Blackouts hit Russia's Belgorod as Ukrainian drone attacks surge

Some conservative policy advisers and commentators, including Laura Loomer and Stephen K. Bannon, are raising questions about the administration’s policy in the region.

Move ends month-long reliance on backup generators after power line was cut in September Russian engineers have reconnected the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to external electrical power from Ukraine, ending a month-long emergency that had plunged the future of the six-reactor site into doubt. Ukrainian sources told the Guardian that Russian technicians had hoped to connect Europe’s biggest nuclear plant – which had been relying on backup generators since its last external power line was cut in September – to power from the Russian grid on 7 October as a birthday present for Vladimir Putin. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed – see all our Middle East coverage here Turkish peacekeeping forces will continue to help boost the Lebanese army’s capability under a renewed deployment mandate in Lebanon, Turkey’s defence ministry said on Thursday, reports Reuters. Turkey’s parliament passed a bill on Tuesday to renew the military’s deployment mandates in Syria and Iraq by three more years, and its deployment mandate under the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) by two years. The ministry said in a statement: Efforts will continue to improve security conditions in the region, ensure stability and assist in the capacity building of the Lebanese armed forces, with the aim of establishing and maintaining peace in Lebanon. Continue reading...

Iceland was one of the only mosquito-free places in the world, at least according to its records. Not anymore.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said an assault by Russia, hours after President Trump put off a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, showed more pressure was needed.

The Swedish warplanes are well suited to the rugged combat operations Ukraine will have to carry out, experts say.

Elite helicopter unit’s part in military deployment comes as Donald Trump ramps up pressure on Nicolás Maduro They call themselves the Night Stalkers and their unofficial motto hints at the group’s lethal nocturnal line of work: “Death Waits in the Dark.” “You can flee, but they will find you,” warns a rare book about the US army’s secretive 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR). Since the elite helicopter unit’s creation in 1981, its daredevil pilots have taken part in some of the most dangerous missions in recent US military history: battling Islamic State during Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria, and Somali warlords during Operation Gothic Serpent; and spiriting Navy Seals into Pakistan to kill the al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden as part of Operation Neptune Spear. Continue reading...

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, “We suspect that Russia is behind most of these drone flights” around vital sites like ports and airports.

Israeli airstrikes have targeted multiple areas in eastern and southern Lebanon, claiming to hit Hezbollah targets.

US measures against Rosneft and Lukoil will hurt Russia - but probably not enough to stop Ukraine war. Here's why.

Proliferation of cheap and deadly drones used by both sides makes reporting from front line increasingly dangerous.

Despite losing slivers of territory, Ukraine is confident about its long-term prospects in the war.

Ukraine says the attacks are a direct retaliation to Russia's frequent strikes on Ukrainian cities.

China has thrown its weight behind the junta - and its widely condemned plan to hold an election in December.

The famous Paris museum reopened on Wednesday, three days after millions of euros worth of jewellery stolen in broad daylight.

Campaigners say Starlink technology has enabled crime syndicates to operate from locations along the Thai-Myanmar border.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tells the BBC far more aid is needed to start tackling mounting problems in Gaza.

The U.S. military carried out another strike on a suspected drug vessel, this time in the Eastern Pacific, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday. The strike Tuesday against a boat allegedly carrying drugs is the eighth conducted by the Trump administration. The previous seven happened in the Caribbean. "Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific. The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route, and carrying narcotics," Hegseth said. "There were two narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters. Both terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike," he added. 3 KILLED IN US STRIKE ON COLOMBIAN ELN VESSEL SMUGGLING NARCOTICS, HEGSETH SAYS Earlier this week, Hegseth announced that three alleged narco-terrorists were killed in a U.S. strike on a drug smuggling vessel affiliated with Colombia’s National Liberation Army. That "lethal kinetic strike" happened Friday in international waters at the direction of President Donald Trump , Hegseth wrote in a post on X. "The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known narco-trafficking route, and was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics," Hegseth wrote. "There were three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike—which was conducted in international waters." "All three terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike," he added. Colombia’s Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) is a designated terrorist organization . Hegseth likened the Colombian rebel group to the al Qaeda terror group founded by Usama bin Laden in Afghanistan. TRUMP GOES ALL-OUT AGAINST COLOMBIA'S PETRO AFTER CLAIMS DRUG STRIKE KILLED FISHERMAN: WHAT WE KNOW The death toll from the Trump administration’s military campaign against suspected drug-smuggling vessels is at least 34. The operations began last month and are part of Trump’s broader effort to dismantle transnational cartels by force. Last Thursday, the U.S. military carried out a strike on what Trump later called a "very large drug-carrying submarine" in the Caribbean, killing two suspected narco-terrorists and capturing two others alive. A separate strike on Tuesday killed six suspected smugglers aboard a vessel off the coast of Venezuela.