Iran sends the US three conditions for ending the war, through Qatar

The rest of the day

35 more stories on this beat.

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

1. 02

   Saudi Arabia confirms a missile aimed at its capital

   The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthis said the group fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh at dawn on Saturday, and shot it down. [8] It said attacks on Yanbu, the Red Sea port where a key Saudi pipeline ends, and on Taif, Baysh and Farasan were stopped too. [8][49] The Houthis said they hit sensitive sites in Riyadh and Aramco plants at Yanbu. [10] An AFP reporter saw firefighters at a burnt-out Aramco fuel tank near Riyadh's airport. [6] Saudi Arabia is low on interceptors and has asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt for help, officials told the Associated Press. [8]

   Why it matters — Saudi Arabia has been hit before, but never with its capital's airport burning and its stock of interceptors reported to be thinning. It is being drawn into a war it did not start, and the United States has refused to fight the Houthis for it.

2. 03

   Riyadh's airport hits maximum disruption

   Flightradar24, a website that tracks aircraft, put Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport at 5.0 on its disruption scale on Saturday, the highest level it uses, meaning long delays and several cancelled flights. [9] Residents heard explosions after overnight phone alerts from Saudi civil defence warning of danger, the first such alert since the fighting in Yemen intensified this month. [6][9] The all-clear came on Saturday morning. [6] An Aramco fuel tank near the airport was on fire, an AFP journalist reported. [9]

   Why it matters — Riyadh is one of the Gulf's busiest airports. Passengers there lost flights on Saturday because a fuel tank beside the runways was on fire.

3. 04

   Turkey offers Saudi Arabia military help

   Turkey's foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, said his country could meet Saudi military needs under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement signed last month, which says an armed attack on any one of the three signatories counts as an attack on all. [11] He said the attacks on Saudi territory were serious and that Turkey would have no issue supplying technical equipment. [11] Fidan also said it was unacceptable for Saudi Arabia to be made part of a US-Iran war it never wanted to join, and that proposals to end the fighting had been passed to all sides. [11]

   Why it matters — Trump has rebuffed Saudi requests for military help against the Houthis, so Riyadh is being offered a replacement protector. Turkey gains a defence customer and a say in how the Yemen war ends.

4. 05

   The Houthis hold the gate to the Red Sea

   The Houthis control the most populous parts of Yemen. This month they took the port of Mokha and Perim Island, which gives them the Bab el-Mandeb, the narrow strait between Yemen and Africa that ships use to reach the Suez Canal. [6][12] They declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia in July, answering a Saudi blockade of ports in north-west Yemen. [6] Saudi ships have used that sea route since the war with Iran largely shut the Strait of Hormuz. [6] Haaretz reports they now want recognition, flights to Iran and a new settlement in Yemen. [12]

   Why it matters — Saudi Arabia bombed this group for seven years. It now controls a strait that Saudi oil tankers have to pass through, which is why Riyadh may end up negotiating with it.

5. 06

   Ukrainian drones hit the Moscow region

   Two people were killed and six hurt in what Moscow's regional governor, Andrei Vorobyev, called a massive overnight Ukrainian drone attack, and he said 249 drones were shot down. [13] A 44-year-old woman died in Sofyino when a drone hit a three-storey block of flats, and an elderly man died in the Orekhovo-Zuevo district. [13] Moscow's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said a facility at an oil refinery was damaged and that 152 drones heading for the city were downed. [13] Sheremetyevo, Moscow's biggest airport, restricted flights and Vnukovo halted all arrivals and departures. [13]

   Shot down over the Moscow region249 drones

   Of those, heading for the city itself152 drones

   Why it matters — Both sides are now aiming at the fuel and transport each other's economies run on, and the Russian capital is inside the range of that exchange.

6. 07

   Russian strikes kill a mother and two children

   Seven people, including two children, were killed in Russian attacks on the Kyiv and Sumy regions of Ukraine on Saturday, a Ukrainian official said. [13] A mother and her two small children, a boy and a girl, died in the town of Fastiv, south-west of Kyiv, according to the head of the Kyiv region, Tymur Tkachenko, who said several houses were damaged. [13] In Sumy, in the north-east, four people were killed when a Russian drone hit the car they were travelling in, the senior local official Oleh Hryhorov said. [13]

   Why it matters — The drones over the Moscow region flew hours after these deaths. Each side is now striking the other's towns in the same 24 hours.

7. 08

   Poland flies patrols as Russia strikes Ukraine

   Poland began what its army called preventive military aviation operations on Saturday to protect its own airspace while Russia was striking Ukraine next door. [14] Poland's army said on X that it had also put ground-based air defences and radar reconnaissance on a state of readiness. [14] Poland is a NATO member and borders Ukraine. It gave no detail about how many aircraft were flying or for how long. [14]

   Why it matters — Every Russian barrage on western Ukraine now costs a neighbouring country fuel, flying hours and crews on standby, whether or not anything crosses the border.

8. 09

   Europe prepares for attacks it cannot rule out

   European governments are stepping up military and civilian preparations for a possible escalation by Russia, with officials warning of more drone, missile, sabotage and cyber operations against NATO countries that back Ukraine. [15] The measures run from protecting critical infrastructure in France and hospitals in Germany to updated evacuation plans in Lithuania and stronger air defences in Poland. [15] France's president, Emmanuel Macron, called party leaders and presidential hopefuls into the Elysee Palace crisis room on Friday to brief them on intelligence assessments, and said the Russian threat to Europe had intensified. [15]

   Why it matters — Hospitals, power lines and evacuation plans are the parts of a country that take months to prepare, so a government preparing them is saying it expects this to last.

9. 10

   The US weighs pulling a third of its troops out of Europe

   The US defence department is weighing options for cutting its forces in Europe, part of a NATO review announced in June, NBC News reported. [16] One option would withdraw a third of the roughly 68,000 US troops there, mostly from Germany, Italy and Spain. [16] A larger one would move 40,000 out with aircraft, ships and weapons. [16] Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, said in June the changes should push Europe into taking charge of its own defence. [16] Senior members of Trump's own party warn it would send the wrong signal to Vladimir Putin. [16]

   • US troops that would stay under the smaller option45 · 66%
   • US troops that would leave23 · 34%

   Why it matters — European countries are preparing for a Russian escalation in the same months their main protector is deciding how much of its army to take home.

10. 11

    A German general will lead NATO's top military body

    Military chiefs from NATO's 32 countries elected General Carsten Breuer, Germany's most senior officer, to chair the alliance's military committee at a meeting in Copenhagen. [17][18] The committee is NATO's senior military authority and its chair is the main military adviser to the alliance's political chief, Mark Rutte. [17] Breuer, 61, takes over from Italy's Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone next July for a three-year term, beating Canada's chief of defence, Jennie Carignan. [17][18] He campaigned on Germany's spending: the country aims to double military expenditure to more than 200 billion euros by 2030. [17]

    Why it matters — The job usually follows the money, and Germany is now Europe's biggest military spender. It also means a German officer holds the seat at the moment the US is deciding how far to step back.

11. 12

    Russia's three-day vote reports online attacks

    Russia's election authorities said their online systems were attacked on the second day of the parliamentary vote, and the digital ministry said a sabotage attempt on communication lines in the Far East had been thwarted. [19] The three-day vote, which began on Friday and ends on Sunday, elects Russia's State Duma, the lower house of its parliament, and most anti-war candidates were barred from standing. [20][19] The opposition Yabloko party said one of its observers lost consciousness while being arrested at a St Petersburg polling station. [20] Putin has accused Ukraine of trying to interfere, without providing evidence. [19]

    Why it matters — The result will be presented as proof that Russians back the war, which is why who was allowed to stand matters more than the count.

12. 13

    Denmark says the Greenland deal changes nothing

    Trump said on Friday that the United States, Denmark and Greenland had agreed a deal giving the US permanent control over security and all other needs on the Arctic island. [21][22] Denmark and Greenland said on Saturday the agreement does not compromise Greenland's sovereignty, and Danish leaders called themselves cautiously optimistic. [22][23] A long-standing agreement already allows US forces on the island, and it is not clear how this one differs. [22] All three governments are due to sign at the UN next week, and the Danish and Greenland parliaments must then approve it. [22]

    Why it matters — Trump spent months threatening to take Greenland from a NATO ally. What has actually been agreed is unclear, because the three governments that signed it describe it differently and no text has been published.

13. 14

    Germany cuts fuel tax by 2.5 billion euros

    Germany's chancellor, Friedrich Merz, announced a 2.5 billion euro fuel tax cut, agreed with Germany's state governments, to take effect next month. [24] He said people who rely on their cars every day are reaching their financial limits. [24] Pump prices across Europe have climbed because of the war in Iran and the fighting between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, and a main oil benchmark passed $100 a barrel two weeks ago for the first time since July. [24] Merz's government also plans a temporary price cap on petrol and diesel by January 2027, copying Luxembourg and Belgium. [24]

    Why it matters — This is the Gulf war arriving in a German driveway, and it is being paid for out of a stretched federal budget rather than by the oil companies making the profits.

14. 15

    Merz faces two more state elections today

    Two German states voted on Sunday, after the far-right Alternative for Germany won the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. [25] Polls suggest it will not repeat that win, but will confirm large gains and put fresh pressure on the firewall strategy, under which every other main party refuses to govern with it. [25] Merz's approval rating has fallen as low as 14 per cent, and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania his Christian Democrats polled at 6 per cent, risking their worst-ever result there and exclusion from the state parliament. [25] Senior figures in his party have rallied behind him for now. [25]

    Why it matters — Germany is the country now expected to carry Europe's defence spending, and its chancellor is losing the domestic authority to promise anything for long.

15. 16

    France's debt heads for 120 per cent of output

    France's finance ministry told the High Council of Public Finances that government debt will reach 119.3 per cent of everything the country produces in a year in 2026, and 121.7 per cent in 2027. [26] The ratio was 115.7 per cent in 2025 and below 100 per cent in 2019. [26] It expects to end this year with a budget deficit of 5.4 per cent of output. [26] Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has proposed 54 billion euros of savings in the 2027 budget, which he must get through a deeply divided parliament. [26]

    201998%

    2025115.7%

    2026119.3%

    2027121.7%

    Why it matters — France is one of the two European countries with a serious army and a nuclear deterrent, and it is being asked to spend more on defence in the year its borrowing passes its whole annual output.

16. 17

    France's president meets Canada's on a tiny archipelago

    Emmanuel Macron travelled to Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a small French archipelago off the coast of Canada, to meet Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney. [27] The French presidency said the point was to show France's presence across five oceans, including the Arctic. [27] The islands give France a large exclusive economic zone and a permanent naval presence, currently one patrol boat, the Fulmar, which is due to be replaced. [27] Talks covered undersea data cables, space activity and turning the islands into a base for polar cooperation with Canada, Denmark and Greenland. [27]

    Why it matters — It is the same Arctic that Trump has been demanding a permanent security role in, and France is quietly reminding everyone it has territory there too.

17. 18

    The US kills four more people on a Caribbean boat

    The US military attacked a boat it said was smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea on Saturday, killing four people. [28] That takes the toll to at least 231 people in 69 strikes since the campaign began almost a year ago. [28] No evidence was published that the boat carried drugs; the video released shows a moving vessel and a flash. [28] Trump's government wants to extend the operation onto land, and Hegseth said Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to joint operations. Guatemala denied it. [28]

    Why it matters — A year of strikes has killed more people than most declared conflicts this year, with no charges, no trial and no published evidence in almost every case.

18. 19

    The US lifts sanctions on Eritrea's ruling party

    The US Treasury removed sanctions on Eritrea's ruling party, its military, several individuals including the financial official Hagos Ghebrehiwet, and the party-linked Red Sea Trading Corporation. [29] The measures were imposed in 2021 over the conduct of Eritrean forces in the war in Tigray, in northern Ethiopia, where tens of thousands are believed to have been killed before a peace accord in November 2022. [29] Eritrea's information minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, said the sanctions were unwarranted and welcomed the move as remedial. [29]

    Why it matters — Eritrea sits on the Red Sea coast opposite Yemen, and the country that was punished for Tigray is now useful to the United States for where it is.

19. 20

    Congo starts vaccinating Ebola health workers

    Congo began giving the Ervebo Ebola vaccine to front-line health workers in the Bunia and Mongbwalu zones of Ituri province, the worst-hit areas of the country's deadliest Ebola outbreak. [30] The campaign in Ituri and North Kivu aims to reach 20,000 workers over six to nine months. [30] The outbreak had reached 7,541 confirmed cases and 3,639 deaths by Saturday, with 1,823 people recovered. [30] Ervebo works against a more common type of the virus; this outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, for which no licensed vaccine or treatment exists and trials are still running. [30]

    • Died3,639 · 48%
    • Recovered1,823 · 24%
    • Other confirmed cases2,079 · 28%

    Why it matters — Health workers are the people the virus kills first and the people without whom nothing else works, which is why they are at the front of a queue for a vaccine that is not an exact match.

20. 21

    Nine women's bodies found near Johannesburg

    Nine women's bodies have been found in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg in South Africa, and five are still unidentified. [31] All were in their twenties or thirties, some were found naked or partly clothed, and several had similar bruising. [31] Elizabeth Moselakgomo, 38, was found dead in Kempton Park after her daughter told police she had not come back from a run. [31] Itumeleng Kekana, 32, a shopkeeper, was found on a bridge in July, 17 days after her family last saw her. [31] The provincial police commissioner, Fred Kekana, said investigators are considering both one killer and several. [31]

    Why it matters — South Africa records some of the world's highest rates of violence against women, and the fear spreading in Ekurhuleni is about whether the police can tell a pattern from a coincidence.

21. 22

    An AI report nearly started a raid on a Chinese ship

    A US intelligence report written with a chatbot's help wrongly concluded that a Chinese ship was carrying nuclear components to Iran during the war, CNN reported. [32] The US military prepared to seize the vessel and had warplanes in the air before officials read the report again and found the chatbot had misidentified the cargo. [32] An analyst had asked the chatbot about intelligence on the ship from US Special Operations Command Pacific, and it answered using open sources and secret intercepts. [32] One source called the report entirely false and said it almost started a war. [32]

    Why it matters — A chatbot got the cargo wrong. Nobody checked its answer until US warplanes were already in the air over a Chinese merchant ship.

22. 23

    Trump bars reporters from three news outlets

    MS NOW said its journalists were turned away from the grounds of the US president's residence and offices in Washington on Saturday morning, a day after Trump said he would ban the network. [33] Reporters from CNN and Politico were turned away the same morning. [33] The move follows a long run of restrictions on journalists Trump finds objectionable, and is being treated as a test of the free-speech protections in the US constitution's First Amendment. [33]

    Why it matters — Which reporters may stand on the lawn decides which questions get asked out loud, in the week the UN General Assembly brings every other government to the same country.

23. 24

    China condemns the new US sanctions law

    China criticised the US law tightening sanctions on Russia and extending trade measures against Iran, which Trump signed late on Friday. [34] A spokesperson for China's commerce ministry said the country has consistently opposed one-sided sanctions and sanctions aimed at third countries that keep trading with a target. [34] The law lets the US president impose tariffs of up to 100 per cent on countries that keep buying Russian energy, which in practice means China and India. [34]

    Why it matters — It lands four days before Xi Jinping arrives in Washington for a state dinner, which tells you how much either side wants the visit to go ahead anyway.

24. 25

    Iran executes a man convicted of spying for Israel

    Iran hanged Hossein Pedaran after its supreme court upheld a death sentence for passing information about missile sites to Israel during last year's 12-day war, Iran's judiciary-run Mizan news agency said. [35] He was convicted of espionage and intelligence cooperation with Israel. [35] The war began in late February, when US and Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. [1]

    Why it matters — A government that cannot reach the people who attacked it reaches the people it says helped them, and the executions are announced rather than hidden.

25. 26

    Iran's Nobel laureate says people cannot breathe

    Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel peace prize in 2023 and was let out of prison this year for medical treatment after collapsing. [7] She told the Associated Press that misery and repression have left no room for Iranians to breathe after a year and a half of war. [7] Many still quietly defy their leaders, she said, a change she traces to the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old detained for breaking dress rules. [7] Her memoir, written in prison with parts smuggled out by other inmates, is published this month in French, German and nine other languages. [7]

    Why it matters — She is describing the country whose government has just asked the United States for terms, and she is describing it from outside both its prisons and its rallies.

26. 27

    UN peacekeepers in Lebanon are told to leave

    The UN Security Council has ordered UNIFIL, the peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, to begin withdrawing at the end of 2026. [36] Its deputy commander, Nicola Abagnara, told Reuters that a smooth handover to other UN bodies or to a new mission is critical. [36] Since a new war between Israel and Hezbollah began in March, the force has escorted aid convoys to a cluster of mainly Christian southern towns now encircled by Israeli troops. [36] Most other residents of southern Lebanon have been displaced by Israeli strikes and evacuation orders. [36]

    Why it matters — For a few thousand encircled people, the convoy escort is the food supply, and the body providing it has been given a leaving date before a replacement exists.

27. 28

    Israeli strikes kill a teenager and three others in Gaza

    A 15-year-old, Mohammad Abdul Zinati, was killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City this week. He was walking towards a paramedic who had been wounded in a strike moments earlier, according to a Guardian investigation using verified footage and witness accounts. [37] The Israeli military says the paramedic was a Hamas operative and that the incident is under review. [37] On Saturday, three Palestinians were killed in strikes and gunfire, among them Basir al-Barsh, son of the head of Gaza's health ministry, who was reported to be a member of Hamas's military wing, and a 10-year-old girl. [38]

    Why it matters — Israel says the wounded man was a Hamas fighter. The 15-year-old who walked towards him was not told that, and neither was anyone else on the street.

28. 29

    A report says Netanyahu was warned about Qatari money

    An investigation by the Israeli paper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Benjamin Netanyahu was told several times before the 7 October 2023 attack that Israeli intelligence believed Qatari money was funding Hamas's military wing, possibly up to half its budget. [39] The report says Egypt warned him too, and that Israeli intelligence found a separate covert channel sending Qatari money directly to Hamas's armed forces, which he was also told about. [39] Netanyahu's governments had allowed the Qatari funds into Gaza. [39] Opposition leaders attacked him over the findings on Friday. [39]

    Why it matters — Israel votes in October, and the question of who knew what before that morning is now the campaign.

29. 30

    Three in four Israelis want an inquiry into October 7

    A survey by the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli research body, found 75 per cent want a state commission of inquiry into the 7 October 2023 attack. [40] That includes 52 per cent of people who vote for the governing coalition. [40] An INSS researcher told Haaretz that Israel's current military posture is not sustainable over time. [40] Friday's television news led with a televised confrontation between Shelly Meshel-Yogev, whose daughter was murdered at the Nova music festival, and Aharon Haliva, the military intelligence chief who resigned in April 2024. [40]

    15 of 20

    Israelis who want a state commission of inquiry

    Why it matters — Three in four Israelis want an inquiry, including half the people who vote for the governing coalition. Israel votes next month and no such inquiry has been set up.

30. 31

    A Gaza documentary splits Israel before its election

    NAZA, a film by the Israeli makers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor about the Israeli military's conduct in Gaza, has become the centre of Israel's political argument weeks before the October election. [41] Most of its central allegations are not new. Reporting that the Israeli army used artificial intelligence to pick targets, often killing everyone in a building to reach one person, first appeared in April 2024. [41] The film got a 25-minute standing ovation in Venice. [41] The culture minister, Miki Zohar, wants the directors stripped of citizenship and investigated by the internal security service. [41]

    Why it matters — The same facts were published two years ago and barely registered. What changed is that they arrived as a film, in an election, in front of an audience abroad.

31. 32

    Protest after police shoot a man dead in Umm al-Fahm

    About 200 people gathered in Umm al-Fahm, a mainly Arab city in northern Israel, to protest against the police after a Border Police officer shot dead a 38-year-old resident, Alaa Mahameed, on Thursday following a car chase on a motorway. [42] The officer was questioned and placed under house arrest for five days. [42] Relatives said Mahameed had been receiving treatment for mental illness. [42]

    Why it matters — The officer who fired was questioned and sent home for five days. That is the entire official response so far, and it is what brought 200 people onto the street.

32. 33

    US and Chinese finance chiefs meet before Xi's visit

    The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and China's vice premier, He Lifeng, were due to meet in Manhattan on Sunday morning, days before Trump hosts Xi Jinping in Washington for a state dinner on Thursday. [43] JPMorgan, a US bank, lent its headquarters because security in Manhattan is tight for the UN General Assembly. It is not part of the talks. [43] Trump built his first campaign on calling China a menace to American factories. He now calls Xi a great gentleman and has let several disputes pass, including reports that China gave Iran satellite imagery. [44]

    Why it matters — The two governments are arguing in public over sanctions, chips and Taiwan while their finance chiefs meet in a borrowed bank lobby to keep the summit on track.

33. 34

    Canada aims to finish an India trade deal this year

    Canada's international trade minister, Maninder Sidhu, told Reuters in Mumbai that he is optimistic about concluding a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with India by the end of the year. [45] Indian negotiators are expected in Canada next month, and the two leaders are likely to meet at the G20 gathering in December. [45] Energy is a main area of discussion. [45] Prime Minister Mark Carney set the year-end target during a visit to Delhi in March. [45]

    Why it matters — Canada spent last year losing a trade fight with its largest customer, the United States, and is now shopping for a second one in the world's most populous country.

34. 35

    A rapper gives his tour earnings to Palestinian aid

    Macklemore said he would give his net earnings from Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour, reported at about $1m, to six Palestinian aid organisations. [46] They include Medical Aid for Palestinians, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund and UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. [46] He was dropped from the tour after pro-Palestinian comments on stage at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, and four supporting acts quit over the decision. [46] Aid group leaders said the attention mattered as much as the money. [46]

    Why it matters — Anera's acting chief executive put the reason plainly: even where bombs are not falling every night, the rubble and the traumatised children are still there.

35. 36

    Trump says he will create an 'AI Force'

    Trump wrote on his social media platform that he is creating an AI Force to oversee regulation of artificial intelligence and will appoint an AI czar soon, giving no details. [47] He said the US government would not hinder or stifle the industry but would be looking for bad behaviour, using existing criminal and civil courts. [47] He has brushed aside calls for new federal AI rules, saying a strong president is regulation enough. [47] US officials say AI will be on the agenda when he meets Xi Jinping this week. [47]

    Why it matters — It arrives days after a chatbot-written intelligence report nearly sent US warplanes to seize a Chinese ship, and in the same week the two governments sit down to discuss the technology.