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- ๐ฐ Iran demands pilots back
๐ฐ Iran demands pilots back
and Spanish jet downs drone
Hello,
Russia said it shot down more than 800 Ukrainian drones in one of the largest aerial assaults of the war, with at least six people killed.
This comes as a Spanish fighter jet shot down a drone that entered Romanian airspace, and as Taiwan deliberately slowed mobile internet during an invasion drill.
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Top 5 Stories
1๏ธโฃ ๐ฎ๐ท๐ถ๐ฆ Qatar denies capturing three Iranian pilots: Iran's Brig Gen Mohammad Bagherzadeh wrote to the International Committee of the Red Cross claiming three airmen shot down over Qatar on the third day of the US-Iran war have been held for six months and denied contact with their families. Qatar categorically denied the account, with a foreign ministry spokesperson saying it had searched for the pilots' remains and had extended an invitation in April for an Iranian team to review the findings.
2๏ธโฃ ๐ท๐ด๐ช๐ธ Spanish jet downs drone over Romania: Romania's defence ministry said a Spanish F-18 flying on NATO duties intercepted a drone that crossed into its airspace from Moldova at 5:01am on Sunday, with debris falling in an unpopulated area of the Galati region near the Ukrainian border. Last month Romania downed a drone for the first time since Russia's 2022 invasion, after one entered airspace about 100km from Bucharest.
3๏ธโฃ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ท๐บ Kim and Putin reaffirm ties on liberation anniversary: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told Russian President Vladimir Putin that ties between the two countries would keep deepening, in an exchange marking the 81st anniversary of Japan's surrender reported by the KCNA state news agency. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung separately used the same anniversary to call for talks with Pyongyang on replacing the Korean War armistice with a peace regime, overtures the North has rejected.
4๏ธโฃ ๐น๐ผ๐จ๐ณ Taiwan slows its mobile internet in invasion drill: Telecommunications operators cut mobile traffic to 256 Kbps for 30 minutes in Taipei and six other localities on Thursday as part of the annual Han Kuang exercises, which model a response to a possible Chinese invasion. Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te apologised for the disruption, and the Defense Ministry said 18 Chinese warplanes and 11 navy ships operated around the island between Wednesday and Thursday morning.
5๏ธโฃ ๐ฆ๐ซ Concerns grow over global ties with the Taliban: The Taliban have launched a diplomatic effort to end their isolation as major regional and international powers show a readiness to engage more closely with the repressive government despite its systematic human rights abuses. Five years after the group seized Kabul, a growing number of countries are renewing ties or scaling up diplomatic contacts, which campaigners fear is undermining demands for improvement in a country the UN has called a human rights graveyard.
Major Story

๐บ๐ฆ๐ท๐บ Ukraine launches one of its largest drone assaults on Russia
Russia said it shot down more than 800 Ukrainian drones overnight in what its state-run TASS news agency called the largest such attack since the start of the year, with authorities reporting at least six people killed.
The governor of the Moscow region, Andrey Vorobiev, said 187 drones were downed or neutralised over the area and that an 83-year-old man was killed elsewhere in the region, while five people were killed in Rostov in southern Russia according to its governor.
Geolocated video showed a large fire at a warehouse belonging to Wildberries, the Russian equivalent of Amazon, which Kyiv says handles supplies for the Russian military and whose logistics centres it has repeatedly targeted.
The Ukrainian military said a Rostov plant producing solid rocket propellant was also struck, and the maritime risk agency Marisks said a Greek oil tanker was hit twice near Novorossiysk in an attack it judged Ukraine was likely responsible for.
Russian strikes on Ukraine continued, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying a Kyiv book market was among the sites hit and that two people were killed in Kryvyi Rih and one in Sumy.
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Other News
1๏ธโฃ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ต๐ธ Israel hands West Bank law enforcement to police: Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered the military to prepare a plan for transferring civilian law enforcement in the occupied West Bank to the Israeli police, a shift Haaretz reported follows criticism of the army's handling of a settler siege in the village of Qusra. Palestinian officials described the move as de facto annexation, with PLO executive committee secretary-general Hussein al-Sheikh saying it seeks to impose Israeli law and sovereignty over occupied land.
2๏ธโฃ ๐ต๐ธ๐ช๐ฌ๐บ๐ธ Hamas leader heads to Cairo before Kushner visit: Khalil al-Hayya is due to meet Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad on Sunday in his first Cairo visit since taking over the Hamas leadership in late July, Hamas sources told AFP and Anadolu, days before Jared Kushner travels to Israel and Egypt over a Gaza plan Israel has rejected. Israeli fire killed two Palestinians and wounded 14 others on Saturday during air strikes, shelling and demolitions across the strip, according to the territory's Ministry of Health.
3๏ธโฃ ๐น๐ท๐ช๐ฌ Erdogan says Egypt could join the Mecca pact: In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Egypt's accession to the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement signed with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan was possible and that the pact remained open to further members. He also called reopening the Strait of Hormuz a priority for Ankara, and said he had received a promise from US President Donald Trump on F-35 fighter jets that he was still waiting to see honoured.
4๏ธโฃ ๐พ๐ช Houthis launch new attacks on al-Makha and Marib: Four people were killed and eight injured when Houthi missiles and drones hit the Red Sea port city of al-Makha overnight, according to state media and the airport's director, while Marib's government media office said six ballistic missiles and four drones struck residential neighbourhoods on Saturday evening. Yemen's military said it carried out 181 operations against Houthi positions over the weekend, and the Houthis said four of their members were killed.
5๏ธโฃ ๐ฎ๐ท๐ด๐ฒ Iran says Hormuz shipping deal reached with Oman: Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told Defa Press that Tehran and Muscat have agreed a shipping route map for the Strait of Hormuz after three weeks of progress he said came despite US obstruction. He added that full restoration of security in the waterway and a resumption of normal commercial shipping depend on an end to what he called illegal US actions, military threats and the naval blockade.
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