM-260s. Australia, one of America’s top allies, is the first confirmed international customer for the JATM, and plans to integrate the missiles on its F/A-18Fs, F-35As, and EA-18G Growler electronic warfare jets. The Royal Australian Air Force’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat CCA-type drones, initial versions of which are already capable of firing AIM-120s, might be another AIM-260 launch platform in the future.

Uncrewed MQ-28 Ghost Bat showcases its combat capability

The AIM-260 remains in development, with the Navy and Air Force test communities supporting that work.

“We are accelerating weapons development from high-end air dominance weapons like the JATM to hypersonic strike systems like the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Mark Massaro, head of the Air Force Test Center (AFTC) at Edwards Air Force Base in California, told TWZ and other outlets at a media roundtable yesterday. The roundtable took place at the Air & Space Forces Association’s (AFA) 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference.

“We’re actively testing JATM, and it’s progressing along its program path. In test, we are working through the development stages there,” Massaro added. “So, we’re testing it in [sic] the ground with models, like I mentioned. We’re testing it in the air on aircraft. So, from a performance standpoint, I’ll hold on to that from an operational security perspective. But we’re happy seeing where it’s going, and we expect that to be a key piece of capability for our warfighters to have.”

“Just from a testing perspective, we’re always looking at making sure that we’ve got the throughput,” he added when asked if he could talk about challenges or other issues AFTC has run up against in work on the AIM-260. “So, from a test perspective only, infrastructure and throughput to make sure that we can get things out … and make the testing happen. But I’m not, from a capabilities perspective, worried about the system.”

It is unclear when the first operational AIM-260s may begin entering the U.S. inventory. When the program was first disclosed to the public in 2019, the stated goal was to start fielding the missiles in 2022. There were also reports in late 2025 that funding issues had caused a three-month delay, based on a fact sheet distributed to some members of the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services. The committee later said that the information was incorrect.

Work to date on JATM has been conducted under a heavy veil of secrecy, with the existence of the program only being announced in 2019. The first public glimpse of the missile only emerged in May of this year. Beyond the aforementioned size requirement and that the new missile will offer significantly greater engagement range over the AIM-120, details remain limited. Readers can learn more about what we do know so far here.

What is clear is that the growing reach of Chinese air-to-air missiles has been a key driver behind the JATM program, with Air Force officials having explicitly mentioned the PL-15 in the past. China continues to pursue even longer-ranged and otherwise more advanced air-to-air missiles, as you can learn more about in this past TWZ feature. The Air Force has previously raised the prospect of a general threat ecosystem that includes anti-missiles with ranges of up to 1,000 miles emerging by 2050.

The AIM-260 is not the only longer-ranged air-to-air missile known to be in development in the United States, either. In 2024, the Navy revealed it had begun fielding an air-launched version of the surface-launched Standard Missile-6 (SM-6), called the AIM-174B Gunslinger, at least on a limited level. Just in August of this year, the service disclosed the existence of another very long-range air-to-air missile, the AIM-424 Malice, which has already reached the flight testing phase of development.

An Air Force spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine last month that the service was “closely following” the Navy’s work on the AIM-424. In June, the Air Force itself shared details about another potential future air-to-air missile, dubbed the Air Force Long Range Weapon (AFLRW), including a target requirement for a maximum range of at least 1,000 nautical miles.

Based on past experiences with public disclosures about the AIM-260, AIM-174B, and AIM-424 programs, additional work on advanced longer-range air-to-air missiles is certainly ongoing in the classified realm.

Today’s announcement about the new framework agreement, together with Brig. Gen. Massaro’s brief update yesterday, makes clear there is a continued commitment to JATM amid a still-growing field of new, longer-range air-to-air missiles.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

50,000 frontline staff to receive a jab for a different Ebola strain, with 20,000 enrolled in a one-year clinical trial.

Health workers in parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have begun to receive a vaccine that many hope will provide a level of protection against the Ebola virus.

The vaccine rollout started on Saturday in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province in the northeastern DRC. Ituri is the epicentre of the fastest-growing outbreak of Ebola in history.

The provincial governor, Major-General Gaby Kasongo Mulumba, said health workers there “are particularly exposed and deeply involved in the response”.

The operation, backed by the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, will also target North Kivu, where cases have been rising sharply, health authorities said.

Some 50,000 health and other frontline workers will be injected with the Ervebo vaccine, which was developed for use against the more common Zaire strain.

Its effectiveness against the current Ebola strain caused by the Bundibugyo virus will be monitored in 20,000 recipients for up to one year.

Clinical trials are ongoing to find a licensed vaccine for the latest outbreak, which has no licensed vaccine or proven treatment.

“We don’t know to what degree it might be effective against the Bundibugyo strain,” Steve Ahuka, a Congolese official who is part of the health task force against the Ebola outbreak, said.

Dr Jeannot Elua said at a health facility in Bunia the vaccine was “beneficial”.

“We healthcare workers don’t really have a choice. We are going to receive it,” he told the Associated Press news agency. “Some people here had already received the previous vaccine. I received it myself, because it was mandatory.”

WHO experts have said that early data on the Ervebo vaccine, notably from animal trials, suggested it could offer some protection in the current outbreak.

The virus has killed at least 3,639 and infected some 7,541 people since May. Some 1,823 people have recovered, according to the latest figures from local authorities.

The WHO said in August that 70,000 doses of Ervebo were approved for use in the DRC.

The vaccine is being used under a compassionate-use programme, which allows a medical product to be used in a serious disease situation even though it has not been specifically approved for that particular use.

While WHO officials have cited “encouraging signs” that transmission may be slowing, MSF warned on Friday that there is no clear evidence the epidemic is coming under control.

Trump has wanted a foothold in Greenland for some time, as a strategic battle unfolds for supremacy in a warming Arctic.

Denmark has hailed a “binding” deal by United States President Donald Trump to give Washington “permanent control” over Greenland’s security and bar Russian and Chinese military bases from the Arctic territory.

But Denmark and Greenland – an autonomous Danish territory – said on Saturday that any deal with the US would not compromise Greenland’s sovereignty, and the two countries would sign the agreement next week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“A long period of uncertainty will hopefully be replaced by a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and North Atlantic, and thereby our shared security within NATO and Europe – while respecting the [Danish] Kingdom’s red lines,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in a social media post.

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has repeatedly insisted that Washington needed to control Greenland for strategic reasons, alarming NATO ally Denmark and sparking fierce pushback from the alliance.

Key details of the agreement ⁠have not been made public, including the scale of the US military presence in the self-governing Danish territory and whether any formal power over foreign policy and resources would be ceded to Washington.

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said the agreement “recognises Greenland’s interests” and is “to the benefit of us all”.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said it is “great for NATO and Europe”, as it “strengthens our common security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic Area”.

‘I have mixed feelings’

But in Greenland’s capital Nuuk, residents had mixed feelings.

“I don’t know exactly what the agreement is or what has been signed. But whenever the US and Trump are mentioned, I have mixed feelings. I’m not entirely comfortable with how much attention Greenland has right now,” Soren Kreutzmann, a 29-year-old hairdresser, told the AFP news agency.

“We hope the leaders have made a good agreement, because our country needs to be protected, both from the air and sea. Denmark had not given that enough attention for many years,” said Bibbi Kleist Jepsen, a 64-year-old educator.

Trump, who had previously said the US needs “ownership” of Greenland, announced that Washington would immediately start building up a large military presence in the territory.

“From now on, no US adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval”, he said.

Trump has repeatedly warned of Russia and China trying to establish a foothold in Greenland as a strategic battle unfolds for supremacy in the warming Arctic region. The State Department left no doubt that they would not be allowed to do so.

“This agreement guarantees that China and Russia cannot have a base in Greenland, they cannot send troops to Greenland and the necessary mechanisms are in place to prevent investment in sensitive sectors,” a State Department official said.

Fidan highlights Turkiye’s readiness to assist Saudi Arabia militarily, as Houthi attacks escalate in Yemen.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said that Saudi Arabia may have unmet military needs from the attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels and that Turkiye would consider how to support the kingdom as part of a trilateral defence pact.

Speaking to Turkish broadcaster NTV on Friday, Fidan said it was unacceptable for Saudi Arabia to be dragged into the US-Iran war, adding that Riyadh had no desire to join the conflict.

He added that proposals had been conveyed to all sides in an effort to end the fighting, without further elaborating.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia continue trading attacks in an escalating war in Yemen, as the Houthis press gains that have brought large stretches of the Red Sea coast, including the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait, under their control.

Pakistan has made a similar pledge to defend Saudi Arabia under the defence pact.

Lieutenant-General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s military, told Arab News on Thursday that Islamabad would defend Saudi Arabia “to any extent”, including “physically”, though he did not say whether Riyadh had asked for more Pakistani troops.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office has said no military response is currently under discussion under the pact, adding that Islamabad would act “when time comes”.

The trilateral agreement, known as the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, was signed on August 7 in Mecca by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The three countries formally named the arrangement the Mecca Defence Alliance on August 31, after officials meeting in Istanbul agreed to set up a secretariat in Riyadh, to be headed initially by a Pakistani secretary-general.

Its founding principle is that an armed attack against any one of the three states will be treated as an attack against all three.

Fidan said at the time the alliance was built on “respecting the sovereignty of other states, territorial integrity and not intervening in internal affairs”, and remained open to other countries joining.

Analysts have questioned how much substance lies behind the pact so far, noting it lacks the integrated command structure and standing forces that underpin NATO.

Its institutional shape, including how the mutual defence clause would actually be triggered, remains unclear.

The trilateral pact was struck as Gulf states grow increasingly concerned about being pulled into the wider US-Iran war, which has continued for more than six months since Washington and Israel first struck Iran in February.

Iran’s top security official says Tehran has sent its conditions for ending war to the US via Qatari mediators.

This was the first time an alert was sounded in Riyadh since an escalation between the Houthis in Yemen and the Saudis.

Saudi-led coalition forces fighting Yemen’s Houthis have said that the Iran-backed group fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh at dawn before it was intercepted and destroyed.

“The Houthis also attempted to target civilians and civilian infrastructure in Bisha, Taif, Farasan and Yanbu,” coalition forces spokesman Major-General Turki al-Maliki wrote on X on Saturday, adding that the attacks were thwarted by the Gulf monarchy’s air defences.

Saudi Arabia warned of a “hostile aerial threat” and issued a string of emergency alerts across the kingdom overnight on Friday.

On Saturday, at least one explosion was heard in Riyadh, with residents near the airport saying they saw a large plume of black smoke later in the morning. Saudi authorities reported no casualties or damage.

It was the first air raid alert sounded in Riyadh since an escalation in fighting with the Houthis in Yemen began in July.

The Saudi spokesman said that the Houthis are escalating their attempts to target civilians and civilian infrastructure in the capital. He also affirmed the coalition command’s right to take “appropriate” action to deter the Houthis, in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Earlier on Saturday, Houthi fighters in Yemen said they attacked “sensitive” sites in Riyadh as well as an Aramco oil facility in the western coastal city of Yanbu, according to a statement shared by Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree.

Saree said the Houthis attacked Saudi Arabia with cruise and ballistic missiles as well as drones.

“You could see that the Houthis are determining the timelines and the levels of the escalation,” Yasmeen al-Eryani, executive director for knowledge production at the Sana’a Center think tank, told Al Jazeera. “So, depending on the current situation, it seems that the Houthis are the ones in control,” she added.

Meanwhile, on the ground in Yemen, the armed forces of the Saudi-backed internationally recognised government said their fighters thwarted a Houthi infiltration attempt in the al-Fuliahan sector in southern Marib on Saturday, killing 12 Houthi fighters and injuring others.

The army also said 13 Yemeni soldiers were killed in two days of clashes with Houthi forces in the southwestern provinces of Taiz and Lahj.

Renewed clashes are taking place in Yemen’s Marib, Taiz, Lahj, al-Jawf and al-Bayda as part of a military escalation that began in early July – the most intense since the relative calm following an April 2022 truce.

Al-Eryani told Al Jazeera that military options against the Houthis are currently limited because much of the fighting is taking place in mountainous terrain that is difficult for opposing forces to access and hold.

For now, she said, containing the group may be a more realistic option than defeating it militarily. “Without controlling the peaks that are parallel to the coast, you will not be able to control the coast,” said al-Eryani.

Here is a list of the pairings in full:

One pair who won’t need to get to know each other are reality TV star Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin.

Dyer is back to compete for a second time, having withdrawn from last year’s series due to a fractured ankle.

“I’m just over the moon. I’m so, so happy,” she said after the pairing, while Kuzmin added that he had “tears of joy” in his eyes.

Meanwhile, actress Bethany Antonia and professional Nancy Xu became the third two-woman couple to compete in the show.

In a poignant moment, Antonia revealed that watching boxer Nicola Adams and Katya Jones performing together in Strictly’s 2020 series was a “big part of my coming out journey”.

Among the other pairings were EastEnders actress Lacey Turner and Vito Coppola, former Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey and Julian Caillon, and Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr.

Also back on the dancefloor for a final spin was reigning Strictly champion, former Lionness Karen Carney.

Clad in the same diamante-encrusted football shirt, Carney recreated the Jive that first marked her out as a contender of her series, alongside dance partner Carlos Gu.

“I absolutely feel like I’m at home,” Carney told Willis after the routine, as she paid tribute to her pro partner.

In 13 weeks time, she’ll have to surrender that glitterball trophy to a new victor.

Whether it’s a brush fire, a mass shooting, a car chase or the aftermath of a major storm, viewers in Los Angeles are used to getting the news from above.

Television news helicopter coverage has become one of the most important elements of any local newscast, with the high-flying helicopters roaring overhead a common fixture of breaking news scenes.

These images are so ubiquitous, it’s easy to take them for granted, until Tuesday, when an NBC4 helicopter carrying reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw crashed while covering breaking news in Chatsworth. Both died, along with a bystander on the ground.

The tragedy has prompted soul-searching in the world of TV news helicopter pilots and focused attention on safety issues.

Pilots describe a high-stakes race in the skies of Los Angeles, with the TV stations battling to get breaking news on the air first. The air space easily becomes crowded and in the case of moving stories like car chases, a bit unpredictable and chaotic. The crews who take to the air in Los Angeles must not only navigate each other, but air traffic to three regional airports and smaller, local air strips across the Southland when doing their job.

They say safety is always the top priority and that everyone in the air works together to avoid problems.

The NBC4 crash marks the most serious incident involving an L.A. news chopper crew since 2000, when a Fox 11 helicopter covering the Academy Awards crashed and burst into flames at Van Nuys Airport.

Nationally, National Transportation Safety Board data show that 16 people have died in eight fatal crashes involving news helicopters in the United States since 2000. A cause of Tuesday’s crash has not been determined, but some experts have said they believe mechanical failure might be the cause.

“It crushed us all,” said Tim Lynn, a now-retired helicopter pilot and reporter who flew for 16 years for KTLA-TV. Lynn worked with Moreno and knew how much she cherished her job.

“She loved the job so much that she put her all into it,” he said.

Camaraderie, competition in the air

For all the camaraderie in the air, there is also some competition.

Stations want to be first to get to the scene of breaking news.

Kurt Deetz, a former news helicopter pilot who retired five years ago, said it’s a difficult business to be in.

“It’s very competitive, and at what cost?” Deetz said.

News pilots tend to have plenty of experience, former pilots said, and dangerous incidents are rare. But Deetz said pilots are pushed to be out in the air first, get to the scene, and remain on scene for extended periods of time.

“If you can be the first on the scene, you’re a hero,” Deetz said. “I think about that now and think, that is so dumb.”

Deetz started his career with KMEX in 1995, and worked for nearly every station in the area while working with Helinet, he said.

In the sky, reporters and pilots keep an eye out for one another, warning when one is drifting too close to another or if there is something else to keep an eye on.

“We all know each other,” Lynn said. “Maybe we never met, but we’ve all talked on the radio and know the names.”

There are unspoken rules that news helicopter pilots learn once they join, Lynn said.

During a police chase, for example, the first helicopter on the scene immediately takes the front position left of the fleeing vehicle, he said. The next helicopter takes a position behind that helicopter. The third helicopter takes a spot in the front right side of the chase, and the fourth sits behind it. All four maintain those spots throughout the chase, regardless of the turns and twists throughout the area.

And when the pursued begins to circle a residential area — a common occurrence during police pursuits — all news helicopters are expected to stop and hover in place, even if their shots are temporarily blocked by trees and buildings.

That’s because the tight turns and circles could result in a crash if all helicopters remain in pursuit.

“You never move unless you say something,” Lynn said. “It’s a well-coordinated operation.”

Lynn remembers at least once when a new pilot joined in a pursuit.

“We were all stopped and he’s just chasing the guy like he’s the police,” Lynn said.

Lynn got on the radio and, as the other three choppers kept their position, Lynn asked him to stick to “one of the corners.”

“That was a learning curve for that guy,” Lynn said.

But Lynn said there’s respect for new staff and veterans in the field. Regardless of what station they work for, reporters and pilots are constantly helping each other, abiding by unspoken rules to keep each other safe.

‘A dangerous place to be’

There is one maneuver that pilots say brings them particular anxiety.

Jack Cress, a former helicopter pilot for the U.S. Marine Corps and a helicopter accident investigation instructor for USC’s Aviation Safety and Security Program, said news helicopters will often spend time hovering over an incident, sometimes at a low altitude.

“That is a dangerous place to be,” Cress said.

For Deetz, he said he’d often say that he wouldn’t hover low for extended periods of time, especially if he didn’t see a place he could land in case of an emergency.

“You set up, get your shot, and then you move on,” he said. “I made a point of saying, ‘I’m not going to hover here for hours.’ ”

He knows the practice is still popular among current pilots, which he thinks needs to be rethought.

“In this day and age, there’s no need to hover,” he said. “Those cameras are so powerful. There’s no need to be so low.”

Helicopter pilots are trained to stay away from those conditions because, in case of trouble like engine failure, the lack of altitude and forward momentum gives the pilot little recourse. If the engine were to fail, for example, a pilot can sometimes perform an “autorotation” procedure to use altitude and forward momentum to force the rotors to turn, easing their descent.

The procedure is one that Lynn is familiar with. In 2012, Lynn was covering an incident in Hollywood for KTLA when his helicopter started to smoke heavily. He had no idea until one of the other choppers radioed him to tell him.

“As soon as I turn it, he said, ‘You need to put it on the ground now,’ ” Lynn said.

Lynn headed down and started getting the helicopter ready for an autorotation, as heavy smoke started to shoot from the engine. Lynn looked toward the ground and was eyeing Highland or Los Feliz for a makeshift landing spot. He gripped the controls and expected the engine to give out at any second, until he spotted a parking lot. He watched for the wires, watched for the trees and set it down. The motor never gave out.

Pilots will constantly eye one another in the formation.

News helicopter pilots will normally stay around 1,200 to 1,500 feet above the ground, Lynn said. That is to stay above police helicopters, under commercial flights, and still have enough space in case they need to perform an emergency autorotation procedure.

Although news helicopters are touted as a cornerstone of local news broadcasts, the aircraft are owned and operated by third-party companies. KTLA and NBC4’s helicopters, for example, are owned and operated by Angel City Air, part of Welk Aviation. ABC 7’s helicopter is operated by Helinet, and KCAL’s helicopter is owned by Helicopters Inc.

Many of them are flying the same kind of helicopter that crashed Tuesday, the AS350 B2, which aviation experts said is a popular helicopter for news stations and police departments.

Deetz said he flew that helicopter for his entire career in news, and never once had a dangerous mechanical issue.

‘We all know each other’

It took minutes for word of the NBC4 crash to spread across the world of Los Angeles news chopper pilots and journalists.

“I immediately wondered who. We all know each other,” Lynn said.

One of Lynn’s former colleagues told him they saw a tail rotor on the ground, and Lynn quickly learned it was Moreno and Marciniw who were onboard.

A former police pilot for Huntington Beach and a retired news helicopter pilot after 16 years, Lynn said pilots have established rules in the air to keep each other safe.

He and others have shared several of those rules for new pilots and reporters who joined the business over the years, including Moreno, whom Lynn said he helped train when she first joined Angel City Air as a reporter.

Lynn remembers when she joined the company, he said. She picked up quickly on the equipment she had to use and eagerly sought advice to get better at the job.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, is expected to release a preliminary report on the incident in the coming days. A complete report on the incident is expected to take up to 18 months to be completed.