Yemen

• Saudi-led coalition strikes kill three, including two children, in Yemen as fighting continues around Taiz: Three people, including two children, were killed and two others wounded in Saudi-backed forces airstrikes on Dhubab and Maqbanah districts in Taiz governorate, according to the Ansarallah Health Ministry.

  • Yemen’s Saudi-backed forces’ air operations against Ansarallah continued around Taiz on Tuesday, Al Jazeera reported. The Saudi-backed forces said warplanes struck an Ansarallah ballistic missile launch platform at Taiz airport and targeted positions and reinforcements in Khadir district, south of the city.

• Saudi Arabia issues “potential danger” alerts across multiple areas, including Mecca: Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense issued urgent “potential danger” warnings Tuesday for Jeddah, Yanbu, Taif, Jazan, Al-Ula, and Mecca, urging residents to seek shelter and follow official instructions.

  • The alert in Mecca was the first issued in the holy city since recent clashes between Saudi and Ansarallah. Authorities later announced that the danger had passed, while urging residents to continue avoiding gatherings and filming.

• Ansarallah says Saudi Arabia launched 54 airstrikes on Yemen; Riyadh says attacks wounded 13 civilians: Saudi warplanes carried out 54 airstrikes over the previous 24 hours, targeting Taiz, Lahj, Al-Jawf, Marib, and Hajjah governorates in Yemen, Ansarallah’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Monday.

  • Saudi-led coalition spokesperson Turki Al-Malki said Ansarallah launched ballistic missiles and drones at civilian sites in Khamis Mushait, Abha, and Taif in Saudi Arabia on Monday, wounding 13 civilians and damaging seven homes and two vehicles. Al-Malki said the coalition would take “all necessary operational measures” in response.

• Ansarallah says it will halt attacks if Saudi ends Yemen campaign: Senior Ansarallah official Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti told Sky News that the group is “ready for peace” and would end attacks on Saudi territory and shipping if Riyadh halted its airstrikes, lifted its blockade on Yemen, and stopped backing militias in Yemen fighting Ansarallah.

  • “The Saudis have a lot more to lose than what Yemen has left to lose,” he said, describing the current policy as “a blockade for a blockade, an aggression for an aggression.”

  • Al-Bukhaiti said Ansarallah does not have any plans to seize more territory, and said its recent advances along Yemen’s western coast “was the consequence of the Saudis moving their mercenaries inside Yemen to fight us.”

  • He said Bab al-Mandab remains open to all shipping except Saudi vessels and that Ansarallah is currently targeting only Saudi ships.

  • He also rejected Trump administration claims of direct talks, saying any communication is conducted through Oman.

• AP: Repairs to key Saudi pipeline could take 3-5 weeks: Repairs to Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline could take 3-5 weeks, two regional officials briefed on the damage told AP. The line may operate partially during repairs, but officials could not say how much crude would get through.

  • The pipeline has been helping move roughly 4 million barrels of exports per day, about 4% of global oil demand.

  • U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright struck a more optimistic note Monday, telling Bloomberg he expects the pipeline back “very soon.” Wright said he has been in close contact with his Saudi counterpart since the attack and may have “more of a time frame tomorrow” as officials finish assessing the damage.

• UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting on Bab al-Mandab: The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Tuesday afternoon in New York to discuss the escalating situation in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, Reuters reported, citing two French diplomats. The meeting was requested by France.

  • The critical shipping route carried around 12% of global trade before fighting resumed this month. In recent days, Ansarallah seized most of Yemen’s Red Sea coast, including Mayyun Island, which sits in the Strait.

  • Meanwhile, foreign ministers from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an East African regional bloc, are meeting in Djibouti to discuss developments in Bab al-Mandab and their security, humanitarian, and economic repercussions, particularly for East African countries bordering the Red Sea.

• Bloomberg: UK Prime Minister considering Saudi requests for a “range of military support” against Ansarallah: UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham approved sending British military advisers as Riyadh reportedly seeks operational help to repel Ansarallah’s advance along Yemen’s Red Sea coast toward the Bab al-Mandab Strait and defend Saudi oil infrastructure.

  • Bloomberg noted that the UK did not support Trump’s war on Iran and previously said it wants to avoid entering the conflict. But UK officials warn Ansarallah control of the shipping chokepoint could have a “catastrophic” economic impact.

Iran

• IRGC claims downing of fourth U.S. MQ-1 drone over Hormuz: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it intercepted and destroyed a U.S. MQ-1 Predator drone west of the Strait of Hormuz.

  • The MQ-1 is a surveillance and strike drone. Iranian state media said it was the second U.S. MQ-1 downed over the Strait within a day, and the fourth in several days. U.S. Central Command has not publicly confirmed the losses.

• IRGC says supertanker exploded after hitting naval mine in Hormuz; CENTCOM denies claim: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said Monday that the supertanker El Gaia exploded after hitting naval mines while attempting to pass through a restricted zone south of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported.

  • The IRGC Navy said efforts to contain the fire failed and the tanker became fully engulfed in flames. It said warnings had previously been issued about the risks of using the “restricted” southern route.

  • U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) denied the account Monday, saying El Gaia had been “struck by an Iranian missile last month and rendered inoperable,” before being hit again by an Iranian drone over the weekend off Oman. CENTCOM said the tanker is currently being towed by a regional partner and called the IRGC’s account “another example of their lies and intimidation attempts.”

  • Omani officials said the tanker is now being towed to an Omani port after a fire broke out in its engine room, Reuters reported. 23 crew members were evacuated, while two remain missing.

• Iran security chief: No talks with U.S. until Tehran’s conditions are met: Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei said Tehran will not enter negotiations until its conditions are met, dismissing “mixed signals” from U.S. president Donald Trump.

  • “Don’t get distracted by the U.S. president’s mixed signals—from ‘no negotiations’ to ‘we’re ready to talk.’ The stakes around oil and the straits have changed….No talks until Iran’s conditions are met. Period!” Rezaei wrote on X.

  • His comments came after Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday that Iran “wants to make a deal, quickly and badly,” adding that he would determine whether the U.S. would engage and that “the concept of which we are open to.”

• U.S. watchdog confirms weapons shortages after months of war with Iran; Trump touts “Exquisite and Elite Weapons”: A U.S. government watchdog report released Monday confirmed strategic weapons inventory shortfalls and severe supply bottlenecks after months of war with Iran, with expert estimates cited in the report saying advanced missile and interceptor stockpiles could take up to three years to return to pre-war levels.

  • The joint assessment by inspectors from the War Department, State Department, and USAID also detailed Iranian strikes that damaged or destroyed hundreds of structures at U.S. bases across eight Middle Eastern countries, as well as dozens of American aircraft and drones.

  • Trump, meanwhile, said Monday that the U.S. is producing “more Exquisite and Elite Weapons than at any time in our History,” adding that defense factories are operating “24/7” while “building, on average, 4 to 5 largescale brand new Plants, each!”

• U.S. Energy Secretary claims Hormuz oil flow tops 10 million b/d despite lower independent estimates: U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Monday that more than 12 million barrels of crude and oil products crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, with the seven-day average now above 10 million barrels per day (b/d) and rising.

  • Wright told Bloomberg the ships are escorted and defended by U.S. forces, mostly transit at night, and travel with their AIS transponders switched off. He said his figures come from a daily government report listing every ship, its cargo, and its transit, and that his public Hormuz figure combines crude plus oil products.

  • Independent tracker TankerTrackers puts the 7-day average for all flows exiting the U.S. blockade line at 9.87 million b/d.

  • Kpler’s directly observed Hormuz flows of 5-7 million b/d are also lower than Wright’s figure, though its broader measure of Gulf regional exports from the blockade line is roughly 11.4 million b/d over seven days.

• U.S. seeks forfeiture of $61 million in cryptocurrency tied to “Iranian military’s black-market oil sales”: U.S. prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of $61 million in cryptocurrency, alleging the funds are linked to the Iranian military’s black-market oil sales.

  • “Today’s action demonstrates our determination to deprive the Government of Iran and its terrorist proxies of the illegal money they rely on to threaten the lives and safety of the citizens of the United States and elsewhere,” Deputy U.S. Attorney Sean S. Buckley said.

• Iran’s foreign minister to visit China Wednesday, days before Xi’s U.S. trip: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will make a one-day visit to China on Wednesday, September 16, for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, China’s Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday.

  • The two are expected to discuss bilateral relations and major regional and international issues. The meeting will be their second in-person talks in Beijing since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, and comes days before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States.

Palestine

• Killed and wounded in Gaza: Over the past 24 hours, three Palestinians were killed and 27 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

  • The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,789 killed, with 174,798 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,375 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 4,686, while 831 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble.

• Israeli attacks kill at least three Palestinians in Gaza City and Jabalia: At least two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli drone attack on the industrial area of Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera.

  • In northern Gaza, a Palestinian man was killed by an Israeli sniper positioned on a high-rise crane while inside a displacement camp in eastern Jabalia.

• Israeli forces kill Palestinian man in occupied West Bank as settlers attack residents, steal livestock:

  • Ramallah and Al-Bireh: Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man during a raid on the Umm Al-Sharayet area of Al-Bireh on Tuesday, WAFA reported, bringing the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2026 to more than 100. In Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah, Israeli settlers stole around 300 sheep and a horse from a Palestinian farm.

  • Hebron: Israeli forces demolished an agricultural room, bulldozed Palestinian land, and uprooted trees in Khirbet Hamsa, west of Hebron. South of Yatta, Israeli settlers cut and burned the electricity cable supplying Wadi Al-Rakhim, cutting power to the area.

  • Bethlehem: Israeli settlers attacked an elderly Palestinian man and his wife at their home in Abu Nujaym, southeast of Bethlehem, in the early hours of Tuesday, leaving both with bruises.

  • East Jerusalem: Israeli forces demolished two Palestinian homes in Beit Hanina’s Al-Ashqariya neighborhood on Tuesday. In Hizma, northeast of Jerusalem, Israeli bulldozers demolished eight residential and agricultural structures, uprooted olive trees, and destroyed solar-energy systems. Meanwhile, Israeli settlers, under the protection of Israeli forces, established a new outpost on land in Khirbet Al-Alawneh in Beit Iksa—the second outpost established in the village in four months.

• MSF: Israeli strike that killed two Palestinians, also damaged MSF bus and injured aid worker: An Israeli strike on a vehicle in Gaza City on Sunday that killed two Palestinians and injured 13 others, also damaged a clearly marked Doctors Without Borders (MSF) bus carrying 10 humanitarian workers just two metres away, injuring one MSF staff member.

  • MSF said Israeli forces have, once again, shown “blatant disregard for the safety of humanitarian and medical personnel.”

• Israeli restrictions force Gaza hospitals to place multiple premature babies in single incubators: Israel’s restrictions on incubators and oxygen entering Gaza left hospitals with major shortages, forcing staff to place two or three premature babies in one machine, AFP reported.

  • Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis has no spare incubators; other hospitals are full and can’t accept transfers.

  • Amid Israeli restrictions manufacturing shortages of food, medicine, and fuel, one in three pregnancies is high-risk and 70% of newborns are premature or underweight, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says. Sharing incubators further raises the risk of death.

• WHO to halt diesel supplies to more than 20 Gaza health facilities, official says: The World Health Organization (WHO) will stop supplying diesel to more than 20 Gaza hospitals and health centers after September 19 due to a funding shortfall, Gaza Health Ministry Director General Dr. Muneer Al-Boursh said Tuesday.

  • Al-Boursh warned the cutoff could shut down operating rooms and ICUs, disable ventilators and oxygen systems, and endanger newborns, dialysis patients, the wounded, and chronically ill. Ambulances and cold storage for medicines and vaccines could also be affected.

• UN: Hundreds of bodies recovered from Gaza rubble raise fresh war crimes concerns: UN human rights chief Volker Türk said Tuesday that the recovery of hundreds of bodies from buildings destroyed by Israeli attacks in Gaza has renewed concerns over violations of international humanitarian law, warning that the remains found so far could be “only the tip of the iceberg,” Reuters reported.

  • Palestinian authorities estimate more than 8,000 people remain buried under the rubble. This month alone, Palestinian Civil Defense crews recovered 96 bodies and remains from one site in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, including 58 children and 23 women.

  • Türk called for international investigators to be granted access to Gaza to preserve evidence, adding that Israel has blocked the entry of heavy machinery needed to clear the rubble.

Lebanon

• Israeli forces kill 70-year-old teacher and destroy school in attacks across southern Lebanon during “ceasefire”:

  • Bint Jbeil: A 70-year old Lebanese teacher from Baraachit was shot and killed Monday by Israeli forces while raiding the town, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported. On Tuesday, Israeli forces struck near a UN peacekeeping forces position in Hanine.

  • Nabatieh: In Kfartibnit, Israeli forces demolished the Martyr Mahmoud Fakih Public School, with aerial images released Tuesday showing extensive destruction from the blast. Lebanon’s Education Ministry condemned the demolition, which came on the first day of the new school year.

  • Tyre (Sour): Israeli forces set fire to what remained of homes in the town of Al-Bayyada, south of Tyre, with plumes of smoke seen rising from the town on Tuesday. Israeli forces also carried out powerful explosions in Majdal Zoun. On Monday night, Israeli warplanes carried out two strikes on the town of Mansouri.

• Lebanese, Israeli ambassadors to meet in Washington as Rome talks postponed: Lebanon’s ambassador to Washington, Nada Mouawad, and Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter are set to meet Tuesday in Washington to discuss developments in Lebanon and implementation of the framework agreement reached in June, Anadolu Agency reported.

  • The meeting comes after a round of Israeli-Lebanese negotiations scheduled for this week in Rome was postponed until October.

  • Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Saturday that there are “no new negotiations with Israel at the moment,” reiterating Lebanon’s demands for an Israeli withdrawal, the return of prisoners and displaced people, and reconstruction.

• Lebanon says Israeli attacks caused up to $4 billion in damage, seeks Arab support for reconstruction: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Tuesday that Israel’s offensive has cost Lebanon between $3 billion and $4 billion and that the country lacks the resources to finance reconstruction without support from Arab allies.

  • Addressing parliament, Salam said Lebanon had been “plunged into a war it did not choose,” adding that there would be no security or stability while fighting continues in the south.

  • Salam said that restoring Lebanon’s ties with Arab countries had helped increase exports to several regional markets.

U.S. News

• Supreme Court blocks Trump plan to overhaul mail-in voting ahead of midterm: The Supreme Court on Monday blocked a Trump administration plan to require the Postal Service to screen and restrict mail-in ballots ahead of the midterm elections, ruling the government was “unlikely to succeed on the merits” of the underlying case.

  • The plan, rooted in an executive order President Donald Trump signed in late March, had drawn opposition from Democratic-led states, voting rights groups including the ACLU, and even several Republican secretaries of state, who warned that redesigning ballot envelopes so close to the election risked mass voter disenfranchisement.

• Whistle-blower report alleges DHS agents may have broken state laws in noncitizen voter hunt: A whistle-blower report provided to Sens. Chuck Schumer and Alex Padilla alleges that federal agents, under direction of top Homeland Security leaders, may have violated state laws while searching voter rolls for noncitizens as part of the department’s “Unlawful Voter Initiative.”

  • The nearly 30-page account says agents were required to review at least 40 voters daily, and used personal data to pose as individual voters on state websites, a practice some states restrict to the voters themselves.

  • The whistleblower also noted that the data upon which they based their decisions was potentially riddled with errors, including “alien identification numbers” which could possibly belong to presently naturalized citizens.

• Trump dismisses AI safety warnings as a “hoax,” rejects calls for guardrails: President Donald Trump on Monday rejected calls for AI safety regulations, calling concerns about the technology a “hoax” on Truth Social and singling out Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei by name after Amodei published a 3,800-word open letter on Saturday calling for a slowdown in the development of A.I

  • The pushback came as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for a briefing with administration officials and former President Barack Obama urged Washington to draft concrete AI safety laws, while a recent NBC News poll found 70% of adults said they were more worried than excited about AI.

  • Vice President JD Vance, meanwhile, voiced skepticism that AI companies were sincere in requesting regulation, calling it “a bit of a Trojan horse.”

• Macklemore dropped from Ed Sheeran’s stadium tour after pro-Palestinian remarks, venues object: Macklemore has been removed from the remaining dates of Ed Sheeran’s U.S. Loop Tour after venues told promoter Messina Touring Group they would not allow the rapper on the lineup, following onstage “Free Palestine” statements Macklemore made at two MetLife Stadium shows earlier this month.

  • Macklemore alleged in an Instagram statement that Patriots owner Robert Kraft pressured Sheeran and rallied other stadium owners to issue an ultimatum, a claim Kraft’s representatives did not address, while groups including StopAntisemitism and the Israeli American Council had separately called for his removal. Several of the affected venues are publicly owned stadiums, where his removal could raise First Amendment questions.

• McConnell returns to Senate: Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) returned to the Senate floor Monday and cast his first vote since a June fall, voting to advance Matthew Byrne’s nomination as a federal judge in Ohio.

  • McConnell, 84, said his recovery had been complicated by “lingering effects of childhood polio” and that he is not yet “back to 100%,” but pledged to be present for close votes, including Wednesday’s farm bill markup, where Republicans hold a slim 12-11 majority on the Agriculture Committee.

  • McConnell, who is retiring at the end of his term, has faced repeated health scares in recent years, including a 2023 fall and several public freezing episodes.

• DHS watchdog: “Alligator Alcatraz” used small metal cages as “calming areas,” violated detention standards: A Department of Homeland Security inspector general report found that Florida’s now-closed “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility confined at least 79 detainees in 18-square-foot metal enclosures for up to nearly two hours, a practice the report called “unprecedented” and inconsistent with humane treatment standards.

  • The report also found the facility failed to meet federal requirements for living space, food service, hygiene and recreation.
    Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday he had not read the report but defended the facility, while his communications director, Alex Lanfranconi, said the enclosures held “violent criminal aliens” and that officials “would make it even smaller if we could.”

  • The findings add to scrutiny of the facility, which closed this summer after drawing legal challenges and cost the state more than $1 million per day to operate, with two guards there facing misdemeanor battery charges over an alleged assault on a detainee.

• ICE agents pepper-spray, detain two U.S. citizen teens en route to enlist in Marines: Two U.S. citizen teenagers were pepper-sprayed and detained for nearly eight hours by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while on their way to file Marine Corps enlistment papers, after agents accused them of filming ICE arresting parents outside Santos Livas Elementary School in Alamo, Texas, Telemundo reported on Monday.

  • One teen, Luis Ochoa, said agents told him “I don’t give a damn… your parents can’t help you now” after he stated he was a citizen, and video showed agents pulling the other teen from a car and punching him repeatedly while he lay on the ground.

  • Ochoa’s mother said he is now reconsidering enlisting, asking how he could “serve a country that doesn’t even uphold their basic rights.”

• Mahmoud Khalil Sues Columbia: Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and former Columbia graduate student who served as a spokesperson and mediator for the Gaza encampment, announced on Monday that he is suing the university after he was detained by ICE in March 2025

  • The suit, filed with the school’s Palestine Working Group, also names Keren Yarhi-Milo, dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, and alleges systemic anti-Palestinian discrimination and retaliation.

  • “Columbia laid the groundwork for my targeting by the Trump administration,” Khalil said. Immigration authorities jailed him for 104 days, and he missed his son’s birth, as Trump sought to deport him over his Palestine advocacy.

Other International News

• Ukraine strikes Syzran refinery in Russia despite Trump claim of energy truce: Ukraine struck the Syzran oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region, as Kyiv continues its campaign against Russian energy targets. The Samara governor confirmed an industrial facility was hit but did not identify it, while images of the attack circulated on social media.

  • The strike came despite President Donald Trump claim earlier this week that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to halt attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure.

  • Russia simultaneously launched around 200 drones at Ukraine overnight, killing two people and damaging petrol stations in Kyiv as well as energy and port infrastructure elsewhere.

  • Zelenskiy said Ukraine was prepared to suspend such attacks but wanted credible guarantees that Moscow would also stop. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Trump’s proposal a “very good idea.”

• NATO jets shoot down drone that entered Lithuanian airspace: NATO fighter jets destroyed a drone that crossed into southern Lithuania in what appears to be the first time a NATO aircraft has shot down a drone inside Lithuanian airspace.

  • Authorities said the drone likely entered from neighboring Belarus, but its origin and whether it was armed or deliberately sent toward Lithuania remain under investigation.

  • Lithuanian and Italian forces operating under NATO’s air-defense mission responded to the incursion, and debris is being examined to determine who operated the drone.

  • The incident comes amid a growing number of drone incursions across NATO’s eastern flank since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Lithuania reported another likely incursion from Belarus days earlier, while NATO jets have also scrambled over stray drones entering Estonia and Latvia.

• Russian frigate fires flares at Danish military helicopter, narrowly missing aircraft: A Russian frigate fired two flares toward a Danish military helicopter in international waters off Denmark’s coast on Monday, with one flare passing close to the aircraft while it photographed the frigate on a routine mission, the Danish defense command said.

  • Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen called the incident “unacceptable” and said Russia is “gradually moving the line for what it considers acceptable behavior,” adding that he has summoned Russia’s ambassador to Denmark over the incident.

• Hungary moves to repeal Orbán-era anti-LGBTQ+ restrictions: Hungary’s new government led by Prime Minister Peter Magyar submitted legislation to parliament that would remove rules introduced under former Prime Minister Viktor Orban banning the “display and promotion of homosexuality” in media accessible to minors.

  • The move follows an April ruling by the EU’s top court that Hungary’s restrictions violated EU law and contributed to the stigmatization of gay and transgender people.

  • The replacement bill would instead target pornography, sexual exploitation, and other content deemed seriously harmful to children. Magyar has also said his government plans to revise rules that had effectively barred gay couples from adopting.

• Turkish court orders detention of 16 in Izmir amid nationwide crackdown on LGBTQ+ group: A Turkish court in Izmir ordered that 16 detained suspects remained jailed pending trial as part of a government operation against LGBTQ+ groups dubbed “My Family is Safe,” part of a broader national campaign that Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said involves 162 suspects, nine associations and 13 businesses across 15 provinces.

  • Police used pepper spray to disperse protesters who marched in Izmir chanting support for LGBTQ+ individuals, while the Turkish Human Rights Association called the operation “state-led discrimination” and European Parliament Turkey rapporteur Nacho Sanchez Amor called the arrests “a shocking escalation” of repression.

  • Authorities also blocked access to several LGBTQ+ organizations’ websites and social media accounts, including Amnesty International Turkey’s X account, as part of the crackdown.

• Dutch farmers set fires and block roads in budget protest; sabotage incidents alleged: Dutch Farmers set hay bales and car tires alight alongside highways on Tuesday, forcing road closures and major traffic disruptions as they protested the government’s 2027 budget and plans to curb nitrogen pollution.

  • The protest group Farmers Defence Force said it was responsible for the fires, arguing farmers are being unfairly blamed for nitrogen pollution and that government plans threaten their businesses.

  • Separately, railway operator ProRail said pipes had been deliberately attached to tracks at more than 20 locations, mainly in rural parts of the central and eastern Netherlands, halting trains and disrupting services including international routes to Germany.

  • Farmers Defence Force denied organizing the rail sabotage but said it could not rule out individuals acting independently.

• China tightens exit controls for citizens: New state regulations on foreign travel allow Chinese citizens deemed to have “harmed national security or state interests overseas” to be barred from leaving the country for up to three years, while further restrictions can also apply to people considered to have sensitive access to information related to China’s industrial or technological security.

  • The measures broaden an existing system under which some civil servants, state-owned enterprise employees, and workers in sensitive sectors are already required to surrender passports or seek approval for foreign travel.

  • Employees in areas such as semiconductors and AI have reportedly faced restrictions, while border officials are also instructed to warn citizens against travel to designated “high-risk” countries and regions.

• Britain restores ambassador-level relations with Venezuela: Britain announced it will appoint an ambassador to Venezuela, upgrading diplomatic relations as Western governments gradually restart their engagement with the country following a U.S. military operation that deposed Nicolas Maduro.

  • London said the move is intended to improve its ability to engage with and support Venezuela during its political transition and claimed that it did not amount to an endorsement of any particular Venezuelan political faction or alter Britain’s assessment of previous elections.

• WFP faces major Sudan funding shortfall as hunger crisis deepens: World Food Program (WFP) funding for Sudan has fallen from $645 million last year to $206 million nearly three-quarters into 2026, leaving a funding gap of almost $300 million, WFP chief Carl Skau told Reuters.

  • Nearly 20 million people are facing hunger, but the agency can prioritize assistance for only 5 million and is currently reaching about 4 million.

  • In Tawila, North Darfur, around 1 million displaced people are receiving half-rations covering just two weeks each month.

  • The International Organization for Migration warned that emergency supplies could begin running out by late September and that the wider aid system could fail by December without additional funding. The agency says it needs $15 million to sustain assistance through the end of the year.

• Pakistan-administered Kashmir internet shutdown continues past 100 days despite new government: Mobile data and broadband services in Pakistan-administered Kashmir have remained suspended for more than 100 days, since authorities imposed the shutdown on June 5 amid protests over electoral reform, according to internet monitor NetBlocks.

  • The blackout has continued disrupting banking, business, and education in the state, despite the formation of a new government following elections that concluded Aug. 10.

  • Pakistani authorities had postponed these elections and banned the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee, which had demanded the removal of 12 legislative seats reserved for refugees from Indian-administered Kashmir, and cracked down violently on protests.

  • Residents say Pakistani authorities have killed more than 50 people, including seven law enforcement personnel, though these estimates have not been independently verified.

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