Sept 29 - UAE Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and met with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the kingdom's defence minister, the first visit by a senior UAE official to the kingdom since a deep rift emerged between the two Gulf powers last year.The visit, following an invitation by Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, occurred as Riyadh faces increasing pressure from the Iran-backed Houthis, who have for weeks fired salvos of missiles and drones at the kingdom.Saudi Arabia has been trying to rally international support to confront the Houthis, but it was not immediately clear if that request extended to the UAE.The United Arab Emirates was once Saudi Arabia’s main regional partner in the war against the Houthis.Sheikh Mansour and Prince Khalid discussed topics of mutual interest and ways to enhance cooperation and coordination between the two countries, according to a post by the Saudi defence ministry on X.Sheikh Mansour, in a separate meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday, reviewed the "fraternal relations" between the two countries and developments in the region, the Saudi state news agency reported.The UAE and Saudi Arabia's years-long disagreements over everything from geopolitics to oil policy came out into the open in December when an advance by a UAE-backed southern Yemeni separatist group brought it close to Saudi borders.Saudi Arabia condemned the UAE’s involvement and carried out an airstrike on a UAE-linked weapons shipment at the port of Mukalla in Yemen.The UAE then announced it had withdrawn all its forces from Yemen but tensions have remained.Yemen has been caught in a 12-year-long civil war since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention. REUTERS
Read briefing Sept 29 - Russian glide bombs struck homes and a school in the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday, killing two people and injuring six, officials said.President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address, said one bomb struck a house, killing a woman. A second bomb hit the school."An ordinary school, where children happened to be at the time," he said. "The building sustained considerable damage, but the children and teachers were in a shelter, and fortunately, thanks to that, no one was hurt at the school."Governor Oleh Hryhorov, writing on Telegram, put the death toll at two, with three children among the injured. He said teachers and school officials had managed to evacuate 100 people into the shelter.Sumy has been a frequent target of Russian attacks during its war with Ukraine. Russia's military has said it wants to establish a buffer zone in areas along the border. REUTERS
Read briefing FILE PHOTO: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico attends a press conference at Bratislava Castle, Bratislava, Slovakia, September 10, 2026. REUTERS/Radovan Stoklasa/File PhotoSept 29 - A junior party in Slovakia's leftist-nationalist coalition voted with the parliamentary opposition to dismiss a minister on Tuesday, raising the possibility that pro-Russian Prime Minister Robert Fico's government could collapse and an early election be held.• The move raised questions about the government's survival a year before a scheduled election, and Fico said he would gather his Smer-Slovak Social Democracy (Smer-SSD) party's leadership to discuss next steps on Wednesday.• Fico raised the possibility of an early election and said it could take place in January, but that would require supermajority approval by parliament.• The parliament voted to dismiss Deputy Prime Minister and Environment Minister Tomas Taraba, who has fallen out with the leadership of his far-right Slovak National Party (SNS), which is a junior member of the coalition and had demanded his resignation.• The three-party government has been dependent on several loyal independents to control 78 seats in the 150-strong parliament. The motion to remove Taraba won 77 votes.• A government collapse would not automatically trigger an election, as the constitution presumes forming another cabinet.• Slovakia under Fico has diverged from European Union and NATO allies by keeping warm relations with Russia and continuing to import Russian oil and gas.
Read briefing Argentina's former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner stands on the balcony of her home, where she is currently staying under house arrest, as her supporters gather outside, on the day of a hearing in the \"Causa Cuadernos\" corruption trial after being summoned to testify, following the rejection of defense motions seeking to nullify the proceedings, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, March 17, 2026. REUTERS/Tomas CuestaBUENOS AIRES, Sept 29 - Former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who is under house arrest, has asked the United Nations Human Rights Committee to review her corruption conviction and suspend the lifetime ban on holding public office that currently prevents her from running for election in 2027, her lawyer said on Tuesday.Fernández was sentenced in 2025 to six years in prison and a permanent ban from public office following a fraud conviction, a ruling her defense team argues violated her fundamental rights during legal proceedings.• Her lawyer, Rafael Valim, said the team is seeking a committee hearing in October, which could require Argentine courts to review the ruling before year's end.• A recent opinion poll by Zuban Cordoba showed Fernández with a 42% approval rating, surpassing President Javier Milei's 36.1%.• Fernández remains one of Argentina's most divisive political figures but polls as high as Milei in voting-intention surveys, giving her potential prospects in Argentina's October 2027 presidential election if the ban is lifted.• She governed Argentina from 2007 to 2015 and served as vice president from 2019 to 2023.• "We are working so the case is examined in October, at the committee's next session," Valim, a Brazilian lawyer who played a role in leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's defense, told Reuters.• The move invites comparisons with Brazil's Lula who challenged his corruption conviction before the UN Human Rights Committee and was later imprisoned and barred from the 2018 election. Brazil's Supreme Court annulled his convictions in 2021, restoring his political rights and paving the way for his return to the presidency the following year.• Should she be cleared to run, Fernández would still face political hurdles, analysts said, including securing support within Argentina's broader leftist Peronist movement ahead of the presidential election next year. REUTERS
Read briefing FILE PHOTO: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at UN headquarters in New York City, US, September 23, 2026. REUTERS/CAITLIN OCHS/File PhotoKYIV, Sept 29 - Belgium will transfer three F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine by the end of the year to help in its war with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday."There is an important agreement with Belgium on the transfer of three F-16 fighter jets by the end of this year," he wrote on X. "We will work to receive these aircraft through an accelerated procedure."Zelenskiy said Ukraine had already received "urgent deliveries" of F-16 ammunition from Belgium and Spain, among other countries.Zelenskiy said later in his nightly video address that Ukraine had received delivery the day before of a "very good" assistance package of a NASAMS air defence system, developed jointly in the US and Norway.He also said that talks were proceeding to ensure that Ukraine has a supply of missiles for the Patriot air defence system, which play a critical role in intercepting Russian ballistic missiles.Zelenskiy said tests were continuing to improve the efficiency of Ukrainian interceptors against Russian jet-powered drones, which fly higher and faster than conventional drones.Of more than 100 Russian drones deployed on Tuesday, he said, 29 were jet-powered and 18 of those had been downed. REUTERS
Read briefing Armed police officers work on a road outside the perimeter of the RAF Fairford airbase, after police declared a major incident at the base, in Fairford, Gloucestershire, Britain, on Sept 28.FAIRFORD, United Kingdom - British police said on Sept 28 five men arrested near an airbase used by the US were released on bail, as officers probed whether a “foreign state” could be involved in a suspected bomb plot.US President Donald Trump, speaking in Washington, said he was “surprised that they released them”, adding that “I wouldn’t have done that”.The release of the five – all London-based Britons in their mid-20s – came as British Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced an emergency meeting of top officials to ensure they have “the full picture”.Earlier, Iran had denied involvement in any plot to target the Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford base in Gloucestershire, southwest England, following the security scare there early on Sept 27.UK counter-terror police are leading the investigation after authorities received reports on Sept 27 of three “suspicious” white vans near the airbase, which has been used by the US to bomb Iran.Police said in their latest update on Sept 28 that the five men held, who all live in inner London boroughs, were being released on bail.“This does not mean the investigation is over,” Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, the head of Counter Terrorism Policing, said, adding the five would be subject to “stringent” bail conditions.He said officers were “considering this from every possible angle, including that this may be activity committed by proxies, or individuals either knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state”.The men were arrested on suspicion of explosives offences and “preparation of a terrorist act” under UK anti-terrorism laws, according to police.They had been travelling in the three suspect vehicles, which have since been subject to “extensive examination, with the support of military assets and forensic experts”.Amid huge questions about what happened, authorities have not confirmed any details of the threat, but bomb-disposal experts were seen at work at the scene.The Daily Mail and Press Association both reported late on Sept 28 they understood from sources that tests on materials in the back of the vans established they were “not viable explosives”.A farmer living in the village of Whelford near the airbase said she rang the police after seeing the vans blocking a road and a group of masked men.The anonymous woman told media on Sept 28 that she believed the police had “dropped the ball” on the threat.Trump on Sept 27 said the UK and US had the suspects “under investigation” for a while and alleged “they were looking to do big damage to our fort”.On Sept 28, after hearing news of their bail, Trump said the case “might be” linked to Iran but declined to elaborate.Pressed to give details, Trump said: “I’d rather not. I mean I know the answer, I could be very specific, but I’d rather not say. I would not have released them.”Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, the head of Counter Terrorism Policing, said that the five would be subject to “stringent” bail conditions.Iran’s embassy in London said on X that it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns” speculation that Tehran was involved.It criticised “the recent unfounded and malicious speculations published by some British individuals and media outlets attempting to link Iran” to the incident.In March, Britain gave the US permission to use Fairford for “specific defensive operations into Iran” to destroy Iranian missiles at source.Since then, US bombers and other planes have been seen taking off and landing from the base – the only one on Britain’s mainland used for this purpose.Residents in the rural Cotswolds area surrounding Fairford said the site, which hosts a range of US military equipment and personnel, had seen increased activity and security in recent months.Around 85 households were evacuated from the village early on Sept 27, and had to stay elsewhere overnight, but were allowed back to their homes late on Sept 28.Tehran has previously warned London against allowing its bases to be used by the US in operations against Iran.In March, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused London of “putting British lives in danger” by allowing the bases to be used “for aggression against Iran”. AFP
Read briefing Pope Leo gives a press conference with accredited journalists on the return flight from France, on Sept 28.ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT - Pope Leo on Sept 28 said concerns that artificial intelligence could destroy the world are not “fake news” and should be taken seriously, in an apparent rebuke of US President Donald Trump.The first US pope, who has warned of the dangers of AI throughout his 16-month papacy, also directly criticised technology CEOs who argued there should be no guardrails on the technology.“I do think that the concerns raised by many of the experts, specialists in AI, should be taken seriously,” the pontiff said in a press conference on his flight back to Rome after a four-day trip to France. “I don’t think that that is fake news, as some have said.”Trump told the UN General Assembly last week that he believed fears about the dangers to humanity from AI were a “hoax”.The pope said he had read on Sept 28 that the head of chipmaker Nvidia had announced there could be a way to insert guardrails into certain AI models. But Leo expressed scepticism, adding: “He’s the same one; however, that says there should be no limits placed and no government regulation.”Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang told CBS News this month that he agreed with Trump that safety concerns about AI were overblown.Trump is to meet with tech CEOs on artificial intelligence on Sept 29 at the White House. Huang, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Greg Brockman are among those who will meet Trump and House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, according to sources familiar with the matter. Other possible attendees include Google CEO Sundar Pichai and SpaceXAI executive Elon Musk.Johnson said the talks would focus on finding a balance between innovation and oversight.Leo urged the world “to promote dialogue, study, investigation, to find ways to make sure that AI does not get to a point where it could destroy humanity.”“I think that there are enough people seriously interested in that … but we have to keep working,” said the pope. “We can’t just sit back and pretend nothing’s going to happen.” REUTERS
Read briefing Pope Leo said that the Catholic Church has an obligation to call for peace and respect of human life.ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT - Pope Leo on Sept 28 urged Russia and Ukraine to sit down and discuss how to end their four-year war, hours after he had urged European leaders seeking to end conflicts to make concessions to achieve peace.The first US pope also decried national leaders who he said are “beginning to speak about nuclear weapons and wars that are becoming ever more destructive,” addressing a press conference aboard his flight to Rome after a four-day trip to France.Leo said the Catholic Church has an obligation to call for peace and respect of human life.“The Church has a responsibility to promote these values, continually inviting leaders — from Russia and Ukraine, as well as other countries — to come together, sit down, engage in dialogue,” said the pope.He said leaders must “seek ways to solve problems without continuing these wars, which no longer make sense.”“This is not about being political or non-political, but there needs to be a voice that seeks to promote the values of human dignity, the importance of life, and the possibility of perhaps spending more on health and education and less on weapons,” said Leo.Earlier on Sept 28, the pope said Europe must be willing to sacrifice some positions to achieve peace in a speech in Metz, France, where he laid out his clearest vision yet for the future of the continent. REUTERS
Read briefing UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (left) discussed bilateral relations during a visit on Sept 27 by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.CAIRO - UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan discussed bilateral relations during a visit on Sept 27 by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Gulf country, the Emirati state news agency WAM reported on Sept 28.
Read briefing Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang believes that tech firms would not keep pushing the technology forward if they did not believe the risks could be managed.SAN FRANCISCO - Nvidia on Sept 28 unveiled a system designed to stop autonomous AI programmes from straying beyond what they were instructed to do, after a wave of incidents raised alarm about the technology’s risks.AI “agents” are designed to act on their own – browsing the web, writing and running code or handling files – rather than simply answering questions like a chatbot.The technology has been hailed as the next stage of the AI revolution, but several leading companies have recently reported cases of agents breaking out of the test environments meant to contain them.According to ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, websites accessed by its agents include those of US federal agencies, an Australian government health statistics portal and Hugging Face, a repository of AI models.Amid the alarm, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang insisted that the problems can be solved.“I believe it’s an engineering problem ... and we all need to hope that’s an engineering problem,” Huang told CNBC on Sept 28.In Huang’s view, tech firms would not keep pushing the technology forward if they did not believe the risks could be managed.Nvidia has a lot riding on that bet: its graphics processing units, or GPUs, power much of the AI boom, and the company’s fortunes are closely tied to the revolution continuing at full speed.Huang likened the challenge to the early days of the internet, when websites could load programs onto people’s computers and spread viruses.The answer then, he said, was to turn the web browser into a “containment system” that limited access.Nvidia’s system similarly places each agent in a sealed-off digital space, or “sandbox,” and lets companies spell out exactly which files, networks and tools it may use.A separate monitor, running on Nvidia hardware beyond the agent’s reach, watches its behaviour and can cut it off if it goes astray.Nvidia said the system could have prevented the Hugging Face breach, in which the platform reported more than 17,000 agents attacking its infrastructure over days and weeks.More than 100 organisations are working with Nvidia’s platform at launch, the company said, including Microsoft, Cisco, Salesforce and SAP.Anthropic has connected its Claude agents to the system and SpaceXAI is applying it to its Grok models. AFP
Read briefing Graffiti reading "no future" in Arabic is depicted on a concrete block at the closed vehicle barrier of a checkpoint at the northern entrance of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.TEL AVIV - Israel said on Sept 27 it was revoking the diplomatic status of Dutch diplomats who represent the Netherlands at the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, in response to Dutch sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.Israel earlier in September ordered the closure of the British Consulate in East Jerusalem, which is Britain’s representative with the Palestinian Authority, after London announced similar sanctions banning the import of goods from settlements.Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on X that Dutch diplomats operating in Ramallah must return their Israeli-issued diplomatic documentation within seven days, when their diplomatic privileges and immunities are due to expire.“Any country that acts in a hostile and unilateral manner against Israel will lose influence and relevance in the region,” Saar said.The Dutch Foreign Ministry declined to comment. The Netherlands’ ban on imports of goods produced in settlements came into effect last week.Israel in August banned Dutch diplomats from a US-led coordination centre for Gaza that is based in Israel, over what the foreign minister described as “anti-Israel measures.”Many countries, including the Netherlands, have long had diplomats who represent their governments with the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah while living in East Jerusalem.Israel has traditionally accredited those diplomats and granted them certain privileges under the Vienna Convention on treatment of diplomatic missions.France and Canada joined Britain this month in announcing a ban on goods from settlements, but Israel has not taken any action against those two countries.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government has found itself diplomatically isolated from many of its allies over its conduct in recent years in Gaza and the West Bank.Two prominent Israeli cabinet ministers have been sanctioned by several countries, while Spain, Ireland and others have also announced a ban on goods originating from settlements. REUTERS
Read briefing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City, on Sept 24.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Abu Dhabi and met with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Sept 27, a senior Israeli official told Reuters.There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office and the UAE’s foreign ministry.The visit comes after Israeli newspaper Haaretz earlier in September reported that Sheikh Mohamed had warned Netanyahu a week and a half before Oct 7, 2023 that Hamas was planning a major operation against Israel. The warning was not passed to Israeli intelligence agencies or the military, Haaretz reported.Netanyahu, who has denied the report and threatened legal action against the newspaper, is facing a tough reelection campaign. Opposition leaders have accused the prime minister of bearing responsibility for security failures that preceded Hamas’ Oct 7 attack.The UAE has declined to comment on the Haaretz report but has said that UAE and Israel have maintained “open and direct lines of communication” since establishing diplomatic relations in 2020.A UAE source previously told Reuters that the UAE discusses security matters with countries through the “relevant entities,” but not “at the level of national leaders.”Earlier in 2026, the UAE denied that President Sheikh Mohamed met with Netanyahu after the Israeli prime minister’s office said in May that Netanyahu had “secretly visited” the Gulf country and met with the president.A source familiar with the meeting said at the time that Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohammed met in Al-Ain, an oasis city in Abu Dhabi along the country’s border with Oman, on March 26.Since coming under attack during the Iran war, the UAE has strengthened its relationships with the United States and Israel, with which it opened ties as a result of the 2020 Abraham Accords.The relationship with Israel gives UAE a lever for regional influence and a unique channel to Washington. REUTERS
Read briefing Pope Leo leads the prayer of the Holy Rosary on the day of a candlelight procession on Sept 27, at the Grotto of the Apparitions at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, in Lourdes, France.LOURDES, France - Pope Leo reaffirmed his commitment to ending abuse of children by Catholic priests in a meeting with French abuse survivors on Sept 27, the Vatican said, hours after the pontiff urged the Church to admit its own failings and heal its “deep wounds.”In a two-hour meeting with seven survivors in France, where Leo is on a three-city weekend visit, the pope met privately with each of the victims and heard proposals for how to improve the Church’s safeguarding measures, said a Vatican statement.“He thanked them for their painful testimony and reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring that the harm they experienced is not repeated for others,” it said.The survivors said after the meeting that it was emotional and touching. They said they felt listened to by the pontiff, and they were impressed by his compassion and his knowledge of their individual cases, but they also hoped that the words would be accompanied by action.“He certainly believes that the Church has done a great deal in France, but he also believes that the Church in France still has a tremendous amount left to do,” Jerome Guillement said.Leo is on a whirlwind four-day visit to France. Local Church leaders are hoping he will help repair the Church’s standing after a 2021 report found that some 330,000 French children had been abused by Catholic clergy and lay leaders over seven decades.The pope told an estimated 150,000 people gathered for a Mass in a field near the famed Catholic shrine in Lourdes that the Church must have the courage to face its past.“In order to heal the deep wounds, infidelities and painful errors that have occurred within (the Church), we must humbly place ourselves under the Lord’s purifying gaze,” the first US pope said.Veronique Garnier, one of the survivors in the meeting with the pope, said she had found the Mass, in which Leo referred to abuse without directly apologising for it, troubling and wondered why she had attended.“I do indeed believe there is hope – hope that there can be change and truly listening to us at a deep level, rather than just superficially with beautiful words that are never followed by any real action,” she said.Leo also spoke about the abuse scandals in a closed-door meeting with French bishops on Sept 27, according to a Vatican-provided text.The pope thanked the bishops for the “courageous measures” he said they had taken to confront the scandals and urged them to buttress their safeguarding efforts and “continue on the path undertaken, maintaining the greatest vigilance.”Leo has drawn large crowds on his visit to France. Around 800,000 people came for an outdoor Mass on the Champs-Elysees with the pope in Paris on Sept 26. He has also again urged the world to reconsider the development of artificial intelligence.Leo has previously apologised directly for abuse scandals that have damaged the Church’s credibility across the world. On a trip to Spain in June, he told bishops there that they must listen to survivors and offer them reparations.Bishop Pierre-Antoine Bozo, the spokesperson for the French bishops, said the pope’s desire to have the meeting “shows that we cannot ignore this issue and that it must always remain among our concerns”.The pope’s itinerary in France included six events in Lourdes, a town in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains that attracts some 3 million pilgrims a year for visits to a shrine to the Virgin Mary and purported healing spring waters.The site is also connected to a scandal that has dogged the Vatican in recent years. The shrine’s facade has a series of mosaics by Rev Marko Rupnik, a prominent religious artist with Vatican ties, who has been accused of sexual abuse.Rupnik, accused by more than 20 women, is not known to have commented publicly on the accusations. Five of his alleged victims wrote an open letter to the pope on Sept 24, sharply criticising an ongoing Vatican trial of the cleric.Workers cover a mosaic made by Slovenian priest, Marko Rupnik, displayed on the Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire Basilica in the Sanctuary of Lourdes in Lourdes.The mosaics, stories tall, have been covered for the pope’s visit with large, muted yellow tarps. Arriving for the Mass on Sept 27, Leo was driven in his open-top popemobile near the facade of the shrine and the covered mosaics.The pope, who on Sept 25 sharply reiterated Catholic opposition to assisted dying initiatives two months after France created a legal right to die for those with incurable illnesses, again mentioned the Church’s pro-life stance in Lourdes.Meeting with volunteers who help sick pilgrims hoping to find a miracle in the shrine’s waters, Leo urged them to remember the “profound meaning” of healthcare work.“That is to care for a suffering person, not to eliminate that person,” said the pope. “Medicine must never become the servant of programmed death!” REUTERS
Read briefing PARIS, Sept 27 - French far-right leaders said their party, the National Rally, and its right-wing allies won enough seats in Sunday's indirect election of senators to form their own caucus.It was the first time the party had cleared the 10-seat threshold for a Senate caucus, as it prepares for a 2027 presidential race in which opinion polls show it in the lead for the first round.• "The results have exceeded our expectations," Marine Le Pen, the party's leader and presidential candidate, said in a post on X.• Le Pen is seeking to win the presidency in the two-round election in the spring, but previous attempts by the far right to reach the country's highest elected office have repeatedly been blocked.• Of the 348 seats in the upper chamber, 178 were up for grabs in Sunday's election. The party did not say how many seats it had won.• Senators are elected by lawmakers in the National Assembly and local elected representatives.
Read briefing Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City, US, September 23, 2026. REUTERS/Eduardo MunozBELGRADE, Sept 27 - Serbia's populist President Aleksandar Vucic announced his resignation on Sunday, ending his second and final five-year term and paving the way for early presidential elections.Vucic's resignation, seven months before his term ends, comes amid campaigning for Serbia's October 25 snap parliamentary vote and allows him to be appointed prime minister if his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) forms the new government.Hundreds of Vucic's supporters cheered him in front of the Presidency building in Belgrade's city centre."This is the last evening for me in this building," he told the flag-waving crowd minutes before resigning."I have faithfully served you and my fatherland, Serbia, ... I am proud of what we have done together," he said.Under Serbia's constitution, outgoing parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic will serve as interim president until a new one is elected. The presidential election must be completed within 90 days, with the campaign lasting between 30 and 60 days."By the end of December ... we will have the first round of presidential elections," said Vucic, who had announced his intention to resign as president earlier in the summer.The snap parliamentary election next month pits Vucic's SNS and its allies against Students Win, a student-led anti-corruption movement, and European Serbia, an alliance of pro-Western opposition parties.Students Win, European Serbia and other parties still have to nominate their presidential candidates. REUTERS
Read briefing It was not immediately clear how many Boeing planes are operating with the flawed software, according to the report.WASHINGTON - Boeing has identified a previously undisclosed 737 Max software glitch that could cause an automated navigation feature to fail during landing, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sept 26, citing company documents.The issue emerged from a cockpit software update and can occur when flight crews alter their planned flight path after a missed approach, the report said.When reached for comment, Boeing said it informed all 737 operators in August about the software issue under which pilots may not have access to automated flight guidance during a specific landing scenario.“We shared information with operators that reinforced existing pilot procedures for safely handling such cases. Our engineers are working on a software update to permanently address the issue,” Boeing said in an emailed statement to Reuters.The Federal Aviation Administration said it was aware of a potential issue in a software update for the flight computers on certain Boeing 737 Max planes and was working closely with Boeing and the airlines.“The FAA will convene a Corrective Action Review Board and will take immediate action if it identifies a safety concern,” the FAA said in a statement.Boeing has been under intense regulatory and safety scrutiny in recent years following two fatal 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 that led to a worldwide grounding of the aircraft, and after a mid-air cabin panel blowout on a nearly new Alaska Airlines Max 9.Southwest Airlines and United Airlines have asked Boeing not to deliver new 737 Max aircraft equipped with the affected software and instead requested an earlier version, according to WSJ.It was not immediately clear how many aircraft are operating with the flawed software, the report said. Boeing, airlines and regulators are assessing the issue and whether it poses a flight-safety concern, it added. REUTERS
Read briefing Pope Leo XIV touches the rock at the Grotto of Massabielle, in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, during a prayer with worshippers on Sept 26.LOURDES, France - Pope Leo XIV prayed for France on Sept 26 at its holy shrine in Lourdes, after riding along the Champs Elysees in the popemobile and holding an emotional open-air mass in front of hundreds of thousands of worshippers in Paris.The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics is on a four-day trip to France, a secular country with deep Catholic roots, on the first official papal visit there in nearly two decades.In the southwestern pilgrimage town the US pontiff prayed at the Grotto of Massabielle, where Catholic tradition holds that the Virgin Mary appeared in 1858 to a peasant girl, later Saint Bernadette.Months of ahead of a presidential election with the far-right surging and immigration high on the agenda, he prayed to the Virgin Mary to “obtain for France wise and generous leaders... eager to serve the common good”.“May they make her (France’s) voice heard in promoting the defence of fundamental human rights and peace in the world, rejecting the mentality of war once and for all.”AFP reporters saw him perform the rituals observed by the many pilgrims to the cave: touching the rock, lighting a candle and drinking spring water.On Sept 27, Leo will meet privately with seven victims of clerical sex abuse. A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused about 330,000 people as minors in France, over seven decades.In an earlier highlight of the visit’s second day, the 71-year-old pope led enthusiastic worshippers in a mass at Paris’ Place de la Concorde, where a giant white canopy had been erected to serve as a makeshift altar.His prayers were accompanied by choral and organ music as the sun broke through the grey skies.“It is truly good and pleasant when brothers and sisters come together and glorify the greatness of God,” said Pope Leo, dressed in white liturgical vestments.Some 800,000 people had gathered all the way beyond the Arc de Triomphe, the Vatican said.“It’s one time in history to see the pope,” said Aline Riziki, 41, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has lived in France for 11 years.“I dropped everything to come here and see him, to pray for peace in the east” of her homeland, wracked by conflict for decades, she said.Jeanne de Montagnac, 29, came with her husband and two-year-old girl, who was perched on his shoulders.“We’re happy that, even if she won’t remember it, we’re sharing this with her,” she said, a small golden cross dangling over her jumper.“It’s an important moment for us to be surrounded by other people who also have faith.”The first US pontiff was visiting France seven months before voters choose a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron.A number of presidential hopefuls were present, including far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Edouard Philippe.Macron did not attend the mass but was represented by his wife Brigitte. The president said in a message on X that France was “proud to welcome Pope Leo XIV and this monumental mass in the heart of Paris”.Earlier in the day, the pope met migrants at Maison Bakhita, an association supporting refugees. Leo said it was “possible to encounter one another and to live together in dignity and peace”.He also stressed the “fundamental role of women in building a civilisation of love”.The association said the pope’s visit sent a “message” ahead of the April-May election.Leo was the third pope to visit Lourdes after Benedict XVI in 2008 and Jean-Paul II in 1983 and 2004.The sanctuary, one of the most important Catholic holy sites in the world, receives some three million pilgrims each year. Catholics credit it with miraculous healings. AFP
Read briefing Demonstrators hold a banner that reads: "Not one Maricarmen more", during a Sept 26 protest in Madrid, Spain, over the forced eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from the home she had lived in for decades. A real estate firm acquired the property and raised the rent by 275 per cent.MADRID - Thousands of people marched through Madrid on Sept 26 to protest the eviction earlier this week of an 87-year-old woman from her lifelong home, calling for greater protection for tenants.Images of Maricarmen Abascal being carried from her Madrid flat on a stretcher on Sept 23 after police broke down her door have thrust Spain’s housing crisis back into the spotlight ahead of a general election due in 2027.Protesters chanted slogans and held banners calling for measures to curb rising housing costs and make evictions more difficult as they marched through central Madrid.Abascal, who has become a symbol of Spain’s housing crisis, urged Spaniards to join the fight in a video message posted online just hours before the protest.“I want what has happened to me to serve so that it does not happen to other people,” she said from hospital, where she has been treated for exhaustion since her eviction.“I want it to encourage people to fight and to help change the laws that have allowed me to be evicted,” she added in the video, posted by Spain’s main tenants’ union.Maricarmen Abascal, 87, is transported on a stretcher to an ambulance, after she was evicted from the Madrid home where she had lived for more than 70 years.Abascal was forced to leave the apartment where she had lived for 70 years after a real estate firm acquired the property and raised the rent by 275 per cent to €2,650 (S$3,850), according to the union.Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who in 2025 pledged to make housing a government priority, is under growing pressure to act. There have been regular protests across Spain since Abascal’s eviction.His government is expected to approve a package of measures dubbed the “Maricarmen decree” at its next Cabinet meeting, including the automatic renewal of rental contracts and further restrictions on evictions.But it is unclear whether the package will be approved by parliament, where Sanchez’s government lacks a majority.While a similar Bill was defeated earlier this year, Abascal’s case has increased pressure on political parties to act. AFP
Read briefing US President Donald Trump speaking to members of the media as he leaves the White House to board Marine One on Sept 26.WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS/CAIRO - US President Donald Trump said on Sept 26 he had rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting in the Middle East.Iran raised the initiative at the UN General Assembly in New York, saying it had been transmitted to the Americans via Qatari mediators and that it could reopen the strategic waterway and put an end to hostilities in the region within seven days.But in comments to reporters at the White House, Trump said: “I reject their proposal... I rejected their deal.”“They want to make a deal to open the Hormuz Strait immediately because they’re losing so badly,” he said, before leaving for Tennessee.“We’re winning tremendously. They want to make a deal and I think that’s fine, I like making a deal too. What they want to do is immediately open the Hormuz Strait... because they have no money coming in, because they get their money from the Hormuz Strait,” Trump said.The US has imposed an economic blockade on Iran to put pressure on Tehran to lift its blockade of Hormuz, which has drastically reduced shipping through the strait, even though Trump again asserted that the US had control of the waterway.The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump had rejected the Iranian proposal, citing unnamed US officials.It said Trump was privately sceptical that Iran would meet his demands and had told his staff that he sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely after the November US midterm elections to Congress.A US official had said earlier that discussions with Iran through mediators were “positive and constructive”.The Iranians also engaged their Saudi rivals regarding the Strait of Hormuz, underscoring the stakes of a seven-month-old conflict that has disrupted oil flows through a critical shipping lane and taken a toll on the global economy.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters at the United Nations on Sept 25 the proposed deal would trigger a seven-day countdown to reopening the strait and a pause in regional fighting.“If there is seriousness on the US side to come to a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, everything is now prepared,” Araqchi said. If the US were to agree, the warring parties could start wider talks “on mutually agreed subjects.”That could potentially include discussions of Iran’s nuclear programme. Trump has said Tehran must never acquire a nuclear bomb, while a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran would show no flexibility over its nuclear programme even if the US accepted its peace deal.Iran would grant no concessions over its rights, including enriching uranium or shipping its highly enriched uranium out of the country, the official said.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in an interview with the CBS show Face The Nation, said Tehran was ready for talks on its nuclear programme and other issues, but would not accept “bullying or coercion”.“Iran is not seeking war, but will defend itself against pressure, threats and attacks,” Pezeshkian said, adding that it had already agreed that “we’re not supposed to develop nuclear weapons.”Previous attempts at diplomacy have failed to end the war, which began on Feb 28 with US and Israeli attacks.Since then the war has alternated between pauses and renewed strikes, killing thousands while degrading Iran’s conventional forces and damaging Iran’s already ailing economy.Iran and its allies have retaliated by extending the conflict throughout the region. Iran has struck US allies in the Gulf with drones and missiles while its Houthi allies in Yemen have targeted Saudi interests. REUTERS
Read briefing UNITED NATIONS, Sept 26 - Russia and Germany's foreign ministers met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Saturday, officials from both sides said, in the first such talks since before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Russia's Sergei Lavrov and Germany's Johann Wadephul discussed bilateral relations and the war in Ukraine, the Russian foreign ministry said.Wadephul urged Russia to do "everything possible to reach an agreement on grain exports via the Black Sea", a German delegation source said.Russian and Ukrainian exports via the Black Sea have been sharply curtailed in recent months as Kyiv and Moscow targeted each other's port infrastructure and vessels. Ukraine and its allies are now pushing to secure a limited ceasefire in the Black Sea and on strikes on energy infrastructure.Russia has not given any clear indication publicly that it supports these initiatives.Wadephul told Lavrov, "Time is of the essence: given the food shortages in many countries — particularly in the Global South — all parties must be willing to engage constructively," the German delegation source said.The German minister also told Lavrov that "a pragmatic solution could pave the way for further concrete steps", the source said.Relations between Moscow and Berlin, a close ally of Ukraine, have been in deep freeze since the Russian invasion, and tensions escalated further after a drone incident at Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany in August.The German government said this month it had concluded that Russia was responsible for that attempted drone attack. It ordered a series of measures in response, including the closure of a consulate and a Russian cultural centre in Berlin.The Russian embassy in Berlin has dismissed these allegations as "fabricated provocation" and as "a new wave of anti-Russian hysteria in Germany".Wadephul used the talks to call on Russia "to abandon the dangerous path of escalation vis-à-vis Germany, Europe, and NATO", according to the delegation source.Wadephul said incidents such as the attempted attack in Leipzig or further hybrid attacks would not shake Germany’s resolve to support Ukraine, according to delegation sources. REUTERS
Read briefing FILE PHOTO: A tour bus drives past the FBI headquarters in Washington, U.S., February 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Sept 25 - FBI personnel data recently stolen by the ShinyHunters hackers includes sensitive psychiatric and medical evaluation records, according to the hackers and documents reviewed by Reuters.The group, one of the world's most notorious and attention-seeking hacking crews, first said they had breached the FBI on Tuesday. In the hack, they obtained granular details about bureau employees and their assignments, Reuters previously reported, including sensitive work against Chinese spies, Russian intelligence, drug cartels and others.The breach has already rattled the bureau, but now risks turning into a serious counterintelligence risk, said Eric O'Neill, the former FBI operative who founded the cybersecurity consultancy Nexasure AI.O'Neill said the presence of medical data was a sign that the hack was approaching the same kind of magnitude as the 2015 intrusion into the Office of Personnel Management, which exposed millions of Americans' sensitive clearance information, allegedly to Chinese intelligence."I would be shocked if Russian intelligence isn't knocking on their door and saying, 'We want that stuff, hand it over.'"The FBI declined to comment on the records. In a statement issued Thursday, the bureau said it was "aggressively investigating" the reported breach.ShinyHunters circulated the medical files to a small circle of reporters earlier this week after announcing it had broken into the FBIjobs.gov site and stolen what it claimed was 2 to 3 terabytes of data.The BBC earlier on Friday reported that a blood and urine test document was among the sample, but the presence of other sensitive files, including a mental health evaluation and other records, has not previously been reported. REUTERS
Read briefing US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will remain in his current role, President Donald Trump said on social media on Sept 25.WASHINGTON - Scott Bessent will not be Donald Trump’s AI czar, the Republican president said on Sept 25, adding that he wants his US Treasury secretary to remain in his current role.“Scott Bessent will not be going to be Super Intelligence (SI) Czar. Number One, he doesn’t want to. Number Two, he’s doing such a great job at Treasury, and that’s where I want to keep him! Why would I ever make such a change?” Trump said, in a social media post, using his preferred term for artificial intelligence.Last week, Trump said he plans to appoint an artificial intelligence adviser, known as an “AI czar,” and create an “AI force,” though he gave no details about either initiative or how they would be implemented.Some had seen Bessent as a frontrunner for the role. On Sept 20, he had led talks heavily focused on AI with Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng in New York, ahead of this week’s summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington.Bessent told reporters after the talks that the US side had proposed an AI safety notification mechanism and bilateral dialogue on the issue, with a particular emphasis on national security concerns.The White House did not immediately provide details on who might be tapped for its AI czar.Trump has repeatedly downplayed concerns about AI and argued that additional regulation is unnecessary even as fears grow among lawmakers in Washington and globally about risks posed by the technology.Top AI researchers have warned that people building AI believe it could kill humans within a decade, following cases of AI agents going rogue to hack external systems.Several Democratic and Republican lawmakers have responded with alarm and calls for more action. REUTERS
Read briefing BOGOTA, Sept 25 - Colombia has extradited an alleged drug-trafficking leader from a dissident faction of the former FARC rebel group to the United States, three police sources told Reuters on Friday.The transfer marks the first extradition of a senior commander from an illegal armed group under President Abelardo De La Espriella, who took office in August.Geovany Andres Rojas, better known as "Spider," is accused of leading the Border Commands faction of the National Coordinator of the Bolivarian Army (CNEB), one of several groups formed by ex-FARC fighters who rejected or abandoned a 2016 peace deal with the government.Under heavy security at a Colombian National Police air base in Bogota, Rojas was handed over to U.S. officials, the sources said.US prosecutors accuse Rojas of drug trafficking and criminal conspiracy tied to alleged operations in Colombia and Ecuador dating back to 2017.De La Espriella, a 49-year-old right-wing lawyer, reversed the negotiation strategy of his predecessor, Gustavo Petro. Since taking office he scrapped peace talks with illegal armed groups, including some FARC dissident factions, and launched a military offensive to retake remote mountain and jungle territory.Authorities say those groups finance themselves through cocaine trafficking, illegal mining and extortion. REUTERS
Read briefing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attending a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept 22.NEW YORK – President Donald Trump this week again encouraged Volodymyr Zelensky to travel to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin, despite repeated past refusals, as the US looks to reignite Ukraine-Russia peace talks. Zelensky declined the appeal made in his meeting with the US leader at the United Nations, and people familiar with the Ukrainian president’s position said Trump raising the issue upset him.When asked by reporters when he would visit Moscow, Zelensky replied: “On a missile,” followed by an expletive. Zelensky and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov each held separate meetings with Trump administration officials in New York this week. The US has pushed both sides to agree to a truce on attacking each other’s energy assets as global diesel prices surge, but neither has accepted.Zelensky said on Sept 25 that technical peace negotiations with Ukraine and Russia will likely take place in the United Arab Emirates, though the US has not yet proposed a date. European officials say Trump and his team were receptive to their lobbying efforts on support for Ukraine before winter sets in. They also said Trump’s meeting with Zelensky was largely positive. Trump has not decided whether he will send Ukraine more air defence supplies this winter, as the US grapples with its own shortages due to the Iran war, but has agreed to grant Ukraine licences to produce Patriot missiles. Zelensky said on Sept 25 that Trump told him he’d made the final decision this week, though did not elaborate on the timing of deliveries. Production is not expected to start for at least a year, so will not address Ukraine’s more urgent need to protect its critical infrastructure assets against Russian attack over the colder months. Trump’s suggestion of a Russia meeting came the same week Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the US has invited Putin to attend the Group of 20 summit in Florida in December, a statement met with criticism in Europe. The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas told CNN that the announcement “was very hard to hear.”People close to the Kremlin have suggested that Putin is likely to skip the G-20 anyway and attend a summit hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping in November. Europe is also growing worried about a push by some Republican lawmakers to ban US diesel exports. Trump this week said he supports the idea, with wars in Iran and Ukraine driving the fuel’s price to record levels.A pause in exports would force Europe and Latin America to search for hard-to-find alternatives, adding to inflationary pressures around the globe. Trump is under pressure to address the high cost of diesel in the US before the November midterm elections. BLOOMBERG
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