World, in brief

Saudi Arabia's civil defence issued air raid alerts for Riyadh, the capital, and for Al-Kharj east of it, early on Saturday. [1]

They were the first alerts for the capital since the Houthis stepped up their attacks on Saudi Arabia. [1] A Reuters journalist heard two booms in Riyadh's Olaya district. [1]

Saudi officials later said the danger had passed and told people to avoid gathering in crowds. [2]

The Houthis are an armed movement backed by Iran. They have ruled most of northern Yemen since they took the capital, Sanaa, in 2014. [2]

A Saudi-led group of Arab states joined the war against them in 2015. The fighting has killed more than 150,000 people, the UN says. [2]

This month the Houthis seized Mocha, a Red Sea port, and Perim Island, beside the narrow strait Saudi tankers use to reach Asia and Europe. [2]

Saudi Arabia has relied on that Red Sea route since the US and Israel's war with Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, its usual way out. [2]

The Houthis say they are blockading Saudi ships because Saudi Arabia blockades the ports and airports in the part of Yemen they hold. [2]

The Houthis said Saudi jets hit their areas 26 times in 24 hours. [3] Yemen's government said its forces killed 30 Houthi fighters in Taiz province on Friday. [3][4]

Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the movement's leader, called the Saudi claim that his forces aimed a drone at Mecca, Islam's holiest city, a major lie. [5]

Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has asked Trump to strike the Houthis, CBS reported. Trump has offered intelligence and targeting help instead. [2]

US officials met Houthi representatives in Muscat, the capital of Oman, last weekend. [3] The Houthis now appear to be eyeing Yemen's oil-rich east, with heavy fighting around the city of Marib. [6]

At least 112,000 people have fled their homes inside Yemen, the UN's migration agency said. [7] Nearly 3,000 crossed the sea to Djibouti in under a week, and Djibouti is preparing for up to 10,000. [7]

Pakistan, which signed a defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkey last month, restated its full commitment to Saudi Arabia's defence. [8] Its foreign office said last week that no military response was being discussed. [8]

The EU's naval mission guarding Red Sea shipping, Operation Aspides, raised its alert level on Friday. [3]

Why it matters. Watch whether the Houthis start treating more ships as Saudi-linked, which an analyst at the conflict monitor ACLED says they might do to put more pressure on Saudi Arabia and the world economy. [6]

France's president, Emmanuel Macron, said on Friday that Russian attacks against Europe carried out by drones, cyberattacks and sabotage have grown in recent weeks. [11] He ordered a plan to protect power sites and the most sensitive arms factories. [11][21] In a rare crisis meeting, French spy chiefs briefed party leaders and candidates for next year's presidential election. [14] Finland's president, Alexander Stubb, told Finns it was worth preparing for something to happen. [22]

Why it matters. Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk, said on Thursday that Russia plans drone or missile strikes on countries that help Ukraine, and the Dutch prime minister said to take that seriously. [22][23] Macron also said he will call a G7 meeting within weeks on energy prices and on releasing oil reserves. [14][11]

Donald Trump signed a bill on Friday that lets him put tariffs of up to 100% on the five biggest buyers of Russian oil and gas. [24][25] China and India are the two biggest. [24] The law also punishes Vladimir Putin, Russian banks and the 'shadow fleet' of tankers that carry Russian oil around earlier sanctions. [24] Countries that buy less than 15% of their gas from Russia and are cutting that share are exempt. [25] The House of Representatives passed it on Wednesday, with 58 Democrats voting for it. [24] He signed it days before Xi Jinping's visit. [26]

Why it matters. Russian oil is now more than 40% of India's supply, and India warned the US the law could damage relations between them. [27] A jump in fuel prices would be risky for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi before state elections early next year. [27]

The US military told Congress the war with Iran had cost $43.6 billion by 3 September, the Associated Press reported. [28] Central Command, which runs US forces in the Middle East, gave the figure. [28] A Congressional Budget Office report put the cost at $38 billion by 1 August. [28] Weapons alone rose from $21.7 billion to $28.1 billion in just over a month. [28] The count leaves out damage Iranian missiles and drones did to US bases. [28]

Why it matters. The war began on 28 February and adds about $3 billion a month, the budget office says. [28] The war's political cost will be tested in November's elections for the US Congress, where the war is unpopular with voters. [28]

The Washington Post reported that at least 22 US troops have died in the Iran war, citing six US officials. [18][29] That is four more than the 18 in the US Defense Department's public casualty list. [18] Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, called the report fake and a lie on social media. [30] The department's public list also counts more than 830 wounded. [28]

Why it matters. If the Post is right, the public list leaves out deaths that officials already know about. [18] The report lands weeks before November's elections for the US Congress, where the war is unpopular. [28]

Two US Tomahawk missiles hit a primary school in Minab, a town in southern Iran, on the first day of the war, killing more than 150 people. [19] US officials involved in the US Defense Department's inquiry told Bloomberg it found a chain of avoidable failures. [19] The target had been listed years earlier as a military site, but satellite images from 2018 already show a school playground there. [19] Some staff also leaned too hard on an AI targeting system called Maven. [19]

Why it matters. UN investigators said this week that the US failed to check whether the school was a military target. [31] The department's report is described as nearly finished but has not been published. [19]

A tanker was struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea lane out of the Gulf, starting a fire that the crew put out. [32] The UK's maritime trade monitor said the crew was safe. [32] Iran's Revolutionary Guard navy said a Togo-flagged tanker caught fire while trying to make an illegal passage through the strait. [32] Iran has claimed control of the strait since the war began. [33]

Why it matters. Iran's hold on the strait has badly cut the Gulf's oil and gas shipments to the rest of the world. [33]

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians marched in Tehran on Friday in a rally organised by Iran's government. [33] State television put the crowd above 300,000. [33] Marchers pledged to take up arms, and the Revolutionary Guard's Tehran chief said over 600,000 had signed up for basic weapons training. [33] Some trampled US and Israeli flags. [33] In January, before the war, activists said a crackdown on protests killed over 7,000 people. [33]

Why it matters. The rally comes as a US naval blockade of Iran's ports squeezes its economy. [33] Hossein Taeb, the new head of the Basij, Iran's volunteer militia, said similar rallies will be held in other cities. [33]

Russia has switched to more ballistic missiles in its attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, the BBC reports. [10] They fly so fast that residents can get four minutes' warning or less. [10] One woman, Daria, said her walk to the nearest shelter takes about ten minutes, so she moved out of the city. [10] When sirens sound, shopping centres close and above-ground metro stations stop. [10] A ballistic attack on Thursday injured 20 people, said Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko. [10]

Why it matters. A taxi across the river when the metro stops can cost 1,000 hryvnias, about $22, which is almost an eighth of Ukraine's monthly minimum wage. [10] Kyiv now gets more air raid alerts a day than at any time since 2022. [10]

Russians began voting on Friday in a three-day election for parliament, the first held during the war. [34][23] Most anti-war candidates were not allowed to run. [35] Putin said voting would help secure victory in Ukraine. [34] He also accused Ukraine, without evidence, of interfering in the vote. [35] Early results are due on Sunday evening and nearly complete ones on Monday. [34]

Why it matters. Russia's government is expected to use turnout to measure how tired Russians are of the war. [34] Ukrainian drone strikes have caused fuel shortages in parts of Russia. [34]

Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, hosted the first summit of the Carpathian Eight in Bukovel, a ski resort in western Ukraine, on Friday. [23] The group is Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary, with the EU also involved. [23] Poland and Romania are close supporters of Ukraine. [23] Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia have refused to send it direct military help. [23]

Why it matters. The eight say they will work together on security, energy and trade across their borders. [23] US-led peace talks have stalled over whether Ukraine gives up land in the east. [23]

Denmark said on Friday it will send Ukraine a package worth 1.8 billion Danish crowns, about $276 million, sooner than planned. [36] The money is for air defences. [36] Denmark said it was answering a Russian warship that fired flares towards a Danish military helicopter, narrowly missing it. [36] The defence minister, Jeppe Bruus, said the response to being rattled was to help Ukraine faster. [36]

Why it matters. Denmark gives more aid to Ukraine for its size than almost any country. [36] The flares happened in international waters, and Russia says Denmark's helicopter flew dangerously close. [36]

The UN's human rights office documented 1,004 verified cases of sexual violence linked to the war between February 2022 and July 2026. [20] It tied 89% of them to the Russian side, including soldiers, prison staff and security agencies. [20] It tied 11% to Ukraine's side. [20] The abuse included gang rape and electric shocks, including against prisoners of war. [20]

Why it matters. Ukraine welcomed the report, and Russia's mission in Geneva declined to comment. [20] The UN says the true number is higher, because Russia would not let its staff into occupied areas or prisons. [20]

Kirill Dmitriev, a close adviser to Putin, and the leaders of the AfD, Germany's far-right party, are preparing to meet next year about restarting Russian gas, two people told Reuters. [37] The meeting could come as early as March, but only if a peace framework for Ukraine is agreed first. [37] Before the invasion, Russia supplied more than half of Germany's gas. [37]

Why it matters. The AfD does not govern, because other parties refuse to work with it, but it leads national polls. [37] It faces another state election on Sunday in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where the Nord Stream pipelines from Russia come ashore. [37]

Trump will greet China's leader, Xi Jinping, at an air base outside Washington on Wednesday, which is unusual for him. [38] A state dinner on Thursday will include Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Nvidia's Jensen Huang. [38] Xi may bring executives from BYD and CATL, China's biggest makers of electric cars and batteries, Reuters reported. [39] Some of them face US sanctions or blacklists. [39]

Why it matters. Trump took US bosses to Beijing in May, including some from firms China was scrutinising, and a Chinese delegation would mirror that. [39] A US rule already bars China-linked carmakers from selling connected cars in the US from 2027. [39]

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent plans to discuss artificial intelligence and rare earths with China's vice premier, He Lifeng, a source told Reuters. [40] Rare earths are metals used to make much of today's technology. [40] The two meet before the Trump-Xi summit on 24 September. [40] Bessent said the talks will cover open-weight AI models, whose core parts anyone can download. [40]

Why it matters. The US and China are the two biggest forces building advanced AI. [40] Bessent wants 'guardrails' to keep powerful models away from armed groups. [40]

US and Chinese officials are discussing lowering China's tariffs on US liquefied natural gas, which is gas cooled into a liquid and shipped by sea, people familiar with it told Reuters. [15] China put a 15% tariff on it in February 2025, in answer to Trump's tariffs. [15] That stopped the trade almost completely. [15] The talks are part of efforts to steady trade before Xi's visit. [15]

Why it matters. US gas export capacity is set to grow sharply by 2027 as new plants open on the Gulf Coast, so producers need buyers. [15] China is one of the world's biggest gas markets. [15]

The US Treasury is drafting rules that would let US drug companies invest in most new medicines being developed by Chinese firms, Reuters reported. [16] Deals involving germs or biotechnology that could be made into weapons would still be banned. [16] Outside companies licensed Chinese drugs worth $115 billion last year, according to the research firm GlobalData. [16] The rules are unlikely to come before Xi's visit. [16]

Why it matters. Big drugmakers such as Pfizer have met Trump officials to argue against broad limits. [16] Some lawmakers and smaller drugmakers call the deals a national security risk. [16]

Palmer Luckey, founder of the US drone maker Anduril, said Trump's delay on a $14 billion arms package for Taiwan is hurting his company's business with Taiwan. [17] Trump has held the package since his May summit with Xi and called it a very good negotiating chip. [17] China claims Taiwan, a self-governed island, as its own. [17] Luckey said Trump is weighing what China could do in return, such as limiting rare earths. [17]

Why it matters. US law requires the US to give Taiwan the means to defend itself, though Trump has questioned that. [17] Taiwan is expected to be high on Xi's list next week. [17]

China built up the world's largest oil stockpile, about 1.4 billion barrels by the end of last year, US government estimates show. [41] When the war closed the Strait of Hormuz, China drew on it and bought much less crude from abroad. [41] China is Iran's biggest oil buyer. [41] Buying less eased world demand, which kept prices lower for the US, Europe and everyone else. [41]

Why it matters. Six months into the war, the worst price forecasts have not come true, the AP reports, and China's buying is one reason. [41] Xi could make that case when he visits Washington next week. [41]

Trump will meet Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela's acting president, in New York next week during the UN General Assembly, the US ambassador to the UN said. [42] She took over after a US raid in January captured Nicolas Maduro. [42] Trump will also meet UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Gulf leaders. [42] Japan wants its meeting before Trump sees Xi. [43]

Why it matters. A meeting with Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu looks unlikely, US officials said, because of Israel's election campaign. [42] Japan hopes to keep the US focused on holding China back. [43]

Trump said on his social media site that the US has an agreement with Denmark and Greenland giving it permanent control over Greenland's security. [44] Greenland is a huge Arctic island that governs itself but belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark. [44] He said no US adversary can have a base, troops or sensitive investments there without US written approval. [44]

Why it matters. The claim came from Trump alone, and the report carried no reply from Denmark or Greenland. [44] If the terms hold, the US would decide who else may put troops or money there. [44]

Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica narrowly led the third secret poll of the 15-member UN Security Council on who should be the next UN secretary-general, diplomats said. [45] She got nine votes to encourage, five to discourage and one no opinion. [45] Guyana's Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett got eight to encourage. [45] Eight candidates want to replace Antonio Guterres, who leaves at the end of the year. [45]

Why it matters. The five permanent members, the US, China, Russia, France and Britain, must all agree on a name. [45] In more than 80 years the UN has never had a woman as secretary-general. [45]

North Korea said its status as a nuclear-armed country is irreversible, after the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, passed a resolution criticising its weapons programme. [46] Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, accused the agency of double standards. [46] State media said Kim Jong Un spent three days touring weapons factories this week. [46]

Why it matters. Analysts say North Korea has been rebuilding its military with Russian help since a 2024 defence treaty. [46] Its troops have also gained combat experience fighting for Russia in Ukraine. [46]

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's choice for justice minister, Kim Seung-won, withdrew on Saturday. [47] He was the second of Lee's cabinet picks to step aside this month. [47] A Gallup Korea poll put Lee's approval at 37%, the lowest since he took office in June 2025. [47] Pollsters partly link the fall to criticism of his appointments. [47]

Why it matters. Lee admitted his team's checks on nominees had fallen short, and said it is re-examining how it picks people. [47]

A car bomb hit a police compound in Kohat, a city of about 220,000 near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, on Friday. [48] At least 16 people died, including five police officers, the provincial police chief said. [48] The blast damaged a mosque where officers, relatives and other people were praying. [48] Police said other attackers then fought a gun battle. [48]

Why it matters. Pakistan's president blamed the Pakistani Taliban, known as the TTP, and Pakistan says the group trains in Afghanistan. [48] Afghanistan's Taliban rulers deny it, and the two countries have clashed, with Pakistani air strikes on Afghan soil as recently as June. [48]

Thirty-seven people arrested in raids on illegal gold mining died in a detention centre in Niger State, Nigeria. [49] Officials said a disease outbreak killed them and sent the bodies for tests. [49] A survivor, Dauda Shehu, said 65 people were packed into a cell with no airflow. [49] An intelligence report cited by AFP also pointed to overcrowding. [49]

Why it matters. Police are investigating the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the agency that ran the cell. [49] The region is known for small-scale gold mining. [49]

Researchers from Cambridge interviewed 27 former fighters from Boko Haram's two factions in Nigeria, Al Jazeera reported. [50] Several said they used ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Meta AI and DeepSeek for military advice. [50] They described trainers from the wider ISIL movement teaching them to get round the chatbots' safety rules. [50] One faction ran a special AI unit of 23 people. [50]

Why it matters. UN officials warned the Security Council in February about ISIL using advanced AI. [50] Researchers say AI is advancing faster than the safeguards meant to stop this. [50]

Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, will brief the UN Security Council on Wednesday on AI and international security, his company said. [51] France called the meeting and holds the council's presidency this month. [51] In California, Governor Gavin Newsom signed an order to speed up a state law requiring outside checks on AI companies and a way to switch systems off. [52]

Why it matters. Several AI industry leaders called weeks ago for a joint slowdown, warning the technology could soon improve itself beyond human control. [51] Trump has called such warnings a hoax. [52]