The UN's nuclear watchdog reports Iran, and Russia and China can stop what comes next

The rest of the day

37 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   Iran and the US hit ten ships in a day

   Iran said on Wednesday it had attacked ten ships near the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea lane at the mouth of the Gulf. [5] American forces had sunk five Iranian oil tankers the day before. [5] A tanker holding about 2 million barrels of Iraqi fuel oil caught fire in Iraqi waters with 22 crew aboard, and Britain's maritime agency reported several merchant vessels hit by disabling fire overnight. [5] Iranian state media said two US Navy ships were among the targets; US Central Command said no American warship was struck. [6]

   Why it matters — This is the largest declared wave of attacks on shipping by either side in the six-month war, and it pushed Brent crude above $100 a barrel for the first time since 24 July. [5][7]

2. 03

   The nuclear agency closes Syria's case

   The same 35-nation board adopted a second resolution on Wednesday, ending its investigation into Syria's secret nuclear work under Bashar al-Assad. [3] Israel bombed a site in eastern Syria in 2007 that it said was a nearly finished reactor built by North Korea. [3] The agency declared Syria in breach in June 2011 and reported it to the UN Security Council; Assad's government answered nothing. [3] After Assad was overthrown in 2024 the new authorities worked with inspectors, and the resolution, written by Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, passed with nobody objecting. [3][4]

   Why it matters — Fifteen years of pressure moved nothing while the same government was in office, and the case closed within two years of a different one taking over. It is the exact opposite result to Iran's, decided by the same people on the same day. [3][1]

3. 04

   Britain bans settlement imports, Israel shuts a consulate

   Britain announced on Tuesday that it will ban imports from Israeli settlements throughout the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley. [10] A British official said Israel had promised Britain, France and Germany no new steps on the E1 settlement project before its election, then issued a housing tender closing a week before the vote. [10] Israel replied by removing British officials from the International Gaza Support Centre at Kiryat Gat, and said the British consulate in Jerusalem will close within 30 days. [10][6]

   Why it matters — Israel goes to the polls on 27 October, and the British official said the scope of the sanctions could depend on how the next Israeli government behaves. Britain's prime minister, Andy Burnham, has not spoken to Benjamin Netanyahu since taking office in late July. [10]

4. 05

   Slovenia opens Israel's embassy as thousands protest

   Israel opened its first embassy in Ljubljana, Slovenia's capital, this week, and thousands of people protested. [11] The previous Slovenian government, led by Robert Golob, had recognised a Palestinian state, imposed an arms embargo on Israel, banned imports from West Bank settlements and barred senior Israeli officials including Netanyahu from entering. [11] Janez Jansa's government, which won the March election, scrapped all of it and took the Palestinian flag down from Slovenia's main government building. [11] Two opposition parties filed a motion in parliament on Wednesday to impeach Jansa over the policy. [11]

   Why it matters — A poll for the newspaper Delo in June found 56% of Slovenians opposed closer ties with Israel and 14% supported them. Nothing about the West Bank changed between the two Slovenian positions. Slovenia's government did. [11]

5. 06

   Hungary loses its case, on jurisdiction

   The European Union's General Court, the bloc's second-highest court, threw out Hungary's challenge to the EU decision to spend the profits earned on frozen Russian central bank money on Ukraine's defence. [12] The court did not rule on whether that decision was lawful. [12] It said it had no jurisdiction over the matter, which means it had no power to hear the case at all. [12]

   Why it matters — Hungary lost without its argument being examined, because the case turned on who is allowed to decide rather than on what was decided. The profits keep going to Ukraine's defence in the meantime. [12]

6. 07

   Serbia dissolves parliament, votes on 25 October

   President Aleksandar Vucic signed an order on Wednesday dissolving Serbia's parliament and calling an election for 25 October. [13] Student-led protests have run since November 2024, when the roof of the railway station in Novi Sad collapsed and killed at least 16 people. Protesters say corrupt contracting caused it, and their demand grew from an inquiry into calls for Vucic to go. [13] Vucic cannot stand for president again, so he says he will resign the presidency and run for prime minister instead. [13] He has held one of the two posts for more than a decade. [13]

   Why it matters — The protesters asked for the man to go and are getting a date instead. If his party wins, the same person governs from a different office. [13]

7. 08

   Merz calls the AfD's plan ethnic cleansing

   Germany's chancellor, Friedrich Merz, told parliament on Wednesday that the far-right AfD's 'remigration' plans amount to ethnic cleansing. [14] Remigration is the party's own word, covering everything from deporting people with no legal status to removing immigrants and their German-born descendants; the AfD gave it a chapter in its Saxony-Anhalt election programme. [14] Merz said one in six German skilled-trades workers holds a foreign passport, and that under the policy no nursing home, hospital or restaurant in the country could keep operating. [14] AfD co-leader Alice Weidel told him his time was up. [14]

   Why it matters — The AfD won Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, just short of an outright majority, and is now the most popular party in national polls. Merz's own party lost more than half its support in that state. [14]

8. 09

   Russia's jet drones outrun Ukraine's defences

   Ukraine's air force recorded daily attacks by Russia's upgraded Geran drones for the first time, the BBC reported. [15] Jet-powered drone attacks rose from 350 in June to 1,600 in July and 2,800 in August, and on five nights in August the jet models outnumbered the older propeller ones. [15] The new drones cruise at more than 300mph, faster than Ukraine's interceptors, and Ukrainian military intelligence says some of their turbojet engines come from China. [15] Earlier this year Ukraine was shooting down 94% of long-range drones. [15]

   Why it matters — Ukraine's interceptors cannot catch something flying at over 300mph, so the defence that worked in the spring does not work now. [15] Zelensky said the drones were part of an attack on 1 September that killed at least 12 people in Kyiv, six of them railway workers. [15]

9. 10

   Two killed at Ukraine's crossing into Moldova

   An overnight strike hit the Starokozache border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova, about 500km south of Kyiv, killing two people and injuring three. [16] The crossing was closed and photographs showed burnt-out cars and debris across the border post. [16] Moldova's prime minister, Vasile Tofan, said 17 drones struck Moldovan territory in August alone, more than in the whole of last year. [16] Russia's defence ministry said it shot down 596 Ukrainian drones overnight, and four people including a child were killed in the Russian Black Sea city of Novorossiysk. [16]

   Why it matters — Moldova is not fighting in this war and the war is arriving on its territory anyway, seventeen times in August by its own count. [16] Ukraine's road link into it is now shut. [16]

10. 11

    Zelensky's plane almost hit by a drone

    Norway's prime minister, Jonas Gahr Store, said on Wednesday that the plane carrying Ukraine's president was nearly struck by a drone as it took off from Moldova on Tuesday. [17] Volodymyr Zelensky was flying to Oslo for the funeral of Norway's King Harald. [17] Store would not say where his information came from or how close the drone came, and Moldovan officials made no comment. [17][18] In Oslo, Zelensky met defence company executives about a European anti-ballistic system codenamed FREYJA. [18]

    Why it matters — If it is accurate, a head of state was nearly killed on a routine flight to a funeral in a country at peace. Nobody has confirmed it beyond one prime minister's remark to a broadcaster. [17][18]

11. 12

    Germany offers Ukraine its list of men

    Germany's foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, said his government could help Ukraine find Ukrainian men of fighting age living in Germany. [19] 'We know who lives here. For example, who receives social benefits or who is registered here,' he said, adding that Ukraine's government could then contact them and that the process should run without coercion. [19] About 1 million Ukrainians hold temporary residence permits in Germany, roughly 450,000 of them men. [19] Ukraine has barred men aged 25 to 60 from leaving the country since February 2022. [19]

    Why it matters — The records were collected so people could claim a residence permit and social benefits. They would now be used to help another government call those same people up. [19]

12. 13

    Finland finishes a 200km fence

    Finland completed a 4.5-metre fence with cameras and sensors along 200km of its 1,340km border with Russia, at a cost of 356 million euros plus an estimated 2 to 3 million a year to maintain. [20] Finland shut the land border in late 2023 after more than 1,300 people without visas arrived at it, and accused Russia of steering them there; Russia denied it. [20] The border has stayed closed ever since. [20] Interior minister Mari Rantanen said the fence could be extended and asked the EU to pay for barriers on its eastern edge. [20]

    Why it matters — Finland's border guard project manager said that despite rapid advances in drone technology, a physical barrier is still seen as the best answer for crowd control. [20] Finland has also proposed extending to 2028 a law letting it refuse asylum claims at parts of the border, which legal experts say may breach EU law and its human rights obligations. [20]

13. 14

    EU auditors: the exit from Russian energy is stalling

    The European Court of Auditors, the EU's own spending watchdog, said on Wednesday that the bloc's plan to stop buying Russian oil and gas is faltering. It is not investing enough in other supplies, in renewables, or in the grid links between member states. [21] Russian crude imports have been almost eliminated by sanctions, and Russian gas is down to 12% of EU gas imports from 45% before 2022. [21] Europe's gas caverns are 67% full going into winter, against the 80% reached a year earlier. [21]

    Why it matters — The auditors said the plan is stalling exactly as the Iran war squeezes global energy supply. Households and factories across 27 countries meet that in a bill. [21]

14. 15

    EU proposes a Buy European rule for public contracts

    The European Commission proposed new public procurement rules on Wednesday that would let governments exclude bids with less than 50% European content by value. [22] Public buying is about 15% of the EU's economy, roughly 2.5 trillion euros in 2025. [22] Contracts would be awarded on a price-and-quality score with quality weighted at least 30%, and a single EU-wide platform would replace the tangle of national templates and languages firms complain about. [22] The proposal follows warnings from the former European Central Bank head Mario Draghi that the bloc does not use its buying power. [22]

    Why it matters — It turns everyday government purchasing into an industrial policy, and it lands on suppliers outside Europe who currently win those contracts. It still has to be agreed by member states and the European Parliament. [22]

15. 16

    The EU moves on holiday lets

    The European Commission also proposed the first common EU framework for restricting short-term holiday rentals such as Airbnb. [23] Restrictions would have to be evidence-based, necessary and limited to the affected areas, and authorities could justify them by pointing to high house-price-to-income ratios or a ten-year upward trend. [23] Paris, Barcelona and Venice each wrote their own rules, which drew legal challenges from the rental companies. [23] Airbnb shares fell about 3% in morning trading. [23]

    Why it matters — Young Europeans have protested in tourist cities over rents and house prices. The proposal gives city halls a defensible legal basis and gives the companies one clear set of rules to argue with. [23]

16. 17

    Huawei goes on trial in Brooklyn

    The criminal trial of Huawei, China's biggest maker of telecommunications equipment, opened on Wednesday in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York. [24] The charges were first brought nearly eight years ago, and the case has been waiting ever since. [24] Prosecutor Taylor Stout gave the opening statement. [24] Huawei denies stealing trade secrets and denies breaking American sanctions on Iran. [24]

    Why it matters — An American jury is being asked to decide whether a Chinese company broke American rules about selling to Iran. The allegations were made public in 2018, and the company has lived under them for eight years without a verdict. [24]

17. 18

    China buys a million tonnes of US soybeans

    China bought 14 to 15 cargoes of American soybeans this week, around 1 million tonnes, four traders told Reuters. [25] The state stockpiler Sinograin booked them for shipment from US Gulf terminals between December and February. [25] The purchases take China's total to nearly half the 25 million tonnes a year the US government says China committed to buy through 2028. [25] The US agriculture department reported 340,000 tonnes of sales to China on Wednesday. [25]

    Why it matters — Xi Jinping visits the United States later this month. Buying ahead of a meeting is a cheap way to arrive with something already delivered. [25]

18. 19

    Bigger guns opposite Taiwan

    China's army has equipped a heavy combined-arms brigade of its 71st Group Army with 155mm PLZ-05 self-propelled howitzers, replacing older 122mm artillery, state broadcaster CCTV reported. [26] The brigade has held its first live-fire test with them. [26] It is the first time the PLZ-05 has been issued at brigade level; it was previously held at group-army level as a long-range suppression weapon. [26] The 71st Group Army belongs to the Eastern Theatre Command, which covers Taiwan, the East China Sea and Japan. [26]

    Why it matters — Pushing heavier guns down to brigades puts more range into the hands of units that would move first. It is a quiet change, announced on state television rather than at a summit. [26]

19. 20

    Japan prepares a summit with North Korea

    Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Minoru Kihara, said on Thursday that Japan means to raise firmly the question of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean agents decades ago. [27] He was speaking about a summit meeting the two governments are planning to organise. [27] Japan and North Korea have no diplomatic relations with each other. [27] No venue and no date have been announced. [27]

    Why it matters — Japan is naming the subject in public before a meeting that has not been arranged, which sets what its own voters will expect from it. Kihara gave no sign that North Korea has agreed to discuss the abductions. [27]

20. 21

    Japan's build-up runs into its own population

    Japan is in its biggest military expansion since the Second World War, buying long-range missiles, adding drones and building defence ties from Australia to Britain, driven by the risk that a fight over Taiwan pulls it in. [28] Analysts told the South China Morning Post the hardest limits are at home. They list a shrinking pool of recruits, an ageing population, tight public finances, a defence industry that cannot expand quickly, and doubt about how far the public would back using the force. [28] Japan revises its main security documents by the end of the year. [28]

    Why it matters — A government can vote itself a bigger army. It cannot vote itself more nineteen-year-olds, and Japan has fewer every year. [28]

21. 22

    Nepal asks the world to share the bill

    Nepal is building its appeal for flood aid around climate justice, arguing that it emits almost nothing and is absorbing a disaster caused elsewhere. [29] Its neighbours China and India are among the world's largest emitters, together with the United States. [29] Officials are finishing a report on damage, losses and the money needed for shelters, schools and infrastructure, before Prime Minister Balendra Shah addresses the United Nations on 24 September. [29] Nepal's tourist season and its electricity exports were both hit; hotels, roads and power plants were swept away in the north. [30]

    Why it matters — Pakistan's experience is the warning. It won about $11bn in pledges after its 2022 floods, but 42% of that was earmarked for oil imports rather than reconstruction, and only $3.4bn had actually been paid out by early 2024. [29]

22. 23

    Nepal's army delivers relief by drone

    With roads and bridges destroyed and helicopters tied up in the search, Nepal's army is flying food, medicine and essentials to cut-off villages using cargo drones. [31] One mission crossed the Trishuli river to stranded residents in Devighat, in Nuwakot district. [31] At least 1,367 people are confirmed dead and more than 5,000 are missing since a Himalayan glacier broke away near the Nepal-China border in late August and sent water and mud down the river valleys. [31]

    Why it matters — A drone carrying a sack of rice is not a rescue, but it reaches people a helicopter cannot be spared for. The missing outnumber the confirmed dead by nearly four to one. [31]

23. 24

    Indonesia's fires now the world's biggest

    Fires burning through forest and peatland on Borneo and Sumatra released 19.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide between 1 and 7 September, according to the European Union's Copernicus monitoring service. [32] That overtook Russia and made up more than a third of the world total. [32] Indonesian authorities say these are the most intense fires in eleven years. [32] Firefighters in Palembang, in South Sumatra, were beating at flames with tree branches this week. [32]

    Why it matters — Peatland is waterlogged ground packed with old plant matter; once it dries out and catches, it burns underground and is very hard to put out. [32] One country's week of fires produced more than a third of the carbon dioxide the whole world's fires gave off. [32]

24. 25

    Flood water reaches the Asian Games venues

    About 400 athletes and officials were evacuated after torrential rain flooded roads in Nagoya, central Japan, and water entered some venues for the Asian Games. [33] They later returned and no injuries were reported. [33] Nagoya's mayor, Ichiro Hirosawa, said the situation was not severe enough to threaten the opening on 19 September. [33] The Games run to 4 October. [33]

    Why it matters — Nine days before the opening, the host city was clearing water out of competition venues and moving athletes. The mayor is the person who would have to say if the schedule slipped, and he says it will not. [33]

25. 26

    Weapons depot blast kills at least 14 in Idlib

    At least 14 people were killed when a weapons depot exploded in Syria's north-western Idlib province, state television said. [34] Firefighters were sent to the site, but repeated explosions stopped them putting the fire out, and thick smoke rose for hours. [34] Authorities have not said what set off the first blast. [34] A vehicle carrying ammunition blew up in Binnish, in the same province, on 1 September, killing five people. [34]

    Why it matters — Two ammunition accidents in the same province in nine days, both of them fatal, and in neither case have the authorities said what set the first blast off. [34] The war ended and the stockpiles it left behind did not. [34]

26. 27

    Spain releases the warning it sent Morocco

    Spain declassified more than 40 security documents about the mass crossing into Ceuta, its city on Morocco's Mediterranean coast. [35][36] A note dated 29 July from Spain's intelligence service, the CNI, told Morocco's DGST and DGED agencies that social media groups with about 180,000 followers were organising a crossing the next day. [35][36] People would climb the border fence or swim around it while Morocco's Throne Day parades distracted the authorities. [35] The CNI warned the Spanish government's representative in Ceuta the same day. [35]

    Why it matters — More than 70,000 people crossed on 30 and 31 July, and at least 100 died, according to figures from Ceuta's mayor. [35][36] Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday, shortly before the documents came out, that the mass arrival was not expected. [36]

27. 28

    UK orders a review of anti-migrant protests

    Britain's prime minister's office said police should urgently consider whether more could have been done about anti-migrant protests in Dover and Portsmouth. [37] Masked demonstrators brought Dover to a standstill on Saturday, and about 200 people in Portsmouth on Sunday tried to block vans taking migrants away for processing. [37] Kent Police had called the Dover event spontaneous, then said information received the evening before was not fully assessed. [37] Hampshire police are investigating alleged assaults on officers and criminal damage. [37]

    Why it matters — The question is not whether the protests were legal but whether the police read what was in front of them. That is the same question Spain's government is answering about Ceuta this week. [37][36]

28. 29

    Trump visits Ireland to protests

    Sinn Fein will join protests against Donald Trump's visit to Ireland this weekend, party leader Mary Lou McDonald said. [38] Trump is to meet Ireland's president, Catherine Connolly, and prime minister, Micheal Martin, before flying to his golf course at Doonbeg in County Clare to watch the Amgen Irish Open. [38] Opposition politicians say the Irish government should not roll out the red carpet. [38] McDonald cited Gaza, settler violence in the West Bank and American support for Israel. [38]

    Why it matters — McDonald said she would be shocked if there were no protest, and gave Gaza, settler violence in the West Bank and American support for Israel as the reasons. [38] Trump is meeting Ireland's two most senior office-holders and then going to his own golf course in County Clare. [38]

29. 30

    The US offers to help Kenya process its own minerals

    Frank Garcia, the American assistant secretary of state for Africa, told a business audience in Nairobi that the United States will help Kenya build a critical minerals processing industry. [39] Kenya is weighing bids to develop Mrima Hill on its coast, thought to hold tens of billions of dollars of rare earth minerals and niobium, a metal used in aircraft manufacturing. [39] Garcia said critical minerals are a top priority for Donald Trump and for the secretary of state, Marco Rubio. [39]

    Why it matters — The offer is about where the ore gets refined, not where it comes out of the ground. The United States and China are competing for access to these minerals, and refining is the step Kenya does not have yet. [39]

30. 31

    Senegal's bondholders organise

    Holders of Senegal's sovereign bonds have formed a creditor group with at least eight fund managers and hired the law firm White & Case, four sources told Reuters, after Senegal announced plans to rework its debt. [40] The country has struggled since 2024, when newly elected leaders disclosed billions in borrowing the previous government had misreported. [40] The total reached about $13bn, a quarter of the economy, and the International Monetary Fund froze a lending programme. [40] White & Case has advised Ethiopia and Ukraine on restructurings and creditors in Lebanon and Sri Lanka. [40]

    Why it matters — The hidden debt only became public because Senegal's government changed. Everything since, including the negotiation now starting, follows from that disclosure. [40]

31. 32

    Iran jails a cafe owner for twelve years

    Iran's Supreme Court upheld a sentence of twelve years and six months in prison, plus confiscation of his assets, for Sadegh Saedinia, who owned the ten-branch Saediniya cafe chain. [41] He shut his branches in support of strike calls during protests and was accused of propaganda against the state; all ten were seized by court order. [41] Other cafes, one of them owned by a well-known footballer, were sealed for indirect support of the protests. [41] Tehran's cafes have grown from about 300 in the early 2010s to as many as 4,000. [41]

    Why it matters — The punishment is not only the prison term. Taking the chain removes the place people met, and the closures have carried on since. [41]

32. 33

    Saudi Arabia and the Houthis trade strikes

    Saudi Arabia lifted an alert in the southern city of Khamis Mushait on Wednesday, a day after Houthi strikes, without saying what caused it. [42] The Houthis, the armed movement that controls much of northern Yemen, said Saudi-backed forces had flown dozens of airstrikes overnight across four Yemeni provinces, after Houthi attacks set fires at Saudi oil facilities and wounded dozens of people. [6] A UN-brokered truce in 2022 had largely halted years of war between them. [42]

    Why it matters — This is the Iran war spreading sideways into a fight that had mostly stopped since the 2022 truce. [42] The Houthis are backed by Iran, and their attacks set fires at Saudi oil facilities and wounded dozens of people. [6]

33. 34

    A missile startup comes out of hiding

    Covenant, an American missile company with large operations in Israel, went public with its work after two years in secrecy, saying it has raised more than $250m from investors. [43] Haaretz reported the company was valued at $1.25bn in its latest funding round. [43] Its missiles are designed as a low-cost alternative to weapons such as the American Tomahawk cruise missile. [43]

    Why it matters — Two years of war have made the price of a missile the thing armies argue about most. A firm founded in secret in 2024 is now worth more than a billion dollars for promising a cheaper one. [43]

34. 35

    Satellite pictures show building at Pickaxe Mountain

    A clear surge in construction was recorded during 2026 at Iran's Pickaxe Mountain site, near the Natanz enrichment complex, according to a CNN report cited by Haaretz. [9] Trump said last week he may hit Pickaxe very soon. [9] Experts quoted in the report doubt the United States has weapons able to reach the facility, which is dug deep under rock. [9]

    Why it matters — Nobody has been inside. Everything anyone knows about the site comes from pictures taken from orbit, which is exactly the gap the inspectors were meant to fill. [9][1]

35. 36

    India publishes the most papers and gets cited least

    Indian researchers published 1.6 million papers in Scopus-indexed journals between 2020 and 2025, more than any other country, and some private universities increased their output by over 760% in five years. [44] University patent filings rose fourfold, from 11,150 in 2020-21 to 45,776 in 2024-25. [44] But India ranks 19th on the h-index, the standard measure of how much research is actually read and used, with an aggregate score of 925 against America's 3,213. [44] Patent grants fell 67% in 2024-25. [44]

    Why it matters — Indian universities are ranked and funded on how many papers they publish, and papers have grown fastest of all. Citations and granted patents do not feed those rankings, and both have gone the other way. [44]

36. 37

    A Chinese professor wants English out of the exams

    Tang Jiafeng, a mathematics professor in China, is publicly arguing that English should stop being a graded core subject in primary schools, secondary schools and universities. [45] English is a required subject in China from the third year of primary school. [45] Tang says Chinese children start English before mastering their own language and that reverence for Western culture should end; opponents say English still pays in careers and trade. [45]

    Why it matters — About one in five people on Earth uses English actively, and China trains more English learners than anywhere. A change to what is graded would move tens of millions of pupils' study hours. [45]

37. 38

    Trump says Putin wants a deal

    Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he had a great conversation with Vladimir Putin this week and that the Russian president wants a deal to end the war in Ukraine. [46] American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Putin in Moscow on 5 September. [46] Ukraine's own strategy is going the other way: Zelensky is striking refineries, factories and airports deep inside Russia to raise the cost of the war for Russians faster than Russia can raise it for Ukrainians. [47] Ukraine mounted one of its heaviest waves of strikes into Russia in August. [47]

    Why it matters — Trump says the Russian president wants a deal, and Ukraine spent August hitting targets deep inside Russia. [46][47] Trump also said this week that the Iran war will end immediately after the American midterm elections in November. [8]